Archive for November, 2008

Media pressure has forced John Sergeant to pull out of the competition. Last Sunday when Cherie Lunghi was voted out, I had a feeling that this might happen. John is a gentleman who’s very kind and polite, he wouldn’t enjoy seeing other people being upset. He’s in his 60’s and would feel vulnerable when the judges were saying such horrible things about him.

What I don’t understand is when BBC has clearly set the rules of the competition where 50% of the voting is based on phones calls from the public, why the judges were making a big fuss about the public voting for John Sergeant. I have to say when Heather Small left the competition I was a bit upset and I thought really John should have been voted out then. But when, Cherie left on Sunday, and James Jordan and the judges started making a big fuss I felt as though John was caught up in a tangle of web where he was made to feel guilty for still being in the competition. If the judges and the media want to make a big fuss when someone is left on the show because of public support, then they shouldn’t select celebrities to do the show, but open the competition to anyone from the public, like what they do in the X Factor. Then the judges get to choose the best 10 for the final shows. This way the judges can be happy.

But sorry judges this isn’t the case. From someone who didn’t support anyone at the start of the competition and haven’t still yet voted for anyone to stay, I have to say that I’m angry that John has left. I’m not angry at John but angry at the media and especially the judges. Even though the judges are saying that they are sad to see John leave underneath they must be so happy to see him go; now they don’t need to moan. What they wanted right from the beginning has happened. So Len Goodman, Bruno Toniolli, Craig Revel Horwood and Arlene Phillips, I hope you all are happy but remember John’s fans are out there and they will vote for the under dog next year. So a word of warning – choose some fit, young people for next year’s competition, maybe you could do some auditioning before hand and not show it to the public.

John Sergeants in Strictly Come Dancing

Public once again saved John Sergeant from the judges. Obviously John is doing his best and he has improved a lot from the last week.

This week he got 25 and it is his personal best in this competition.

Once the judges’ scores and the public votes were combined we saw model and TV presenter Lisa Snowdon and partner Brendon Cole and actress Cherie Lunghi and partner James Jordan being left in the bottom two. After the two couples fought for a place to stay in the competition, it was time for the judges to make their decision. Revel Horwood and Phillips voted to keep Snowdon and Cole in the competition. Toniolli voted to keep Lunghi and Jordan in the competition. As it was a tie Len Goodman had to cast the deciding vote and he did not sound very happy and he said ‘I fell like I am chucking someone out of the competition’. He voted to keep Snowdon and Cole in the show.

When it was time for Lunghi and Jordon to go, Jordon said ‘I think people should know that this is a dancing competition and vote for the dance. Otherwise you might see more people being upset’.

John is a beginner and he has improved week by week. I wouldn’t be surprised to see John go all the way to the final.

Well, here we are in Week 8 of Strictly Come Dancing. In tonight’s show we saw three couples at the top of the leader board with a score of 36 from the judges. They were Tom and partner Camilla, Cherie and partner James and Lisa and partner Brendan. It’s funny how all three dances were ballroom dances. Tom danced the Quickstep, Cherie danced the Waltz and Lisa danced the Viennese Waltz. Out of these three couples, for me the best was Tom, who looked so natural and professional. Tom got some nice comments from the judges as well. Len said that he was right in character and that there was a charm about it. Bruno said that it was like watching Jumping Jack Flash. Arlene said that he was jumping on giant stones and not on hot coal and that he deserves a place in the final.

It seems as though it’s hard for couples to dance a Latin dance and get a good score from the judges. We saw John again at the bottom of the leader board with only 12 points from the judges. He danced the Cha cha cha. Jodie danced the Samba and got 23. It looked as though John had given up on the whole dancing thing or he’s just too excited about Obama being elected as the president this week. He was just walking around and it was like watching him do the training still. I feel John has gone really far and it might just be his time to leave the competition and go back to what he does best, journalism. Even though John can’t dance the judges were a bit harsh and not even interested to comment on his dance. Craig only gave him 1 out of 10 and said that it was a disaster. Arlene said that John was outstanding when it came to dancing really badly.

The second on the leader board was Rachel and Vincent who did an American Smooth and they got 35 from the judges. Below them were Christine and Matthew who danced the Jive and got 31. I felt as though Christine’s dance was underscored as her Jive was very energetic and exciting. On the other hand I felt that Austin’s Rumba was over-marked. He got 29 for his Rumba, where his hips were very stiff. But I have to say that Erin did a great job with the choreography.

Heather and partner Brian danced the Tango and got 27 from the judges. Craig said to Heather that it was a marked improvement and that the dance suited her a bit more. Arlene said that Heather got stronger and stronger week by week. Len said that he saw drama and passion in it.

Here are tonight’s scores:

Tom and Camilla: 9 + 9 + 9 + 9 = 36
Cherie and James: 9 + 9 + 9 + 9 = 36
Lisa and Brendan: 9 + 9 + 9 + 9 = 36
Rachel and Vincent: 8 + 9 + 9 + 9 = 35
Christine and Matthew: 7 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 31
Austin and Erin: 5 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 29
Heather and Brian: 6 + 7 + 7 + 7 = 27
Jodie and Ian: 3 + 6 + 7 + 7 = 23
John and Kristina: 1 + 3 + 4 + 4 = 12