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It's strictly dancing
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October 18, 2009
The evergreen Bruce Forsyth and glamorous co-host Tess Daly present the fifth series of the hit dance contest where celebrities are paired with professional dance partners to trip the light fantastic. Here, Bruno and Craig share their views on the show.
It seems obvious that a programme about dancing would be a big hit, yet there has been nothing like this on TV for years. Why has it taken so long for TV channels to come up with such a winning format?
Craig: It was put backwards by 30 years, really, because nothing was happening, everyone was bored with it. And social dancing went completely off the planet. Professional ballroom dancing was a very small, contained little group around the world, but I think this show has exploded that idea and everyone has fallen in love with it, particularly new generations that didn't know about social dancing. I think it's brilliant that kids themselves are doing it at school.
Bruno: It's taken dance out of a niche, especially that kind of ballroom dancing, and it's made a great entertainment show. Everyone can watch, from the kid to the grandpa. We have made it sexy, we've made it spanky. It brought a completely new audience to dance and reinvented the Saturday night variety because you have a fantastic band, great singer, it's all live, a host who delivers jokes, and us judges who do our turn in our way. It is great entertainment, especially in this day and age.
Who have been your favourite contestants?
Craig: We've had models like Penny Lancaster for instance, who brings with her all the Rod Stewart fans, as well as all the supermodel fans. The teenagers love it because of people like Rachel Stevens. We get pop artists.
Bruno: This series we have Kelly Brook, who is breathtaking. I mean, the girl would bring life back into lead and Alesha Dixon - you have no idea how good she is and beautiful she is. And Gethin - you know, people you would not expect to take on this kind of thing, like the tango or the foxtrot, and bring it back to life. This is probably my favourite series.
Craig: Definitely. The line-up was incredible and you have to remember that the dancers themselves are absolutely gorgeous. Not only to look at but to watch dance. And the dancing by the professionals is entertainment enough. Then you add a celebrity who actually wants to try to do their best. Yes, of course they fail, but that's part of it.
Bruno: Yes, but we love the bad ones! I think you need them because they add an element of accessibility, like if they can do it, I can. It makes it approachable. If you had everybody like Alesha Dixon or Kelly Brook or Gethin Jones, it would become unattainable. But it is attainable, you have all age ranges, the good, the bad and the ugly, and they are all entertaining.
Craig: Also, the reason why it crosses a lot of boundaries is because we have sports people as well. All the boys look up to the sports people, particularly cricketers and rugby players. Viewers like seeing butch rugby players getting out there, doing their dance. They also bring in sports fans to the show. I know this because when I went to a rugby match, I was attacked by thousands of people wanting autographs. It was unbelievable.
Bruno: And we've got Kenny Logan in this one to prove a point. A rough rugby player from Glasgow, you know, but I tell you he loves the dance. But you would never have expected a bruiser like him to have enjoyed it.
Bruno, you have some very imaginative ways to describe the celebrities' dancing. In the last series you said one celebrity "danced like a blender".
Bruno: I can't remember what I said now. I think it was a vacuum cleaner. Something to do with a vacuum cleaner.
A trash compactor?
Bruno: Any appliance. I think there will be a lot of recycling this year! A little greener maybe. You would be better as a composter. Actually, that's quite good...
Have any members of the public reacted badly to the criticism you give the dancers?
Craig: I've been attacked by trolleys in a supermarket in the back of the leg. No tomatoes thrown yet, but one woman came up to me and said, "You're that television judge from Strictly Come Dancing, aren't you?" I said, "Yes", and she went (makes a slapping movement with his hand), "That's for what you said about my favourite celebrity, but I just want to tell you I love you on the show", and I went "Aaagh, thank you".
Bruno: You can build up to the eggs this season.
Craig: Thank you, that's what I've always wanted, the eggs! I think people know I'm there to do a job and I say what I believe to an honest opinion and, as long as that amounts to something, I, as a dance professional, will maintain my standards.
YOU don’t care about getting your face messed up?
Craig: Well I’ve had my nose done!
Bruno: He’s saving, he has a fund. You know how people have trust funds, he’s got a surgery fund.
Craig: A doctor once wrote to me saying he could help and give me Botox, 50 percent off !
How did you feel about that?
Craig: I thought, well what is he going to help with? I won’t be able to frown – that would be awful.
Any embarrassing wardrobe malfunctions?
Craig: I think the one where we had to stop the show.
Bruno: ...when the mic got caught up...
Craig: Yeah the mic got caught up all around and it was glued together and they had to pull apart and they were stuck and then Karen Hardy, who was dancing with Mark Ramprakash, went ‘no, stop, stop, stop’ on a live performance.
Bruno:We’ve never had a proper ‘wow, agh’ moment.
Craig:But the worst one was the stopping of the show.
But shouldn’t they have kept on dancing? Professionally
speaking...
Craig:But there was no possible way, they got caught! If they were doing a ballroom dance they would have been fine but they were doing a Latin dance and they couldn’t separate they were stuck together!
They had to stop.
Bruno: They couldn’t move.
Craig:Bruce came back on and he was funny. He came
back and entertained everyone. A lady from the sound
department walked past and he just grabbed her and started dancing! We were all going ‘who is she?’ It
was hilarious.
That’s when Brucey is at his best, when he’s on his feet
thinking. He’s 81 and still amazing.
The series is on BBC Entertainment, Sundays at 8.30pm with the results show on Mondays.
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