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Strictly Come Dancing is over for another year. Footballer Karen Carney and her partner Carlos Gu have lifted the glitterball trophy! Yay!
And presenters Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman have waved goodbye to the Strictly ballroom for the final time.
They’ve presented the show together since Claudia joined the team in 2014, after presenting It Takes Two for many years, and Tess has been there since the start. So it’s a big change.
Not surprisingly, it was an emotional final. There were tears. There was laughter.
And we’re a bit sad that it’s all over.
But could Tess and Claudia’s departure be the opportunity Strictly needs to shake things up a bit?
Ringing the Strictly Come Dancing changes
We’ll always love Strictly, but there’s no denying that after two decades the show is feeling a little tired. It’s overly long, the VTs make us cringe and can we all just stop pretending that the results show is filmed on a Sunday?
Now Tess and Claudia have waved goodbye to the Strictly ballroom, things will be shaken up next year anyway, with the arrival of two new presenters.
But we’re not sure that’s enough to give it a proper revamp. We’d like to see Strictly Come Dancing make more changes to ensure it can keep bringing the sparkle for the years to come.
1 More dance challenges
We absolutely loved the Instant Dance Challenge this year. It was chaotic and hilarious and it really breathed life into one of the less exciting ‘middle’ weeks of the show.
So we definitely think that should stay.
In fact, we’d like more challenges scattered throughout the weeks to really liven things up.
2 Stop the pretence about the Sunday results show
We all know that the Sunday show is filmed straight after the Saturday live show. Every week the results leak online. Shall we just all stop pretending now?
There’s no denying the Saturday show is a bit long – who else fast forwards all the filler in between dances when catching up on iPlayer? So we think shorten the dancing show, and move the results to Saturday night, too. Like how The X-Factor used to do it.
In fact, we think this could be one of the most important Strictly Come Dancing changes we’d like to see!
3 Ditch the cringe
We cringe our way through the VTs before each dance. Of course we like seeing the dancers training but that’s enough. We don’t need to see them visiting family, or catching up with friends, or doing silly skits. Cutting all that would save more than enough time to shift the Sunday show to Saturday.
And while we’re talking about cringe, can we also lose the awful themed dances in week one? The sight of poor Emma Barton, who plays Honey in EastEnders, dancing in a flowery MinuteMart tabard to Honey Honey by Abba, will haunt us forever.
More Strictly Come Dancing changes
4 Lose the couple’s choice
We don’t know what the couple’s choice is. We don’t like it. It used to work when they could choose a specific style of dance, such as musical theatre or street dance. But now it’s all bare feet and sob stories.
Sometimes it’s one thing – like Lewis Cope’s amazing Halloween dance this year, which just seemed to be about the joy of dancing.
Sometimes it’s something else entirely, like the K-Pop dance poor George Clarke was subjected to. Is he a huge K-Pop Demon Hunters fan? It seems unlikely, but perhaps we’re wrong.
Other times it’s about the dancer’s family, or something else more personal. It’s hard to work out what it’s supposed to be and that makes it hard to judge if it hits the spot.
So either make it a choice of a specific dance, or drop it completely, we reckon.
Strictly Come Dancing changes
5 Theme weeks
We love Halloween, but we think the other theme weeks could be shaken up a bit. Movie Week, and Musicals Week seem interchangeable – do we need them both? Over the Pond in Dancing with the Stars they have all sorts of themes, including One-Hit Wonders Week, Tik-Tok Week – dancing to songs that went viral – and even Disney Week.
6 Go back to two dances a week
As dedicated armchair judges, it’s hard to compare dances when they’re all different. Back in the day, the Strictly contestants chose one of two dances to take on each week. It meant it was easier to compare them for us – it’s hard to compare a week one foxtrot to a week eight foxtrot.
And of course, it meant the judges could say exactly what they were looking for.
There’s no doubt that the judges’ scores have been – well, baffling is probably the word for it – this year. Having guidance about what they’re going to be judging each dance on would help us at home understand why they choose the marks they do.
Plus, let’s be honest, some dances are easier than other (we say, having not danced since an unsuccessful attempt at ballet class as a child). It always seems a shame to ‘waste’ a Tango in week one.
What other Strictly Come Dancing changes do we want?
7 Cast the talent net wider
It must be hard to find Strictly contestants and get a good mix of men and women, plus a range of skills and talents. But we’d really like more of a spread of abilities next year. This year many people seem to have been at the same level. We like a Strictly ‘journey’ and unexpected stars, like Bill Bailey or Darren Gough.
8 New pro dancers? Or judges?
We love the pros. We do. But perhaps it’s time for some new blood? And what about the judges? They’re good, but do they need shaken up a bit?
Swapping the judge with the casting vote each week was pointless. We’d rather have some guest judges sitting in.
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Kerry Barrett
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