S14.E01: Launch show

[Occasional Hope]

Coming up this evening.  We'll get our first sight of the celeb pairings and see how they look like shaping up.

[Occasional Hope]

First thoughts:

Louise looks quite middle aged now, and her moves were on the matronly side.  Kevin looked disappointed, and I’m not surprised.  She should have signed up 10 years ago.

Naga seems engaging and has a good partner - could do well.

Anastacia is the big name this year; I suspect the BBC will want her to stay in a fair while.  I wonder why she did this and not DWTS?

Laura should do well – she looked good in the group dance, and I’m picking her for the final.

Melvin claims to have rhythm, let's see.  I'm thinking a mid-pack finish.

Greg probably won't be great.

Rinder will be terrible.  Why can't he use his first name here?

HollyoaksHeartthrob Danny is very good looking and will prob do well even if he's rubbish.  Oti got a dud last year, so good for her.  I think he'll be the top male this year, unless one of the others is much better than expected; but I’m predicting a female winner, and possibly an all-female final.

Claudia could be great with her gymnastics background, and she and AJ make a very cute couple.  But will he have enough experience for her to win?

Isn’t Daisy’s father a musician?  She should have some rhythm, and she has Aljaz, so could be a dark horse.

Lesley Joseph and Anton were the most predictable pairing. 

Tameka’s a bit irritating, but bearable compared to some previous years' Annoying Contestants. 

Sports presenter guy (missed his name) may be OK – seems to have rhythm, could be the male breakout performer.

Ed Balls – first out?  Certainly by far the worst in the group dance.

I suspect Will Young won’t be great, and won’t take criticism well.

[Dots And Stripes]

Lesley is the oldest woman ever to compete on Strictly? Of Course she's with Anton. I like her personality and she is very clearly the type of celebrity he's good with. I realized watching the show how much I had missed Anton. If only he bothered to learn latin. Anastasia is also a very Brendan partner in that he has had a lot of trainwreck partnerships. She doesn't want to be yelled at. Good luck with that.

Interesting that Melvin and Robert both have big personalities and are fairly short but have wildly different partners. Melvin gets Janette, who comes with a big personality of her own and a poor record of teaching standard dances. Robert gets Oksana, who didn't make a peep and has a lot more training. I think Robert has enough personality for the both of them, but we'll see if he draws Oksana out of her shell. Tameka and Gorka look to have a similar dynamic too. Strictly likes to script those VT's so maybe Oksana and Gorka won't need to do much in terms of personality.

Greg is young and seems charming enough. Iwan was a track star who was awful, so that has me a little worried. I want to see Natalie in the finals again. She has her work cut out for her though. 

Danny is very nice to look at but came across as very smarmy.

Dear Giovanni, please do not showmance two seasons in a row. 

Karen is still too much and not in a good way.

[legaleagle53]

3 hours ago, Occasional Hope said:

Anastacia is the big name this year; I suspect the BBC will want her to stay in a fair while.  I wonder why she did this and not DWTS?

Probably because she's better known outside the US than inside it.  Her career never really took off at home, whereas it exploded in Europe, and particularly in the UK, according to Wikipedia.

She's also grown up with a host of health problems, so Brendan is going to have quite the challenge on his hands this year.

Occasional Hope, Daisy's biological father is Bush singer/guitarist Gavin Rossdale.

[Anothermi]

This is of my favorite kind of cast. I don't know anybody (OK, I actually do remember Anastacia from her performance on SCD). I DID watch all of last year and have no memory of Will. Ditto for anyother cameo appearances by anybody except the above mentioned singer (although I don't remember what she sang).

No preconceptions. Yay!

[legaleagle53]

I'm watching the launch show now on YouTube.  I have to say that so far, I'm impressed.  I think it's going to be a good season of dancing and entertainment.