Five words guaranteed to strike fear into a Strictly contestant’s heart: “I’m being really picky now.” When Craig Revel Horwood nitpicked Fleur East’s jive to “Waterloo” during Strictly Come Dancing’s baffling BBC centenary show, it was with that apologetic qualifier. The judge had only pointed out East’s “boisterous” top line and a timing mishap that lasted “literally three seconds”, he insisted, because she was so good. So good, in fact, that she seems to be held to slightly different standards. She was awarded a seven by Horwood, and one week later so was… Tony Adams. It begs the question: when is a sev-eeeeeeen not really a sev-eeeeeen?
On social media, viewers were quick to jump on the discrepancy. Why were undeniably excellent dancers like East and Molly Rainford receiving sixes and sevens for strong routines with a few minor issues, while significantly worse performers like Adams were being praised for seemingly having a stab at it? Watch East and Adams dance side by side and there would be no competition, yet she sat only one mark higher than Adams on last Saturday’s leaderboard. It prompts the same discussion every year: that the scoring on Strictly is as annoying as those dodgy CGI segments they’re hell-bent on using to make the dances look fancy.
