Strictly‘s Sunday night dance-offs are always a tough watch. No one wants to leave the competition, and the pressure to perform for the judges again – but this time, better – is immense. But it must be done – one by one, week by week, the celebrities must be chucked off the dance floor and nine times out of 10 the right person says goodbye.
That was certainly the case this weekend, as ex-footballer Shaun Wright-Phillips became the fourth celeb to leave the competition. While I’m sad to see him go (his earnest eagerness to learn how to dance is exactly what makes Strictly so brilliant), he was the worst dancer of the night, scoring just 17 points for his jive to Stevie Wonder and Ariana Grande’s “Faith”. I’m surprised – and rather pleased – he managed to make it to week five.
The problem is that he was in the dance-off with Jaime Winstone. She opened Saturday night’s show with a delightful foxtrot in a performance that had judge Anton du Beke complimenting her on an “exquisite” head position and Craig Revel Horwood calling her spins “absolutely gorgeous, darling”. And while her score of 25 was a big drop from her joint leaderboard topping 34 last week, it certainly wasn’t worthy of the terror of the dance-off.
And yet, come Sunday night, there she was. Again. Jaime and her pro-partner Carlos Gu have already survived the very first dance-off of the series after scoring 21 for their cha-cha-cha. She was by no means at the bottom of the leaderboard then either, and thankfully the judges chose to save her and send hairdresser Chris Appleton home first.
Watching her have to prove herself once again when she is far from the worst dancer in the competition is tough. “It is a horrific feeling being up there,” she told spin-off show It Takes Two after her first dance-off. “It is at such a fast pace, and I am not used to being so vulnerable on camera. You do go back to that child in school going, ‘I don’t fit in’.”
Even worse is knowing that it’s the viewing public who have put her there. Strictly is a vote to save, so it’s a case of other celebs – even those who are undeniably less skilled on the dance floor than her – getting more votes to stay on the show.
As a result, the public vote turns Strictly, a show we’re supposed to believe is about the dancing, into a popularity contest – and it can start to feel nasty very quickly. Remember EastEnders actor Balvinder Sopal’s dance-off plight last year? By the time she left the show at the semi-final stage, she had broken the record of being in the dance-off more times than any other contestant in Strictly history. While she took it in her stride, it was undeniably difficult to watch and by the fourth dance-off (of six she ended up taking part in), it started to feel sinister.
Public votes can expose some uncomfortable patterns among the audience – sometimes including their prejudices. This means women (particularly women of colour) are more likely to be in a dance-off. For a show that is supposed to exemplify family-friendly, unbridled joy, it leaves a particularly nasty taste.
What’s the solution? Should Strictly get rid of the public vote altogether? Should the judges choose who is in the dance-off and then the public decides between those celebrities? Or should the leaderboard determine how the entire night plays out? There is one change on the horizon – next week, there’s a triple dance-off with three celebrities performing again in the hopes of staying in the show. Whether this will be fairer remains to be seen, but as I see it, it’s just a chance to make an extra celeb feel bad about themselves.
I can’t for the life of me work out why Jaime has already been in the dance-off twice. She’s likeable, a good dancer and a hard worker who is more than willing to learn – everything a Strictly celeb should be. But for some reason, she’s not pulling in the votes. We’re almost halfway through this year’s series, and I hope not to see her back in the dance-off until she is genuinely the worst dancer of the night.
‘Strictly Come Dancing’ continues next Saturday at 6.30pm on BBC One