Ariel1989 Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 Returning cast members have finally been announced so figured it was time to start a thread for Series 22! Hosts Tess Daly Claudia Winkleman Judges Craig Revel Horwood Motsi Mabuse Shirley Ballas Anton du Beke Pro Dancers Amy Dowden Carlos Gu Dianne Buswell Gorka Márquez Graziano Di Prima Johannes Radebe Jowita Przystał Kai Widdrington Karen Hauer Katya Jones Lauren Oakley Luba Mushtuk Michelle Tsiakkas Nadiya Bychkova Nancy Xu Neil Jones Nikita Kuzmin Vito Coppola Not returning is Giovanni Pernice, likely due to the bad press surrounding his partnership with Amanda Abbington. Since there are now 10 female pros and 8 male pros with Amy’s return and Giovanni’s departure, I could see them evening it out by adding at least two new male pros (maybe one if Amy’s not up to dancing in the pro numbers yet). Maybe Simone Arena from Ireland if they’re open to hiring significant others of current pros again (he’s Michelle’s boyfriend). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Wallace Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 Thanks for posting this thread, Ariel! I was wondering when the 2024 cast announcement, specifically the pros, would be announced. This is such a late announcement compared to previous years. Not surprised that Giovanni isn't returning as it seemed inevitable that he wouldn't. Gah that's such a shame for him to leave the show in this way with how last series turned out. Not the way I expected his Strictly journey to end (if it ends like this). Happy for the other pros though. And once again, I'm hoping and rooting for Michelle to get her chance to become a pro with a celebrity partner! Also wow 10 female pros and 8 male pros.... lots of female pros now, it seems. I wouldn't mind there being a few more new male pros in the mix but 18 is a high enough number and don't think we really need any more addition spare pros. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ariel1989 Posted July 10 Author Share Posted July 10 We have a 9th male pro! Aljaž Škorjanec is returning after a two-year absence! https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/2024/aljaz-skorjanec-returns-to-strictly-come-dancing Surprised but happy to see him back! Can't wait for another one of his beautiful Viennese Waltzes and Slow Waltzes. I think two years is the longest gap between series runs that any pro has had off the show; Nicole Cutler did series 2, skipped series 3 and returned for series 4 and 5, while Aliona, Natalie and now Amy have each withdrawn one year due to medical reasons but returned the following year. I wonder if they're planning on hiring a brand new male pro as well or will just stick with the 19 and give Amy the option of opting out of the pro numbers; if she decides that she's up for it, they can always use their co-choreographer Arduino Bertoncello to even out the number of men and women (he stood in for Giovanni last year in some of the pro numbers anyway). So excited for the upcoming series! Interested to hear some celebs confirmed now that it looks like we have all the pros; I do think that pros who are guaranteed partners are previous winners Vito, Jowita, Katya and Aljaž, longtime/popular pros Karen, Gorka, Dianne and Johannes, as well as last year's finalist Nikita and Amy if she's feeling up to partnering this year. Of Carlos, Graziano, Kai and Neil, I think Neil is the most likely to be benched again and of Lauren, Luba, Michelle, Nadiya and Nancy, I think Michelle is likely to be benched, Nancy will probably get a partner with her past two semifinals and recent Christmas Special victory and two of Lauren, Luba and/or Nadiya will be benched; I'm leaning towards Nadiya getting a partner this year since she was benched last year but it could depend on if Lauren or Luba click with a celeb prior to the pairing ups (look at how well they did with Krishnan and Adam last year). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Wallace Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 Aww yayy Aljaž coming back! I'm really surprised and didn't see that coming as it did seem like he was done with the show. But I've always really liked him and excited to see him return! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abe1818 Posted July 13 Share Posted July 13 Lord this strictly pre season is messy messy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ariel1989 Posted July 13 Author Share Posted July 13 (edited) Another shocker: Graziano has been let go What a mess and the series hasn’t even started yet, none of the contestants have even been announced yet either. If they aren’t adding any more past pros or hiring new ones, then I’m guessing there will be more male celebs than female this year or there will be an all-female partnership; they’ll definitely want at least one of the 8 remaining male pros on the bench in case one of the other 7 gets injured or sick before the first elimination (or before the first eliminated couple containing a male pro). Edited July 13 by Ariel1989 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Wallace Posted July 13 Share Posted July 13 WHHAATT @ Graziano not in the pro line up anymore? What in the world is going on with Strictly this year? I thought he was being primed up to be the next Giovanni so this is really a surprise. I guess that will be Vito now. But yeah I've been liking Graziano more each year and he's been getting better as a pro each year as well (though he regressed a bit from 2022-2023 but eh). Sad for him and I'll miss him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ariel1989 Posted July 15 Author Share Posted July 15 Reports and updates: Apparently, there's video footage of Graziano kicking and spitting on Zara during training; Strictly bosses were alerted a couple of times but never took action. HR recently reviewed footage from last year's series and finally began the process; they interviewed both Zara and Graziano and Graziano was fired this past Monday. Aljaž is replacing Giovanni and there will reportedly be a brand new pro hired to replace Graziano. There has been a statement released by Graziano on his IG, confirming his own misconduct that warranted his exit (he posted one statement, deleted it and posted an edited version, the Strictly Come Dancing Reddit page has both statements posted). Zara hasn't spoken out but she's still getting quite a bit of hate despite not even being the one who made the complaint . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Wallace Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 Yeah I read an article earlier today regarding Graziano's alleged actions towards Zara and it was really yikes to read. Suddenly I understand why the BBC let him go and I'm not as sad about the decision now. Although I don't understand why action wasn't taken sooner to let him go before the pros announcement. But I guess it's a process that takes some time to figure out. I don't get why the fandom are criticizing Zara when she has done nothing wrong nor even commented on this publicly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taylorkat Posted July 15 Share Posted July 15 Yikes. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ariel1989 Posted July 15 Author Share Posted July 15 41 minutes ago, *Wallace said: Yeah I read an article earlier today regarding Graziano's alleged actions towards Zara and it was really yikes to read. Suddenly I understand why the BBC let him go and I'm not as sad about the decision now. Although I don't understand why action wasn't taken sooner to let him go before the pros announcement. But I guess it's a process that takes some time to figure out. I don't get why the fandom are criticizing Zara when she has done nothing wrong nor even commented on this publicly. Yeah the people who reviewed the tapes were apparently very shaken by it. I'm glad that the BBC is taking this unprofessional conduct seriously but I wish they had acted when it actually happened and spared Zara from further trauma. I doubt they would've even reviewed last year's footage had it not been for Amanda speaking out; I wasn't a fan of or rooting for her last year due to her harmful transphobic views, but I absolutely believed her when she said that Giovanni was harsh with her. I remember Laura Whitmore not having a great experience with Giovanni (ntm being paired with him right after he broke up with her good friend, Georgia May Foote) and even Rose has alluded that he was sometimes a pain to work with to the point where she'd turn off her hearing aid to tune him out. Shame on those who enabled this unprofessionalism and abuse and good on those who took action and enforced actual consequences. I do wonder if we'll actually see Simone on the show this year after all; they may be short on time to hire a new dancer, he's got the experience from Belgium, Italy and Ireland, and he's local due to being the boyfriend of one of their current dancers. I'd imagine their screening process for the new pro will be very carefully done in order to avoid another Graziano situation where he's hired/announced and then fired due to a slip/crack in the background check. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Lily Posted July 16 Share Posted July 16 A lot of these scandals have been deeply laced in misogyny and victim blaming and it’s really gross. I’m glad the women and also people behind the scenes feel now ready to step up and speak out. Zara just released a statement confirming what we’ve heard and it’s really well put. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Diana Posted July 17 Share Posted July 17 (edited) Justice for Zara and all his victims. Zara's statement was beautiful and brave. Also I really hope there is accountability too to the owners who were alerted and didn't do anything. Edited July 17 by *Diana 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ariel1989 Posted July 19 Author Share Posted July 19 Kai and Nadiya broke up really not a good week, Strictly-wise. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Wallace Posted July 19 Share Posted July 19 1 hour ago, Ariel1989 said: Kai and Nadiya broke up really not a good week, Strictly-wise. Aww that's sad to hear as I really liked them together. Hopefully they can still dance on the show (though I get how that can be awkward, but the pros always keep it professional). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathacoo200315 Posted July 19 Share Posted July 19 What a dumpster fire this is… https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/anton-du-beke-fourth-bbc-33284481.amp Is Anton being replaced now?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Diana Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 At rate, maybe it's the whole culture of this show and it's time to end it. Sorry but come on now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Wallace Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 Oooh dear.... the Anton thing being brought up again. He did get away with that years ago (and I do like believe he was genuinely sorry for what he said to Laila, though that shouldn't have been said in the first place). Times were different back then versus how they were now, cause yeah he definitely would have been gone had he said that now. Ooof the article saying a decision will be made there soon. Gah if he does get fired... yikes. There is just wayy too much drama with Strictly. It's good people are being accounted for their past actions. But I feel bad for the upcoming cast as they'll be overshadowed with all of this. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Wallace Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 7 minutes ago, *Diana said: At rate, maybe it's the whole culture of this show and it's time to end it. Sorry but come on now. Ah yeah I don't want Strictly to end as I do love it. But it's so hard to overlook all of this drama (and past scandals haven't really affected the show itself), that I feel like it could end sooner than expected. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mathacoo200315 Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/first-female-bbc-strictly-come-33289066 …. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex95 Posted Tuesday at 01:14 PM Share Posted Tuesday at 01:14 PM I just read an article about what's going on with this show, glad to see it being discussed here. Jesus how horrifying. I think they should take a year off, clean house, and just go for a total rebuild. This is all just beyond unacceptable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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