Dynamic Debut For Debs?

Sep 22, 2017 by Rob

In a change from the established order, and not seen since series 3 of Strictly all the way back in 2005, we will see all couples dance in the first live show tomorrow night.

It will be something of a stamina test for viewers with the show lasting 2 hours 20 minutes, and it will be the same again next week, giving all celebs the chance to demonstrate both their ballroom and Latin skills prior to the first elimination.

We know the Strictly song and dance choices going into tomorrow night and we have had the chance to peruse training footage of all 15 celebs in the build up to the first live show HERE.

Week 1 Songs and Dances:

Alexandra and Gorka are Waltzing to (You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman by Aretha Franklin
Charlotte and Brendan will Foxtrot to The Best Is Yet To Come by Michael Buble
Chizzy and Pasha will Cha Cha to Boogie Fever by The Sylvers
Debbie and Giovanni will perform a Paso Doble to Be Italian by Fergie
Gemma and Aljaz will Cha Cha to There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back by Shawn Mendes
Mollie and AJ will Jive to Good Golly Miss Molly by Little Richard
Ruth and Anton are Waltzing to This Nearly Was Mine (Seth MacFarlane version)
Susan and Kevin will perform the Viennese Waltz to Mad About The Boy by Dinah Washington
Aston and Janette will Foxtrot to It Had To Be You Harry Connick Jnr
Brian and Amy will Tango to Temptation by Heaven 17
Davood and Nadiya will Cha Cha to Dedication To My Ex by Lloyd ft. Andre 3000
Joe and Katya are Jiving to Rockin’ Robin by Michael Jackson
Jonnie and Oti will Waltz to When I Need You by Luther Vandross
Rev. Richard and Dianne perform the Cha Cha to There Must Be An Angel by the Eurythmics
Simon and Karen will perform the Paso Doble to Song 2 by Blur

It would come as no surprise to see Mollie in the pimp slot with her jive. Simon Webbe had the pimp slot on the Saturday night show in series 12 dancing… a jive to ‘Good Golly Miss Molly’. Or she could be the opener – for the sake of feel-good tv, the show usually likes to start and end with a decent routine.

This will be Shirley Ballas’s debut on the show and based on her comments pre-lives she is expected to be harder to impress compared to her predecessor Len. Shirley may well want to lay down an early marker as new head judge and be more punitive with her scoring.

With this in mind, Coral/Ladbrokes have a couple of week 1 specials on offer which are of some interest. Given the show tends to favour a good opener – the sort of thing that would receive a ’SEVERN!’ from Len – Shirley’s first score looks most likely to be a 6, priced at 3-1.

A score of 15 or under is now priced up at 9-2. Looking at recent series the judges have tended to be quite generous with scoring on the opening show although Carol Kirkwood was awarded a 16 (2, 5, 5, 4) for her first dance, a cha-cha-cha, a couple of years ago.

Studying this year’s training footage it is certainly easy to envisage the likes of Brian Conley and Rev Coles propping up the leaderboard, and given the Shirley factor, a 15 or less looks a possibility.

In terms of first elimination betting, subscribers were advised Brian at 12-1 and Charlotte at 6-1 earlier this week. Both have since shortened but there is probably still some juice in Brian’s price of 6-1.

His training VT hinted that he is struggling with the technique and isn’t particularly enjoying the Strictly experience. Charlotte may get away with a sympathetically scored foxtrot, with a potentially much more demanding Latin test to come for her next week.

After last year’s triple whammy of Melvin, Tameka and Naga being eliminated in the first 3 weeks, Chizzy may well be offered a degree of protection by TPTB to try and avoid the ‘racist’ media headlines that this sort of thing inevitably generates.

Susan’s VW could be somewhat forgettable on the night but certain social media measures hint that she is popular. Simon has looked ok in training and a paso to Blur’s Song 2 should have impact. Debbie, meanwhile, has looked good in training and is expected to get off to a strong start dancing paso to a dramatic piece of music.

At the top of the market it looks like something has to give. Both Alex B and Aston are starting with ballroom routines which may well turn out to be their weaker discipline compared to fast Latin in which both are anticipated to excel. That said, both will likely still be competent. Mollie is expected to start with a bang whereas Gemma has the always difficult CCC to open with and looks like being a gradual improver over the weeks.