Has Strictly lost its sparkle?

Dancers are as good as the pros, they see it as a career move.

First up, let me lay my glittery cards on the table. I’m a massive Strictly Come Dancing fan. Like millions of viewers across the country, it’s my must-see TV of the week, my Saturday night special.

I love everything about Strictly the sequins, the sparkle, the pretend-y romances (which seem sadly thin on the ground this year), and, yes, especially the ‘js’ the journeys.

It’s a much over-used reality TV term. But part of Strictly’s magic has always been those rhythm-free celebs; the ones who can barely put one foot in front of the other to begin with but, with a bit of tuition of the cha-cha-cha, go from getting scores of fours and fives at the start to eights and nines as the series progresses.

I’m not talking about the John Sergeants and the Ann Widdecombes. We’ve still had the comedy acts who are there for the laughs and Hairy Biker Dave Myers is doing an unmissable job with his maracas in that department. His dance to moves “Moves Like Jagger” were comedy gold and he enjoyed the joke as much as anyone.

But think back to rugby player Matt Dawson in 2006. Early on, judge Arlene Phillips witheringly told him he “danced with the sex appeal of a gnat”. But he improved so much he was runner up, narrowly beaten by cricketer Mark Ramprakash.

And what about Pamela Stephenson in Strictly 2010? From an unsure start, we watched her confidence grow as she conquered the moves. She toned up, trimmed down and shimmied with the best of them.

And wasn’t she a joy to watch?

Or there’s Alex Jones from two years ago. The judges hailed The One Show host as the most improved dancer of the series.

Dragon’s Den star Deborah Meaden also had the potential to go from dodgy mover to great improver. Ironically, the week she went out she earned a standing ovation from the audience.

They got it. They knew she might not be a natural but hours of determination on the dance floor and work on her waltz was starting to pay off.

This time around, the Abbey Clancys and Natalie Gumedes having been strutting their high-scoring stuff from the off. Sophie Ellis-Bextor got four nines on her second week, for goodness sake though admittedly her Charleston was absolutely brilliant, with the judges describing it as “perfect”.

Once upon a time, that dance would probably have scored at least two tens but give her that in the second week and what’s left to aim for?

Ditto Natalie Gumede’s rumba she scored four nines in week three, with the show’s supposed resident meanie, Craig Revel Horwood saying: “Love. Love. Love. It.”

Abbey Clancy is another, scoring 35 out of a possible 40 on both weeks four and five. Week one’s waltz was full of grace and elegance and looked so effortless, it was hard to imagine her storming out of rehearsals because she couldn’t get the hang of it. Which is exactly what Matt Dawson did in 2006 when he couldn’t master the rumba after shouting that he hated it 13 times! As Craig would say, he was a disaahhhster, darling.

But by the end of the series, Brucie was saying: “Didn’t he do well!”

These mini soap-operas make the show what it is. Let’s not lose that essential Strictly charm.

The top scorers are brilliant and most of the boys are as good as the high-kicking girls. They’re a dream to watch, in their own way. As smooth as Ashley Taylor-Dawson’s chest.

But their moves have been as sparkly as their sequins from day one.

It’s taken a wee bit of the fun out of it. That amateurishness seems to have been a bit lost somewhere along the line.

It’s as if celebs know that Strictly is a smart career move so they work their socks off to impress from day one. Even the camaraderie seems a bit more forced this year. Is there the slightest sign of gritted teeth as the latest brilliant dancer runs up the stairs with their partner and the others congratulate them?

Maybe that’s why Zoe Ball, lover of all things Strictly and presenter of spin-off It Takes Two, last week called for the programme to return to its celeb-free roots and launch a version with members of the public.

“It would be like the golden ticket can you imagine if you got a golden shoe invitation posted through your door!” she said. Maybe she’s on to something.

Don’t get me wrong, Strictly is still fantastic viewing and up to ten million viewers a week can’t be wrong. It’s foxtrotting all over The X Factor with a skinny stiletto, so far beating it in the ratings war hands down.

It’ll continue to be the TV I look forward to most. But next year, let’s remember it’s supposed to be the lipstick that’s shiny and super-glossy from day one not the fancy footwork.