How Strictly Come Dancing shows the worst of the British public

While the programme is one of the most inclusive on TV, the voting audience is not

As someone who would rather watch a YouTube video than a ITV drama, my love for Strictly Come Dancing is as much of a mystery to me as it might be to you.

It was actually when OG YouTuber Joe Sugg joined the show in 2018 that I first tuned in. I wasn’t a huge fan of his, but had watched his videos from time-to-time and thought he seemed like a nice guy.

Joe drew me in, but I stayed watching his love story with professional dancer - Dianne Buswell - unfold.

Despite their denials, it was obvious these two were falling head over heels and as someone who LOVES a love story, it really felt quite special to witness.

Five years later and the start of the colder evenings always excites me because it means Strictly time. Dianne remains my favourite and I have no shame (well, maybe some) in confessing I regularly DM her post Saturday night to congratulate her for her latest performance.

As much of a Strictly superfan as I am, I hate the Sunday show. It’s like watching a sports match and having to wait 24 hours for the results. Which is why, come 10pm on a Saturday night, I’m refreshing the Strictly Spoiler website and waiting for an update from Dave Thorpe on who ended up in the dance off.

In the meantime, I’ll browse two forums and one Reddit thread to get a general consensus as to what way people are voting and every time it saddens me to see just how mean the British public can be.

Whether it’s slagging off professional dancers for no apparent reason or commenting on aspects of the celebrities lives that feel like they should be off limits.

The most frustrating part is, the misogyny of it. These remarks are 9/10 always aimed towards to the female celebs and pros. Their male contestants however are mainly praised or just ogled over.

Take Layton and Nikita. Layton is a professional dancer and West End performer with far more experience than anyone else on the show.

Strictly tend to have one of these contestants every year - someone who is already a trained dancer - and usually it tends to be a woman.

Last year it was Molly Rainford, who went to a drama school. Despite her high scores, by Blackpool, Molly had already been in three dance offs.

In the same time period but in 2020, actress and singer Maisie Smith (who also attended theatre school), ended up in the bottom two twice, even with a score of four 9s.

Not forgetting Pussycat Dolls member Ashley Roberts in 2018, who ended up in the dance off three times in a row, even when she scored the perfect 40.

However, despite Layton having arguarbly the most experience out of these examples and with just as high scores, he has so far not been in one single dance off.

The only difference? Layton is a man.

Now, while Layton has enough barriers to break down as a Black, queer man, it seems the female Strictly audience do treat a gay man and a woman, quite differently.

While I love seeing older audiences embrace different cultures and sexualities, I can’t help but feel frustrated that as women we are so quick to condemn one another.

There is absolutely no way a woman could have done the same borderline erotic performance (which I loved, FYI) as Layton did on Saturday night and not end up in the bottom two.

That’s because in the eyes of other women, we can’t be too sexy, too competitive, too emotional, too confident or too talented.

The misogyny doesn’t end there though. You only have to read the comments on social media about Angela Rippon to witness the uncalled for venom and frankly ageist comments.

While Strictly is now arguably the most inclusive programme on primetime TV, unfortunately their audience isn’t… at least when it comes to their treatment of women and as a viewer, it really does put me off the show at times.

Have you noticed this? I would love to hear the opinions of my fellow Strictly fans.