STRICTLY PROHIBITED: Curse or Coincidence?

When deciding on a topic for my first blog post, I thought to myself; What am I interested in? What would my readers be interested in? What’s been going in in the media this week? So, I thought I’d keep this light-hearted and discuss the recent Strictly Come Dancing scandal. If you don’t like Strictly don’t leave just yet, I for one am not a major fan but I have somehow become captivated by the so called ‘Strictly curse.’

Popular entertainment show Strictly Come Dancing has a troubled history of sparking relationship woes among its celebrity contestants but is it really a ‘curse’ or just a coincidence? Well, let’s take a look…

It’s been the latest media frenzy this week taking the world of showbiz by storm and anyone who has any contact with the outside world will undoubtedly heard of the recent goings on between strictly duo, Seann Walsh and Katya Jones.

If you for some reason have been living as a hermit, Seann and his professional dance partner Katya were spotted sharing a kiss and joking around outside a London bar last week much to the dismay of their respective other halves.

Exhibit A: #Awkward

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Seann was in a long-term relationship whilst Katya is married to fellow strictly dancer Neil Jones, who made his feelings towards Seann pretty clear on Saturday nights show.

If looks could kill, literally…

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Curse or Coincidence?

A total of 9 couples have already fallen for the strictly ‘curse’ since the show’s debut back in 2004 so it does make me think, perhaps this is a curse? or maybe we are just dealing with a bunch of celebrities who simply can’t handle themselves around a few sweaty dancers, either way the debate seems to captivate the minds of the public every year.

Having never been a fan of Strictly Come Dancing with this year being no exception, I found myself unable to escape the drama on social media, and let’s not kid ourselves, we all love a bit of drama! I tuned in to Strictly ‘It Takes Two’ to see how the couple would deal with the utter shame of the situation and it was possibly the most uncomfortable thing I have ever witnessed, and I certainly wasn’t alone there.

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One thing I can say about the so called ‘curse’ is that it has worked wonders for the BBC. When news broke of Seann and Katya’s infidelity, BBC bosses were rather silent on the issue, understandably perhaps. However, there was no escaping the scandal, with some celebrities jumping to Seann’s defence whilst others began to publicly bash him and his partner Katya calling for the pair to be kicked off the show. Strictly judges, current and previous contestants appeared on various TV shows over the course of the week sharing their opinion on the scandal, so Strictly well and truly gained mass publicity, whether it be positive or negative.

So, have the BBC played up to the ‘Curse?’

From keeping up with all the drama in the world of Strictly, I can’t help but think this whole ‘curse’ debate has worked in the BBC’s favour, with viewing figures hitting a whopping 11.9 million this week with many eager fans tuning in to see the couple perform, I think we can agree that the BBC has well and truly won the Saturday night TV ratings war, but maybe unfairly this time around! The BBC meticulously planned each and every minute in Saturday night’s show to keep viewers on their toes, even leaving Seann and Katya as one of the last couples to dance, so is it really any wonder why they kept them in the show? It was total genius!

It remains unseen as to whether or not the ‘curse’ is real so the real question is, will it all be forgotten about by next week? Probably not, but lets all sit back and watch the drama unfold.

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The Strictly Saga continues…

Sorcha Conway is a final year BSc in Communication Management & Public Relations student at Ulster University. She can be contacted through; Facebook: Sorcha Conway /  Twitter: @SorchaConway / LinkedIn: sorcha-c / Instagram: sorchaconway515