I'm a Strictly superfan and this is why the show needs to make one major change

Strictly Come Dancing: Katya Jones and Wynne Evans go through

When people ask me about my favourite reality show, my mind immediately goes to one thing.

I wish I could say it was something poignant or thought-provoking like True Detective or Succession. But if I’m being completely honest, it’s Strictly Come Dancing.

I’ve been watching the heart-warming BBC show ever since it first hit the airwaves in 2004 with the late but great Bruce Forsythe.

Every year, the whole family would gather around the telly to watch the BBC show with a bag of sweets and a heart full of joy. It was one of the few shows we all actually enjoyed.

Even my dad – who hates reality TV at the best of times – couldn't help but fall in love with Tess and Bruce and the famous celebrity line-up trying their best to become ballroom dancers.

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Last week Shayne Ward faced off Wynne Evans in the dreaded dance-off (Image: PA)

But I have to say, in recent years, the show has lost some of its sparkle.

Maybe it’s just because I’m a little bit older now and too much pessimism has seeped in, but the show has started to lose its heart in order to deliver more challenging routines.

Last week, we said goodbye to The X Factor winner and Coronation Street star Shayne Ward after he lost out to opera singer Wynne Evans in the dreaded dance off.

It was the actor’s third time performing in the dance off this series, but this time he performed the rumba to Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper with his professional dance partner Nancy Xu.

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He was the eighth star to be booted from the BBC show (Image: PA) SUBSCRIBE Invalid email

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Meanwhile the professional singer danced the American Smooth to Grace Kelly by MIKA with his partner Katya Jones. When it came down to the final vote, Craig Revel Horwood and Motsi Mabuse chose to save Shayne and Nancy.

But Anton Du Beke decided to save Wynne and Katya leaving Shirley Ballas to make the difficult decision as Head Judge to make the deciding vote – which happened to be Wynne.

Their unfortunate exit quite rightly sparked outrage amongst diehard fans online. Personally, I felt that Shayne had a much harder routine to perform on the night compared to Wynne’s American Smooth.

But one change that I think the show needs to make is to get rid of the Sunday nights result shows altogether.

The Strictly results are always leaked hours before Sunday's show (Image: PA)

It’s only in the last few years that I realised that they film the results show on Saturday night and simply air it on Sunday to add a bit more drama to the show.

But in reality, I think it leaves too much opportunity for spoilers to slip through – there's even a Twitter account dedicated to spoiling the show with leaks every Sunday morning, 12 hours before the show hits the airwaves.

Other reality shows such as Dancing on Ice or I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! air the results at the end of the episode after a brief intermission, usually with a performance from a singer or band.

I think it would make a lot more sense to encorporate this structure into the show to eliminate leaks entirely.

Split decisions by the judges should return to the public vote (Image: PA)

Furthermore, when it comes to making tough calls like Shirley found herself doing this weekend – I think if the judges are split then the decision should be made based on which contestant received the least votes on the night.

I think this week in particular, Shayne was the much stronger performer who tackled that difficult routine head on and gave a stellar performance.

He is one of the main stars on the show who truly started from nothing and has blown me away with how much he has improved over the past two months.

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My final pet peeve with the show that I think needs weeding out is contestants with previous dancing experience.

The show in a nutshell is about celebrity novices learning how to dance. Over the past few years, we’ve seen the likes of former West End star Layton Williams and Irish presenter Angela Scanlon both make it past the half-way point in the series.

This year we’ve got former Love Island star and commercial dancer Tasha Ghouri and the Welsh singer Wynne, who admitted in a resurfaced clip that he used to attend weekly ballroom classes as a child.  

I think this completely changes the playing field for the other contestants who will have to work ten times harder than those who have dance experience to keep their spot in the series.

If the show made these small changes to the programme, we'd finally get the glitzy sparkle back to the show and see if celebrate a whole new lease of life after marking its 20th anniversary on the airwaves.

I'm a Strictly superfan and this is why the show needs to make one major change

I'm a Strictly superfan and this is why the show needs to make one major change

I'm a Strictly superfan and this is why the show needs to make one major change

I'm a Strictly superfan and this is why the show needs to make one major change

I'm a Strictly superfan and this is why the show needs to make one major change