A bit of a repost from almost exactly a year ago. Like Angela herself, I think it’s aged pretty well. The same can’t be said for Strictly Come Dancing, once a hugely popular BBC program. (“Dancing with the Stars” is the US copycat edition.)
Ever since the Fall of 2023, “Strictly” has been mired in controversy, kicked off by celebrity contestant Amanda Abbington (loved her in Mr. Selfridge and in Sherlock), who featured in the same series as Angela Rippon, the one that started airing last Fall. Part-way through, Amanda bailed under then-mysterious, perhaps medical circumstances. Some time after, she launched a set of accusations against her professional partner in the series, Giovanni Pernice, a very good-looking and much-beloved Sicilian who’d been lauded, a couple of years beforehand, for his sensitive approach to dancing with his partner Rose Ayling-Ellis, the show’s first deaf contestant, one which led to them winning the “Glitterball Trophy” at the end.
But even Giovanni couldn’t survive Operation Amanda, and even though the BBC cleared him of the worst of her allegations (that he was threatening and physically abusive), they did find that she’d suffered verbal bullying and harassment. Amanda got her apology, and Giovanni was shunted aside. (He’s appearing this year in the Italian version of the show.) Along the way, a few other celebrity contestants popped up to say that they’d felt hard-done-by too when it came to their professional dance partner, and the Amanda effect multiplied. Examples from the show’s 20 years on the air were dredged up, including this from Ranvir Singh (who danced with Pernice in 2020 as one of the first featured same-sex couples–it’s that sort of show), who said “Don’t be fooled by his angelic face. He’s a fiery Italian, super-strict. I’m a bit scared of him.”
Cue a small frisson of excitement on Ranvir’s behalf.
And this from 2014, alleged by contestant Steve Backshall against his pro partner Ola Jordan, that she had “bullied” him. At the time, a friend of Backshall’s told the Daily Mail that
Steve is a very bouncy personality, up for any challenge, but Ola’s harsh treatment has flattened him and made him lose confidence.
She was very rude and impatient when he found it difficult to master the shapes.
Her choreography and tuition was so tough, Steve resorted to asking other people to show him what he had to do,” they [?!] went on. “Ola is a cold and very distant personality, who refuses to mix with Steve’s family and friends.”
Oh. The horror. (Just FTR, Steve Backshall is “a British naturalist, explorer, presenter and writer,” the star, over the years of such films and television programs as Deadly 60, DIY Deadly, Shark Bites, Swimming with Monsters, Deadly Pole to Pole, Live and Deadly, Deadly Predators, and many more. But he seems to have been unmanned by Ola Jordan, a 5’4″ woman eleven years his junior he encountered not in the jungles of South America or on the ice floes of either the Arctic or the Antarctic, where she was trying to kill him; but in the BBC studios in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, where she was trying to help him win some recognition and some money.)
I dunno about any of you, but I find it hard to view these allegations (perhaps exempting the one involving one of the pros “kicking” one of his celebrity partners) as much of anything. Drama queens of either sex are gonna drama queen, and I don’t think there’s much to be done about it other than buckle up for the ride and get on with it. Getting shouted at for your clodhopperish ways or for your inability to do as you’re told may just be part of the deal (as it was when you were five years old), and may just be the price you have to pay for the publicity, and the money, you signed up for. (Some might say that’s how we learn. Probably fewer than in generations past, though.)
And yet, the BBC is leaping into action! They’ve hired adult “chaperones,” whose purpose is to be present at every rehearsal and–ostensibly–to make sure that “adults” who’ve undertaken–of their own free will–participation on a television program whose avowed purpose is to change them from ugly ducklings into gorgeous swans on the ballroom dancing floor are not subjected to demanding treatment by their professional partners.
Team Amanda (and some others) seem to think the appointment of chaperones is a victory for them.
I disagree. Frankly, I think the purpose of the “chaperones” (which the BBC is paying for) is simply to protect the BBC, and to make sure that nothing like Amanda’s accusations will hold any water, ever again. I think all those who believe otherwise are fooling themselves.
**https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-13949137/amanda-abbington-resurfaced-video-giovanni-pernice-strictly.html. Not the first time she’s crossed herself up in this matter.
But I digress. Here’s the original post, prior to all the above nonsense, from just over a year ago:
“Who is Angela Rippon?” You may ask.
And it’s perfectly fine if you do. I’m ready to go to war on her behalf.
I know who Angela Rippon is mostly because I’m old enough to remember her insurgence on the BBC as its first permanent female journalist on the national television news. And also–not to put too find a point upon it–I remember Dad calling her a “poppet,” one of his favorite words for a woman who deserved recognition not only because of her charming female persona, but also because she had guts, intelligence and presence. If Dad hadn’t thought Angela Rippon worth bothering with, I’m not sure I would have either. But he did. And so here I am.
These days, she’s a national institution.
Angela Rippon will be 79 years old next week. She’s recently appeared irregularly on GBNews (something which takes guts in its own right, the political climate being what it is).
And she’s signed up as the oldest contestant ever on the perennially popular BBC series Strictly Come Dancing (parent of the US series Dancing with the Stars.)
Here’s this week’s entry, in which she dances with her professional partner who’s 50 years younger than she is. If you’re not charmed (starting with the choice of music), I’m not sure I want to know you:
You might not win the trophy, Angela dear, but thank you, from women of a certain age, everywhere.
