I’m glad there are no same-sex pairings on this year’s Strictly

Only three Strictly performances have actually moved me to tears. I’ve weirdly cried to more episodes of Come Dine With Me than I have to Strictly.

When Caroline Flack glided like an angel during her show-stopping show dance in the 2014 Strictly final, it really got me. I cried again when deaf contestant Rose Ayling-Ellis and Giovanni Pernice danced to silence in 2021; and the first time John Whaite and Johannes Radebe took to the stage as the first male pairing in the show’s history, I sobbed.

But John and Johannes weren’t Strictly’s first ever same-sex pairing.

The previous year, Nicola Adams became the first celebrity to be in a same-sex pairing – with Katya Jones – ever on Strictly. It was a pivotal moment – not just for Strictly, but for the entire LGBTQ+ community who had been calling, to no avail, for representation on what had always been the campest show on TV for years.

Sadly, after two clunky performances, Nicola was forced to drop out of the contest when Katya tested positive for Covid, but regardless, their brief stint on Strictly was so moving, so entertaining and more importantly, felt so normal.

But it didn’t bring me to tears.

Nicola and Katya were fun, but they were never going to lift the Glitterball trophy and, yes, while it was exciting to see Strictly finally catch up with the times, they were never going to blow anyone away.

When John and Johannes made their debut, however, I couldn’t quite believe how beautiful two men dancing together could really be. Their chemistry was electric, each week sparks exploded between them and they let their vulnerability capture us all, making it all the way to the final.

In 2023, when Layton Williams and Nikita Kuzmin were paired there was something particularly powerful about their bond; a straight man and a gay man performing together with such passion one week and then so much tenderness the next. 

We’ve now had five same-sex partnerships in four years. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community myself I have rooted for each and every single one of them every time.

This year, though – Strictly’s 20th anniversary – there isn’t a same-sex pairing in sight. And I actually think that’s a good thing.

This current series of Strictly is the most important in its 20 years on air. It’s been plagued with controversy since Giovanni Pernice was accused of ‘bullying’ by his celebrity partner Amanda Abbington, sparking an ongoing investigation, and then Graziano Di Prima was sacked after footage of training rehearsals showed him kicking Zara McDermott.

Then, Shirley Ballas promised fans a line-up that would be ‘off the charts’ to celebrate 20 years of Strictly – only for it to be announced, and for its biggest name to be Nick Knowles.

There was an added disappointment for many, too, when they noticed the glaring absence of a same-sex partnership.

Initially, I was part of that camp.

Representation has never felt more important since Strictly introduced same-sex partnerships. The LGBTQ+ community has been unavoidable on primetime Saturday night television for years now and rightly so – it’s been great.

So when Strictly announced for the first time in four years there would be no same-sex partnerships, for a moment I feared the worst: Are we already taking five steps back after making so much progress?

But now, I feel like Strictly could be taking another five steps forward.

I don’t want the BBC to include same-sex pairings as an obligation anymore. It was absolutely crucial to have them for the first time in 2020 – 16 years later than it should have been.

Since then, too, it’s been important to keep up the momentum and feature same-sex partnerships so vastly different from each other.

But if anything, there is something positive to be said about Strictly’s decision not to include one this time around. They have proved that these pairings aren’t a mandatory box-ticking exercise for them. 

There will be another same-sex pairing on the show again – more than likely next year. And when that time comes, no one will be able to say it happened just because it had to. It will be there because the pair deserve to lift the Glitterball trophy and not because the BBC feared risking a bit of backlash.

And perhaps that is huge progress in itself.

When Strictly returned on Saturday night, I wondered if I would miss having a same-sex pairing to root for. Admittedly, I did a little – but I was also so completely blown away by the other meaningful representation throughout the night, I soon forgot about the same-sex shaped hole.

Tasha Ghouri, who was born deaf, was absolutely sensational with her lightning-paced Cha Cha to Sabrina Carpenter’s Espresso, shooting straight to the top of the leaderboard (until she was dethroned by JLS star JB Gill) and lining herself up as the contestant to beat.

And then by far, the star of the night was comedian Chris McCausland.

Chris is the first ever blind contestant to compete on Strictly and his first performance felt like watching a bit of a miracle.

Chris has absolutely no idea what his dance looks like or how he looks doing it, but he was attempting shapes most of us wouldn’t even dare to try, throwing his partner Dianne Buswell in and around his legs, sliding around the dancefloor with unbelievable spatial awareness, and fancy footwork you’d expect to see on a professional.

It was absolutely astonishing and reason enough alone to be glued to Strictly again week on week.

Saturday was always going to be a crucial night for Strictly Come Dancing after months of negative attention.

Its ratings are significantly down from 2023 but there is still plenty to celebrate. It became clear Chris is about to embark on the most unmissable Strictly journey we’ve seen for years, and the first episode was another night packed with the same entertainment that keeps us coming back year on year.

There might not be a same-sex partnership this year, but against all the odds, Strictly is back with what could shape up to be the series to ensure it has a bright future ahead of it – a future which will, no doubt, be packed with many more same-sex pairings to come.

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