Keep Dancing!

My next story is proof that never giving up on your dreams CAN pay off. For several years I applied to as many shows of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ as I could. I’ve never missed an episode! Each year I applied for most dates. You can apply to as many as you like but it only accepts one application per episode and there is a maximum of one pair of tickets per applicant. It is a ticket lottery with a random draw and is the most applied for show on TV with around 250,00 applicants per individual episode! It’s claimed that more than five million people apply every year, making it the hottest ticket in TV land. Previously ‘Top Gear’ was the most popular. Scratching my head at that one…!

As the years went by I continued to go through the motions of applying, not for one second thinking I’d be successful. I would just submit my details and forget about it. So imagine my surprise when in 2019 I got a text out of the blue saying I’d got two tickets for a show in just under three weeks time! My heart was literally racing. First of all I didn’t expect to get a text so I wasn’t sure if it was even genuine and it didn’t even really register at first. But as soon as I got the email ticket it was all systems go. There was no question about whether we would go, it was a no-brainer!

We booked a nearby hotel so that we could get changed there before the show. However, the madness started way before then! I had warned my husband (not known for his good time-keeping!) that it would have to be a VERY early start. As not everyone who asks for tickets uses them, they send out more tickets than there are places. This means that admission is on a first come first served basis and is not guaranteed. They start the ticket validation process from 9.00 am but of course most people get there much earlier to avoid disappointment.

By this tIme the recording of ‘Strictly’ had been moved from the old London BBC centre to Elstree Film Studios at Borehamwood in Hertfordshire, around a two hour drive from home. I also had the benefit of hindsight from my ‘Children in Need’ experience the year before. Firstly, the importance of ID. Secondly, having spoken to one or two people who had previously had the opportunity to go to ‘Strictly’ I knew the queues started at ‘Are you kidding o’clock?’ and some people even camped overnight. There was no way on earth I’d get my husband to agree to that and, to be fair, this was November in the UK and I wouldn’t describe myself as that hard core! I can do standing in a queue during the day, even in the rain (and have on many occasions) but sleeping outside overnight on a pavement? Nope!

We left in the early hours and stopped for fuel about ten minutes from our destination. Imagine my horror when my husband discovered he had left his wallet at home. Not a problem in terms of payment as I had cards on me. Oh no, that was the least of our worries. That wallet was also the holder of his driving licence – yes, his only form of ID for getting into the show! I can still remember the feeling of my blood running cold at the realisation he may just have blown what might be our only ever chance of seeing my favourite show. I felt numb. However, I would not be beaten without at least trying to find a solution.

So this is what happened. He dropped me off with a couple of camping chairs and I joined the end of the queue which wasn’t as bad as I expected, to be fair. After several calls to wake up two of our children – not renowned for hearing any sound whatsoever when asleep – he eventually persuaded them to meet him halfway with his wallet. One driving, one for company!

In the meantime I made new friends. Of course I did! We chatted the minutes away and we were like old friends after a couple of hours!

Luckily the kids did good and met their dad as asked. I hate to think what his drive back to me was like but by that stage I was past caring! I was nervous before we set out so I could have done without the extra stress. Thankfully he made it back with a few minutes to spare and before the queue started to move forward. We duly had our tickets validated with a sticker. Our sticker numbers were in the seventies so we really had done well.

Our hotel was just a few minutes walk from the studio. We paid a small fee to check in earlier as we were told to return to the studios at 2.15 pm which was a five hour wait. We thought we might as well be able to completely relax after such an early start.

The dress code on the ticket stated “Glamorous – strictly no jeans” so we took our posh togs! I wore a fur jacket over my dress and Martin had a velvet blazer so it was very annoying that it started to rain just as we got to the queue. Luckily we took a small umbrella but the damp air wrecked my carefully curled hair, I might as well have not bothered! It wouldn’t have been so bad if we’d gone straight in but we ended up lining up for almost two hours. It was all a bit of a fiasco. The whole point of giving everyone staggered times was to avoid anyone having to hang about but by the time the doors opened all of the audience were queuing at the same time again. It turned out there was some sort of staff shortage on the security which slowed everything down. Come on BBC, surely you could have been more organised! Eventually we got in to the waiting area and were issued with raffle tickets to determine the order of entry into the studio.

We were ushered in in groups according to the numbers and colours of our tickets but not totally in order – it was chaotic enough just gathering everyone together in the number range, without lining everyone up in actual number order! We were in one of the first groups and thought we’d be sat around the dance floor but we were led upstairs instead. So much for being glammed up for the cameras but, to be fair, by then I felt rather bedraggled from the two hours in the rain anyway so maybe that’s not such a bad thing! We were a bit disappointed at first but we soon realised it wasn’t so bad. We were on the balcony that’s above the judges and could only see them if we leaned over but we were actually sitting adjacent and very close to the little pod that Claudia Winkleman is filmed in when she greets the couples after they have danced. So when you see them run up the stairs after the adjudication, that’s where we were. It was really fun because some of the professional dancers hung about on that corner to watch the other dances. Alijaz, Gorka and Anton gave us cheeky waves and messed around! They were really friendly and fun.

When the studio had been filled we realised we’d actually lucked out because the chairs on the ground section are really small and linked together so the audience were literally shoulder to shoulder. We would have hated that! Our ‘bench’ wasn’t exactly luxury but we had loads of wriggle space and weren’t sat on top of each other. The view from that height and angle was perfect too.

Before the filming started the assistants gave out water and snacks to everyone as we were not allowed to take any food or drink in with us. This is more significant than you might think but more on that later….

The afternoon started with some pre-recordings of the professional group dances and a special performance (singing and dancing) from judge Bruno Tonioli. I guess it’s the only way they can do it in a live show with all the costumes etc. Bruno’s performance was recorded 2.5 times (Johannes fell over so they had to start again!). It was every bit as ‘camptastic’ as you’d imagine it to be!

The remaining celebrities at that time were former Emmerdale actor Kelvin Fletcher (that season’s ultimate winner), comedian Chris Ramsey, social media star Saffron Barker, former England footballer Alex Scott, CBBC presenter Karim Zeroual and Eastenders actress Emma Barton. It was a good point in the series to be there as the standard was very high by then.

Kelvin and Oti’s couples’ choice was a Northern Soul inspired dance and it was a first in that genre of dance. It was really cool! Alex and Neil did an Argentinian Tango, Emma and Anton did a Quickstep, Chris and Karen did a Paso Doble, Saffron and AJ did a Samba and Karim and Amy did a contemporary dance for their couple’s choice.

There was one point during the filming where there seemed to be a bit of a commotion. As the show goes out live the only opportunities they have to sort out any issues are when they are showing a VT of rehearsals which are only ever a few minutes long or when they are announcing voting numbers or advertising ‘It Takes Two’. Being a BBC production there are of course no commercial breaks. The ‘problem’ seemed to be some sort of leak coming from above the judges area and a few audience members had noticed drops of water. They thought it was an air conditioning malfunction and investigated that. They also came up to our balcony to see if there was anything coming from there. It was seemingly quite a mystery. So imagine my horror sometime later when I discovered that the water carton (not a bottle) I’d been issued had been leaking on the floor below our bench. We both sat there with an unspoken agreement not to ‘fess up’ but later had a fit of the giggles. By this time the ‘problem’ had been mysteriously resolved and no more was said about it. It still makes us laugh and cringe!

It’s possibly the worst kept secret in showbiz that the results show on a Sunday is actually filmed on the Saturday night and isn’t live! Who knew eh?! Most people I expect! The presenters and judges have a swift change of outfit and there’s a bit of shuffling around with the audience. Again they start by filming the guest performances first. I was really happy that Andrea Bocelli sang ‘Time to Say Goodbye’ accompanied by the London Gospel Choir and a bonus string section with a performance from some of the professional dancers. I’ve always loved him but it was my first time seeing him perform live. We had the privelege of listening to him twice. There was also a performance from the winner of a BBC show called ‘The Greatest Dancer’ – 15 year old Ellie Fergusson who was mentored by Oti Mabuse in the show. She was amazing, a real inspiration. She was also very bendy!

It seems that Dick and Dom (mentioned in my previous story about the world of television) are either frequent visitors at Elstree or they are stalking me! They were in the audience below. They might look very ‘grown up’ these days but they played ‘BOGIES’ during the interval, and it was very funny!

Once all of those performances have been recorded they crack on with the results and the dance-off. The contestants must get quite tired by this time so they don’t hang about. Sadly it was Saffron and AJ against Karim and Amy. Karim and Amy won the judges’ vote. Saffron and AJ had appropriately chosen Donna Summer’s ‘Last Dance’ for their final spin on the dance floor.

By the time we left the studio we’d been up for about 19 hours and were absolutely shattered! I have to say though it was worth every second of tiredness, standing around, getting wet and heart-stopping moments of panic! We absolutely loved the experience and will never forget it. With an audience of only 700 (including guests) and 250,000 applicants, only 0.28 % of people are fortunate enough to get the opportunity to attend so we felt extremely lucky.

Dreams really can come true.



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