Dancing with the stars

It’s one of the biggest reality TV competition series on the small screen at the moment, and it has viewers glued to their screens every Sunday. When MNet first announced that they would be doing a South African version of Dancing with the Stars, I have to admit I was a little sceptical about it.

The show first started out as an English production called Strictly Come Dancing and was later produced by the Americans who changed the name to Dancing with the Stars. South Africa has obviously chosen to adopt the American incarnation of the show here.

So for those of you who don’t know what the show is all about, the premise is simple: 13 untrained local celebrities go head to head in various ballroom and Latin American dances and the public gets to choose the winner by voting. Simple, right? Not so much. There are also four judges that weigh in on the performances and their scores make up fifty percent of the total score.

I’ve been up to Joburg for the live show and was suitably impressed with the production. Rapid Blue, headed up Duncan and KeLeen Irvine who bring us shows like Come Dine with me South Africa, Shark Tank and a slew of other reality shows, completely transformed the roof parking lot of a shopping centre into the set that we see on TV. It’s incredible what they’ve done with the place and the production is of the highest quality.

The stars also deserve a shout out because they have to learn a new routine every single week. These are not professional dancers! They’re actors, singers, sport stars and even a former Miss SA is in the mix.

For me, everything about this show is good – except the judges. I have no idea where they pulled these people from, but they come across as the most toxic bunch of naysayers I’ve ever seen on TV. For me the worst is a panellist called Tebogo Kgobokoe. It seems her mission on the show is to berate the contestants and make them feel as useless as possible. She forgets in some misguided sense of judging this particular competition that these contestants are not professional dancers and it’s not the World Dancing Championships.

And on the odd occasion that she does say something positive, it doesn’t match her low scoring.

Dancing with the Stars is a fantastic offering, in my opinion, but it’s being marred by these judges. But that’s not enough not to watch. It’s still a sterling show and the production is of the highest quality!

Email Terence Pillay at [email protected]  or follow him on Twitter: @terencepillay1 and tweet him your thoughts.