Strictly Come Dancing: Kristina’s Tears


IT was the most explosive edition ever of It Takes Two.
Many of those reporting on the John Sergeant affair seem to have missed last night’s hour long special.
And yet it contained some of the most revealing, controversial and outspoken interviews of them all.
As well as the tears of John’s professional dance partner Kristina Rihanoff.
She appears to have been almost forgotten by some commentators.
The Siberian-born viewers’ favourite broke down while being interviewed alongside John live on the BBC2 show.
His decision to quit ended Kristina’s main involvement in what was her very first series of Strictly.


She said she supported that decision – but those tears were hard to watch.
This is, of course, only a TV programme – not a matter of life and death.
Come back and read this blog three months from now and it will all seem, well, a bit silly and overblown.
But in the heat of the moment, Strictly arouses strong feelings and leads to a certain loss of perspective.
For me, the most striking quotes from last night’s It Takes Two came from the professional dancers.
Not least the words of James Jordan.

He and partner Cherie Lunghi left the dancefloor last weekend.
After which James issued a plea to the public to vote for the dancing – not the light entertainment.
Announcing his decision to leave yesterday, John said: “The trouble is that there is now a real danger that I might win the competition.
“Even for me that would be a joke too far.”
But the general consensus from those actually involved in Strictly is that John was wrong.
He would not have won the competition.
Perhaps not this week, but in the weeks to come, he would have finally found himself in the bottom two.
Where he would have met with certain elimination at the hands of the judges.
And the usual due process of Strictly would have been seen to be carried out.
James said: “I feel for Kristina, tremendously, because I think she’s done such an amazing job with John and they suited each other brilliantly.”
And then he hit out at John’s decision.
“In my opinion, this is the most selfish thing I’ve ever seen anyone do on Strictly and I don’t think, really, he’s thought it through properly.
“I personally think he’s trying to make the whole Strictly Come Dancing series six be all about him. And he’s succeeded.”
James explained that he did, indeed, want the best dancer to win the series.
But he also thought John should have carried on to face eventual elimination in the proper way.
The BBC’s plans to feature three couples in this year’s grand final have also been disrupted, he explained.
“There’s only going to be two couples in the final now.
“What about Kristina? And what about the public – did he think about those things too?”
Personally, I’m sure John acted with the very best of intentions, having been placed in a difficult position.
But I’m equally sure that he was wrong to quit.
Brian Fortuna was the other new professional dancer on Strictly 2008, partnering Heather Small.
As the title of the show he was on makes clear, Brian knows it takes two.
He spoke about how saddened he was to see Kristina in tears.
“I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen her that upset.”