The lid has come off complaints about certain former Strictly Come Dancing professionals apparently bullying their celebrity partners in training for the television show. Contractual confidentiality agreements have evidently made it difficult to speak out before now. Strictly Come Dancing is a hugely successful asset and the format has been exported to 60 different countries.
Strictly launched on 15 May 2004 probably at 6.15 pm giving it an intense and earthy 8th house Taurus Sun, widely square an imaginative Neptune and inconjunct Pluto. Plus a passionate Venus opposition Pluto. Where the problem comes from is possibly an overly disciplinarian Mars Saturn conjunction in Cancer trine a Uranus opposition Jupiter – a mix of adventurous and hard. An Aries Moon in the workaholic (and illness-prone) 6th house is trine Pluto and square Saturn so not exactly nurturing. The 4th house Neptune on the focal point of a yod inconjunct Jupiter sextile Saturn may hint at an internal blindness/evasion about what was actually going on. Emphasise the dream and ignore the pain – which was always the reality of the ballet dance world.
There is now talk of chaperones being put into training sessions or even the show ending though the BBC is usually remarkably resilient in the face of criticism having its Sun and two other planets in Scorpio trine Pluto and Mars in stubborn Aquarius.
The Strictly chart does have tr Uranus conjunct the Taurus Sun as these complaints broke into a full blown scandal and that influence repeats on and off into spring 2025. Changes will be made.
The relationship chart between Strictly and the BBC is having a rocky ride which started in May this year and jangles and jolts its way right through till spring 2025 with tr Uranus square the composite Sun and Saturn. But equally there is a hint of more success and positive change from tr Pluto trine the composite Pluto and Jupiter running on for a few years yet.
Bullying is not great but I can’t help feeling the furore is a touch overblown.
I’d be interested in learning if there are any particular astrological hallmarks of a person who is prone to bullying (a repeated victim of bullying).
*prone to being bullied
I have a sneaking sympathy for the professionals for whom dancing is their livelihood. The celebrity contestants have a choice about appearing in the show and failure for them rarely impacts their careers. One big issue is that the show has become a lot more competitive over time. Oddly as performances improved the show became less fun. The celebrity guests who tend to cope best are therefore either people from the stage or ex sports people who are best geared up to the stresses of performing in a competitive environment. One thing to note is that the BBC has a habit of flogging a product like Strictly to death. Presumably the show will survive the current media storm but there will need to be changes if the BBC wants to protect its asset. Perhaps it would help if they toned down the competitive element a bit. In fact that applies to a lot of other shows which have gone down the road of turning everything from baking through painting and sewing into some sort of contest.
Strictly has its Sun/Moon mid point circa 5 degrees in Taurus, sextile it Uranus in Pisces. Sensual romantic dance movements and surprising events? The Moon/Uranus midpoint is Pisces square Venus in Gemini – unusual circumstances in which women are being taught? As Venus in Gemini/3rd house would link women being taught. Mars is conjunct Saturn with a conjunct Venus/Saturn midpoint near Mars. This is a combination of Air/Water/Earth – mist and mud – perhaps things were not said or talked about, leaving to misunderstandings? Saturn can be authoritarian, along with Mars, worked hard. It is rather sad to read about people losing their careers and women stating they were bullied. As watching many of the shows, seeing these couples gushing, makes you wonder, how they can do it: if life was so terrible? I would be unable to gush at someone who was upsetting me. I read today that one of these male dancers is working in the fields in Sicily – only speaking to his Mother and Wife – to escape the furious backlash. Why not speak about it at the time, as reputations are ruined, when they may not have understood that they were doing wrong? European culture is not all the same. I am not making excuses, yet Strictly was a TV show – all contestants were not captured prisoners unable to discuss their situation.