No doubt, unless you’ve been living in a cave somewhere, you will have all have heard that sadly former Strictly Champion Caroline Flack died at the weekend. In this post I’ll be taking a look at her journey to becoming Strictly Champion during the memorable 2014 series when she was partnered with Pasha.
The format of this post will be similar to my finalist previews at least at first. So we begin with
Worst Dance
It’s kind of funny to call something her worst dance give she was a strong participant throughout the 2014 series. Lowest scoring dance might be more appropriate and as we’ll see in her best dances she actually got the chance to improve on this dance.
Anyway her lowest scoring dance was her Cha Cha Cha from Week 1 which opened the 2014 series and scored a still very respectable 27 points (6,7,7,7)
Best Dances
Caroline and Pasha had all four judges reaching for their 10 paddles on 4 occasions during the 2014 series. Once in the semi final and three times in the final becoming the first couple in Strictly history to have a perfect 3 dances in the final and the first couple to score 40 across four consecutive dances.
Their semi final routine was a Salsa to Maria by Ricky Martin
In the final they performed the above Cha Cha Cha from week 1 improving it to the point that all four judges scored it a perfect score
They also re-performed their Charleston from Around The World Week in Week 10 which previously had just Craig denying it a perfect score. However Craig brushed off the cobwebs on his 10 paddle in the final to give it that extra point
It’s their show dance that is probably going to be remembered now especially in the context of the recent tragedy. An emotional piece performed to “Angels” by Robbie Williams and it’s hard for the routine not to take on new meaning now she is with the Angels and it’s hard to watch the routine without a tear in your eye. I was welling up watching it while I was getting this piece ready believe me. Oh it scored a perfect 40 too but you guys knew that.
Honourable Mentions
A couple of honourable mentions from Caroline’s Strictly experience. Firstly her Argentine Tango which in week 11 wowed all the judges apart from Craig who gave it a 9
Finally we’re going back to Movie Week in Week 3 when they did a Rumba to Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing”. It was a good performance, especially as Rumba can be hard for a celeb, and given the emotion she brought to her later routines I wonder what they could have done with it if it had been brought back for the final. Discounting Donny Osmond it scored 33, including him it scored 42 (8,8,(9),8,9)
Number Of Times In The Dance Off
It’s been a rarity for the last couple of series for a finalist, or indeed a champion, to find themselves in the Dance Off but it actually happened for Caroline and Pasha.
In week 7 their Waltz saw them languishing in the bottom two but they were more than good enough to see off Alison and Aljaž
Winning Moment
And here is the moment they were announced champions in 2014
At this point I was going to add a few words of my own but I don’t think there is anything I could say that would be better than the emotional tribute that close friend of Caroline’s Laura Whitmore said on BBC Radio yesterday.
Normally it’s at this point in a post that you’d see a ton of monetisation as I ask you to help out with my hosting costs, or switch energy supplier or one of the many other things that allows me to cover the costs of providing this site and also provide an income for myself. I’m not going to do that today on this post! There’s something much more important
Since about 9am yesterday morning I’ve been running a fundraising campaign on Facebook to try and raise money for The Samaritans. I’m sure I don’t need to say too much about The Samaritans and the work they do both for people who might find themselves in crisis and struggling to go on like Caroline did and for people who have more minor problems but still need a friendly person to talk to.
At the time of writing this post the fundraiser has made £884 in about 24 hours. The initial target of £400 got smashed in a couple of hours. Caroline’s tragic death has resonated with so many of you and so many of you have helped out for a cause dedicated to always having someone there you can turn to if you ever find yourself in a situation like Caroline did.
If you are willing to, can afford to and have Facebook as it is being done through Facebook’s donations system so all the money goes to the charity you can visit my fundraiser right here and give as much or as little as you like and can afford. If you don’t have Facebook but still want to get involved get in touch with me in the comments below (only visible on individual posts) or over on Twitter and I’ll sort out another means you can donate
With that all that’s left for me to say is RIP Caroline Flack 1979-2020