I don’t have to remind any Strictly Come Dancing fans that this weekend sees the big one – the grandstand final, the last waltz if you will, of the biggest show on Saturday night TV, writes Simon Burch.
After what seems like an eternity, it’s all down to Karen vs George vs Amber, as the final three face off against each other on the dancefloor in a desperate bid to get their hands on, as Tess Daly would say, the famous glitterball.
The Strictly Come Dancing final and the glitterball moment
Quite apart from the fact that the famous glitterball is one of the cheapest-looking trophies on TV, there is another piece of artifice going on under the surface that has rubbed away the shine from this year’s sparkles.
No, not the bullying accusations, not the shock announcement of Tess and Claudia’s departure and nor Nikita’s dreadful pink woolly hat, which he first started wearing when it was still warm enough to hold barbecues back in September.
Instead, the issue is Amber, who is famously someone who is incredibly good at dancing and has starred in five West End musicals but is now being presented as a hopeful “on a journey” going from hopeless clod-hopper to twinkle-toed dancefloor diva.
Public reaction, social media backlash and the bottom two
As a result, her presence in the show has got underneath the skin of the Strictly-watching public, which has led to her being in the bottom two following the public vote and receiving a tsunami of abuse on social media.
It has to be said that anyone who posts an abusive comment online at a famous person due to their involvement in a light entertainment programme should have a word with themselves.
But I do have to agree with everyone in feeling uncomfortable that someone who is so supremely accomplished is competing on a show which is all about novices learning to master a tricky skill.
So I am probably among the majority in hoping that, even though she is an excellent dancer and by far and away the most talented of the trio, Amber doesn’t win.
It’s not because I don’t like her, but because I don’t like being taken for a fool.
The biggest hurdle that Amber faces isn’t her ability to master a hell turn or pull off a perfect fleckel, it’s convincing everyone that she has, as Craig Revell-Horwood would put it, au-then-ti-city, daaarling.
Why authenticity matters to the Strictly audience
In media relations, authenticity is hugely important, and quite possibly the most crucial quality anyone who stands in the court of public opinion needs to have.
This is because PR is not just about raising awareness, it’s about creating a public image that elevates someone’s status above their competition’s, thus making them, or their product or service, worthy of buying into (or voting for).
It’s impossible for any of us to decide what our status is. Status can only be determined by other people, but what we can do is send out certain signals and messages which we hope will convince people that we have what they are looking for.
Doing or saying things that make you appear real, true and humble is certainly one of these, along with being thoughtful and kind to other people (altruism), possessing great wisdom and knowledge (expertise) and simply being the best-known or biggest (prominence).
When perceived inauthenticity damages reputation
It’s a constant work of progress, but your client will come a cropper if any of these claims are found to be bogus.
And once you’re revealed as being fake or bogus, then you will lose your status, your reputation will be destroyed and people will start to turn on you. As they are doing so with Amber.
Amber isn’t the only person with dance experience in the line-up – Karen learned street dance at dance school – but the fact she does it for a living is common knowledge.
That’s a red rag to a Strictly audience which is used to a bit of glossing of the truth, but which has decided that Amber crosses a line, while the fact that Amber isn’t doing a terribly good job at pretending to be shocked when she gets 10s probably winds people up even more.
None of this is her fault: it’s a huge show and she is taking her chance as a last-minute stand-in, but she isn’t resonating with the audience because everyone knows she’s receiving high praise for essentially doing her day job.
It’s like Lionel Messi entering a football skills competition and everyone fawning over his ability to do a load of keepy-uppies. It would be fake, and everyone knows it.
And Amber knows it too.
So it’s all eyes on Karen and George as the truly authentic everywoman and everyman, whose triumph would give us the end to the Strictly story that we really want – instead of feeling cheated that our favourite dancing show has been won a talented dancer who’s having to pretend she’s anything but.
Would you like to explore how authenticity impacts reputation in practice? Learn more about Penguin PR’s approach to strategic communications.
