Paul Merson shares wish for BBC Strictly dances following comedic routines: ‘What I thought it would be’

Paul Merson and his Strictly Come Dancing partner Karen Hauer performed a Quickstep last weekend, allowing the pair the chance to demonstrate a more serious routine than they’d previously performed.

In past weeks, the former footballer had taken on performances to songs such as Vindaloo, and while fun and lively, Merson, 56, hinted he was glad to have taken on a more sophisticated dance last week, before revealing it was back to the usual trend this weekend.

On Tuesday, the pair appeared on Strictly spin-off show, It Takes Two, with Merson chatting via video link to host Janette Manrara.

When he was asked about his most recent dance, he commented: “When I first took up the chance to come on the show, this is what I thought it would be, roughly.”

He went on to admit: “It was nice to get one of those dances in.”

“You feel like you’ve got the whole Strictly experience with this dance under your belt now,” Manrara replied.

“Yeah, but now it’s back to reality again this week,” he joked, alluding to his upcoming Samba, which will be performed to Car Wash by Rose Royce.

Viewers expressing their thoughts online quickly shared their disappointment that Merson often gets handed the “jokey” performances.

On X, one wrote: “He’s quite right….They need to stop all these stupid dances they give to ex sports people. It’s embarrassing and never works properly. Paul’s dance was far better with the correct music and outfit.”

“Stop with the joke dances. #ittakestwo #strictly,” another demanded.

A third begged: “#Strictly Please listen to Paul and Karen! The expectation when signing up was to learn to dance, with all the associated elegance, not silly songs and silly themes. #ItTakesTwo.”

“It makes me annoyed to see Paul & Karen talking about how much he loved being Fred Astaire during the quickstep and that’s what he always expected #Strictly to be, not the silly stuff. And then this week they have a samba to Car Wash, back to being the joke again. #ItTakesTwo,” shared someone else.

A different viewer remarked: “The whole vibe of this interview has been ‘ooh yeah it’s great doing proper ballroom’, I’m so cross they’re now making Paul do the samba #ItTakesTwo.”

“‘After Vindaloo… it was nice to dance!’ @PaulMerse on his splendid quickstep. But it is Car Wash and samba on Saturday. An odd choice…,” penned another.

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Merson’s feedback from his latest dance also suggested the pair should try to stick to more serious routines, with judge Anton Du Beke, who used to be a professional on the show, recollecting how he knew what it was like to be paired with someone you want to “avoid dancing” with.

“When I watched you at the beginning I thought we were going down this road, but when you dance this, I thought, ‘yes, this is great.’

“There wasn’t any irony at all. There was no sort of ‘ironicness’ or messing about, you did it seriously, you did it straight, you look great in a tail suit.” (sic)