Kick-off broadcast
Quick-witted and tactful: Gabriel Kelly is the surprise on “Let’s Dance”
Gabriel Kelly and Kathrin Menzinger on Friday evening at Let’s Dance
© Rolf Vennenbernd / DPA
“Let’s Dance” has started the new season and there is a surprise right at the beginning: Gabriel Kelly, a member of the Kelly family, is off to a brilliant start.
The jury rewarded this with 18 points – the highest score of the entire evening. Since the viewers also cast enough votes, the Kelly scion secured the so-called direct ticket. This means he cannot be eliminated from the next episode of “Let’s Dance,” even if he gets a very bad rating.
Even the otherwise strict juror Joachim Llambi was very impressed with Kelly. “It wasn’t artificial. It was very natural from the movement,” he said. His jury colleague Motsi Mabuse described him as the best of the evening. Kelly seemed like he had “no problems at all” in “this world,” she said. “You were totally relaxed.”
Gabriel Kelly is not the first member of the well-known artist family to take part in “Let’s Dance”. His aunt Maite Kelly even won the show in 2011. She is said to have given her nephew a few tips before the start of this new season.
14 new celebrity candidates on Let’s Dance
In the opening show – also known as the get-to-know-you show – the dances of the 14 new celebrity candidates who are competing this year could be seen for the first time. Nobody has been thrown out yet, but the first performances in the studio, which was completely renovated for the season, were considered a good indicator of who could fight for victory in the coming weeks.
Gabriel Kelly, who has dedicated himself to rap music, was not only light-footed on the floor, but also quite quick-witted verbally. When “Bergdoktor” actor Mark Keller (58), who had also danced a Viennese waltz, groaned next to him due to the exertion, the 22-year-old stood there relaxed and commented on the situation: “I’m still young and fit, no ?” He even smilingly called his appearance “the Kelly face”. “If you know one, you know them all.”
The name Kelly had not necessarily dominated discussions among fans of the format before the start of the season. There was more frequent talk about whether choreographer Detlef Soost (53), who once chased candidates to dance on the casting show “Popstars”, could have a career-related advantage at the start. Soost himself had denied this – he was a hip-hop dancer, which was something completely different: “It’s like saying: Sido is a great rapper, so he must be able to sing an aria in the opera.”
Choreographer Detlef Soost only came in third place
When Soost found out that his first dance would be a tango, he actually seemed shocked at first. “I thought you didn’t do tango until later!” he said, bewildered. But it wasn’t all that miserable, even if there weren’t any cheers like Gabriel Kelly’s. The jury placed Soost in third place. In second place was musician Lulu (31), sister of singer Sarah Connor (43).
It hit harder, among others, influencer Stefano Zarrella (33), whom Llambi reminded after his quickstep that his brother – singer and presenter Giovanni Zarrella – had also been on “Let’s Dance” in 2017. “Back then he was five years older than you are today. But he raised the alarm ten times more,” Llambi told him. The comment was met with a general murmur in the room. Moderator Daniel Hartwich asked: “Do you now want to drive a wedge into the Zarrella family or what?”
Fitness influencer Sophia Thiel (28) also landed in the second half of the table, but showed that she has enough strength to push every male dancer in the show up for a lifting figure.
Llambi on entrepreneur Tillman Schulz: “Tact was your enemy”
Things went very badly for entrepreneur Tillman Schulz (34), who ended up in last place. Llambi compared him to a ship’s swing brakeman at the fair. The verdict that left little room for interpretation: “Tact was your enemy.” Schulz was visibly annoyed after the verdict and only slowly regained his composure.
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The opening show also determined which celebrities would train with which professional dancers and compete in the competition in the coming weeks. Detlef Soost, for example, was assigned the fan-favorite Ekaterina “Ekat” Leonova. Musician Lulu was paired with professional dancer and “Let’s Dance” veteran Massimo Sinató. Both combinations looked promising. Gabriel Kelly gets to dance around the dance floor with Malika Dzumaev.
It is now the 17th season of the dance format, which has not only been a success story in Germany, but is also known as its own version in many countries. In some cases there are even personnel overlaps. Juror Motsi Mabuse, for example, is also on the jury of the English parent format “Strictly Come Dancing”.
Note: Stern is part of the RTL group, which also produces “Let’s Dance”.