Russian-trained ballet dancer Yassaui Mergaliyev steps up to perform. For two minutes, he does a staggering routine of superhuman spins and mid-air split jumps to try and wow the studio audience of BBC’s The Greatest Dancer. The presenters, Jordan Banjo and
Alesha Dixon, have their jaws on the floor. The celebrity dance captains
Cheryl, Oti Mabuse and Matthew Morrison are screaming themselves hoarse: “You have to vote for this guy!” But the Kazakh dancer does not get enough votes to go through to the next round. Someone in the crowd yawns. “It just wasn’t that exciting
, was it?” another audience member whispers to her neighbour.
The BBC’s latest Saturday night competition has a unique twist: it hands the “power to the people” (and we all know how
that goes). Members of the public have complete control over who progresses from the very start. Each dancer has to try and convince 75% of the audience to turn their lights on, which then opens up the studio mirror and lets them perform before the live crowd and the dance captains, as well as securing a place in the callbacks.
But this attempt at democracy has given us an insight into Britain’s dance tastes and, more uncomfortably, deep-rooted racial anxieties. This weekend,
BBC One aired the last of the auditions, which resulted in only one of the nine finalists being an entirely BAME act.
Race-related issues have reared their head before on audience-controlled reality shows. Strictly Come Dancing, Big Brother and Love Island have all repeatedly pointed to the same result: that Britain has a clear preference, unconscious or otherwise, for caucasian contestants.
Some may claim that Mergaliyev failed because of ballet’s dwindling popularity in the mainstream or, as Cheryl claimed, the crowd’s lack of “technical-minded[ness]”, but his central Asian heritage seemingly deterred voters, too. In this climate of pre-Brexit limbo, the odds of minority dancers having what Simon Cowell dubs the “likability” factor appear especially slim.
The link between diversity and unpopularity was even more pronounced when Asian solo dancers
Matthew Mindtrick Holt and
16-year-old Williamfailed to win over the crowd. Yet again, both presenters and all three captains were left aghast, shouting: “Come on, people. Vote! Vote! Vote! What is wrong with you?” But the audience refused to budge.
Perhaps the clearest case of prejudice, though, was the audition by Dans Chinese
Dance, which received the lowest number of votes of all acts, including those who had slipped up. The traditional Chinese
biàn liǎnperformers convinced just 34% of the crowd to switch on their lights. Although the group impressed dance captain Mabuse, the east Asian dresses and ancient opera masks proved a repellant. Receptionist Amelia Wilson was confused by the traditional dress, blurting “what is
that!” as the troupe entered the room. A woman in the crowd noted “they’d frighten the life” out of her in their historical garments.
Elsewhere, technically flawed white contestants
James Clifton and
Dynamic Dads got 75% almost instantly, despite dance captain Morrison bluntly explaining that “the dance vocabulary wasn’t there”. In the audition stage, 83% of caucasian acts were successful, whereas only two Asian contestants managed to open the mirror.
The rejection of Yassaui, Matthew and William reflects the erasure of eastern and central Asian representation in modern British culture. According to recent statistics from the
DWP, Asians are the least likely of any ethnic group in the UK to be in employment. If Asian faces are not entirely absent from British TV and film, they tend to adopt stereotypical secondary roles. Additionally, according to dating website
OKCupid, Asian men are alongside black women as the demographics that receive the least matches.
Similarly, the treatment of black women in Britain appears to be paralleled in The Greatest Dancer audience votes. While
Frobacks, a group of four black men, were in Cheryl’s top three, the only all-black and all-female group,
Afro Queens, were unable to open the mirror. The group’s struggle to gain votes reflects the struggle that many black females face in reality television.
In 2017,
Alexandra Burke was repeatedly placed in the Strictly bottom two,despite receiving the highest scores from the judges. Her inability to win over the British public magnified issues of intersecting prejudices against black women in the UK, who often experience dual discrimination based on both gender and race. But the rejection that women of colour and Asians encounter in talent shows such as Strictly and The Greatest Dancer is also a reflection of broader issues in the British workforce, healthcare, film and dating worlds.
The
BBC was asked to comment on the issue of whitewashing in the show and responded: “The Greatest Dancer is one of the most inclusive talent competitions and includes a diverse range of dancing talent. Anyone can audition from the ages of seven to 70+ and all styles of dance are welcome. During auditions, the audience holds the power as to who goes through … The auditions were filmed in Birmingham, one of the UK’s most diverse and vibrant cities, and the studio reflected this.”
While there may be no evidence that the British public intentionally discriminates, reality TV continues to follow a formula of whitewashing, which extends into other areas of British society. Regardless of the audience’s multi-ethnicity, there is still a clear issue with the way the public votes, and the bias for white contestants must be called into question.
