Thursday 29 December 2011

A Charlie Brooks Christmas

Christmas Special 2011: 25th December 2011

Merry Christmas, everybody! Of course, by the time we've got around to recapping this and you've got around to reading it, Christmas is but a distant memory for all of us (though if your family is anything like mine, you'll barely be even a third of the way into all of the food you bought to sustain you through the festive season). Anyway, there was Christmas, and therefore it follows that there was a Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special, featuring five celebrities who were too scared to face a full series and get voted out by the public simply don't have the time to commit to a full series of the show because of their jam-packed schedules. In keeping with Christmas tradition, I was exiled into the other room to watch Doctor Who by myself (and as much as I prefer Steven Moffat's showrunning to that of Russell T. Davies, can we just agree that that's enough of the "people who have children are better than everyone else" storylines now? Because there have been A LOT recently, though apparently not enough for any of the tabloids to run an outraged story about "MOFFAT'S SICK PRO-PARENT AGENDA" the way they did when Russell T Davies occasionally dared to acknowledge the existence of gay people), but the Strictly special marked the point at which I was welcomed back into the living room for Family Viewing, which is surely what Christmas is all about. So, shall we begin?

There's no cold open, so we just go straight into the titles - which feature snowmen, so I suppose you could argue it's still a cold open of sorts. The theme tune has its traditional Christmas remix, reminiscent of 'Wonderful Christmastime', which as I suggested in my recap of last year's special, is THE WORST CHRISTMAS SONG IN THE HISTORY OF FOREVER. Anyway, there are just snowmen (and snowladies) [snowwomen - Resident Feminist Carrie] dancing in the titles, perhaps because it costs too much to make a special version of the titles featuring these celebrities only to use it once. Either that, or the identity of the competitors is supposed to be some sort of "surprise", even though there were press releases about them months ago (hell, I even got a press release telling me who'd won about a week before Christmas). Still, the titles are brief, which means the exposure to the Worst Christmas Song Ever is minimal, and that's always good.

In order to get the Christmas special off to the absolute worst start possible, the very first face we see is Russell Grant's. Did anyone watch Gordon Ramsay's Christmas Cookalong Live on Christmas Day? Since Russell's desperation for attention is so very extensive, he appeared on that and made rather a nuisance of himself, though to be honest I was more distracted by Gordon's complete unsuitability for hosting a live television show, considering his lack of ability to fill those awkward pauses when the cut to Max Beesley's kitchen didn't quite happen right away. (My favourite bit of the whole thing was when Gordon asked Max "what's the biggest turkey you've ever made?" and I shouted "Glitter!" at the television.) Anyway, Russell's presence here is brief (he'll be back, though, so don't get too comfortable) and we pass by him and into the Strictly Christmas House, where our Christmas pros (Ian, Erin, Anton, Katya and Vincent) are wearing festive jumpers and surrounded by some oversized novelty crackers. The band strike up with 'I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday' (the irony of which I'm sure was not lost on them when they recorded this at the end of November) and the pros perform a jive. That's right: a professional jive routine, featuring Anton. He's even at the front for a sizeable part of the routine, which was a brave move on the choreographer's part. The men all dance together for a bit, because it's Christmas and they've all had a few drinks (not as many as Alesha though, I suspect). After a bit more business, it's time to pull open those crackers and see who's inside! Erin and Vincent pull the cracker on stage right and land themselves Barry McGuigan and Charlie "Janine" Brooks (Len's look of fake-surprise in the background is a thing of hammy beauty), Ian and Katya pull the cracker on stage left and are rewarded with Debra Stephenson and Simon FromBlue, and then Ian gives Anton a hand to pull the big cracker upstage, from which Su Pollard emerges. I love that Su Pollard got a cracker all to herself. I hope she had that written into her contract.

Finally, after all that, we have a Bruce, and we have a Tess. Daly Festive Dresswatch: feathers all around her torso at the top of a sort of a taupe-hued dress. I've seen worse, I suppose. Bruce fumbles his way through the opening lines of 'Santa Claus Is Coming To Town' just so he can get to "trying to find out who's nice to see you, to see you [etc]". I'm not really sure it was worth the effort it took to get to that point, really. Bruce promises us that all of the stars of the 2011 series will be returning to the floor later (at this, there's a brilliant cut to Chelsee, Robbie, Harry, Jason and Holly all sitting together, with Chelsee's expression reading as one of surprise. Was she not briefed on this?) and Tess tells us that Shakin' Stevens will be performing later with "a golden Russell Grant-shaped surprise". The only thing that would surprise me about terminal oversharer Russell Grant would be if he kept his damn mouth shut and left this series alone.

After this, it's time to meet the stars of our festive show: actress and impressionist Debra Stephenson and her partner Ian Waite, singer Simon FromBlue and his partner Katya Virshilas, EastEnders' Charlie Brooks and her partner Vincent Simone, boxing legend Barry McGuigan and his partner Erin Boag, and finally, actress and comedian Su Pollard and her partner, Anton Du Beke. Su slips down the stairs a little bit. Oh, Su.

Bruce turns to the judges, and what is this? There's an empty seat next to Len! Surely this can't be an excuse for Craig Revel-Horwood to make a campy pantomime entrance? OH YES IT CAN! Oh no it can't! OH YES IT CAN! Oh no it ca--oh, actually it can. Craig's feet appear in the chimney breast, with a voiceover of "help! Help, I'm stuck! It's a DISAHHHSTUH!" booming through the studio. Craig finally emerges...dressed as The Grinch. Cue an awful lot of children explaining that gag to their elderly relatives. Craig vamps "I've come, darling, to steal Christmas!" and hoofs his way downstage. The audience boo him (I join in the booing, but I choose to direct my booing at Len and/or Tess's stylist) and Craig makes his way to his seat, loving every melodramatic moment.

Tess reminds us that there is no phone in because this was all recorded a month ago, so the studio audience will be deciding who wins tonight. I hope the entire Su Pollard Fan Club was bussed in especially for this. Simon and Katya are up first, and Duncan FromBlue and Antony FromBlue are in the audience to support him. Not Lee Ryan, though, who is presumably off somewhere saving the elephants. Apparently Antony was also on Celebrity Mastermind over Christmas, so the boys from Blue are clearly trying to "do a McFly" over the festive season. His VT reminds us of the heydays of Blue (but not so much the heyday of Top Of The Pops, since the clip they show features Richard Blackwood on hosting duties). Seeing this reminds me that he was the only member of Blue who managed a successful solo singing career - my sister, who was watching the show with me, even remembered that she had one of his albums somewhere. Then of course this year they reformed and did Eurovision, and now he's doing Strictly, which Simon lies will be the more nerve-wracking of the two. He unwraps Katya's Festive Package (tee hee) and we see their training footage, which involves Katya ordering him about a lot. Simon says that he likes being told what to do by a woman, and Katya cackles. Simon claims that his mother "gave birth to a mover" and offers us a little demonstration, which proves short-lived, as Katya advises him "let's not do that". Katya tells us that the Christmas special is about having fun, and Simon adds "AND WINNING!" I think, given the partners Katya's been given since she came on the show, she's perhaps forgotten that it's possible to actually win the competition. (RINGER FOR KATYA IN 2012 PLZ.) Simon has prepared a smile for victory and a smile for defeat, he tells us, so he's covered either way. Katya continues to cackle at everything he says. I think she's had a bit of festive spirit from Alesha's drinks cupboard. [I think she just fancies Simon FromBlue. He's a very magnetic kind of man. Am I allowed to tell my anecdote about when I interviewed him? - Carrie]

They're dancing a cha cha cha to 'Merry Xmas Everybody', and Katya's wearing an apron, an impossibly tiny dress, and carrying a tray of canapes. I'd complain about the inherent sexism of the staging here, but I see that Katya's choreographed in a bit where she takes a hefty swig out of a champagne glass, so clearly she's cast herself as a housewife who is so frustrated at being suppressed by the patriarchy that she's been driven to alcoholism. After that, Simon bursts through the door and does a few moves, all of which are rather excessively overdanced, so I think the adrenaline's got to him a little bit. There's a bit shortly after that where Simon's seemingly supposed to rip Katya's apron off, but this doesn't quite go to plan so Katya pulls it off herself. Either that, or this was all exactly how it was supposed to play out and this is a further statement of Katya's feminist treaty that she don't need no stinkin' man to help her remove the oppressive shackles that society places on women. From there, we move into the cha cha cha proper, and Simon seems pretty good, though he's not been given much to do that's especially difficult. He moves well, though, and he has some nice lines. The routine ends with Simon returning to sit at the table, and Katya sitting on his lap, no doubt symbolising women's need to rise above men in society's hierarchy. I think.

Bruce welcomes the fabulous singers Dave Arch, and his wonderful orchestra, and then we go to the judges. Craig, sadly, has now removed all of the make-up - I was kind of hoping he'd do the whole thing in character as the Grinch. Then again, I was also hoping that Debra Stephenson would do the whole thing in character as Claudia Winkleman (the only impression on that show of hers that's even remotely close to the person it's supposed to resemble), and I was disappointed on that score as well. Anyway, festive judges joke? Craig is an Australian w(h)ine, Len is a trifle - bitter, fruity and soaked in sherry, Alesha is "a nice bit of icing on a cake" (Alesha looks uncertain as to whether this is a compliment or not, but perhaps that's because she's also thinking about how she's at least twice as soaked in sherry as Len is), and Bruno is nuts and crackers. Bruce also cracks the Bruno is "the man who put mince into mince pies" (LOLGAY) and Bruno finds this hilarious, presumably because he's been breathing in all those fumes emanating from Alesha ever since she sat down and is now three sheets to the wind.

Len tells Simon that his dance was crisp like fresh snow, sharp like the air on Christmas morning, and hot like a mulled wine, and "tutti frutti what a booty!" Yeesh. Bruce tells Simon "that's with you for life now!", and I think I speak for everyone watching when I say it's not just Simon who's had that image seared onto their brain forever. Alesha says it was strong, animalistic (?) and totally in control. She thinks it was a confident performance, and Simon should be proud. Bruno tells Simon that he turned up the heat, and he had so much hot toddy, he feels dizzy. Craig calls it "a powerhouse of strength", then confusing me some what by calling it "Amazonian". As in "a warrior woman"? Maybe that was directed at Katya, and this was Craig's subtle way of telling her that he sympathised with and approved of her feminist subtext.

They make their way up to the Tess Circle, and Simon says it was amazing, and says it's all down to Katya for whipping him into shape. Tess asks if his bandmates enjoyed it, and Simon says that he thinks Duncan and Antony were the loudest audience members, though his girlfriend was also getting very high-pitched. Either that, or Lee Ryan did manage to make it after all. Scores: Craig 9, Len 9, Alesha 9, Bruno 9 for a total of 36.

Our next couple are Debra and Ian. Bruce enthuses about how good Debra is on The Impressions Show, singling out Debra's impression of Claudia and adding "and her Fiona Bruce is amazing". All right, Bruce, there's no need to lower the tone. In her VT, we're reminded that Debra was in Bad Girls and Coronation Street, but first came to the nation's attention on Opportunity Knocks at the age of 14 (looking significantly older, or is that just me?). She says that The Impressions Show is the show she dreamed of doing when she was a kid (personally, I'd have aspired to doing something funnier with a more imaginative title) and that people always ask her to do her Davina McCall impression for them. Then we see some clips of her Tess Daly impression, which is...not great, and Debra says that after studying clips of Tess to impersonate her, it's going to be quite strange to be on the show. She and Ian will be doing an American smooth, and over rehearsal footage, she explains that it needs to look seamless and flawless, which is a struggle. All the spinning is making her nauseous, it seems. She says that she would like to win - for Ian, as a Christmas gift. I hate it when people do that - "oh, me, I don't care about winning at all, I'd just like to reward my professional partner who has laboured for so long and been unrewarded." It's such bollocks, and kind of offensive and patronising to boot. She says that she should be okay, "if I can keep my turkey down". Oh, don't worry, Debra, just let us all see your turkey - it's never done Ola any harm.

They're dancing to 'Baby It's Cold Outside', complete with some inaccurate lip-synching. The routine's quite nice in choreography terms, and being delivered pretty well, but I'd like them to be a bit closer together. It's a minor quibble, but having a massive gap between couples in ballroom always irks me. Still, the lifts are good, and Debra makes it the whole way through without vomiting, so she gets a thumbs-up from me.

Alesha tells Debra she looks gorgeous, with lovely lines, nice turns and good control. She thinks Debra looked absolutely at ease with the American smooth. Bruno calls it "light, sparkling, elegant, full of flavour - a treat for the eyes and delicious to savour". Craig thought she had "nasty flat thumbs" and points out the "gapping you could drive a sleigh through", but he loved the story, the lines and the lifts. Len thinks it was light and fluffy like a fairy on top of the tree, and that she warmed him up. Bruce, padding his part out as usual, tells Debra it was a fantastic impression of Cyd Charisse.

Up in the Tess Circle, Tess asks how many hours of training went into that - and "eight" is the answer. Suddenly I'm a lot more impressed with the performance if that's all the rehearsal time they had. Debra says she's loved every minute of the experience. Scores: Craig 8, Len 9, Alesha 10, Bruno 10 for a total of 37. Debra is flabbergasted. Tess does her next link and throws to "Claudia", and Debra does her impression, which I still find remarkably accurate, though judging from Twitter at the time this went out, an awful lot of people disagree with me.

Our third couple are Barry and Erin. Barry recounts his various boxing-related achievements, including winning BBC Sports Personality Of The Year. I wonder if there were any women nominated that time? He wonders what his "boxing friends" will think of him, and answers his own question: "Probably 'what an eejit'." Given that one of the friends pictured was Joe Calzaghe, I'd suggest Barry's unlikely to turn in the worst performance ever given on this show by one of his boxing chums. He unwraps an Erin for Christmas and explains that they're doing the quickstep, which leaves him wondering if a small, square man can be elegant. Erin tells us that she won't be wearing the high heels this year, Barry will. They cackle, because short men are funny. [Not as funny as gays though. - Carrie] Barry says that he's very much looking forward to the experience, and just wants to get it right.

The routine begins with Len ringing a boxing bell (a shameless attempt to get bonus points by not only reminding Len that Barry is a SPORTSMAN but giving Len the chance to do something SPORT-RELATED), and Barry kissing Erin under the mistletoe. They're dancing to 'Jingle Bells', and for a quickstep, it's not particularly quick, but Barry's footwork seems surprisingly good. The kicks section in the middle is less impressive, and Erin's chucked in a couple of lifts, which I assume are illegal even at Christmas, but hey, it's Erin. Would you want to be the one to remind her she's not supposed to do that? I wouldn't. It all goes a bit wrong at the end, but it's a credible enough effort.

Bruno tells Barry that he had more spirit than a well-stocked drinks cabinet, and he thought it was a fantastic quickstep. Craig points out the unfortunate loss of balance near the beginning and Barry's general need for better hand-shaping, adding that the end position left a lot to be desired, but he admired the posture, the rhythm and the charleston section in the middle. Len calls it a knockout, and suggests that Barry should have danced tomorrow because it is BOXING DAY, and makes a "snow, snow, thick thick snow" gag. Alesha tells Barry it was a routine full of content, and compliments his posture and his timing.

In the Tess Circle, Tess invites Barry to punch Craig, because this is apparently what we do now, and Barry tells her it's a different kind of dancing to what he's used to, because "I normally have somebody chasing me". Tess asks if he fancies lifting the trophy, and Barry says that he's done his best, and hopes for a bit of luck. Scores: Craig 8, Len 9, Alesha 10, Bruno 9 for a total of 36.

Next are Su and Anton. Su's VT explains that she is a FLAWLESS GODDESS who has entertained the nation for decades, with Su explaining that she's "probably best known for a situation comedy called Hi-De-Hi!", adding "I've also had a singing career, which I'm very pleased about." Heh. Sadly, the clip shown is from 'Starting Together' and not THIS MASTERPIECE. From there, Su moves on to talking about her style, and how she likes to believe she was Lady Gaga's "mentor". She thinks she's lively and camp enough to work on Strictly, and aims to give us "90 seconds of fabulousness". Only 90? Su pulls a party popper and Anton appears, and Anton tells us that she epitomises the elegant sophistication of the foxtrot. Su says that it's unusual for her "to be dancing on Christmas Day and not on a table". She thinks that even if they don't lift the glitterball, she'll have lifted her spirits just by getting through it.

The band plays 'White Christmas' and Anton arrives, shaking snow off his overcoat. Su arrives in significantly more style - on a sleigh drawn by Pasha and Artem, both wearing novelty antlers and gazing at her adoringly, as well they might. Anton lifts Su out of the sleigh and removes her long white coat to reveal a green, Christmas tree-style dress. The dancing itself is rather stilted, and you can clearly see Anton guiding her through it. I'm disappointed that there wasn't more comedy in the routine, but I suppose even if there had been, it would have been Anton-brand rather than Su-brand, so perhaps that's for the best in the long run.

Anton carries Su over to Bruce, declaring her "a Christmas gift", and Bruce tells Su that before the judges get to say anything, she's his favourite. They decide to start with Craig, with Bruce wondering if that's such a good idea. Su delights a large percentage of the watching gays by lapsing into Polari and saying worriedly "look at the eek, dear." (That means "face", for all the heterosexuals reading this.) Craig says that it lacked elegance, grace, style, fluidity, and Su went off on the wrong foot. Su: "I heard you say that! 'Wrong foot!' So that put me off immediately, I couldn't get on the right foot then!" Everyone starts laughing, and Su makes a run for Craig, who leaps out of his chair and brandishes it at her to keep her at bay. In these 15 seconds, Su's already made me laugh more than Russell Grant did in an entire series. Len tells Su she came out like the Snow Queen, white and gorgeous, and then she metamorphosed into a Christmas tree, with Anton guiding her around the floor like Rudolph. He thought it was a sheer delight. Alesha says she wants to give Su an extra point just for attacking Craig - so that'll be 11, then? Alesha says that she's used to the comedy element with Su, and she thought she was elegant and lovely, "like a lovely Christmas tree". Bruno tells Su she has "such range", and admires her body contact with Anton, pointing out that she was practically glued to Anton. Su tells us that Anton has been "ever so good", drumming the mantra of "long and slow" into her. She attempts to demonstrate, but Anton mutters "it's a bit late now, love." Bruce instructs Anton to "take her up the stairs" and Su is all "OOH MATRON!" about it, making me love her even more.

In the Tess Circle, Tess informs Su that she provided "more than 90 seconds of fabulousness". Su explains that Anton has been so good, and she didn't want to let him down. Anton cuts Tess off to tell him that Su was great, and he's had such a ball training with her. Tess taps him on the arm and without missing a beat, Anton says "you want me to stop speaking? Good luck." Heh. Tess says that Su didn't let us down on the costume front, and mispronounces Lady Gaga's name in the process. Scores: Craig 6, Len 9, Alesha 7 ("Sorry Su! Can I change my mind?"), Bruno 8 for a total of 30.

Time for our last couple of the evening, Charlie and Vincent. Tess's voiceover informs us that Charlie has won "countless awards" for playing Evil Janine in EastEnders, and the lovely VT department have illustrated this by showing her clutching her Inside Soap award in 2009. I would just like to say, without bias of any kind, that the Inside Soap Awards are the best awards of them all. Charlie explains that people either love to hate Janine, or they just hate her. She's excited about doing Strictly, because it'll be nice for her nan and granddad and her little girl to see her being happy on Christmas Day, rather than trying to kill someone. I suppose depending on your personality, you could argue that those two don't necessarily have to be mutually exclusive. She pulls a cracker and out pops Vincent (presumably he was the only pro small enough to fit in one), and Vincent makes his obligatory comments about the SCREEN-MELTING CHEMISTRY that the two of them share. Charlie wins me over by openly laughing in response to this. Vincent explains their jive contains an illegal lift, and Charlie wonders if they shouldn't be playing by the rules, because she's a good girl in real life, not like that nasty Janine. Vincent retorts that rules are made to be broken, and Charlie wins the argument by reminding him he's never won. They consider that the people watching them will have eaten a lot of food, and hope to inspire them to get up and move on Christmas Day. I can't speak for anyone else, but I doubt even an apocalypse could inspire me to move before Boxing Day.

Vincent is dressed as Santa, handing out presents, before opening his sack (ooer) to reveal Charlie as a sexy Mrs Claus, and they dance to 'Santa Claus Is Coming To Town'. It's easily, to my mind, the most accomplished performance of the evening - Charlie copes well with some very quick choreography and her leg placement is impressive. Like all of tonight's routines, there's a section where it gets a bit sticky and wrong-looking (in this case, the middle) but by and large the dance is energetically performed and very convincing.

Len tells Charlie that she delivered a terrific jive, and Alesha compliments her on her energy, bounce and personality. Bruno thinks she was flickering like a flame, and he thinks everybody got picked up from their sofa to celebrate with that jive. Craig gives just one word to summarise: "fab-u-lous".

Tess asks Charlie what it's like to hear the word "fabulous" on Christmas Day. Charlie: "How should I know? It's November 28th." Oh, okay, fine: Charlie just says it was brilliant and thanks everyone. Tess says that the jive had more energy "than a catfight in the Queen Vic" and Charlie is too out of breath to do much more than wheeze her agreement. Tess asks Charlie how it would feel to win the trophy, and Charlie says that she wants to win it for Vincent - "he's got to win something". For some reason, the sarky "he's never won" approach goes down with me far better than the earnest "he really deserves it" à la Debra. I have no idea why - presumably I'm just a naturally catty person. Scores: Craig 9, Len 9, Alesha 9, Bruno 10 for a total of 37.

Time for a look at the festive leaderboard: Debra and Charlie are joint top, Simon and Barry are joint middle, and Su is at the bottom. Tess reminds us that the studio audience will vote for the other half of the total score, and then we get treated to a recap of the dances that we've just seen, even though there is no phone vote. With that in mind, let's just skip over that, shall we? Jolly good.

Since we need to pad this out a bit in order to occupy a whole hour of Christmas primetime scheduling, here's Shakin' Stevens with 'Merry Christmas Everyone'. The sound during this whole performance is a bit poor - you can barely hear him. Of course, depending on your tolerance for this particular festive hit, that might be a good thing. (I actually love this song and Shakin' Stevens, so I'm a bit disappointed, personally.) [Not as good as the year he performed this on Dancing on Ice, is it? - Carrie] There is a giant, conspicuous Christmas pudding set on the stage, so all eyes are on that until it finally bursts open near the end of the song to reveal - sigh - Russell Grant in his hideous gold suit. I would have paid someone good money to ensure that the Christmas pudding was completely secured and he was unable to bust out of it, and would eventually have just been lobbed into a BBC props store somewhere and not released until November next year at the earliest. Anyway, the audience goes nuts because RUSSELL IS THE STAR OF THE SHOW THIS YEAR IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T HEARD EVERYONE LOVES HIM AND HIS ADORABLE HOMOSEXUALITY, and Flavia arrives to pelt him ineffectually with faux snowballs - fauxballs, if you prefer. Make your own joke about Russell and balls if you want, but I refuse to encourage him. They do an encore of their American smooth, and oh God just FUCK OFF. I'd rather have watched Widdy again than sit through this. Hell, I'd rather have sat through the Snowdance. Or Penny Lancaster's jive. Or the Vorderumba. Or...well, you get the idea. (God bless the person who uploaded a decent-quality video of the Vorderumba to YouTube on Christmas Eve - an amazing Christmas present for us all. Now, all we need is a similarly benevolent person who's got Denise Lewis's jive somewhere in their collection...) Russell ends off-time with the music, because he may be lolz, but he's also shit.

After that, it's time to find out who's won the ugly trophy. Everyone gets a brief recap of something nice that the judges said about them - but who won the audience's vote? The Christmas champions of 2011 are...Charlie and Vincent! The firework curtain erupts and Charlie shrieks with delight as Vincent grabs her and lifts her up. That's right, he lifts her up, even though they are the same height. Tess asks Charlie how it feels to be a Christmas champion, and Charlie says that her little girl Kiki is going to be very happy. Tess congratulates Vincent on his first ever win, even though Christmas specials totally don't count. It's not like scooping the ugly trophy with BARROWMAN last year dented Kristina's steely determination in the slightest. Charlie says that she's had a great time and made a good friend in Vincent.

The victors are sent on their way, and Tess thanks everyone for taking part and watching. To see the show out, we have the stars of this year's series reunited for the very last time, even though we should not care about them because they are not lolgay like Russell is and are therefore not IMMORTAL LEGENDS OF TELEVISION. To demonstrate this, we have an extremely poor CGI shot of Russell on top of the Christmas tree, dressed as a fairy. See? Lolgay. He waves his wand (fnar) and then appears full-size in the middle of the judges, and I hope for someone to club him over the head with that comically large prop turkey that's now on the judges' desk, but no one obliges me. Anyway, all the BORING NON-LOLGAY contestants come back to do some BORING PROPER DANCING to 'Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!', and everyone's been given bits that make the most of their respective skill sets: Holly's given the opening bit that requires minimal effort, James has been allowed to throw things at Alex, Robbie has been allowed on camera, Jason has been given some hammy theatrical business, Russell has some more LOLGAY, Anita is demonstrating her love of all things flaming by standing by the fire with Robin, and Harry and Chelsee get the actual dancing right. Eventually, this segues into 'Wonderful Christmastime' (AARRRRGH) as the Christmas contenders return, and the judges shuffle along the floor to join them for some festive celebrating.

That's it for us in 2011! We will, of course, be back next year for series ten, and in the meantime, be sure to join us for Bitching On Ice in January. Thanks for reading, and have a very happy new year!

2 comments:

Sarah said...

Carrie - what's your 'interviewing-Simon-from-Blue' anecdote? I must know!

Great recap, as ever. Thanks to all for all your hardwork. Happy new year

Carrie said...

Oh goodness. He was LOVELY. Nothing salacious. Just a really fun interview with some very enjoyable and non-serious flirting.