Last week! Movie week did its usual movie week trick of featuring a ton of musicals, loads of Disney and some TV theme tunes that only sort of half-count as movies. This week! One of those awkward weeks in between movie week and HALLOWEEN where the show has to work out where everyone is on their official journey!
We open with everyone banging on about how important it is
to repeat everything and if that’s a warning that tonight they haven’t bothered
to create any new material, then… that’ll make my recapping duty a lot easier,
I’m all for it.
Credits! Looking at
the mini Jameses dancing in the background, the signs were all there, weren’t
they? [Haha, I made the exact same observation this week too! - Steve]
Tess and Claudia enter, on the arms of Gorka and
Giovanni. Poor Nancy, one day they’ll
give her something to do. (I wonder which
will come first: same-sex dance partners or women accompanying our female
presenters down the stairs). Dresswatch:
Claudia’s in a black velvet dress with spiky shoulders that’s pure Halloween,
whilst Tess is in a sparkly stripy foil concoction that is a really awkward
shape, especially in the skirt. It’s
something that might work if we ever did 60s/70s
sci-fi week but outside of that, less so. Our judges enter: Bruno, Motsi, Craig and Shirley – and Shirley’s in a
cape. I wonder if that’s trolling (and/or
a tribute to) David?
Speaking of David, he and Nadiya are our first couple to
enter, followed by: Emma and Anton; Chris and Karen; Emma W and Aljaž; Dev and
Dianne; Saffron and AJ; Mike and Katya; Michelle and Giovanni; Will and Janette;
Catherine and Johannes; Alex and Neil; Karim and Amy; Kelvin and Oti. There are some, um, interesting choices in
styling going on.
Chris and Karen
On the subject of interesting styling choices, these two are
also in sparkly foil fabrics which makes me think Vicky Gill got a load on a 3
for 2. He’s Elton John (you can tell by
the oversized specs. Well, either that
or Su Pollard) and she’s… MC Hammer? Their VT features Karen visiting Chris
doing stand-up and telling us she was surprised that he was actually quite funny. Sadly we don’t witness this for ourselves as
the only things we hear him say are telling the audience that Karen was also
there and whining about how the cast got given superhero names and all he got
was Bananaman. That’s nothing, mate,
apparently Catherine got ‘Jasmine’ – if that’s the character from Next Men,
it’s pretty niche, and if it’s from Aladdin that’s pretty off-theme. [Also and this is of niche interest I'm sure, but I think Karen was sitting next to Jason Cook, who wrote Hebburn - the BBC2 sitcom that Chris starred in. - Steve]
Their jive is to ‘Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)’ and
the training footage veered between pretty competent and pretty messy, so I’m
intrigued as to what’s going to happen. The
training footage was good preparation, as it turns out. It starts quite well, then he seems to stop,
then it careens all over the place from fun and energetic to lumpen and clearly
tiring him out to a bit where they’re massively out of time with each other to
other bits that are seemingly competent. His mouth is gaping open the whole time, which adds to the feeling of
sloppiness, and the foil Hammer pants make Karen’s bum look ENORMOUS. [And the jacket doesn't really do much for Chris's body shape either. I've not seen a suit make anyone look so boxy since I stopped watching The X Factor. - Steve] The fact that the song is being played at a
super-fast pace probably doesn’t help matters but props to him for mostly
keeping up with it, I guess?
We welcome the singers: Hayley, Jamie, Jill and Tommy and
Dave Arch and his wonderful orchestra, and Chris and Karen are trying to get
their breath.
Shirley says there’s a false assumption that jive has to be
danced on the toes, but it can be danced with the whole foot, and she’s going to
give him a point for that, whilst taking one away for him going wrong. Bruno says this song’s timing is really hard
to follow, and he made a mistake but managed to cover it up quite well. Craig says he disagrees with Shirley and it
was flat footed. Chris says Craig’s
flirting with him and pulling his pigtails in the playground, and Craig says he’ll
have the jacket. Motsi says he’s really grown,
and he’s very ‘authentic’. I can see how ‘authentic’ as a comment might fit
with, say, an emotional dance like contempowaft or rumba, but pretending to be Elton
John by wearing rainbow bacofoil, novelty glasses and feathers doesn’t exactly
scream Dogme 95 values.
In the Clauditorium, Claudia says she hopes he heard his ‘friends’
on the balcony cheering when Motsi said he was a changed man. Changed or authentic, which is it? Scores: 6, 7, 6, 7 for a total of 26 and
Chris asks if they can show the leaderboard. Heh.
Time for our Very Special Terms and Conditions Guest, who
happens to be Jason Donovan, and much as I am a diehard Neighbours fan
who will always love the Donobot, all I could think was how it’s going to muck
up the ‘who would you like to compete’ polls on Monkseal’s blog.
Emma and Anton
Their VT is all about how the narrative of their dance is a couple who’ve had a row, then she tells us ‘we choreographed that
together’. I hope that's going method and inciting a row, because if Anton sees that VT you'll get one. Play about with that Latin rubbish all you want, but don't touch his ballroom. All he has is being the 'King' of it. It's not even Janette's 'double Christmas champion' (and don't mention that that could have been him wining with Katie Derham had Ruth Langsford not ruined it all by staying in too long). They then go to her old
drama school and they EMOTE in front of about three students and given how many times Emma says
‘emotional’ and stares wild-eyed down the camera I think we might be about to
see her touching the divine.
Their Viennese Waltz is to ‘Send in the Clowns’ which is pretty
much the right level of melodrama and ham needed to accompany that VT. Emma’s doing her best ‘don’t fucking touch me’
face, which she’s perfected after years of playing a woman in an on-off marriage
to Billy Mitchell, before she forgives Anton at the end and gives out an enormous
sigh like the theatrical luvvie she is. Performance
aside, it’s a perfectly solid piece of lovely Anton ballroom, and you can see
Emma trying really really hard to put her hand in the right position on his
shoulder, but the dancing isn’t quite as dramatic as the music and the facial
expressions.
Bruno calls it her best dance yet and goes on about what the
song means like he’s writing an essay for his Performing Arts A-level and says
the dance encapsulated that in ‘one point twenty minutes’. Craig laughs at Bruno saying ‘one point twenty
minutes’ a bit and then praises the style and rotation and calls it
gorgeous. Motsi says ‘she has arrived’
and yes, that did feel more like what we were expecting Emma to be like, and
that there wasn’t much to say about the dance because it was so special. Shirley says ‘if you can imagine it, you can
achieve it’ and heaven knows there are many things we’ve all imagined ourselves
doing [primarily with Pasha / Aljaž / insert pro of your choice, it might even
be Anton, we won’t judge] but that doesn’t mean we’re going to achieve them
Shirl. Anyway all ‘one minute and twenty
seconds’ was lovely and their best dance yet.
In the Clauditorium, Emma says how they did lots of improv
to help their routine and it was quite easy actually, Claud. Scores: 8, 9, 9, 9 for a total of 35, and
that’s a) Anton’s joint best-ever score and b) some hot, hot bullshit.
Dev and Dianne
After Dev being covered in blue last week, this week they’ve
had the least effort thrown into their styling, which seems to have been
decided along the lines of ‘Oooh Dianne’s hair is bright red, let’s just make
everything bright red.’ In their VT, Dev
says last week was the first time he wasn’t worried about technique, because it
was couple’s choice and no-one even knows what that is yet, you can just do any
old shit (/unless you’re paired with AJ and he picks contemporary).
This series’ endless parade of cha chas continues with this dance
to ‘Dancing With A Stranger’ and not only are they in bright red top to toe,
the lighting is also bright red so you can’t see a bladdy thing and I feel like
someone ought to have taught this trick to Anton many series ago. That aside, it’s fine, it’s a cha cha so
mostly it’s a little dull. They play it a bit po-faced, but there are some
nice moments in the side-by-side parts where Dev’s hips are working hard.
Craig says he liked the hips but he thought Dev needs to
work on straight legs and his arms, and it wasn’t ‘cheeky’ enough for a cha
cha. Motsi says he has nice energy and keeps to the beat well
but sometimes he keeps his focus too much on Dianne and we lose the connection
with him. Shirley prefaces her comments
with ‘you know I’m a fan, right,’ which isn’t going to go well. The crux of her slightly garbled critique is
that he’s a trick-magnet but not so good at shaping - a ‘body’ dancer, not a ‘line’
one. Bruno says he’s good at working
with the music but doesn’t know how to sell it yet – there are some fantastic
movements but in places he seems to doubt himself.
In the Clauditorium, Claudia asks if he understands all the
commentary and he says ‘I’ll take it’, which is a nice swerve. Scores: 6, 7, 7, 7 for a total of 27.
(Catherine and) Johannes
Their VT sees them going to a nail bar (because that’s where
their dance is set and I was trying to figure out which brands they’d bought in
as props during the dance – I think Barry M? #nailgeek) and Johannes
pulls focus by wearing a purple hat. This might be a precursor for the dance. Oh, and Catherine says the Charleston is scary because it’s full of ‘acrobatics’
but given the most recent version of the dance we saw was *that* dance-off last week, anything
you’re doing will look fantastic in comparison.
They’re dancing to ‘Single Ladies’ and are both in hot pink,
and Johannes is clearly living out his dreams. He is ON and pulls out every trick in the book, combining a good mix of
the moves from the video and regular Charleston moves. The outfit yet again accentuates his bum, and his nipples for those who prefer that. Catherine is also present – and looks more comfortable in the side by side
parts – she’s a bit hesitant in the lifts and somersaults. Also, her breasts are bouncing EVERYWHERE and
given she’s in a fairly low-cut top, it’s a miracle they stayed in place.
Motsi says she’s been worried that ‘the girls’ are
underperforming this year (after you gave Emma a bunch of 9s?) but ‘here she is’. [For a minute I thought she was talking about Catherine's boobs. -Steve] Shirley says she can conquer the world with the right attitude and
partner. Bruno praises how packed it
was. Craig says the footwork was random
and the swivel was haphazard and it’s a nightmare dancing next to Johannes as
he is so good and that either Johannes needs to tone things down, or Catherine
needs to pick things up – but he thinks if she did the dance a second time, it’d
be amazing. Is that his way of saying he
wants her in the dance-off, or an early sign it’ll be judges’ choice if she
makes the final?
In the Clauditorium, we learn that Catherine’s family have
parties every week and Johannes confirms that he is, indeed, living his best life, if it wasn't already abundantly clear. Scores: 6, 8, 8, 8 for a total of 30 and Catherine
cries a bit.
Alex and Neil
Tess tells us that Alex and Neil’s most exciting storyline
so far has been increasing their score by one point a week. Their VT features Neil telling Alex to be
more aggressive, so she whacks him in the face. Cue a bunch of MRAs calling Ofcom. Alex says she’s comfortable in the day job, but ‘it’s a whole nother game’
dancing. Aww, I miss Chloe sometimes, I
hope she’s living her best life wherever she is.
Their tango is to ‘Go Your Own Way’ and they’re dressed as bikers
which a) feels a bit of a retread of Kevin and Stacey’s dance last year, and b)
LOL it’s Fleetwood Mac, calm yourselves. I actually like Alex’s costume and make-up for tango – I’m less into the
dancing. I mean Neil even skips at one
point. The footwork is quite clumsy, she
feels a bit lost and it’s all quite lacking in content.
Shirley said the first two ‘walls’ were quite nice but there
was an issue with her ‘contra check’ and it’s a little bit of an improvement,
but not a major one yet. Bruno says it’s
good to explore different sides of her personality but something went wrong and
she couldn’t get back on it, and the tango needs to be ‘like whiplash’ rather
than hesitant. Craig says it looked like
she was being thrown about rather than dancing herself but he loved her head
work and her acting has improved. Motsi
says her performance and presence are getting there, but she’s being a bit
overly careful because she’s aware of being watched, and she needs to let go
and have fun more because ‘I don’t think we’re ever going to be happy’. I don’t know if that sounded how she wanted
it to sound. [Yeah, that really was the most blistering critique of the night and I don't know if it was meant to be or not! - Steve]
Scores: 4, 6, 6, 7 for a total of 23, the same score they
got last week, so there goes their ‘journey’. I could potentially see these two being in trouble – although of course
we have quite a few of the weaker performers still to come.
There’s a preview coming up in which we learn that most of
these people have terrible training outfits.
David and Nadiya
Last week they hit the dance-off again, but were saved again
by facing the dirt worst dancer again. Their VT features David’s hair flying about
like mad and them having a song from The Greatest Showman because apparently
there wasn’t room for that in movie week despite it being full of Pokemon and
Downton Abbey and things that would also work in musicals week. He calls The Greatest Showman the best film
of the year before correcting himself with, ‘er, last year?’ Try the year before, David (although I guess
it did stick around for a huge chunk of 2018 as well). Also, as with the previous week, he thinks last
week went really well. And apparently
the song choice this week is a metaphor for his life. Every episode I become more fascinated with David
world as it always seems just that sidestep removed from the world the rest of
us live in, but in a really endearing way. He also gets his kids and grandkids in for some BABYWARZ points, and the
daughters say they’ve never seen him dance, which is quite the shade they’re throwing
on the last three weeks.
They’re dancing a quickstep to ‘From Now On’ and the
training footage made this look like it was going to be alllll Charleston, so it’s
nice to see some actual quickstep content for the first part at least. He’s looking quite dapper in a black suit and
Nadiya looks nice in gold – and he seems more relaxed than in previous
weeks. He doesn’t stop grinning the whole
time, which goes a long way towards selling the dance. Occasionally there are glimmers of technique
here – although there’s also a lot of running around and looking gawky as well –
but it should see him get some 5s, possibly 6s, and might even give him a bit
of a vote boost because lawd knows there’s a huge crossover
between fans of this show and fans of The Greatest Showman.
Bruno says the difference between this week and last week is
miraculous and he’s never seen a transformation like this. Craig agrees, saying he’s picked himself up,
dusted himself down and he’s finally arrived. Motsi says he doesn’t deserve to be in the dance-off. Shirley says he’s never tried to be better
than anyone else, just on improving himself, which – yes, that’s sort of the
ethos of this show, but also sort of not, with the whole scoring and competition
thing.
In the Clauditorium, David tries to thank his kids and
grandkids whilst attempting to breathe. Scores: 6, 7, 7, 8 for a total of 28 LOLOLOLOLOLOL. [Yeah, I've seen some baffling scores in my time, but...what?! - Steve] I don’t think I was watching the same dance
as those judges, but I’m happy for David as he’s clearly been struggling with
being so low and that might see him safe.
Kelvin and Oti
Last week, their musical theatre routine was widely praised
and got 10s despite it being called a Charleston and containing barely any
Charleston content (I know, I know, Charleston is hardly the genre to get all
PURITY OF DAHNCE about). This week they
have the rumba and we all know the drill for our first blokerumba VTs so let’s get
right to the routine instead.
They’re dancing to ‘Ain’t
No Sunshine; and the sparse set, dark mood lighting and musical arrangement along
with their black outfits do them a world of favours, because the whole thing is
really atmospheric and stripped back from props, gaudy lighting effects etc. The dancing is really solid, especially for a
blokerumba, and they’re both selling SEX in their acting, which we don’t always
see in rumbas these days (especially as last series had hardly any rumbas in it
at all). He’s still to really be tested
in ballroom, but his Latin so far is looking pretty natural – other than a
couple of stand-out Danny Mac routines, Kelvin seems the most comfortable man in Latin since
Mark Ramprakash.
As for the judging – you know when Arlene would get all unnecessarily
sexual? Well times that by four and throw
in a ‘finish Craig off’ double entendre from Tess (I know, Tess!) for good measure. They also chuck about the word MASCULINE a
lot because it's a rumba, and Motsi keeps calling him Kevin which I hope is a sign that she can’t pronounce
Kelvin rather than her confusing him with Mr Clifton. The judges are so enamoured with the dance - or with Kelvin - that we could be
getting more 10s.
Scores: 9, 9, 9, 9 for a total of 36 – and if they reprise
that in the final, I wouldn’t bet against it being the first 40 rumba. Well, if we count the scores in the final,
which we probably don’t.
Emma and Aljaž
Last week they dressed our VISCOUNTESS up as a maid
chef’s assistant. This week she shows
that she genuinely does know what a kitchen is by showing Aljaž how to make a
cake. The cake doesn’t look that
spectacular, to be honest, they might have thought that one through more if she's angling for a solo cookery show when this is all over.
They’re jiving to ‘Kids in America’ (not the singers’ best
hour) and she’s dressed like Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s character from the ‘San Junipero’
episode of Black Mirror, whilst he looks like NKOTB’s embarrassing dad (I’d
apologise but I know he’d consider being an embarrassing dad to actually be a
massive compliment which is why we love him. That and his arse in white trousers). [I don't know what this says about me but I have honestly never fancied Aljaž more than I did tonight. WOOF. - Steve] Aljaž’s mouth is going non-stop – making Chris’s jive face look
positively restrained. Performance-wise,
it’s quite preppy and peppy but her footwork is hesitant in places (and at one
point she nearly falls over), though there are some nice lifts – it’s not quite
the balls-to-the-wall routine the song merits, but it should see them remaining
solidly mid-table.
Motsi says everything was there – speed, technique and
personality. Shirley says there must be
something in the water with all the also-rans improving. Or some of them, anyway. Bruno says the free drops at the end were ‘wow’
and Craig says he also saw an improvement and is glad that we’ve 'lost the swan,
even if we have gained a bit of a headless chicken… in a good way’ whatever
that means.
In the Clauditorium, we get a camera glance over to Emma’s husband, whom
Claudia says was full of pride, and he looks entirely uncomfortable and fed
up and as lacking in pride as it's possible to be. God I love an awkward relative who
hates being on camera. He also looks a
bit like Nigel Havers because apparently all posh people do indeed look alike. Scores: 7, 7, 7, 7 for a total of 28.
Michelle and Giovanni
Their VT focuses on how they give a name to each of the
days, but Stacey and Kevin ran the same VT last year and I have no time for
this. These two need their own VT version
of the Lovely Debbie McGee boat trip. I love you guys, but you're losing me. Michelle’s
training outfit choices remain as unflattering and eclectic as ever – which is a
precursor for her salsa outfit which is a riot of mismatched bright colours with
a horrible neckline and what appears to be the bloody remains of a squished
butterfly in the middle. Her hair is
also blown up to 80s Cher proportions and the make-up is full of gaudy blue
eyeliner. She’s a beautiful woman but
this whole look aged her by a decade and sent her back in time by a good
three to four.
They’re dancing to 'Quimbara', which is a great choice, and
she continues to sell the dance most of the time, with her sheer gusto doing a
large part of the work for her. Technically
it’s solid if not spectacular, and there are a couple of moments where she briefly
seems to lose her footing and one where a spin goes awry. Although she recovers pretty quickly and
doesn’t let it stop the flow, you can see in her face that she’s not happy with
the mistakes.
Shirley says she can see that ‘mama’ loves salsa and even
though there were mistakes, she shouldn’t get too down about it as she’s a
great dancer. Bruno says salsa is very complicated
but needs to look spontaneous, and apart from a little mishap, it was excellent. Craig says it would have been nice to have
more hip rotation in the forward and back basic but she’s a comfortable and
confident dancer. Motsi praises her for handling
the speed and being ‘cheeky, chilli and hot’. Someone needs to work on their alliteration.
In the Clauditorium, Michelle says she banged heads with
Giovanni in a spin and seems a bit deflated. Scores: 7, 8, 8, 8 for a total of 31.
Claudia attempts to get everyone to say ‘Paradise’ as a
punchline about Karim and Amy dancing to a George Ezra song but no-one joins in
because no-one cares about George Ezra (except my friend’s five year old daughter
and even then she wouldn’t be able to tell you his name, she just tells Alexa
to play the alligator song).
Will and Janette
Will’s struggling with the foxtrot because of his disability and hopes it'll be OK but isn't convinced. This is not a happy VT, maybe they should have made it a comedy one.
They’re dancing to 'Senorita' (the Shawn Mendes and Camila
Cabello one, not Justin Timberlake) and this is such a stupid foxtrot choice
because the Latin rhythm really doesn’t suit foxtrot technique. What it does suit is Janette doing her
damndest to hide Will’s shortcomings by Latin Sensation-ing all over the place,
whilst he stomps around trying to keep his frame. It does highlight that the producers maybe
should have thought more carefully about which dances to assign him given his
disability, but despite it not suiting him, he doesn’t fall to pieces and it’s one of those rare occasions
where you can feel a bit more sympathy for the reasons why the female pro has
to showboat around a weak male celeb.
Bruno praises him for keeping it going and working hard on
maintaining his frame. Craig says his face dropped whenever he got into hold
because it seemed as though he lost the will to live. I mean I know Janette can be a bit annoying,
but that’s harsh. However, he praises
Will’s frame. Motsi says he has great
partnering skills and you could see the work that he’s put into his upper
body. Shirley praises his posture and
frame and could see he’d repeated it plenty and didn’t make mistakes.
In the Clauditorium, Claudia says he looks sad and he seems
a bit hard on himself. Janette says he’s
the hardest working person she’s met on the show.
Scores: 6, 6, 6, 6 for a total of 24.
Another preview, which reveals that Karim’s ‘Welsh’ accent sounds like Aleksandr Meerkat.
Mike and Katya
I know these two are probably here until BLACKPOOL but I’m
finding it hard to get much out of their partnership – I suspect a lot of it might
be because Mike has a lot of competition in the normal bloke category and Chris
and David are more endearing, alongside Katya being, well, Katya. In their VT he struggles with confidence, she
believes in him, yada yada zzzzzzzzz.
They’re dancing a quickstep to ‘Come On Eileen’ which I ruddy
HATE. It was number one when my little brother
was born so maybe my loathing is borne out of repressed traumatic memory at being
usurped but I think it’s mostly its use at endless wedding discos. The fact that the tempo changes so much also
doesn’t make it a great choice for, well, any dance, and it doesn’t work as a
quickstep at all, because it’s too slow to start with, then the very slow bit
has an annoying football-stand waving routine, then they do star jumps at the
super-fast bit? It’s an unholy mess, though the song is mostly at fault. Mike looks fine in all black and Katya looks nice
in a 60s-esque black and white dress – but the mod styling makes no sense with
a 1980s’ track. Mike manages OK with the
routine, although they appear to both be chatting throughout which is
distracting, and, like David’s quickstep, it gets a bit running around the room
in places. To be fair, I think what he’s doing is the least of my problems with it. Then they collapse against a fish and chip
van (?) and Katya falls on the floor and cries uncontrollably (???). I watched this twice and none of it made any
more sense the second time either. [This dance was definitely one of those "wow, I'm glad I'm not recapping this week" moments. My condolences to you. - Steve]
Craig says he managed OK but there were some weird comedy
moments – however, he’s come into his own. Motsi liked the mixture of slow and quick moments and thinks they’ll be
getting great scores tonight (?). Shirley thinks it was sophisticated (??) and likes his chasses and Katya
is bawling her eyes out, like properly heavy sobbing. And Bruno says it’s a night of miracles and ‘now
I can see Magic Mike.'
In the Clauditorium, Katya is a mess and Claudia hugs her. Scores: 7, 9 (?!?!?), 8, 8 for a total of 32
and Claudia calls it an ‘extraordinary’ score. And how. Is anyone else as confused
as me? [YES - Steve]
Saffron and AJ
In the latest in making us all feel old moments, Saffron
talks about how she watched YouTube when she was a child. I was in my mid-twenties when the damn thing was INVENTED, Saf, stop it. Also, she loves her grandparents, but especially one nan, and Saffron tells said nan they’re dancing to ‘Because You Loved Me’ and her nan cries, and then Saffron
cries because she doesn’t want her nan to ever die. And based on the training footage there might
be even more reason for tears coming up – and not in the Ashley Roberts ‘that
was so moving’ way.
Clearly not one to let the trainwreck that was his last attempt
at contemporary bother him, AJ’s gone back for more of the same – chest out,
billowy clothes (reminiscent of Torvill and Dean’s Bolero outfits), bare feet,
and so much dry ice that not only is the footwork hidden, so are they half the
time – which might be a genius move, come to think of it. Saffron actually does OK- she’s got nice
lines and seems more comfortable than she has in many other routines – it’s AJ
who biffs a cartwheel and has some dodgy footwork. It isn’t the most exciting routine, and does
fall into the contempowaft trap of feeling a bit GCSE Performing Arts, but it
seemed a lot better than the training footage suggested it might be and it was
a step up from Lauren’s routine. It wasn’t
enough to convince me that this is a genre AJ should keep returning to in
Couple’s Choice, however. Then it ends
and Saffron cries and hugs her nan and AJ hugs who I think is Saffron’s dad? If
I was Saffron’s other nan I’d be either miffed or planning my own emotional VT salvo
for later in the series.
Motsi says she’s proud of Saffron for showing vulnerability
and having real strength in her body. Shirley says you can see that she put herself into the dance and it
really worked. Bruno says they were
finely tuned to each other and every expression matched. Craig says they could have gone further – the
basic structure was there but they could have gone more over the top in places –
he loved her arabesque leap though and she should be proud.
In the Clauditorium I notice AJ is wearing an ugly pendant
and Saffron says she didn’t watch the VT or she would have cried. Love, Katya just wept buckets over ruddy Come
on Eileen, you’ve got nothing to worry about following that. Scores: 7, 8, 9, 9 for a total of 34.
Saffron is still trying to get her breath so Claudia makes
her read out the voting info. Who said
these YouTubers have no work ethic?
Karim and Amy
Apparently he needs to challenge himself by becoming ‘Mr Serious, Mr Tango’ and
he’s a bit disappointed at his scores last week. You’d think this opening was cause for
an acting coach VT, but instead it’s time for more BABY WARZ as he goes to see his
sister and his cute nephews. And also
his sister’s partner but he doesn’t count, he isn't even mentioned.
They’re dancing their tango to ‘Paradise’ which seems a bit
of a sunny song for this dance – the verses work, but the chorus is a little
fast and cheerful. His ‘serious face’ has strayed into
the territory of ‘had too many chillies and regretting it’ but his technique
remains strong. They’ve also slicked back
his hair and given him a pencil moustache which reads a bit too sitcom waiter
for me, especially coupled with a waistcoat, but it might work for some. [Yeah, it was an odd look, I thought. - Steve]
Shirley calls him inspiring and coping well with the speed
of the song. Bruno praises the ‘power,
passion, precision’ and, err, ‘enthusiasm’ and Craig says it’s the first time
we’re seeing a male celebrity lead. What, ever? This series? Tonight? Karim’s very happy with this, regardless. Motsi calls it the best dance of the
evening. Now guys. We’re four weeks into the realm of Motsi and
what do we all think? I really like her
personality and energy but I’m finding a lot of her comments a bit lacking in detail
– especially given she has a dance background and has been judging this show in
Germany for years. Don’t get me wrong,
it took Darcey an eternity to say anything other than 'core' and ‘the boys are right’ so I’m
not writing her off by any means, I just wish she’d give me some more substance
at times. [I like her a lot, and "that's my sister, stop it" after Kelvin and Oti's rumba was my highlight of the series, but I do know what you mean, I'd like a few more specifics from her. - Steve]
In the Clauditorium, Johannes is wearing a Wham ‘Choose LIFE’
T-shirt, Karim’s exhausted and Amy’s still ill and sounds TERRIBLE. Someone send this woman home with a pack of
night nurse and a hot water bottle. Scores: 9, 10, 9, 10 for a total of 38, keeping him up there with Kelvin
as our two ringers-most-likely.
After the complete mental-ness that was tonight’s judging,
where’s our leaderboard at?
1. Karim and Amy - 38
2. Kelvin and Oti - 36
3. Emma and Anton - 35
4. Saffron and AJ - 33
5. Mike and Katya - 32
6. Michelle and Giovanni - 31
7. Catherine and Johannes - 30
8=. David and Nadiya - 28
8=. Emma and Aljaž - 28
10. Dev and Dianne - 27
11. Chris and Karen - 26
11. Chris and Karen - 26
12. Will and Janette - 24
13. Alex and Neil - 23
We’re at the stage where the entire first screen was couples
in the 30s – and it’s not that I think that’s abnormally high for week 4, it’s
that it’s abnormally high for most of those dances. The weird leaderboard also means there’s a
good chance David will escape the dance-off. I can’t see his public vote being lower than Emma W’s, for instance, and
tonight could well be her first dance-off. It’s also the first real test for Dev, Chris, Will and Alex and I wouldn’t
be shocked if any of them were down there. [Also, I just genuinely can't see Alex's tango being the worst dance of the night by any metric. This leaderboard is just so screwy. - Steve]
The vote opens to ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go Go’ and Johannes’
T-shirt choice becomes more understandable – and lots of other people are
wearing them, and I can see that they actually say ‘Choose DANCE’ on them. Also Andrew Ridgeley has an autobiography
coming out this Christmas so he missed a good opportunity to plug that.
Will David indeed escape the dance-off? Whose public vote is through the floor? Will Dance Debrief shed any more light on the
judges’ scoring choices? Join me tomorrow
to see!
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