Week five, and now the competition is really hotting up (Mark even salsa-ed to "Hot Hot Hot"- after a fashion) as all the celebrities seem to be realising it’s time to bring it on. Brendan, of course, was still rowing with the judges (Bruce, the old wag, even had a whistle to break up disagreements- and it proved surprisingly effective!) and we saw practice footage of Ray attacking a punching bag in frustration (clearly it helped, as his Viennese Waltz was magnificent; "the most virile" as Arlene said, and very elegant, too). In her VT, Emma said she’d realised at last that this was a competition, and she was going to have to really work at it. Obviously that paid off too, as her and Darren’s VW (that’s Viennese Waltz) was described by Len as "a wow of a dance," and rightly so- beautiful choreography, brilliantly danced. I understand that their fleckerls were particularly good but I’m blowed if I could recognise one! Peter Schmeichel did well too, with a classy VW and Carol Smilie danced a solid salsa with some impressive floor spins, but it lacked a little something, and she received a 29, as she said, "again."
Carry on over the cut for more fighting talk- and some more dancing stuff, too, including who left!
There were some dancers who were accused of failing to fight the good fight, most especially Matt, who several judges said looked self conscious and wasn’t trying hard enough. (His face made it clear what he was thinking: grrr). Somehow, this evolved into Arlene describing Lilia as "Miss Sexy Coconuts" but let’s not study the origins of that phrase too closely, shall we? Anyway, his salsa only netted them 25 points, which did seem a little low… The judges (especially Ms Phillips) were also hard on Vincent, Louisa’s professional partner, saying he wasn’t bringing out his A-game, whereas she was trying hard. Their score of 29 seemed low, too.
And then there was Jan, who actually did better with an okay V. Waltz, which Craig said was her personal best… then gave her the same score as last week. He kept trying to explain his logic but really, there didn’t seem to be any. Not that it mattered, as Jan’s time was up. She was incredibly tearful (Arlene, in a shocking new development, looked on disapprovingly) but I don’t think anyone else will be. I’m sure she’s a lovely woman and I find Anton very entertaining but really… enough. And finally, there was Brendan, who stormed off yet again (can’t he learn some new conflict resolution techniques? That’s getting boring!) after being given the lowest mark of the evening (he and Claire were in the bottom two with the public vote, too). Their salsa was actually pretty good, very sensual but apprently "BBC bosses" had demanded they tone it down… the spoilsports!
I mentioned Mark earlier and I can’t leave without mentioning him again!He danced last but not least and his salsa was fabulous, definitely the best dance of the evening, although it took two tries to get there after he initially got his mic caught in Karen’s dress and they asked to start again. You might think the band would have caught on that maybe they should stop, but even when Bruce came out on the floor to ascertain what was happening, the drummers were still beating even though the singers had long given up. The seamstress who always used to be on It Takes Two came on to fix things and I think Bruce just thought she was some random woman ("who are you?")… so of course, he danced with her.
Next week: the samba (carnival time!) or the oh-so-pretty american smooth… should be good! [Diane Shipley]
Strictly Come Dancing Week 1; Strictly Come Dancing Week 2 ; Strictly Come Dancing Week 3; Strictly Come Dancing Week 4.
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Diane, your round-ups are so brilliant for those of us who (*sob*) managed to miss both Saturday’s show and Sunday’s repeat. What I love most about SCD is the amount of blokes who secretly love it. Even my brother is now hooked.
I’ll miss Anton though.
Diane, I have to say that your reviews are just brilliant – even for those of us who haven’t missed SCD at all! (Biased, moi?!)
Aw, thanks Gemma!
(and er, Mum!)
I’m sure they’ll make sure Anton pops by regularly, they always do when he goes out early. xx
Down with Matt! And down with Mark’s trousers.
How’s that for incisive comment?
Ah, Linda. I am so with you. LOL
Great review, Diane. And much less ranty than mine!
Thanks Keris- I thought yours was fab though!
And Linda, LOL. You might have to get in line!
xx
my name is molly newton. I am 7 years old.
I watch it every saturday with my grany it is great.
I THINK KATE SHOULD GIVE IN AND LET GABBY COME BACK SHE CAN’T EVEN DANCE AND THE JUDGES SHOULD STAND UP FOR THE PROPER DANCERS. THE PUBLIC DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING IT’S JUST SYMPATHY AND RUINING A GOOD SHOW I ALWAYS WATCH THIS SHOW BUT THIS TIME IT HAS GONE TOO FAR IT’S AWFUL.
I THINK KATE SHOULD GIVE IN AND LET GABBY COME BACK SHE CAN’T EVEN DANCE AND THE JUDGES SHOULD STAND UP FOR THE PROPER DANCERS. THE PUBLIC DON’T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING IT’S JUST SYMPATHY AND RUINING A GOOD SHOW I ALWAYS WATCH THIS SHOW BUT THIS TIME IT HAS GONE TOO FAR IT’S AWFUL.
I WATCH THIS PROGRAMME EVERY TIME IT IS ON BUT IT HAS GONE TOO FAR KATE SHOULD GIVE IN AND LET GABBY BACK SHE KNOWS SHE’S NO GOOD THE JUDGES SHOULD HAVE THE LAST SAY SORRY BUT THIS PROGRAMME HAS GONE DOWN IN MY ESTIMATION.
GET KATE OFF THE SHOW ALL SHE IS DOING IS CREATING HAVOC(ANOTHER FIONA)
the voting is a farce,all the judges are interested in is making vile personal remarks about the dancers not the dancing.they change the rules for their favourites and then give 10s for illegal lifts,its an utter shambles and please change the judges as there must be better ones out there..
I don’t even like watching this show,, but my old dear likes to watch it,,but now she refuses to watch it any more,,we all know Kate from GMTV cannot dance,, and looks like a duck out of water,and Gabbi’s husband dances like a gorilla, this is not an honest show, but a show on making money on people who ring in,, not on people who work hard on learning their dance..
This year the competition is so hot, i feel my feet and my hips burning. Top two has to be aleisha, kelly,either person has to win. I am absolutely addicted to the show this year.The british voters who are voting for kate, quit the sympathy it has gone on to long. You have already sacrificed Gabby who was a brilliant dancer.
I would like to see Alesha go out — she is far too pompous, overconfident and is clearly so sure of herself that she’s going to win! She needs to be given a boot up the backside and be told to calm down.
The way she goes “oh my god” when the top scores come up like some immature teen who thinks she is perfect is so annoying — yes she is skilled at dancing but Kate was not brilliant and she was put through many times… Alesha needs to be put in her place and be voted out!
Also she’s had experience of being on stage so it gives her an unfair advantage as she will be more confident than the other contenders. This is reason enough for her to go — even if she is good, it’s not fair!
If she wins with an unfair advantage it’s plain wrong!
Alesha has been ON STAGE, A HUGE NUMBER OF TIMES, PERFORMING IN FRONT OF LIVE AUDIENCES before the show started. A huge number of people seem to be totally unaware about this, or oblivious to how it unfairly helps her perfomance.
Granted, she is a singer, however, she has been on stage a LOT and as a result she will have much more confidence in this scenario and therefore too much of an unfair advantage.
If you’ve been on stage many times before a competition starts, it IS going to be easier for you — full stop! You WILL be somewhat more relaxed whether it’s dancing, singing or otherwise!!
Think about Matt for a moment — he’s a great dancer but isn’t very confident. He’s starting to get confident now (scoring 4x10s before Alesha can shows he’s got the talent), and Alesha already had an unfair advantage in that area from the start!
Alesha shouldn’t be getting votes, and shouldn’t have been allowed on Strictly Come Dancing in the first place. Maybe she’s the first person that accepted, who knows, but it should NOT have happened!! I’m really disappointed that so many people could be so stupid to vote for someone with an unfair advantage!! We need to counteract this and vote for the people that need the vote!
Granted, she may have topped the leaderboards over the past few weeks, but if everyone was allowed on with lots of previous experience, it’s plain stupid. It takes the point out of the show — teaching *unexperienced* celebrites how to move on the dance floor.
Vote for Matt, he’s not a fraud.
Alesha is doing Strictly Come Dancing for herself.
Matt’s doing it for Flavia, and he’s already showing he can be better than Alesha. He deserves to win for those reasons!!
VOTE FOR MATT!!