Last week we lost Team Sparkle and this week we
gained an on form Brucie, batteries charged this was the first week he’s felt
fully on form (as on form as Bruce comes). Armed with his jokes and perfectly
not so times one liners it was time to take to the floor…
Natalie
& Artem
Samba to ‘Bomboleo’
by Gypsy King
Someone
hand Artem, Tyrones number because Natalie is at it again! The terminator
gained himself a broken nose during dress rehearsal but that wasn’t going to
stop this pair. This
flamenco-tinged dance was a delight to watch. Plenty of natural flair, and as
usual, her timing was on point, beautiful lines and footwork to perfection, she
really does move with the music. Despite the pretty awful
dress (did they just stick that pink thing on the back 5 minutes before?) Len found himself “Palpitating,
perspirating and flatuating” (we THINK this was a compliment) Whilst Bruno
described the whole dance as, “hypnotic, exotic and at times erotic!” All that
was missing was some bounce and straighter legs in the kicks then perhaps the
10’s would make an appearance.
Scored |
35 |
Our Score
| 9 |
Abbey
& Aljaz
Foxtrot to
‘Dear Darlin’ by Olly Murs
No matter
what dance Abbey and Aljaz are handed each week Abbey still manages to come out
and perform consistently. Her
Foxtrot was smooth, graceful and elegant. The story-telling was exquisite thus
making the whole routine just beautiful; and in the words of Bruno Tonioli, it
was almost “picture perfect”. If she was nervous
then she certainly didn't show it and THAT dress, just perfect. You can
see from the VT’s and in the routines that there is a real bond and a chemistry
between these two, a great friendship has formed. As the show goes on and the
friendship grows, this couple will only get stronger.
At the risk of being as pedantically picky as Craig, she could loosen up
a tad more.
Scored |
35 |
Our Score
| 9 |
Dave &
Karen
Salsa to ’Cuban
Pete’ – theme song from ‘The Mask’ sung by Jim Carrey
Last week
dave impressed with showing his serious side and a real comittment to learning
the actual steps, this week we’re back to comedy Dave. Dave definitely took a step backwards this week,
he went wrong early on and was pretty much out-of-sync throughout the whole
routine. The lift was good but looked a bit awkward. The competition is getting
more serious as the weeks pass and his loveable personality can only count for
so much. We still love this duo though, they are so well-matched, totally
bonkers – in fact, judging by that bit during the judges’ comments, they’re
bananas!
Scored |
17 |
Our Score
| 4 |
Deborah & Robin
Viennese Waltz to ‘Its a Man’s Man’s Man’s World’
by James Brown
In the words of Len, there certainly was a lot of
faffing in this routine. However once they got into it the concept was great
and Deborah really got into character, sustaining it throughout. Once in hold, Deborah’s Viennese Waltz
was beautiful, as was she. Deborah displayed great footwork and finished the
routine to a standing ovation. Darcey enjoyed the “interesting twist” by
introducing a ‘power game’ to a Viennese Waltz, and Craig ‘loved’ the
Paso-esque piece in the middle. Great to see her confidence back after ‘that
jive’.
Scored | 27 |
Our Score | 7 |
Patrick & Anya
Salsa to ‘Wings’ by Little Mix
All the applauds go to Anya for managing to amend
the choreography in such little time to accommodate for Patrick’s rollerblading
‘incident’. The entire
routine ensured that all ‘hand and arm work’ was led through his left side,
which at times, did look a little awkward, but was a genius idea from Anya, and
allowed the fluidity of the Salsa to continue fairly unscathed. Unfortunately a salsa without any double-handed spins
meant it looked like he was dancing a lot of the same steps, side by side with
Anya. All things considered a fantastic effort, imagine the scores if he’d had
two hands!
Scored | 28 |
Our Score | 7 |
Fiona
& Anton
Quickstep
to ‘If My Friends Could See Me Now’ by Sammy Davis Jnr.
Quick-stepping Fiona definitely looked far more
confident this week and this raised her performance level. It was clear that Fiona had her nerves under control and really put some
thought in to what she was doing. Plenty of content given by Anton, this was a
beautiful, splendid routine. Craig
said Fiona was definitely “back in the room”, and Darcey claimed that it was
her “best dance” yet! The scores certainly reflected these great comments.
Ballroom is definitely her thing.
Scored |
30 |
Our Score
| 8 |
Rachel
& Pasha
Paso Doble
to ‘Maneater’ by Nelly Furtado
Poor Rachel, the Paso Doble did not suit her
character one bit, even with the help of an acting coach and despite the
obvious amount of effort she put in it just didn’t work. She seemed to be very
tense and stiff, almost to the extent that it looked as if she was doing a
robotics version of the paso. Our only male Strictly blogger had a slightly
different take on the performance “She ticked my boxes for her attitude in the
dance and even more especially for her sultry maneater look. I’m more than
willing to be eaten up by Rachel at any time, just lock me up and whatever you
want it is all yours…” Bruno summed it up
brilliantly, "All the meat there but you took the vegetarian option".
Scored |
22 |
Our Score
| 5 |
Mark &
Iveta
Waltz to ‘Apologize’
by One Republic
After last
weeks ‘marmite’ dance Mark and Iveta’s Waltz was an all round triumph. The
beginning of the routine almost felt like a scene out of a movie. The whole routine was graceful and
elegant with beautiful story-telling. Mark was a true gentleman revealing real
tenderness creating a lovely mood throughout the dance. He could do with
working on improving his topline a little, and his rise and fall needs to be a
bit stronge and more natural, but otherwise, a wonderful dance that was a
pleasure to watch.
Scored |
28 |
Our Score
| 7 |
Ashley
& Ola
Jive to ‘Johnny
B Goode’ by Chuck Berry
The VT
showed another hectic week for the ‘Showbiz Terminator’ that is Ashley
Taylor-Dawson. We don’t know how he manages it! Their Jive had an incredible amount of energy
with so much bounce. We loved the start and if done well, you can never go
wrong with a leap-frog in a Jive routine! It really was a good routine, full of
the ‘feel-good-factor’ and thus, received a well-deserved standing ovation at
the end. The style and era of the dance worked perfectly and Ola’s choreography
complimented it perfectly. He just needed more sharpness in his kicks and
flicks as pointed out the by the judges… not too shabby for 10 hours worth of
training.
Scored | 31 |
Our Score | 8 |
Susanna
& Kevin
American
Smooth to ‘Sunny Side of the Street’ by Tony Bennett
Last week was all loose and wild, this week it
was all calm and sophisticated. The routine made good use of the dance floor
and there were some fabulous lifts. There was real synchronicity between
Susanna and her dance partner Kevin, and the entire performance exuded
happiness. She just needs to work on little things here and there to reach the
top marks. Another great performance, we have a slightly soft spot for Susanna
and Kevin.
Scored |
32 |
Our Score
| 8 |
Ben & Kristina
Quickstep to ‘I’ll Be There For You’ by The
Rembrandts
It’s a joy to see Ben really beginning to enjoy
himself so much more, we even went a whole routine without the smile slipping! He was surprisingly
light on his feet, but it did feel like a very long intro section, again we
agree with Len, just a little too much faffing and it didn’t add anything to
the feel of the routine. Darcey
commanded that, next week, she wanted to see a more difficult routine from Ben
and Kristina, now that Ben has found his confidence we’re certain Kristina will
choreograph a routine to take them to that next level.
Scored | 27 |
Our Score | 7 |
Sophie & Brendan
Cha Cha Cha to ‘PYT’ by Michael Jackson
Another
fantastic routine choreographed by Brendan, he’s really showing off his skills
this year. A very cool,
hip Cha Cha Cha, a break from the traditional complimented with a fantastic
song choice. She needed to strengthen her leg by
locking the knee to create the 'cha cha' shape, but not a bad effort, just not
her best. Having set such high standards its difficult not to compare to the
couples past performances.
Scored | 30 |
Our Score | 8 |
A tough week to call the bottom two and we
certainly didn’t predict Deborah Vs Patrick. We sadly waved goodbye to Deborah,
against another couple perhaps it would have been a different outcome, She and
Robin can certainly leave with their heads held high though and be proud of
their performances. We’ll miss them next Saturday. Speaking of next Saturday,
its Halloween week (cough my birthday cough) and if last year is anything to go
by the make-up and costume departments will be in their element.
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