Halloween hit the Strictly studio (what’s a few
days late between friends hey) at the weekend. The costume, make-up and set
designers were in their element and showed exactly what they can do. Those
sparkly shoulder hands must have been on offer. The pros kicked us off with a
rendition of the time warp, with a little cameo from the celebs and judges
(Craig from the comfort of his glittery chair of course) Ghoulish jokes a
plenty it was time to take to the floor.
Patrick
& Anya
Quickstep
to ‘Man with the Hex’ by Atomic Fireballs
Kicking off the Halloween special was Patrick and
his partner Anya. It was fast and furious, and Patrick
handled the steps really well, his best dance to date. It had Len totally “bewitched” - although a
little “bothered” by the gapping issues, but Bruno said it had all the right
ingredients to make it a “Spooky riot of a Quickstep” (whatever that means!).
It was full of “theatricality” and Patrick was commended for his “impeccable
timing”. As Len mentioned there was a lack of body content at moments though.
There was a lot of content but he needs to work on strengthening his frame to
maintain the contact and then hopefully his ballroom will be on the same level
as his latin dances.
Scored |
34 |
Our Score
| 8 |
Fiona
& Anton
Charleston
to ‘Jeepers Creepers’ by Al Donahue
Although
their Charleston was very good, fun and quirky, so much characterisation and well-acted with
Fiona’s cheeky story-telling. However Fiona is still struggling
with the timing and synchronization of some of the movements. Bruno stated that it was more like a “Doris
Day” version of the Charleston as it was all a little bit too carefully placed
for him but Darcey absolutely loved that about it. Len didn’t agree with the
other male judges as he felt that it was “a proper Charleston!” The judges were
hard on her this week with the exception of Len. Personally we thought this was
one of her best performances yet..!
Scored |
28 |
Our Score
| 7 |
Ben & Kristina
Paso Doble to ‘Supermassive Black Hole’ by Muse
Well hello ‘Big Ben’! A bit
clunky at first, but once Ben started with his cape it was all GO. A little more shaping would have been
nice but this was a very masculine performance with a great deal of presence,
something that previous male celebs have struggled with. We were promised a
romantic Paso Doble with Ben as the Ice King and Kristina as the Ice Queen, and
that is what they definitely delivered. It was passionate, dramatic and
theatrical. Ben commanded Kristina in an unbelievably masterful and powerful
way. Although as Darcey pointed out, if you are going to expose your waist,
make sure you use it. He is definitely one to watch, for so many reasons! The
routine ended with a standing ovation; even last year’s SCD winner, Louis
Smith, was seen applauding. We asked Kristina if they were wearing the same
outfits next weekend, unfortunately not she said. Shame.
Scored | 32 |
Our Score| 8 |
Sophie & Brendan
Jive to ‘Maneater’ by Hall & Oates
We were slightly disappointed with this effort
from Sophie. With her usual laid back style, jive was always going to pose a
major challenge, but she just didn’t give it any attack sadly. Nothing sharp
about the kicks or flicks at all. Len felt that Sophie “lacked confidence” and
really needed to come out next week and perform, really attack the dance! Good
advice Len. We’re going to chalk this one down to an off week for Sophie and
next week she’ll hopefully be back to her best.
Scored | 28 |
Our Score | 7 |
Natalie & Artem
Viennese Waltz to ‘Devil In Me’ by Natalie Duncan
Darcey said
that they have never disappointed her and once again they didn’t disappoint us
either. Magical, mesmerising, magnificent. The synchronicity between Natalie and Artem is to
be admired, as was the whole routine which finished to a well-deserved audience
standing ovation. Described by Bruno as a “Lady of the Lake” emerging from the
depths, he continued by saying that there probably wasn’t a person in the
country who was not “spellbound by this performance”. Bruno thought it was “magic”,
Craig thought it was “FAB-U-LOUS” and Darcey thought it was “lyrical”. Len
wants Artem to challenge Natalie, we can’t wait to see what they come up with
next. Beautiful
and stunning, justified as the first tens of the series!
Scored | 38 |
Our Score | 10 |
Mark & Iveta
Paso Doble to ‘I Lost My Heart to a Starship
Trooper’ by Sarah Brightman
This was supposed to be a Paso Doble but Mark
& Iveta admitted it was definitely more of a Disco Doble. However, he did
dance with conviction and really attacked the dance. He displayed great natural
rhythm and Darcey commended him for demonstrating good “isolation”. Len
announced that “We’ve got a problem Houston”, explaining that the routine was “Long
on performance, but short on technique”. Not his best, but by no means his
worst. A little more Paso wouldn’t have hurt.
Scored | 25 |
Our Score | 6 |
Rachel & Pasha
American Waltz to ‘I Put A Spell on You’ by
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
Week One Rachel returned. Too little, too late?
Dressed as the Zombie bride, and dancing the American Smooth, it quickly became
apparent that Rachel had got her ‘mojo back’, and Pasha had been working her
extra hard! There was good characterisation throughout the dance with a much
improved top line. A couple of balance issues! But, undeniably, this dance was
definitely better than last week (infact better than the last 3 weeks) and her
highest score to date.
Our Score | 8 |
Ashley & Ola
Tango to ‘Beautiful Monster’ by Ne-Yo
Ashley’s ‘terrible’
Tango was not so terrible now was it? It was full of purpose, he held true to
the character of the dance and led Ola powerfully around the dance floor in a
spellbinding manner, showcasing the staccato beat throughout the entire
performance. His frame is improving all the time too. Noticeably improving week
by week Ola is fine tuning her showbiz terminator into a potential winner
Scored | 33 |
Our Score | 8 |
Abbey & Aljaz
Rumba to ‘Stay’ by Shakespeare’s Sister
A beautifully haunting song choice for their
Rumba. Abbey hit some beautiful lines and you could certainly feel the
chemistry between the duo. Emotive and romantic, and she expressed the story so
well throughout the routine. We loved the lifts, the high sweeping kick and the
overall feel of the dance. Another standing ovation from the SCD audience! As Len
said, just 7 weeks ago, Abbey had done no dancing, a real testament to her hard
work and Aljaz’s teaching skills. A travesty that this pair ended up in the
dance off, lets just hope it was an anomaly.
Scored | 34 |
Our Score | 9 |
Dave & Karen
Jive to ‘Monster Mash’ by Bobby Boris Picket
We admit we bought into the Dave hype towards the
beginning of the series and we truly did enjoy watching him dance (albeit for
the wrong reasons) but now the competition has stepped up a gear and
considerably better dancers places on the show are in jeopardy, perhaps the fun
has had its run. The content was ok, its just that it was a slower pace of
jive, nothing sharp going on with the footwork although he did keep time
reasonably well this week (compared to past efforts). The entire performance
frightened the life out of Len who courteously named Dave, “Myer the trier!”
Scored | 19 |
Our Score | 4 |
Susanna & Kevin
Charleston to ‘Bad Moon Rising’ by Creedance
Clearwater Revival
We think Susanna was dancing with Kevin… it was
hard to tell. The routine
was full of fun and cheekiness, with a huge amount of content including lots of
classic Charleston steps. Susanna’s facial expressions throughout the
routine captured the character of the dance, which was praised by Craig who
said that, Susanna takes “full advantage of the freedom of expression”. Susanna
displays “nice swivels” according to Darcey but she just requires a little more
“crispness”. Her ‘side-kicks’ were
wonderful and she had a good technique. They performed
it brilliantly with plenty of tricks and treats. Another great routine with
Kevin and Susanna.
Scored | 34 |
Our Score | 9 |
Halloween weekend came to a chilling end with a
shocker of a bottom two, Rachel found herself in the dance off despite
performing her best routine since the opening show, where she was joined by
even more shockingly, Abbey. Neither deserved to be in that position but it was
clear who should stay. Rachel was a true Strictly fan who danced her way
through a dream, smiling week after week despite not having always the best
comments she went out on a high.
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