It’s the turn of the “ladies” again on Strictly this week and I finally got to watch it live, which meant I could vote… but would I be inspired to?
Christine Bleakley was out first with a quickstep. It was good and the choreography seemed very advanced for what is basically week two (for the women), but it didn’t thrill me.
Jodie Kidd was next up with a rumba. The beginning and ending were sexy, but the rest of it I didn’t find sexy at all. She and Ian have more chemistry in interviews than during that dance. Jodie looked wobbly and unconfident and it just didn’t flow. Judge Bruno Tonioli compared her to some sports car, but said she kept stalling, which was a pretty good analogy.
The next quickstep came from Heather Small. I hate to be negative about everyone, but that one didn’t thrill me either. Difficult choreography, but she looked a bit out of control and lost her timing at the beginning and the end. Good energy, though.
Finally! Something to get excited about: Cherie Lunghi’s rumba. God, it was gorgeous. She and her partner James have possibly the best chemistry of any of the couples. She had great hip action and the choreography was beautiful too. She’s amazing. It made Arlene Phillips cry and the other judges raved too. “A cut above everything until now,” said Bruno and he was right. It was different class. She scored 35, which is not only the highest score so far, but, according to Tess, the highest score they’ve ever had for a rumba, which is actually the lowest overall scoring dance in Strictly history. [Just learned, via YouTube and Wikipedia, that Tess was wrong - Colin Jackson's rumba scored 36, both in week 8 (of series 3) and in the final.]
Oddly, Jessie Wallace’s quickstep seemed to suck all the atmosphere out of the studio. I thought the song choice was unfortunate. It was The Beatles’ Help, which is a bit harsh, considering she’s clearly struggling. Plus it was an acoustic version, so it just didn’t have the energy required for the quickstep. As for her dancing, I couldn’t tell exactly what was wrong, except that it looked a bit lumpy. The judges said it was because her posture was wrong and her partner, Darren, said it was because she made a mistake at the beginning, which put her off for the whole dance. Jessie cried. I don’t blame her.
I’d been looking forward to Lisa Snowdon’s rumba after seeing their training footage on It Takes Two (also Brendan always choreographs a sexy rumba and I do love a bit of Brendan). There were a few missteps, but she can certainly dance and it was quite hot. She clearly wasn’t happy at the end. She was apologising to Brendan and she didn’t cheer up until the judges’ comments, which were, in the main, very positive.
“My legs literally turned to jelly,” said the final quickstepper, Rachel Stevens. Crikey, however did she manage to dance then? At the beginning and the end of their routine she looked confident, but I thought she was a bit low energy when she was in hold. It was still streets ahead of the other quicksteps.
At the end, Cherie was top and Jessie was bottom, which, again, was spot on.
The “boys” group dance was up next and it was rueda, a new dance for Strictly. Again, it was all over the place, but it made me laugh a lot. At one point, I think John Sergent swore, at another, you could see the fear on Mark Foster’s face. And remember when Arlene said Andrew Castle had rhythm? Yeah, she was wrong. Oh and Tom Chambers? Lumme, does he love himself.
Head judge, Len Goodman told the men that, apart from Tom and Austin Healey, they’ll have to up their game next week to compete with the women. “But don’t hold your breath,” he said. Heh.
Despite getting it so wrong last week, I’m predicting an escape for Jessie this week. I think Jodie and Heather will be in the bottom two and the judges will keep Heather in. But I hope I’m wrong and that Jessie, as the weakest female dancer, goes home.
Strictly Come Dancing Results Show, BBC One, Sunday 12 October, 8.15pm
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