shallowness | Strictly results

I liked the opening number to Danny Boy, I thought they found a reasonable balance between usual pro number based on ballroom style dance and tipping the hat to Ireland in a themed week, although I still vaguely feel that someone should apologise to Tristan, and the gowns were lovely. And then we had the Lord of the Dance which was what it was, although I do wonder if the audience members on the judges’ side felt short-changed.

(Irish Argentine Tango next year, amirite, though?)

The recap seemed to show a misstep from Jake, was that the mysterious first incident in his performance?

‘In no particular order’ is a joke. If Tess is ever off, Claudia should whistleblow and say ‘in the order the producers think will cause the maximum drama’. So, Mark IS less popular than Jake. I like him less, certainly (is Karen not tired of being ‘this one’?) and possibly the audience felt like Craig’s 5 to Jake was undeserved, which is true, but so was Sunetra’s. Eh, I’m going to bask in the fact that the audience support isn’t there for Mark. One suggestion would be not to go to Tenerife or wherever it is and not practice.

Anyway, Len’s Lens revealed that it was the pro (who was possibly busy curled up crying somewhere) that bumped into Jake and not the other way around and the other judges were miffed with Craig’s marks too. His scramble to justify himself didn’t come off well, and I say that as someone who likes that he’s harsh – I thought his reasoning for not giving Caroline a 10 was fair enough. He'd better work on his story for ITT.

I think the extra dancers ‘debate’ was a red herring, but it’s interesting that they’re going for a waltzathon next week with no lifts or tricks. I suppose it fits in with the claim that this is the closest top whatever ever and best season ever (the scores don’t support this), but for once, it is clearly going to be harder for the pro men. Still, I do welcome seeing everyone doing the same thing next to each other.

Alfie Bow seemed really chuffed to be on Strictly, but I enjoyed the dancing the most, especially when Natalie let rip and her whole body expressed how much she loves to dance. She may also have been feeling good because her gown was so much better than those unfortunate ballgowns that those orchestra members are forced to wear.

Sunetra and Brendan were clearly well prepared to leave. She’s been fun, but it was time.