Strictly Results

[shallowness]

The Prince routine was much better than it had any right to be, as in I’d like to see it again. The umbrella stuff was impressive.

Clothes: Tess was the non-boring one in black or white, and the fit was not terrible.

It was nice that they let Jonnie out of his misery quickly after last week’s long-drawn out wait, but then it turned out that no, Aston didn’t have enough support to save him from Craig’s harsh four. Shock all round. Shirley gave good advice (never ask Darcey at this point!)

They’re down to being able to put the pros on the sofas in the Clauditorium. I noted that Debbie and Alexandra were on the one side and Jonnie and Susan (yes, in the top half of the leaderboard, athough I don’t expect her to maintain that) on the other. We got our usual ‘what are Alexandra and Gorka dancing next?’ teaser, and it’s the Argentine Tango. EEE.

Stereophonics get bonus points for not wearing poppies even if this new song doesn’t change my mind that their best song was Local Boy in the Photograph. Chloe took that dance and dazzled. It’s not that Neil didn’t dance well and partner her perfectly, and indeed had a good night because he and Katya were featured in the opening routine, but he dances even better with Katya. A bemused audience wonders what the producers have against these two pros.

Cue Claudia addressing the posture issue immediately, and it might have rested there if the first thing Shirley hadn’t praised about Davoud wasn’t his posture. It’s quite probable she wasn’t being malicious, and that it was just on her mind, but it was unfortunate. Darcey banged on about lifts. The stuff about why Debbie’s tango was so excellent was instructive. And we got to see Anton and Ruth’s ending in slo-mo.

Even more terror from the awaiting couples than is usual at this point because they’d be facing Aston. The question was would Ruth and Anton be safe. Yes, they were. Otherwise, everyone bar Gemma had done a better dance pace Craig and so had a chance. Horrible for Mollie to be in the dance-off again (and I got irritated at AJ for being too immature to go full-on supportive pro) but Bruno gave her good advice, and we all realised that if she tidied up the error(s), she had a chance. Yes, even against Aston, long thought of as the top man.

And from wherever it came (AJ did look more together, so maybe he realised that Mollie dancing the routine better meant that they did have hope) Mollie did tidy it up. The spin was even more of a lift, but to me, it seemed like she danced in a dream (she later said nightmare). Aston’s VW didn’t hold my attention in the same way. The judging at this point was legitimately gripping, like Shirley’s grim smile at knowing she’d probably be using that casting vote. Based on everything, Aston should have won, but based on that dance? I thought it was the right call.

So, we have our first shock boot. I think it was a combination of things that meant that Aston just didn’t build enough popularity (Alexandra and Debbie, not to mention Joe, famously had wobbles when there were more people in the competition, which meant they were less vulnerable and probably got people in a habit for voting for them they hadn’t acquired with Aston. People who were more used to the bottom of the leaderboard had more support. Aston was ringerish and I think Janette’s choreographic choices weren’t always the best. For someone who had legitimate hopes of getting into the final based on his dancing, it’s got to hurt.