Strictly results

[shallowness]

Genius concept for the group pro, well executed, particularly by wardrobe. Tess was in a dark metallic and Claudia wore black (and will probably take no inspo from that dance.)

The round-up put the couples into the expected three groups. It was noted that this was the first time Will had topped the leaderboard since the very beginning. They only played the positive comments for Molly and Fleur. If I caught her right, was Ellie saying that was her best score for a Latin dance?

First called safe: Will and Nancy, Hamza and Jowita, which meant all the lady celebs were left waiting, but they were the top two couples. And then in a mild surprise, Fleur and Vito weren’t safe. Shirley said she was surprised (which just makes her sound like she hasn’t been paying attention to how the public have saved couples who the judges haven’t scored that highly this series, let alone all the other series she’s been on.)

We had some bloke singing a quite dancey track that was not entirely unfamiliar to me, and it was really, really nice to see Karen be featured and unleashed, actually. No judges’ chat, which I missed despite them not being that revealing, but a trail for Claudia’s new show.

In the second set of results, Helen and Gorka were called safe and were delighted. My initial response was pleasure that she wouldn’t be booted for one dodgy dance (because she would have lost to Fleur), but then I felt for Molly, who I was still presuming would be in the dance-off, although I’d had presumed they’d have called Ellie safe earlier if she was safe, so I wasn’t sure. Molly vs Fleur would have been tight. But no, Ellie and Johannes were under the red light. Both couples were mildly stunned, but I think you could tell from Molly’s reaction in the Clauditorium that she’s been very stressed by all this.

The dance-off came suddenly, as it was a padding-free, earlier episode, and Ellie didn’t massively improve and Fleur’s standard didn’t massively drop off, so there was zero tension. It was a bit of a relief, really, because it was the right result (though I’m sure Fleur was internally aghast after such a high at Blackpool). And then we had someone highly articulate thank their partner, and it felt like Ellie and Johannes had very much bonded. It was nice that they had a group bop, and very nice that both of them got lifted up.

So, next week is both musicals week and quarter finals week, and it will be interesting to see how COVID has affected Kym, because even if she’s had a light bout (which I sincerely hope she has), she’s been off, and she’s not been as popular as some or had the highs of, say, Fleur. Also, it’s going to be on a Friday, which is plain weird. (Can we lay this at FIFA’s corrupt door?) I’m pretty sure none of the dances will be from ‘The Beautiful Game’. That was a real stage musical, I believe. Couldn’t name a tune from it, though.