Strictly Week 4 results show

[shallowness]

Abrupt start via iPlayer (punishing me for refusing to watch the last few minutes of whatever was on before.) Both TessnClaud in black felt a bit funereal.

They called (a very surprised) Paul and Karen safe first, which is always nice if you were in the dance off the week before, and although they were in the bottom three, he had improved and done a proper dance. Most of the first lot called safe had been towards the top of the leaderboard, but then Shayne and Nancy were under the red lights. (I felt a bit vindicated.) Mutterings about him being in fourth place (but there were four couples above.) Anton reminded him he’d done a good routine and should concentrate on doing it again (and hope he wasn’t facing Sarah or JB.)

Aljiaz revealed that the other pros aren’t going to let Nikita forget about the Shakira thing any time soon.

Pro group routine to a Taylor Swift song, with barefooted Karen and Nikita in hot pink, while the other pros weren’t just in dark clothes, but also in black and white thanks to TV trickery. Although I suppose it was inspired by the song, the rewinding and dancing in a different way from the same positions was a bit too tricksy for me, although the dancing was lovely.

Motsi got the shock Shayne result as a talking point, Anton got to be nice about Montell’s ballroom dancing, and Craig was forced to demonstrate a figure of eight, before being mainly complimentary about Jamie. Claudia was urging Shirley and Anton to demonstrate the lift Shirley was describing as she talked about how eye contact is so important before going into a lift (didn’t feel that she expanded much on what she’d said about Chris on the life show as much as repeated the point.) They didn’t (to Anton’s palpable relief.)

More results, and Nikita was particularly slow to take in that they’d been called safe. (Bless, he’s having a loooong week and a bit.) Along with the lowest scoring couples, the producers predictably tortured Sarah and Vito. Punam and Gorka’s Chest were even called safe first, so they couldn’t celebrate when Nick and Luba were under the red light and not them. Craig gave his usual ‘dance with abandon’ advice for the Charleston to Nick, but Shayne had nine points on him. Another callback to Nikita performing the wrong song in the Clauditorium that turned into a fill-on singalong. It ended with Nikita serenading Claudia, but the section ended with apples courtesy of JB the farmer.

Snow Patrol were performing (boring verse, although at one point the lyric was about losing your voice, and then anthemic chorus, which is very them.) Kai and Katya Lauren joined in to basically do a showdance, so the lifts were spectacular. I especially liked a spinny one where he lifted her even higher on the second spin, the show off one where Kai shifted to lift her with one arm and the ending.

Dance off: the bowling ball behaved better in Shayne and Nancy’s cha cha, and I noticed that he was doing cha cha steps in the solo bits at the start. Nick did seem to be going for it a little more (probably knowing that it would be his last dance so he didn’t need to worry overmuch about the knee) although Luba seemed to have lost interest towards the end. Inevitable result, though, and while it may or may not be terminal for Shayne (remember Ore! Ignore the fact that Wynne, Jamie and JB are quite good and Chris is something special, not to mention the female celebs,) it’s not nice to feel unpopular. Punam especially dodged a bullet as the judges had mentioned her mistakes out loud, but the memory of their couples choice will only carry them so far.

The main takeout is surely that the producers will face a rebellion if they ask any couple doing a cha cha to start the show from this point on.

ETA: Obviously, I had totally missed the whole Wynne and Katya thing, which they are claiming was a (bad) in joke, and of course was escalated because of the nerves caused by The Unpleasantness.