Strictly Week 11/Musicals results

[shallowness]

Shockingly, the BBC One schedule was on time so I actually saw the opening seconds of the results show. As the recap went on, broadly splitting the contestants into two groups and giving due differentiation to JB and Laruen at the top and Pete and Jowita at the bottom, I started suspecting the scenario that would soon unfold.

Pete was called safe, then Chris, and then the red light fell on Tasha and Aljiaz for the first time. The self-described Chuckle Brothers of the show looked far from delighted at the prospect of having to do two dances, as they must as semi-finalists, because it’s what the people want. (Not this one, as I made clear in the last post.) I think Pete has the grace to be embarrassed, I'm not convinced that as a competitor to her marrow Jowita is.

We had a performance from Hamilton, which I really enjoyed, especially as they’d clearly thought through how to present the song on TV.

And then we had the ‘semi-circle of life’ where the judges were all ‘The people have spoken’ and Craig was blunt about the people being wrong. Motsi had kept the Dreamgirls bob wig.

JB was called safe, leaving the two couples I’d voted for waiting to hear who was in trouble, but obviously, for the fourth time, Montell was under the red light. (Because she’s got more dignity than my imagination, she didn’t have a strop and say ‘Well, the viewers want to see more Pete, so let him dance again and see if he can do it without mistakes.’) Motsi said something apt, Anton tried to pretend Montell had a chance in the dance-off, when we all knew that Aljiaz would have to drop Tasha at least twice to lose the dance-off.

JB and Lauren were delighted to be through, Amy was not mentioned unlike Lauren’s influence on him. Sarah was given permission to squeak in excitement, and we learned what her on brief song will be for the jive (apparently, she’s also doing a tango).

And then we had a Sunset Boulevard-themed pro group dance, with Nadiya as Norma Desmond, giving it some silent movie face, partnered by Aljiaz and it was all gorgeous gorgeousness, American smooth style, I guess, as there were so many lifts, and I loved every second of it.

Cue the dance-off, and I thought Montell had more flow this time around, and had clearly decided to feel every second of the last time she’d be doing a full routine with Jo-Jo. I then paid particular attention to the opening lyrics of Tasha’s song to check what did happen to Jane Seymour for research purposes for Wolf Hall, while Tasha and Aljiaz did all those stupendous lifts again, and even if it was a balletic Argentine tango, we all knew how the voting would go. As it did.

Montell could finally cry, and spoke movingly about gaining confidence thanks to Strictly (not the bit where she wasn’t popular enough to avoid the dance-off, I guess) and how great Johannes had been. He continued to be great in what he said to and about here, and Tess did one of her better impersonations of being human. (Pete and Jowita had the grace to be the last couple to join the group hug, and Montell’s mother (?) totally crashed the floor to hug her daughter.)

So, Tasha or JB’s chances of getting through to the final probably rest on where they end up on the leaderboard, even though their dancing ability should see them through. The other three couples have never been in the dance-off, and at least Sarah’s dancing merits that. The voting public have set up the delightful prospect of seeing whether Pete will go badly wrong in both of his dances. Thanks, guys! (Chris is going to find it tough, too, but his popularity is less annoying.)