Strictly week 10
Nov. 30th, 2025 08:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessPost Blackpool, traditionally a lull, but this year we have the instant dance, about which most of the build-up on It Takes Two was negative.
Claudia was in dark green velvet. Tess had Farrah Fawcett hair.
Alex and Johannes were opening with a 70s-themed cha cha to go with the song. It was more careful and placed than I’d have liked, and even I picked up on some of the mistakes. A score of 23, courtesy of a 4 from Craig (ouch) and then much verbiage from Alex, aged 62.
George and Alexis were preforming a Hollywood-themed quickstep, and I was delighted by it. More of showman!George. He then owned to some mistakes, Anton pointed out he shouldn’t have admitted to it/them as half the judges didn’t see it/them. The ones that did gave them 8s, the ones that didn’t 9s. Fair.
Lewis is apparently the first celeb to get 40 twice this early. Katya did a bit of a Katya special with the choreography for their rumba, with them starting and ending low to the floor. Talk about continuous movement, and it looked like a proper rumba (in which Lewis reminded me a little of Paul Mercurio.) Nitpicking from the judges, who admitted as much, and all gave him a 9, which is strong for a male!rumba, and Katya’s FACE was rather surprised.
Balvinder and Julian were doing a jive. Messing abaht, with Julian hoping his very short shorts would make Craig go easy on them. (Doubt that they did, but he definitely commented on them.) Balvinder’s outfit was great, by the way. She’s come on, but there were mistakes, and she quipped about doing better in the dance off. Claudia tried some special pleading about her Eastenders schedule. In fairness, Balvinder hasn’t whined about that at all (unlike Eastenders alumni past.)
By this point, the couples who had danced already were wearing SCD robes in the Clauditorium. If there aren’t any for sale, there should be.
Karen and Carlos had a couples choice, which was commercialish, but with canes (which didn’t add much). As couples choice should, this played to her strengths, and let her be strong and confident. There was the hip hop section, but there were also subtler bits. And then Craig went and gave her a 10, and an already emotional Carlos exploded. In fairness, not only was it their first 40, but his first as a pro.
Amber and Nikita were closing to a jive (to ‘Proud Mary’, the song for Alexandra’s classic routine.) I loved that they kept the slow build up and then she went for it, with spins in the air, just enough tricks and matching energy. They seemed shocked the judges were so positive. Another 10 from Craig, meaning another 40, but they had no time to bask in that at all because of the Instant Dance.
The combined leaderboard at this point had Karen and Carlos top, and Alex and Johannes bottom.
After the VT explaining this Instant Dance malarkey, Tess handled the couples opening their envelopes to find out what dance they were doing (Alex and JoJo, Balvinder and Julian and Amber and Nikita were pleased, Karen really wasn’t.) They heard the songs they’d be dancing to, which meant more to the pros, and then Claudia was supposed to help the celebs pick an outfit, so she bossed Alex and led George astray, but not Karen.) After Amber picked her outfit, Claudia fake followed her with a dress, letting us see the dancefloor being cleared and where the dancers were changing. The judges sat down in the wrong seats, so we found out that Motsi and Shirley have special cushions. Motsi tried to sell this nonsense.
Claudia chatted with the celebs, Katya was missing for a bit, and hair were reluctant to let Amber go. Nikita looked like extreme samba personified, and was clearly hyped, claiming ‘This will be amazing.’
Claudia returned to the studio proper with a fruit basket on her head, which seemed about right, as Tess solemnly intoned, ‘There is no conferring.’ Cut to the pros’ staircase, where they were clearly yelling messages to their celebs.
Alex and JoJo started with something that looked like a rumba, if a stately one. Alexis ordered George to take the absurd coat off immediately, which took up at least five seconds of their alloted time, he then did what looked like a tango, until it stopped looking like one. Lewis and Katya took a few seconds to get going, and then their jive looked good, with a cheeky reprise of THAT trick from Blackpool. Skirtography helped Balvinder go for it in their paso. Karen’s cha cha was half good (when Carlos set her spinning) and half her standing still. Lastly, Amber and Nikita’s samba borrowed a lot from their salsa, and she went for it, but the ending was rough.
I’d have put them in this order: Lewis, Amber, Balvinder/Alex, Karen/George. (Best first.) After a recap, the judges went bottom first: Karen, George, Alex, Amber and, drum-roll, Balvinder (well done, her) and Lewis getting the six points, just.
A look at the leaderboard confirmed that Lewis was back on top, and Alex was still at the bottom, but this wasn’t counting the public votes. I voted for Lewis, George, Karen and Amber on the basis of this week’s first dances. I had no issue with the last two getting a 40. If I’d had one extra vote, I might have voted for Lewis and Karen again for last week’s sake, but I didn’t, so it was just the four votes.
I will say for this for the chaotic instant dance, it was better than the hated -athons, but with so many moving parts, it really was a lot of chaos. No dance disasters exactly, but apart from giving Balvinder a chance to shine (it really made a difference what dance style they got), and the points, I’m not convinced that it taught us much. Lewis is the best all-rounder, shocker, Karen is more inconsistent than him and Amber, George’s charm makes up for a lot, but it’s tough being the last male celeb standing next to a ringer…
I look forward to seeing Balvinder and Alex reprise their routines without mistakes in the dance-off, as both were bottom of the leaderboard, and then let the judges decide who gets to go through to musicals week/the quarter finals.
Claudia was in dark green velvet. Tess had Farrah Fawcett hair.
Alex and Johannes were opening with a 70s-themed cha cha to go with the song. It was more careful and placed than I’d have liked, and even I picked up on some of the mistakes. A score of 23, courtesy of a 4 from Craig (ouch) and then much verbiage from Alex, aged 62.
George and Alexis were preforming a Hollywood-themed quickstep, and I was delighted by it. More of showman!George. He then owned to some mistakes, Anton pointed out he shouldn’t have admitted to it/them as half the judges didn’t see it/them. The ones that did gave them 8s, the ones that didn’t 9s. Fair.
Lewis is apparently the first celeb to get 40 twice this early. Katya did a bit of a Katya special with the choreography for their rumba, with them starting and ending low to the floor. Talk about continuous movement, and it looked like a proper rumba (in which Lewis reminded me a little of Paul Mercurio.) Nitpicking from the judges, who admitted as much, and all gave him a 9, which is strong for a male!rumba, and Katya’s FACE was rather surprised.
Balvinder and Julian were doing a jive. Messing abaht, with Julian hoping his very short shorts would make Craig go easy on them. (Doubt that they did, but he definitely commented on them.) Balvinder’s outfit was great, by the way. She’s come on, but there were mistakes, and she quipped about doing better in the dance off. Claudia tried some special pleading about her Eastenders schedule. In fairness, Balvinder hasn’t whined about that at all (unlike Eastenders alumni past.)
By this point, the couples who had danced already were wearing SCD robes in the Clauditorium. If there aren’t any for sale, there should be.
Karen and Carlos had a couples choice, which was commercialish, but with canes (which didn’t add much). As couples choice should, this played to her strengths, and let her be strong and confident. There was the hip hop section, but there were also subtler bits. And then Craig went and gave her a 10, and an already emotional Carlos exploded. In fairness, not only was it their first 40, but his first as a pro.
Amber and Nikita were closing to a jive (to ‘Proud Mary’, the song for Alexandra’s classic routine.) I loved that they kept the slow build up and then she went for it, with spins in the air, just enough tricks and matching energy. They seemed shocked the judges were so positive. Another 10 from Craig, meaning another 40, but they had no time to bask in that at all because of the Instant Dance.
The combined leaderboard at this point had Karen and Carlos top, and Alex and Johannes bottom.
After the VT explaining this Instant Dance malarkey, Tess handled the couples opening their envelopes to find out what dance they were doing (Alex and JoJo, Balvinder and Julian and Amber and Nikita were pleased, Karen really wasn’t.) They heard the songs they’d be dancing to, which meant more to the pros, and then Claudia was supposed to help the celebs pick an outfit, so she bossed Alex and led George astray, but not Karen.) After Amber picked her outfit, Claudia fake followed her with a dress, letting us see the dancefloor being cleared and where the dancers were changing. The judges sat down in the wrong seats, so we found out that Motsi and Shirley have special cushions. Motsi tried to sell this nonsense.
Claudia chatted with the celebs, Katya was missing for a bit, and hair were reluctant to let Amber go. Nikita looked like extreme samba personified, and was clearly hyped, claiming ‘This will be amazing.’
Claudia returned to the studio proper with a fruit basket on her head, which seemed about right, as Tess solemnly intoned, ‘There is no conferring.’ Cut to the pros’ staircase, where they were clearly yelling messages to their celebs.
Alex and JoJo started with something that looked like a rumba, if a stately one. Alexis ordered George to take the absurd coat off immediately, which took up at least five seconds of their alloted time, he then did what looked like a tango, until it stopped looking like one. Lewis and Katya took a few seconds to get going, and then their jive looked good, with a cheeky reprise of THAT trick from Blackpool. Skirtography helped Balvinder go for it in their paso. Karen’s cha cha was half good (when Carlos set her spinning) and half her standing still. Lastly, Amber and Nikita’s samba borrowed a lot from their salsa, and she went for it, but the ending was rough.
I’d have put them in this order: Lewis, Amber, Balvinder/Alex, Karen/George. (Best first.) After a recap, the judges went bottom first: Karen, George, Alex, Amber and, drum-roll, Balvinder (well done, her) and Lewis getting the six points, just.
A look at the leaderboard confirmed that Lewis was back on top, and Alex was still at the bottom, but this wasn’t counting the public votes. I voted for Lewis, George, Karen and Amber on the basis of this week’s first dances. I had no issue with the last two getting a 40. If I’d had one extra vote, I might have voted for Lewis and Karen again for last week’s sake, but I didn’t, so it was just the four votes.
I will say for this for the chaotic instant dance, it was better than the hated -athons, but with so many moving parts, it really was a lot of chaos. No dance disasters exactly, but apart from giving Balvinder a chance to shine (it really made a difference what dance style they got), and the points, I’m not convinced that it taught us much. Lewis is the best all-rounder, shocker, Karen is more inconsistent than him and Amber, George’s charm makes up for a lot, but it’s tough being the last male celeb standing next to a ringer…
I look forward to seeing Balvinder and Alex reprise their routines without mistakes in the dance-off, as both were bottom of the leaderboard, and then let the judges decide who gets to go through to musicals week/the quarter finals.
