Sunday 13 November 2016

Strictly Come Dancing Week 8 (spoiler alert)




We’re up to week 8 on Strictly and only 8 celebs are left to dance and this week they are dancing for a chance to go to Blackpool, the home of ballroom dancing.  Everyone wants to get the chance to dance there but someone will be missing out by just one week.






So how did they all do in my opinion?

Daisy Lowe was up first and unfortunately I didn’t enjoy her dance this week. Last week I loved her but she did a Salsa this week and I wasn’t that keen to be honest.  It was a very odd kind of routine and choice of music.  It was a swinging sixties theme and the music was Groove Is In The Heart.  For me, it just didn’t fit in with the Salsa style but Aljaz did do well with his choreography but for me, it just didn’t seem right.


Greg Rutherford was up next and I’ve made no secret of my love of this guy.  Every week he puts everything into it and this week he did he Paso Doble.  He always looks so serious when he dances, you can see the concentration in his face which sometimes looks out of place on the ballroom dances but here in the Paso it was perfect.  He was leaping around and strutting and I thought it was brilliant.  The judges weren’t as impressed as me but I loved it.

Judge Rinder was dancing the Foxtrot this week and his grandparents were there to watch him.  He had said this was the dance he wanted to do for them and he didn’t disappoint.  He was light on his feet and floating around.  He performed really well and he gets better each week.

Ore Oduba survived the dance off last week and came back this week with a Rumba.  As it has been mentioned before, the Rumba is difficult for a male dancer to learn but Ore seemed to perform very well indeed.  It was intense and romantic and beautifully danced.  I would be very surprised to see him in the dance off this week.

Ed Balls up next and after last week’s pretty decent Quickstep, it was back to watching him from behind my hands.  He was also doing a Salsa and if I thought the music choice for Daisy was odd, it had nothing on Ed Balls.  He danced to Gangnam Style and it made me speechless.  I’m not sure I can actually describe this dance, it was just comical.  Please god let him go now!

Next up was Claudia Fragapane, another contestant I have constantly enjoyed watching.  This week she was doing a Viennese Waltz and again she didn’t disappoint. She was elegant and graceful and considering she is only 19 years old, she performed a vintage dance as if she had been dancing it for years. She certainly deserves to go further in this competition.


Danny Mac danced an Argentine Tango this week and had a lot to live up to after Louise Redknapp’s almost perfect score last week.  Again another strange music choice in Marvin Gaye’s I Heard It Through The Grapevine but Oti Mabuse did amazing choreography and it worked very very well.  Well deserved top of the leaderboard score for Danny Mac.




Finally Louise was up dancing an American Smooth and she has really come out of herself over the weeks and her confidence levels have soared.  Her partner Kevin Clifton made the most of this and let her shine rather than trying to lead her all the time, he gave her time to dance on her own whilst keeping in with the routine.  It worked really well and she is looking like a strong contender for the final.

So by the end of Saturday night, the leaderboard looked like this.

Danny Mac & Oti Mabuse            38
Louise Redknapp & Kevin Clifton   37
Claudia Fragapane & AJ Pritchard 36
Ore Oduba & Joanne Clifton 35
Judge Rinder & Oksana Platero 33
Daisy Lowe & Aljaz Skorjanec 31
Greg Rutherford & Natalie Lowe 31
Ed Balls & Katya Jones 25

Ed Balls still at the bottom, surely his time is up now but it’s the public vote that continues to save him.  In a world where we have Brexit and President Donald Trump, it just shows you can’t tell how the public will vote until the results come in.

Sunday night on Strictly and a beautiful tribute for Remembrance Sunday from the professionals, this show is quite emotional tonight.  Also a stirring performance from Andre Rieu with Hallelujah with a lovely dance to accompany it.


So the dance off and OMG Ed Balls is through, what is going on?  And the dance off is between Daisy and Aljaz and Greg and Natalie.  I so want Greg to get through next week as it’s his birthday, but Daisy is a formidable opponent and she’s been under the pressure of the dance off before.  Both couples performed better in their dance off and in the end the judges voted to save Greg and Natalie, with the exception of Bruno who voted for Daisy and Aljaz.  It was quite tearful at the end and even Aljaz had his mascara running. I am sorry to see Daisy go as she can dance well but words cannot describe how relieved I am that Greg made it through.




On to the Tower at Blackpool and things are getting serious.  The standard is getting higher except for Ed.  Balls in Blackpool, it’s just not on.



3 comments:

  1. Okay now THAT, THAT is Paso Doble music! That's the type of music poor Claudia deserved when she did her beautiful Paso.

    Speaking of Claudia, I did not realise she's only 19! I figured she was around my age! WOWsers!! Super good and such a beautiful dance tonight - I might be bias because it's one of my favourite songs?

    I liked Daisy's dance, it was fun and theme was cute but that wasn't even at all recognizable as a Salsa to me, like none of those moves I would attribute to a Salsa even if they'd been set to salsa music. It looked more like a music video to me.

    I love the way you describe things :)

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    1. Claudia definitely got better music this week and yes, Greg got decent Paso music. I agree that Daisy's dance was good but not a proper Salsa. Still better than Ed Balls though.

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    2. Oh gods yes Ed Balls was just horrific.

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