Thursday 30 November 2017

Strictly Come Dancing Week 10



So after the bright dazzling lights of Blackpool, it's back to London and back to training for the remaining seven couples.  This week sees them all fighting for a place in the quarter-finals and week 11 which is Musicals Week.  Another chance for the makeup and wardrobe team to shine but first, the celebs have to get there so, on with the show!

Opening our show tonight is Joe McFadden.  He and Katya are dancing the Quickstep to 'Jumpin Jack'.  I don't know about Jumping Jack but talk about Jumping Joe! He was lively, energetic, his pace never stopped and he covered the whole dancefloor end to end several times.  Katya's choreography got praise from the judges as well as Joe's execution of it and Shirley, in particular, praised certain trickier moves and the ease with which Joe performed them.  Another couple of 10s and two 9s saw Joe top of the leaderboard with a huge 38 points.  Not bad for an opening number.

Next up was Alexandra Burke and she was performing the Rumba! Finally, something she's not good at.  There wasn't much romance going on with this dance and she lacked emotion.  It definitely wasn't her dance this week but no doubt she'll get through, even though the judges did score her pretty low (look what happened to Aston when he scored low).  Also, the singers totally murdered the song 'Halo', cringe-worthy!

Following Alex was Gemma doing the Samba.  this routine confused me an awful lot.  The Samba is usually an energetic, lively dance, almost a party on the dancefloor (although I do get confused with the Samba and Salsa quite a bit).  However, Alijaz chose to choreograph a routine in the theme of the song, 'In The Middle of the Night' and although it was part of the routine for Gemma to look sleepy and lethargic, for me it didn't seem in balance with the dance they were performing.  Definitely not her best dance and she could be in danger this week.

Next up was Mollie also doing the Quickstep.  Mollie has been struggling lately with her routines and has been in the dance-off twice.  If she is in the dance-off again this week, I will eat my hat.  This routine was full of fun and energy, not quite on a par with Joe but excellent none the less.  I do feel she was marked down a touch by the judges but I think she should be okay this week.

Ahhh next we had Davood and he was doing the Waltz. I remember how lovely his Viennese Waltz was (when he wasn't fighting motion sickness). As a regular waltz has fewer spins than the VW, I was expecting a superb routine and I got one.  I can't believe how much Davood has grown as a dancer and how much he has improved from some of those earlier iffy routines (the Saturday Night Fever springs to mind).  He is definitely a contender for the final and well deserved. If he gets through to next week he will be doing the Argentine Tango, the first male celeb to dance this so far.

Speaking of the Argentine Tango, up next was Debbie McGee doing hers.  I have to say I loved this.  It started off really slowly, but sensual and sexy like it should be but her steps seemed to be carefully controlled.  Then the music took off and so did Debbie.  Her footwork was quicker and yet still so controlled and added to this were more splits and twists.  Definitely worthy of the 38 points and joint top spot on the leaderboard.

Closing the show tonight was Susan and Kevin.   They were dancing the American Smooth to 'Beyond The Sea', a song which I love.   I thought what she lacked in technique she certainly made up for in entertainment.  However, with such a high standard of dancers left, she will struggle to stay and will have to rely on the public vote to keep her in.  Perhaps she has finally run her course.




So by the end of the dances, the leaderboard looked like this


Joe & Katya38
Debbie & Giovanni38
Davood & Nadiya35
Alexandra & Gorka32
Mollie & AJ31
Gemma & Alijaz25
Susan & Kevin21

But wait, the celebs have more to do.  Yes, it's the Pasodoblethon (no idea on how to spell this, it's not a real word but it looks right ;) ) All seven couples were on the dancefloor and dancing the Paso Doble.  There were certain rules, no lifts were allowed, all couples had to be aware of each other's space to avoid any collisions and capes were optional.  Ooooer!   I absolutely loved Giovanni and Gorka squaring off before they started, it was brilliant.  All couples were dressed alike to avoid any distractions from outfits and all couples had to keep dancing until the end of the music.  The judges would then rank them from 1 through to 7 and the couple ranked 1st would get an extra 7 points added to their scores on the leaderboard, the 2nd couple would get 6 points and so on down until the bottom couple who would just get one extra point.  So the Pasodoblethon results looked like this


Alexandra & Gorka7
Joe & Katya6
Debbie & Giovanni5
Davood & Nadiya4
Gemma & Alijaz3
Mollie & AJ2
Susan & Kevin1


So looking at the scores for the final leaderboard, no change to the order, just making Joe clear at the top rather than joint with Debbie.


Joe & Katya44
Debbie & Giovanni43
Davood & Nadiya39
Alexandra & Gorka39
Mollie & AJ33
Gemma & Alijaz27
Susan & Kevin22

So on to Sunday night and the results.  First of all, there was a fabulous opening routine from the pros based on Fashion Week.  I had to look twice as I thought they had Beyonce in to perform before I realised it was Oti!  The highlight was the 'designer', it was Bruno Tonioli and oh my, he looked perfect!

So the main thing you are here for (are you still here? Good!)  The dance-off and first to go in was Alexandra.  Yes, it was a shock but yes it was a poor dance for her.  And maybe it will knock her down a peg or two to know she hasn't got this in the bag.  Joining her was Susan, not unexpected but a pity because if it had been anyone else we may have seen the back of Alexandra but even Susan knew she was beaten before they had even danced.  She was hysterical, and I quote 'I've never seen a more uneven contest in my life."  She was realistic and just danced her last dance and had fun.  It was obvious that the judges unanimously voted to save Alexandra but in the humility stakes, Susan won hands down.  I will miss her as she just brought so much fun and joy to Strictly, which is the idea.  Yes, it's a dance contest and the best dancers should go through but its also an entertainment show and that was Susan all over.

So next week is musicals week and until then keep dancing


Week 9 | Week 8 | Week 7 | Week 6 | Week 4 | Week 3 | Week 2 | Week 1

1 comment:

  1. As promised hehe

    Love the theming on Joe and Katya's dance. That was a good quick step. I like the quick step. HAH that back to back and front to front sequence was awesome!! Well deserving of the 38 it got :)

    Alexandra and Gorka looked all right, nothing to go crazy over like you said.

    Oh my goodness I loved the opening to Gemma and Alijaz's samba. She looks really good in red. I think this is definitely my favourite dance of hers so far. They looked great this week! So glad I told you to use my vote for her going forward...and now I am seeing we had completely different thoughts about her this week hehe, I just thought it was a fun routine and she got her hips swinging well.

    Oh god that was a weird cover of umbrella. I didn't even recognise it at first!! The dance was very nice though and I really like Mollie's sunny dress.

    Not a fan of Davood's music tonight but the dance was lovely to watch, he gets better each week. I'm glad he learned to control his face finally haha. That dress of Nadiya's reminds me of how I wanted Callie's wedding dress to be haha. I agree that he deserves a spot in the finale, and I look forward to his argentine.

    Oh my god I'm having True Lies flash backs with that Argentine Tango from Debbie and Giovanni and I love it. You can definitely feel the chemistry these two have every week. I truly just enjoy watching them dance together.

    Susan looked great in tonight's dance, emphasis on looked. That bench walk looked treacherous! That lift at the end was well done, but you're right waaaaaaay more entertainment than actual dancing.

    There was no video of all that pasoing so I didn't see the face off, boooo.

    Awww Susan was lovely, sad to see her go.

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