Strictly Come Dancing - Week 4

Ahhhh Week 4. 

Always a come down after the red carpet comedy and drama of Movie Week.  However, for a certain couple, the drama continued long after the red carpet was rolled up and the Oscars were put away.  I am of course referring to the story that has overshadowed the Strictly headlines this last week concerning Seann Walsh and his dance partner Katya Jones being snapped in a compromising clinch last weekend, Seann had a long-standing girlfriend at the time and of course, Katya is married to fellow pro and Strictly dancer Neil Jones.  Whilst it's really none of my business what they get up to and we can only speculate at what else is going on and how the wronged partners feel, I do find it a shame when these things happen. The people I feel most sorry for are the other contestants on the show.  Whenever it is mentioned, they will be forever associated with 'oh that was the year Seann and Katya had a fling' or all the stories focus on the 'naughty couple' rather than who danced so well that week.   Anyway, Strictly made their decision to keep them in the show, however, they did change their intended Rumba to a less tactile Charleston, and everyone from the Strictly judges down to the next door neighbours had their say on the matter.  Hopefully, it's now done and dusted and we can go back to concentrating on the dancing.


So, Week 4 begins and opening the show tonight were Joe Sugg and Dianne, much to Joe's amusing horror.  He did look rather stunned and scared when it was announced.  They were doing the dreaded Cha Cha Cha which so many celebs have had problems with this year.   However, Joe didn't do too bad a job. He's obviously more comfortable doing the Latin dances than he is doing ballroom, I think the Latin suits his younger demeanour rather than the old-fashioned style dances.  I really enjoyed this dance, but there is still a lot to work on for next week.

Ahhh next up were Vick Hope and Graziano doing a fantastic Quickstep.  I'm really loving them this year.  After a rocky start, Graziano's choreography has really improved and Vick has definitely improved in her technique.  I'm in awe of the fact she can get up at 4am (seriously, there's a 4am?) and do her radio show then spend the rest of the day learning a new dance and routine and still look as amazing as she does.  Their partnership is adorable and they dance extremely well together.

Third onto the floor were my champions Danny John-Jules and Amy.  They were doing the very spinny Viennese Waltz.  The song was one of Danny's favourites which clearly helped him with his routine as they performed it beautifully but I spotted that thumb up and knew Craig would pick up on it, it's one of his pet hates.  Other than that I found it to be a smooth and clean performance, much better than his last couple of weeks where he's seemed a bit stilted in places.

Next, we have Faye Tozer and Giovanni doing the first Rumba of the series.  Faye can really pull off a sexy and sultry vamp look.  I've not especially enjoyed her last couple of dances even if the judges have but I enjoyed this one.  I thought she looked good and the routine was slick and romantic and I can feel the connection with Giovanni.  But who wouldn't enjoy being up close and personal with Giovanni?

After Faye, were Katie Piper and Gorka.  I loved this routine.  Okay so it wasn't technically perfect for a Jive, far from it, but Katie has come on leaps and bounds from her very shaky, nervous start to the little actress we saw tonight.  She is becoming the character when she dances and she's enjoying herself which helps make her performance better.  And how cute is Gorka the Geek?

Following them were Charles Venn and Karen.  Oh my, Charles can rotate those hips which is good for a Salsa.  Not sure about the music choice though but they made it work and Charles did a really good job of saving that final lift which could have gone very badly wrong otherwise.  I was glad to see Shirley finally give Karen some praise this week (I wonder if she's been reading the Twitter comments as I'm not the only one picking up on the bad vibes from Shirley towards Karen, even Karen didn't know what she'd done to deserve it), although Darcey was right that he needs to get down more to get more rotation which they acknowledged was difficult as Charles is so tall.

Also dancing the Quickstep this week were Lauren Steadman and AJ.  I loved the vlog section before the dance showing how training went when AJ tried to keep up with Lauren doing a triathlon.  AJ, there is a reason she's a gold medal winner, she's fast!!! Still, they had enough energy left to do a pretty decent Quickstep.  it's hard to judge sometimes because the frame is never going to be right given AJ has to compensate for Lauren's disability but they make it work and AJ is another one who's choreography is improving all the time.

Following on from Lauren and AJ was the most shocking headline in the whole of Strictly.  No, not Seann and Katya again but DR RANJ STOPPED SMILING!!!! Hold the press, what is going on here?  Yes Dr Ranj Singh and his partner Janette were doing the mean and moody Paso Doble.  How does the smiliest man in Britain do a Paso?  I don't know how he managed it, but he did it and it was brilliant.  It was a nice traditional style Paso and there were some very nice moves in there.  It seemed like Janette almost kicked him in the head at one point but I think it was the camera angle, he never seemed to flinch so he must have been fine.  This was definitely an improvement from last week.

Unfortunately for the next pairing, it wasn't so great.  Kate Silverton and Aljaz were dancing the Samba.  Let's just say it was not her dance and leave it at that.  She could be in trouble this week.

Following them were Graeme Swann and Oti.  Now Oti always looks good but I wasn't enamoured with Graeme this week.  His Jive wasn't as sharp as some of the others we've seen, his flicks and kicks looked a bit heavy but he certainly put everything into it, and dressed in bright pink too I might add.  He has the personality and can go far if he just works on his technique.  He's not the worst but he has a long way to go before he looks like a contender.

Next up were Ashley Roberts and Pasha.  They were dancing the Tango and although I have been critical of her in the past, I really really liked this Tango.  It was sharp, sexy and the choreography was spot on from Pasha.  They were both right in the moment, keeping the character right through to the end.  A lot of comments on YouTube were more about the poor version of the song but as I don't know the original I can't comment.  I also think that shouldn't take away from the dance.  I hated the version of Graeme's song, I hate it when people attempt to sing Queen songs but I made sure I watched the dance, rather than focus on the song.  Ashley got a thumbs up from me this week, even if I don't particularly like her.  This was good for me, I'll even overlook the slight error where her feet left the floor illegally in a Tango (although it was a 'blink and you'll miss it' moment and the judges missed it too, but it didn't get past me).

Finally, the shamed couple take to the floor and Seann Walsh and Katya danced their Charleston.  I felt this was hideously overmarked by the judges, there was no way with deserved to be near the top of the leaderboard.  Yes Seann had swivels in his feet, especially the bit when he's holding all the pizza boxes, and the ladder when Katya walked up his back was particularly impressive but the rest just seemed messy and frantic, even for a Charleston.  I think the judges were over making a point here.

The final dance of the night went to Stacey Dooley and Kevin.  Hot on the heels of their impressive Jive last week, this week saw them do the Foxtrot.  Whoever chose the music for this needs to be taken out and shot because it was a hideous choice and didn't seem fitting for a Foxtrot.  However, Kevin is so talented as a choreographer and can make even the worst choices work and that's what he did here.  I didn't much like the faffing at the start, it seemed ages before they actually started dancing but once they did, they produced a very good routine and it was well deserving of their place at the top of the leaderboard.  Oh and Happy Birthday Kevin.

So at the end of Saturday night, here's how the leaderboard looked.

Stacey & Kevin	33
Ashley & Pasha	32
Vick & Graziano	29
Faye & Giovanni	29
Seann & Katya	28
Danny & Amy	27
Dr Ranj & Janette	27
Joe & Dianne	26
Graeme & Oti	26
Charles & Karen	25
Lauren & AJ	25
Kate & Alijaz	20
Katie & Gorka	18

So onto the results show on Sunday and after a fairly risque routine from the Pros and OMG moment from me when the Backstreet Boys perfomed a medley of their hits (I LOVE THEM), the couples facing the dance off tonight were Katie Piper and Charles Venn.  Shame to see Charles there again although no surprises to see Katie.

Also, no surprises that all four judges chose to save Charles so it was Katie who was eliminated.  It was a shame as she was just starting to enjoy herself but she is such an inspiration and she is a remarkable young lady who danced her way through what was bound to be a traumatic weekend as her acid attacker was released this weekend.  She bravely went on and proved she is stronger than those who tried to bring her down and I'm so pleased with how she progressed in the few short weeks she was on the show. And her partnership with Gorka was adorable.

So next week there is no Bruno but we have a guest judge and its so exciting, but I shall leave you in suspense until next week.  I shall give you a clue, he gave us an iconic dance in the 90s.

Until then, keep dancing!

Week Three | Week Two  | Week One