Strictly Come Dancing Week 12 - Semi Finals

I can't believe we are almost at the end of this series of Strictly.  It doesn't seem like two minutes since the contestants were first announced and then paired up.  The excitement, the nerves, the case of 'Who are they?' as each celeb was announced but over the weeks there have been one or two delights as always and I have come to enjoy the series as much as the last. Sadly for the remaining five couples, one must leave this week and miss out on that grand final by a whisker.  To be honest, despite the range of talent and experience between them, it is really a case of anyone can fall at the final hurdle and everyone wants to make it through.  The heat is on as the couples have to perform not just one, but two new routines in a bid to become a finalist for 2018.

The game is on!  Each couple will perform once, then after they have all performed one dance, they will all take to the floor again to perform their second choice.

So first to the floor tonight are Stacey and Kevin.  Their first dance is the Charleston and they really threw everything at it.  It was a true 1920's Charleston, Stacey the perfect flapper and such a heavy content of so many different steps and moves.  Stacey has quite an ungainly quality at times but it suits the style of the Charleston perfectly as it's not supposed to be an elegant dance.  Talk about opening with a bang, 39 points!

Next up we have Joe and Dianne performing the Viennese Waltz.  I thought this was a very beautiful dance, very elegant and romantic and such a beautiful connection.  However, it appears that it wasn't technically very good according to the judges and Joe ended up with his lowest score since Week 5, with 29 points and Craig giving him just a 6.  Not the score you want in a Semi-Final.

Third, we have Ashley and Pasha, their first dance is a Paso Doble.  I thought this would be quite good given how much I enjoyed their Tango and her outfit was certainly giving off a similar vibe.  However, I found this to be a little too intense and too fierce, even for a Paso.  It seemed to be far too aggressive and lacked the smoothness that you still get with a Paso.  Not for me but scored a healthy 36 points from the judges.

Following Ashley were Lauren and AJ dancing the Tango.  Lauren is definitely the weakest link of the five but she certainly gave her all in this dance.  It was pretty good, not a great performance but certainly, a respectable effort given the competition she is up against.  Lauren has developed her personality as the series has progressed and the shy little girl from the early weeks has gone to be replaced with this fierce and convincing lady.  31 points, not great, but not at the bottom.

The final couple to dance is Faye and Giovanni.  They have been given the Samba, even Faye admitted she did not like this dance.  However, you couldn't tell given her performance.  It was fun, bright and lively and she carried it off very very well.  Not quite as enjoyable as the one in Blackpool from Charles but a pretty fun routine to watch.  With a score of 37, it puts her second on the leaderboard, just behind Stacey.

So after Dance 1, the leaderboard looks like this

Stacey & Kevin	39
Faye & Giovanni	37
Ashley & Pasha	36
Lauren & AJ	31
Joe & Dianne	29

Whilst it's not unusual to see Stacey at the top of the leaderboard, it's the first time Joe has been at the bottom.  It will mean the stakes are pretty high and the second dances are critical for most of the celebs.

So the running order remains the same as before, which means its Stacey up again, this time performing a Viennese Waltz.  It was nice and elegant and clearly, from the judges score it was more technically accurate than Joe's but I found Joe's to be more moving and emotional than Stacey's.  Still, it was pleasant to watch and deserving of a high score of 36.

Joe's second dance of the night is the Argentine Tango.  With a nod to the BBC show Peaky Blinders, I found this to be seriously good.  It was passionate, it was dramatic and very very compelling to watch.  However, I agree with the judges that Joe wasn't the one in command of the dance, it was more down to Dianne but it should be the man taking control.  He's only a young slip of a boy so this would have been a stretch for him but despite that, I really enjoyed it even if the judges marked it low at 30.

So dancing once again we have Ashley and Pasha and this time they are performing the American Smooth.  I have to say I really enjoyed this, much more than their Paso Doble.  This was light, clean and danced beautifully and the lifts, especially the one-legged lift, were timed and executed perfectly.  I still don't want Ashley to win the final but this dance really did deserve the perfect 40 it received, for me much more than their jive did.  Very impressive.

Performing their second routine of the evening are Lauren and AJ, this time dancing the Samba.  Unfortunately for Lauren, this was not her dance and her timing issues were far too obvious.  As Craig commented, if you mess up, try and hide it.  Unfortunately, Lauren doesn't have the skills to do this and it showed.  Although she did seem to enjoy herself during the dance, it wasn't her finest moment in the show and at this stage of the competition, you need a much higher score than 23.

So the final dance of the evening belonged to Faye and Giovanni and they were also dancing the Argentine Tango.  Now whilst I enjoyed Joe's attempt earlier, THIS is an Argentine Tango!   It was sultry, it was sexy, it was exciting and the footwork was simply exquisite.  I knew the choreography would be superb from Gio but this was incredible.  Personally, I think it deserved a 40 but dropped just one mark (Damn you, Craig!)






So when the scores from the second dances were added to the first, the final leaderboard looks like this.

Ashley & Pasha	76
Faye & Giovanni	76
Stacey & Kevin	75
Joe & Dianne	59
Lauren & AJ	54

So onto Sunday night and the most important dance-off of the series.  The stakes have never been higher.  The first couple into the dance-off is Ashley and Pasha, showing that she is really lacking public support given such high marks she received.   She is to face Lauren and AJ who when they found out must have already said their farewells.  It was always going to be such a futile dance-off but rules are rules.  Before the show, each couple had to choose which of their two dances they wanted to perform again in the event they were in the dance-off.  No real surprises in that Ashley chose the American Smooth and Lauren chose her Tango. 

With all four judges opting to save Ashley and Pasha, we have to say farewell to Lauren and AJ.  I really do feel for AJ, he's only been in the show for three seasons and each time got to the semis, only to be beaten at the last hurdle every time.  Maybe next year, sweetie.

So we have our four Strictly Come Dancing 2018 Finalists

Joe Sugg and Dianne Buswell

Faye Tozer and Giovanni Pernice

Stacey Dooley and Kevin Clifton

Ashley Roberts and Pasha Kovelev

I can't wait for next Saturday.  No judges scores, they only score for guidance.  It is purely the public vote that will determine who will lift the Glitterball this year.

Bring it on and until then, keep dancing!