Strictly Come Dancing 2014: Week 3 (part 2)

Last time, I reviewed the first 7 performances of the night, from the opener with Alison's Jive all the way up to the halfway point with Caroline's Rumba. So in this part, I'll be looking at the second half of the dances, from Scott's Samba until the ending number with Mark's Paso Doble. I will also be giving my thoughts on the dance-off, and the elimination.


Scott & Joanne - Samba - "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid

Poor poor Scott. This dance just reminded me of my brother-in-law's running joke of 'I'm a craaab! *pincer, pincer*', and Scott looked so uncomfortable in his crab outfit. I liked Joanne's choreography for this though, a better mix of the theme and the dance style here. That beginning when he stepped sideways with the pincers towards Joanne just makes me giggle every time I watch it. You can see he's really trying and for what it's worth he makes a decent attempt at the technique. His upper half isn't too bad, but his footwork is awful so he really needs to try and sort that out. A much better dance from him though, and he has the American Smooth this week which I believe will suit him much better.

Judges' scores: 2, 5, 5, 6 - with Donny scoring 7 to make it 25/50
My score: 4


Frankie & Kevin - Paso Doble - "America" from West Side Story

I was really unsure about using this song for a Paso Doble, despite its Flamenco stylings it doesn't really have that Spanish flair that more traditional songs have. I'm happy to say that I got proved extremely wrong after watching this routine. However, I'm not as impressed as others were. Dare I say it, I actually preferred Kevin's Paso with Susanna last year. There wasn't as much skirt-swishing for one (Susanna may have done a lot of it, but I'm pretty sure there was much more in Frankie's routine) and I think Susanna got the performance element of it much more than Frankie did - Frankie looked a little like a child having a tantrum at some points. I definitely don't think it deserved the first 10 of the series, bad Donny! It was a really good Paso, but I just don't think it was as good as Susanna's. 

Judges' scores: 8, 9, 9, 9 - with a 10 from Donny to make it 45/50
My score: 8.5


Jake & Janette - Waltz - "The Godfather Waltz" from The Godfather

*RECYCLED SONG ALERT - Brian & Karen in series 5*

I'm not a fan of this music, and I was a bit underwhelmed by the routine. What Jake did was good, I liked the concept and he got into the performance well as usual, but it was just missing something for me. A Waltz is meant (in my opinion anyway) to have a magical feel to it, and I think the song choice really hampered that. I get what Len is saying about swing and sway and Janette could have put some more of that into the choreography (although I feel that there was some in the routine), but I also agree with what Craig said about the theatricality and how it might be spoiled if there was additional swing and sway. In truth, I don't think any of the celebs or pros could choreograph a lovely traditional Waltz with that music (some of the more dance-minded will probably disagree with me there), so I think they were a bit hard on him in that respect. Whilst I'm on it, I think the judges should take into account that most of the time, the song and theme of each routine is decided by the producers and the pros can do nothing about it (this dance, Frankie's Charleston from last week to name but two from this series), rather than criticise them for it. I felt bad for Janette after this dance because of that, a more melancholic Waltz has been praised in the past (I can't remember for sure exactly who this was, but I know there's been at least one) and yet she gets criticism for something that she didn't have much control over. Onwards and upwards, hopefully.

Judges' scores: all 8s - with an 8 from Donny to make it 40/50
My score: 8 (scores were right but I think the critique was a bit too harsh)


Pixie & Trent - Quickstep - "Be Our Guest" from Beauty & the Beast

Oh look it's Barbie & Ken! Sorry, I mean Beauty & the Beast (although for some reason Trent decided to be Lumiére for this routine, love the work that wardrobe did on Pixie's dress though, that was perfect). Yeah, I think it's safe to say that I'm never going to be a fan of these 2. I have to say though, I absolutely loved this routine. I didn't like the end to it, and it took a while to get into proper Quickstep (about 30 seconds), but I loved Trent's choreography apart from that and it worked superbly with the song. Speaking of which, full marks to the singers on this one. I'm not sure who did the main singing but he was brilliant and so was the backing, bravo! Pixie messed up on the leap towards the end and she seemed to go wrong when they were in the top-left corner at the beginning (that might just be the shoddy camera work though), but she was spot-on everywhere else. She's got a Rumba this weekend, and I'm intrigued to see if she can match Caroline.

Judges' scores: 7, 9, 9, 9 - with a 9 from Donny to make it 43/50
My score: 8.5


Thom & Iveta - Charleston - "New York, New York" from On the Town

I haven't been too impressed with Thom in previous weeks, but he really surprised me with this dance, he is most definitely a Latin boy. He lacked a bit of swivel, and he was out of sync with Iveta or went wrong on a few occasions, but I loved the energy and performance that he had. I'm wondering if I might have seen his outfit somewhere before? I remember Scott Maslen's Charleston outfit being similar, and possibly Harry Judd's as well. In all seriousness though, wow, what an improvement! I'm hoping that he can inject this improvement into his Ballroom, because if he does, he will definitely be one to watch.

Judges' scores: 7, 8, 8, 8 - with a 7 from Donny to make it 38/50
My score: 7.5


Sunetra & Brendan - American Smooth - "The Way You Look Tonight" from Swing Time

Whilst Thom's a Latin boy, Sunetra is a Ballroom girl. Everything came together for this routine - traditional music, elegant choreography, classy dress - and this was a joy to watch. Sunetra got this perfectly - her arm lines were finished off beautifully the majority of the time, she had good footwork, and she gave a great performance. There's only 2 things that I found fault with in that routine: the first lift looked messy (as if she got caught off-balance in the transition), and that Sunetra needs to move her head just a little more to the left. That's genuinely it. If she can take the positives from her Ballroom and put them into her Latin, then she'll go far. 

Judges' scores: 7, 8, 9, 8 - with an 8 from Donny to make it 40/50
My score: 8


Mark & Karen - Paso Doble - "Theme from Superman" from Superman

Oh. My. God. Poor Mark. He could not look any less masculine if he tried (well, to be honest I compare every male to Mark Ramprakash who for me, exuded masculinity). I'm not sure if I can even really critique this dance. I'll try my best though - his hand shaping seemed a bit odd, and he messed up the leap, and the knee walks (he was off-balance) and then he looked to trip over when he was going towards the phone box at the end. I'll have to give Mark a compliment though - I don't think any other male celeb could have pulled this themed routine off in the way that he did. I hope he goes back to a lovely Ballroom next week, so that I can try and erase this routine from my mind.

Judges' scores: 6, 6, 7, 7 - with a 9 from Donny to make it 35/50
My score: ? I don't entirely know what to give this, so I'll be safe with a nice 5.5


The current recycled song count now stands at 14.


Judges' Leaderboard (excluding Donny's scores, so that it's out of 40):
1. Frankie & Kevin - 35
2. Pixie & Trent - 34
3. Caroline & Pasha - 33
=4. Jake & Janette, Sunetra & Brendan - 32
6. Thom & Iveta - 31
7. Steve & Ola - 28
8. Mark & Karen - 26
9. Simon & Kristina - 23
10. Alison & Aljaz - 21
=11. Jennifer & Tristan, Judy & Anton, Scott & Joanne - 18
14. Tim & Natalie - 17

My Leaderboard (scores multiplied by 4):
=1. Frankie & Kevin, Pixie & Trent - 34
=3. Caroline & Pasha, Jake & Janette, Sunetra & Brendan - 32
6. Thom & Iveta - 30
7. Steve & Ola - 24
8. Mark & Karen - 22
9. Simon & Kristina - 18
=10. Alison & Aljaz, Scott & Joanne - 16
12. Judy & Anton - 14
=13. Jennifer & Tristan, Tim & Natalie - 12


Dance-off: Simon & Kristina vs Jennifer & Tristan. Unlike most people, I wasn't surprised that Simon ended up in the bottom 2. A lacklustre dance, a Rumba nonetheless (ie the 'dance of doom' that put last year's winner Abbey Clancey in the dance-off), coupled with a not-so-popular pro, and the aspersions of Simon's arrogance, and it's not too shocking. Especially, given that Scott has a huge fanbase, Anton has a big fanbase, and Tim has the 'underdog' vote - it was only a matter of time before a mid-tabler like Simon was in the bottom 2. 

Elimination: Jennifer & Tristan. Right decision in my opinion - even if Simon had had a meltdown, he would have got through on sheer potential. It's said to say goodbye to them though, they had a lovely partnership and it would have been nice to see more of Tristan as a newbie pro. I guess it just means that he'll be in the Christmas Special, yay!


Next week's blog will see the celebs take on dances including the Paso Doble, the Tango, the Samba, the American Smooth, and the Quickstep. Until then,


KEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP READING!