Again, sorry for the lateness - internet has been playing up this week and now is the only time that I've been able to sit down and finish the blog.
Last time, I went through the first 6 dances of the evening, from Sunetra's Jive to Judy's American Smooth. In this portion, I'll be looking at the final 5 dances, the dance-off, and the elimination.
We now know that Claudia's daughter had to go into hospital after suffering serious burns in a Halloween accident, and I sincerely hope she gets better soon. Claudia has been given indefinite leave by the BBC and Zoe will be standing in for her in the meantime.
Jake & Janette - Paso Doble - "Black Betty"
Hmm, this was the worst song choice of the night imo (probably just a bit worse than 'Defying Gravity', more on that to come a bit later) - I've heard that this particular song has been used for a Quickstep on another version of Strictly (DWTS I believe). I can see what the judges meant about Jake being too upright and jumping into some of the moves, but I don't believe the choreography helped to be honest. I know that the Paso, for the male at least, has a lot to do with posing and presenting their partner, but I think that Janette could have got him to do a bit more than that. For something like the Paso, which requires a certain type of shaping, I always think that if a celeb is struggling then they should watch previous dances to see how it should be done - sometimes it helps to see what you're meant to be doing because you might then have more of an idea of how to get there, and I reckon this would have helped out Jake. He might not have been the most masculine of matadors, but Jake would have done well to watch Ashley's 'cowboy' Paso with Ola last year as his shaping was great and he showed what he could do on his own. I also thought that Jake would have looked better doing the traditional cape action to release the bats at the beginning of the routine. Janette has produced 2 good pieces of choreography for Jake (the Salsa of course, and I thought his Jive routine was good), and I think she needs to buck her ideas up if she wants to win this year. They've got the Rumba this week, which *should* be a good dance for him, as he has decent hip-action and he might benefit from having more time to control the moves. But the training footage on ITT didn't look great, and I'm a bit worried that he could fall into the bottom 2.
Judges' scores: 6, 7, 8, 8 for a total of 29/40
My score: 6.25 (good masculinity, much less fluid and less errors than Simon)
Caroline & Pasha - Samba - "Le Freak"
Poor Caroline, wardrobe has it in for her big time. This was always going to suffer from comparisons to Pixie's dance, but on the other hand, it's probably good for her to get a difficult dance out of the way in a theme week. It was difficult to tell whether she had the double-bounce action, but her 'bachacadas' were good (I still have no idea how to spell that dance term, but I hope you guys know what I mean). She missed the initial hand grab for the samba roll (iirc it's actually called a shadow samba roll but I might be wrong) and that seemed to put her off a little. Craig said that he thought it was clinical and over-rehearsed, and although that sounds odd I can sort of see what he means. Although Caroline can produce a good performance, and she's good technically, there's almost always something that isn't quite right, or missing. I think that maybe she's so focused on trying to get the technique down, that she can't seem to really 'let go' or 'get into it' as it were. The only dance where I thought that she nailed it both in technique and in performance was her Rumba (and for me, that was even better than Pixie's). Caroline has the Waltz this week, and I think this might be a turning point for her, she doesn't need to get into character as such, just be smooth and elegant.
Judges' scores: 7, 8, 8, 9 for a total of 32/40
My score: 7
Scott & Joanne - Foxtrot - "Addams Family Theme"
I LOVED THIS DANCE! *clicks fingers and sings along* It's almost a shame that Scott went out on this routine, because it was a serious improvement. There's a bit of debate going on about whether Joanne did choreograph this routine - apparently choreography is a weak point of hers and she didn't do much of it when she competed, but that she might be doing it now she's on Strictly. If she did, then props to her as I thought the choreography for this dance was inspired. Scott needed something where he could get into it and have fun with it, so this was perfect for him. I'm not going to go into technique on this one, so let's just end it with awe at Joanne's back bend, and remembering how entertaining this performance was, as this is probably the one that we'll remember him for. *clicks fingers and goes off to make herself up like Morticia*
Judges' scores: 3, 6, 6, 6 for a total of 21/40
My score: 10! Nah, I'm kidding. I have to give this the same as Judy, so 5.25
Mark & Karen - Jive - "Little Shop of Horrors"
*RECYCLED SONG ALERT - Audley & Natalie in series 9*
Now I did say in part 1 that I thought this was the best dance of the night, I'm not too sure now after watching it back (ok, I might be lying here). Mark lost energy towards the end, and needed to point his toes more on the kicks. Apart from that, I thought he was great. Not too hampered by the theme, and the song worked well - in all honesty I'd say this was the best song choice of the evening. Mark's one of the only people (aside from Frankie, Pixie and maybe Caroline) who's great in both dance styles. If he keeps this up then there's a chance that he could knock out Jake and end up in the final. Well let's see how this week goes first. Mark has a Waltz, and it's been a while since he had a slower routine (back in week 2 as he reminded us on ITT this week) - but from the training footage, I get the feeling that it's gonna be good.
Judges' scores: 8, 9, 9, 9 for a total of 35/40
My score: 8.5
Frankie & Kevin - Tango - "Defying Gravity"
After watching this back, I still think it wasn't worth a 10; however, I can appreciate just how difficult it is to choreograph a Tango to this song (and Kevin said as much on ITT tonight). Someone suggested that it looks much better with the sound muted, and I have to agree. I can see what Craig meant about Frankie's left arm - she had the same problem that Abbey did in her Quickstep last year, she's put so much into the performance that when she was moving quickly, perhaps a change of 'level' as such, her left arm was moving up and down, it wasn't holding like the frame should. Despite this though, Frankie really got into the performance and her footwork was excellent. With that ending you can see why this was saved for the final dance of the night. Frankie is another who, like Caroline, I think sometimes struggles to 'get into' a routine and sell it - I don't think she quite got it in her Paso, but in this Tango, she sold it baby! She's got the Samba this week, and I'm not sure how she's going to do here. She had to get a 'party Latin' out of the way at some point, and if she found the Cha Cha Cha tough, then this is going to be hard for her.
Judges' scores: 9, 9, 9, 10 for a total of 37/40
My score: 9.5
Strictly Leaderboard:
1. Frankie & Kevin - 37
2. Mark & Karen - 35
3. Pixie & Trent - 33
4. Caroline & Pasha - 32
=5. Simon & Kristina, Jake & Janette - 29
7. Sunetra & Brendan - 27
=8. Alison & Aljaz, Steve & Ola - 26
10. Scott & Joanne - 21
11. Judy & Anton - 20
My Leaderboard (marks multiplied by 4):
1. Frankie & Kevin - 38
2. Mark & Karen - 34
3. Pixie & Trent - 30
4. Caroline & Pasha - 28
5. Jake & Janette - 25
=6. Sunetra & Brendan, Alison & Aljaz - 23
8. Simon & Kristina - 22
=9. Steve & Ola, Judy & Anton, Scott & Joanne - 21
Yeah, Steve might have gone on my scores, so for once I might just prefer the judges' marking.
Dance-off: Alison & Aljaz vs Scott & Joanne. We should have known that when Scott wasn't busy being bottom of the leaderboard, he'd end up in the dance-off. Alison wasn't really a surprise either, given that only Steve and Judy needed to finish above her to avoid the bottom 2.
Elimination: Scott & Joanne. Both couples improved, but this was the right decision *issues a 'bugger off' to Len, just wanting to be controversial*. Loved Alison's dress going over Aljaz's head too.
The recycled song alert count now stands at 23.
Well week 8 will be at Blackpool, so tomorrow, cue VTs with pleading, begging, and possibly bribery. It can't be as bad as Craig Kelly, can it?
Until next time,
KEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP READING!
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