2016 Strictly Come Dancing Week 4 – Rank The Dances, Review The Shows
Are you ready for Strictly Come Dancing Week 4? For episode times in the UK, see this link. The dances and songs can be seen here.
If you tune in, let us know your thoughts and rank the couples in comments if interested. If you can’t watch it LIVE, let’s hope they will post videos at their Official You Tube page. More later and have fun!! We look forward to reading your comments as always.
Streams:
Watch SCD 1 (works for UK and other International viewers)
Watch SCD 2 (works for US viewers and possibly Internationally)
Watch SCD 3 (works for US Viewers and possibly Internationally)
Watch SCD 4 (works for US Viewers and possibly Internationally)
Watch SCD 5 (works for US Viewers and possibly Internationally)
Watch SCD 6 (works for US Viewers and possibly Internationally)
Also, don’t forget about Gleb Savchenko and Kristina Rihanoff’s Dance show in the UK. You can read on it here. Be sure to get your tickets before they run out.
What do u think about the first two eliminations? And Will Young pulling out of the competition supposedly because of his little disagreement with Len over the salsa content in the dance, or, some articles have said, he thought he couldn’t win… Maybe the show will adress that today, but it’s a shame because he was doing well, and a shame for Karen too…
Some people have been calling the UK viewers racists because the first 2 eliminated contestants are black. I personally loved Tameka and I thought she was doing great, she reminds me of Sherri Shepherd. She was someone who I looked forward to watching every week and I was shocked to see her (and Laura) in the bottom… I think Naga should have gone home instead.
Reading the coments on the facebook page, some people thought her personality was over the top & that she was “too cocksure”, which I don’t agree with. I think if she was on DWTS, people would have loved her! Bruno & Carrie Ann certainly would.
If Ore Oduba goes home this week after that lovely Singin’ In The Rain performance last week, then I too will start to consider the racism theory…
@Maina – I think the entire racism theory is quite tricky on Strictly. A number of black contestants have gotten eliminated early (Melvin, Tameka, Anthony from last series), or coasted through multiple bottom two/dance off placements (Heather Small in series 6, Ainsley Harriott in series 9). Even Simon Webbe, who made it to the final three in series 12, was in three dance-offs. On the other hand, Denise Lewis managed to last all the way to final two, and Alesha even managed to snatch a victory. Louis Smith and Mark Ramprakash aren’t whites either, and they did win. Natalie Gumede might suffer from the backlash of her prior experience (although not to the extent of Denise Van Outen), but she did get all the support she needed before her one dance-off in the semis. Ricky Whittle was adored as (by far) the best dancer from series 7, and Jade Johnson from the same series was widely favored as the winner before her injury cost her the competition.
Another thing that I noticed is that, unlike DWTS, Strictly viewers tend to take personality as a consideration to vote a little TOO highly. We all vote for our favourites, sure, but while in DWTS people usually bark “Why is Alek still here? He’s by far the weakest dancer!”, in Strictly it’s usually “Who’s voting for Pixie? She has no personality!” or “Helen’s dancing is nice but I won’t vote because she’s not exciting to watch”. Going back to Melvin and Tameka, I think Melvin’s elimination was justified because he was both dull and a weak dancer, while Tameka might have to do with her personality rubbing people the wrong way. That, coupled with her not-so-safe placement on the board might have caused the downfall. And going against Laura who’s the better dancer might just be the final nail on the coffin.
I really don’t think Ore’s going to go tonight. I do wonder who the heck voted for Naga and her dryness to stay around, but Ore seemed to pick up a lot of steam last week. Regarding Will, well, we can only wait if there will be an actual explanation. I really like him, but his whole “I’m quitting because I can and am feeling dandy” persona about this sure doesn’t sit right with me.
Well isn’t that quite something! Just when I thought Danny got this on the bag, here comes the Ore lol. My thoughts:
– I will always root for Natalie more than anyone else in this series, but sometimes things made me really hard to do that. Stupid song, distracting jumpy bits, mega-lift that was basically a reuse from a Ricky Whittle routine – thank God Greg is adorably entertaining as always, and while I don’t exactly hate it, it’s my least favourite performance of him so far.
– I liked Laura’s Cha-cha, the judges were lukewarm. I didn’t think her Waltz was anything special, the judges creamed themselves on it. I thought her Salsa was lots of fun, only Bruno liked it. This time? I personally think her Quickstep is frantic as hell, that one breaking hold in the middle is just super random, and in no way that’s the same level as Daisy’s last week. Guess I’ll keep on having a love-hate relationship with Laura here.
– Anastacia’s Rumba was very neat and I really like it. Obviously I’m not getting the snarky wonderful Anastacia from week 1 but it’s probably her most polished performance so far. At times it reminds me of older series’ Older Ladies Who Can Dance, aka Cherie and Pamela. I still (stubbornly) think she’ll end up in the dance-off though.
– Stupid song number two here, although admittedly Claudia was lovely on the actual Foxtrot bits. I’m not a fan of that much camera-hogging from A.J., but he did what he could with that song. I’m afraid it’s probably the most forgettable routine of the week though – I’m sure Claudia isn’t going anywhere (she won’t even if she’s on the bottom two), but not an awful lot to be talked about there.
– Oh Katya, why would you even drop the ball and go straight to the Iveta road. Just like I hated Mark Benton’s Paso, it was clear that Ed wanted to do well but the ladies just had to choreograph the most ridiculous non-Paso Paso for the men. Sure, he barely remember anything about the dance, but it’d be nice to mess up on an actual Paso, you know, not… whatever that was.
– Finally Naga is showing her un-dry side, although the way she’s suddenly became so so jumpy made me wonder a little. How this got one point lower than her weak Tango last week, I’ll never know. Botched lifts aside, I enjoyed her efforts here, and I generally think her kicks are spot on. I also still think that she’ll be in the dance-off with Anastacia though.
– Louise is still lovely, and yet Kevin still backtrack on my initial estimation of kinda sorta liking him to, well, let’s just say a bit annoyed that he once again went to the 60’s route for like the millionth time already. Simple dance executed beautifully, it reminds me slightly of Pixie’s marvelous Foxtrot at times. A bit underrated, to be honest.
– Danny is just ridiculous. Even more that he didn’t get a single ten for that.
– Daisy has my favourite personality of any of the celebrities so far, so I’m happy that she managed to do the Rumba really well. I think the DWTS-esque limited stage with the candles was a bad move, since it limits the spacing of the dance, but her lines are lovely and the shapes are there. Also a bit underrated.
– Please don’t tell me that Judge Rinder is actually reenacting Lisa Riley’s Strictly journey, by producing an amazingly entertaining first dance and then getting worse and worse afterwards. Just like Greg it’s my least favourite routine from him so far – it had mistakes, he didn’t look comfortable AT ALL and that bloody song lol. I’m afraid he could be in trouble, but I hope not.
– Surprise! Lesley’s delivering a great dance! Okay, so she’s been getting better and better each week with no exception, is she the revelation this year? A possible dark horse, even at that age? Wow. It’s a mesmerizing performance, much much better than the one Katie Derham did in the semis last year.
– Ore is also ridiculous. That, Joanne, is what you can get as long as you’re not faffing things about.
My three favourite performances are Danny, Lesley and Ore. The latter also broke Alesha’s record for the quickest 39 on Strictly’s history.
Ignore the racism BS, Strictly is arguably the most popular show in the country, so tabloids write garbage about it in order to gain hits even though they know it’s utter rubbish. Anastastia will go home this week. God knows who will be in the danceoff, it should be Naga but as proven last week, underestimate the BBC Breakfast fanbase at your peril. I do think it’s ironic though that the week the tabloids try and create a racism story, a black celeb gets a 39 score and another black celeb might welll get saved by the judges in the danceoff.
Ok so this week was quite interesting with the one that I didn’t expect to wow me wowed me and got tens. Greg and Natalie were good….didn’t wow me but it was good. Laura and giovanni were the best I’ve seen them but the 8s were right. Something about seems like she isn’t giving it her all of that makes sense like she is holding back for some reason. Anastasia and Brendan were good but this week they had me worried. Hope he is ok. Claudia and aj were great and I think deserved all 8s. Ed and Katya….love them but it’s time. Naga and pasha were better than last week for sure but how much longer before her time is up becuase it’s getting brutal. Louise and Kevin were great and the Same for Danny and oti (both deserved all 9a in my opinion). Daisy was good. Boring though. Judge rinder wasgood but I agreed with the scores. Ore and Joanne were amazing. Perfect score worthy. Oh and Leslie and Anton were adorable. I could watch that all day.
I do think there’s a slight hint of racism in the viewer vote on Strictly, but I’m with Daniel on this and think the GBP vote tends to be influenced on how the celebs/couples present themselves. They lean toward the somewhat reserved, self-deprecating types rather than the ones whoare outgoing and self-confident. So perhaps it’s more fair to say the black Strictly celebs are up against a ‘cultural bias’ rather than outright racism. How Ore fares with voters this year could shed some light on that for me.
Sorry for Karen that Will left her high and dry. While I liked his dancing, there was a whiff of diva about him that didn’t appeal. So I’m not sorry he’s gone but wish he’d left last week before Tameka got the boot. She was loving the Strictly experience, and I wanted to see more of Gorka to get an idea of what he has to offer as a teaching pro.
My favorite dances of the night were: Ore/Joanne; Danny/Oti; Louise/Kevin; Laura/Giovanni.
Greg/Natalie: I like these two and would have loved to see Natalie lift the glitter ball, but for me Greg’s a ballroom boy.
Laura/Giovanni: She’s a good all-round dancer, but I worry these two are getting lost in the shuffle. Giovanni’s a good teacher/choreographer; would like to see him win a series. Loved her dress.
Anastacia/Brendan: This rumba was just there. Her injury has taken all the wind out of their sails. Pity because these two were getting along much better than I thought and were having a blast. Now they have to be careful and they’re just kind of boring. Expect to see them in the DO.
Claudia/AJ: They got stuck with a crap song which didn’t give them much to work with. I hope the show stops sticking them with teenybopper-themed songs. Their Charleston was great but this Foxtrot (whiile technically very good and well-danced) was forgettable.
Ed/Katya: This was awful and I agreed with Craig’s 2. Daniel’s right, Katya completely caved to the awful song they got. This is the gruesome comedy routine I feared we’d get from them every week. They’ve hit their expiration date for me, but my guess is the GBP will rally behind them.
Naga/Pasha: I do see growth from week to week and in a less competitive year, they might have been given a chance to blossom; but I see them in the DO this week or next. Some parts of their Charleston weren’t bad and she actually smiled.
Louise/Kevin: I liked this foxtrot quite a bit. Louise is a dancer’s dancer. Lovely technique and gorgeous musicality. Not flashy, but she dances with attention to detail. Her confidence is growing each week and I’d love to see her in the final but worry she might end up as this year’s Helen. The GBP doesn’t like too boisterous, but then they turn around and complain if someone is too understated.
Danny/Oti: I love these two. I’ve loved every dance they’ve done both in terms of technique and performance. I’m thrilled Oti has such a great partner, but I think they’re very much at risk of being considered too good, having no “journey” and therefore not winning over the public. Having Ore doing so well right now could help them.
Daisy/Aljaz: These two look gorgeous together. It was a very good rumba and slightly undermarked for me. Daisy threw some beautiful shapes but I do think she held back a bit emotionally and the dance ended up looing a bit placed and posed at times. Maybe Daisy didn’t want to be accused of being too raunchy.
Robert/Oksana: Hated the song, thought the dancing was pretty good. I agree with both Darcey and Len. Rob is a good dancer and doesn’t need the comedy schtick. However Len’s right, that’s what viewers love about him; and if he drops it and just dances, will the public still vote for him. That said, I’d like to see him do a serious dance and see how the public responds.
Lesley/Anton: This wasn’t her best for me. She looked under-rehearsed. This was the first time I felt Lesley was thinking about the choreography. Wish she hadn’t been in Malta filming this week because Charleston should have been right in her wheelhouse.
Ore/Joanne: Loved this. So glad the judges didn’t hold back on the 10 paddles. If the dance warrants a 10, give it. If subsequent dances aren’t that graet, then drop the score to whatever is appropriate. This was an excellent Jive and a fitting follow-up to last week’s American Smooth. Ore has given back-to-back stellar dances, and I hope he can continue to deliver at a consistently high standard most weeks. Gotta say, I’m fed up with comparisons to “Jay’s Jive”. Jay’s jive was iconic. I loved it and backed Jay strongly the first half of last series, but he never lived up to the promise of that Jive and while technically beautiful could never really express the emotions of a dance.
Despite the weird goings on (Anastacia’s non-dance-off and Will’s up and quitting), this is an excellent series. The level and depth of dance talent among the celebs and their generally decent personalities makes them easy to watch.
I’m not a big Karen fan at all (heck only time she won me over was with Mark wright and only becuase he was just so dang happy at all times and just loving it) but I felt so bad for her becuase he just sorta went I’m done and left her high and dry without any real reason. And the sad part is he could really dance and could have made the finale considering how popular he seemed to be. Not going to miss his Rehersal outfits at all too…it’s cirque week every day for him isn’t it lol.
Thanks, All! I’m loving your reviews. I haven’t had time to watch all the dances yet (my brother got married this weekend and I’ve been off line a lot for the last three days), but, Andrea sent me Ore & Joanne dance, Louise and Kevin’s dance, and Daisy Aljaz’x dance. Omg, they were all so good. I loved them!
Congrats on your married bro, Vogue. Hope you tune in to Latin Night. Can it top last week episode? All eyes on derek..haha,jk
Yay congrats for your brother, Vogue!
I can’t believe that my prediction is finally right, only took several years lol. Always sad when a duffer is going out after delivering their actual best dance, but Naga had been one of the weakest the second Melvin left so I’m ok with the result. Will miss Pasha though. Okay, he’s gotten two duffers in a row, can we please give Kevin one next year while Pasha got the ringer?
Naga’s smile is effing terrifying though, it refuses to leave her face. As if Pasha had deliberately glued her teeth together or something.
Four weeks in and it’s still a great series so far, probably the most I’ve enjoyed since series 11. Did I say Ore broke Alesha’s record? Sorry, it should’ve been Scott Maslen’s. The three of them now are the fastest to get 39 (Ore week 4, Scott week 5, Alesha week 7). Ali Bastian still holds the record for fastest perfect score (week 8).
lol! Thanks Guys! I promise…I’ll be here for Latin night!
Well she was the one that was really uncomfortable to watch…it was like she was just going through the motions but not caring. Sorry to say it but I’m almost certain that the dance off will Anastasia and hopefully ed becuase those are the weak links now (would include Lesley but she is getting better each week while the others aren’t).
Vogue, congrats to your brother on his marriage. Hope you get a chance to catch up with the Week 4 Strictly dances; there were some good ones.
Daniel, I agree it would be nice to see Kevin take on a more challenging celeb. Who knows, he might do very well. It’s obvious the producers want him to win a Glitterball, but giving him “ringers” every year is now hurting (rather than helping) his chances.
Mixed feelings about Naga and Pasha leaving this week. I’d rather have seen Anastacia go. Would have liked to Naga do one more ballroom, but with the standard so high this year, she only had a week left anyway.
Ed’s been surprisingly entertaining, but it’s time for him to go. He needs to be in the next DO, but I fully expect the public to hold onto him through Halloween. So I expect Anastasia in the DO again but against who? (Laura-? -or- Louise-?)
Thanks so much, Cidra.xxx
@Cids for some reason I’m expecting Claudia the gymnast to be one of the potentials for the shock boots in this series. Many have been saying Louise is going to suffer Pixie and Helen’s fate (sailing through without a hint of bottom two, eliminated on their first dance-off) but something tells me Claudia isn’t getting that much of support either. I don’t see her gaining a lot of steam either post her glorious Charleston last week either. If the producers are gunning hard for a new pro finale (which, let’s face it, is going to be A.J.), maybe they’ll let her slide there. But in a Year of the Men going hard like this, I’m not even sure.
That, of course, if we still have four-person finale this year.
I think Danny and Ore are somewhat lock for the finale so far. Both are crazy talented and their pools of support are just getting bigger (Danny suddenly having a threat, Ore suddenly having That Jive). Assuming a three-person finale, the third finalist is much harder to predict. I’d say any of Louise, Judge Rinder, Claudia, Greg or Daisy could possibly make it there, depending on how they dance from now on. If there will be four, then I’d say Greg might be a third finalist.
Naga in the dance-off is probably the most phoned-in performance in Strictly history, and I’ve seen Gavin Henson doing his Jive. I liked her actual dance better than Anastacia, but no way she’s staying with me after that dance-off. Agree, Ed’s been much better than my estimation but he can leave next. Hopefully Ed will be packing next, and then Anastacia at Halloween.
Halleloo I’m back! I will get more into other things tonight or tomorrow, but for now I’m gonna address the racism question. Yes, it is unfortunate that the first three people to leave were all black or Asian(?) but if you look at them as individuals rather than a group it makes a lot of sense. Melvin was really terrible, not to mention dull; Tameka was (to me) beyond obnoxious (her reaction to Ore last week was the biggest camera-whoring stunt I’ve seen on the show) and thoroughly mediocre in a series where pretty much everyone is either very good or a former Shadow Chancellor; Naga was uncomfortable dancing and uncomfortable to watch. I thought she was toast last week. So it’s funny to me that this came up this series for a series of coincidences, when I’ll admit that historically black people have had a tougher time of it on the show. Alison Hammond could have and I wish had lasted longer, Heather Small never seemed to be getting many votes and Ricky Whittle if I recall was in a few ridiculously undeserved dance-offs. I’m ignoring Jamelia because that is so complicated. I love her and hate her equally, and while nothing she did on the show made her deserve any more than 2 dance-offs, her behaviour as a ‘celeb’ on our version of The View (I think) would turn anyone off.