Strictly Come Dancing Week 8 With Gleb Savchenko, Tristan MacManus, & More: Videos, Review Show
Hi all, Heidi here. Vogue asked me to send you all her love as she can’t be here today. Please send her strength and healing vibes, as today is going to be a difficult day for her. (((Vogue)))
She also asked me to put up this post for all the Strictly fans. I’ve not been watching the show this season, so I’m not sure what’s going on, but I did see in the last post who’s dancing what, thanks to Mr. A in the comments. I do have an objection to the Gleb hashtags which implies that he created that move he did last week – you know, the one he took from Derek and Shawn’s Mambo in 2012. Lucky for him he’s so good looking. 😉
Anyway, Gleb and Anita are apparently doing a Quickstep to ‘Don’t Get Me Wrong’ by The Pretenders. I looked for a video but couldn’t seem to find one of Gleb doing quickstep.
Tristan Macmanus and Jamelia will be performing the Samba to ‘A Little Respect’ by Erasure. If you want to see what everyone else is dancing, Mr A listed them all in the comments of the previous SCD post.
For more dance information on the other couples, see the official Strictly Come Dancing site. As always, let us know on all of your thoughts in comments. Who did you like the best and who will be in the dance off and go home? Feel free to rank them if you like too. Lastly and more importantly, BE SURE TO VOTE right after the show! Don’t forget Blackpool Week is confirmed for Week 9, so, we want to make sure our favorite couples get there. THANKS EVERYONE!! You’ve made this season of both versions of Dancing With The Stars a blast!
Here are the times and some Live Streams (works the best with a PC). (Check the Times for me – I simply copied from last week and it seems like the UK is a bit more fluid than the US.)
Week 8 Show 1 (90 Minutes)
Saturday Nov. 14th
6:50 GMT, 1:50 ET, 12:50 CT, 11:50 MT, 10:50 PT
Week 8 Elimination Show (45 Minutes)
Sunday Nov. 15th
7:15 GMT, 2:15 ET, 1:15 CT, 12:15 MT, 11:15 PT
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)
Stay tuned for updates. In the meantime, see Andrea’s You Tube Channel to watch the “It Takes Two” episodes this week if you missed them.
ETA: Thanks to Andrea, here are the dances from Gleb and Tristan (and their partners). Len didn’t say a word about the breaking hold in the middle of the quickstep – he’s always such a different judge on the UK version.
Lots of love to Vogue!
Show starts at 6:50. I repeat 6:50.
Love to Vogue. So sorry to hear about her dad. Hope she’s OK.
I said that myself about “The Flying Gleb” or whatever he’s calling it. They were discussing it on (sister show) It Takes Two during the week and I kept thinking “I’ve seen that before.” I don’t think Shawn’s Mambo was the only time I’ve seen it. I hope he’s not developing an “ego problem” because I wouldn’t have thought it of him.
As NathanUK said, the show is starting 20 minutes later than last week. The BBC pretty much does whatever it wants, plus there was a big charity event last night which they will milk for as much as they can.
So sorry to hear about vogue. 🙁 I know it will take a while, but I really hope she and her family heal, and I really feel in my heart she will see her Dad soon one day….
I don’t know if its just becacuse I have to get used to it, but does anybody else get bored watching strictly? I’m torn because I find the dances/choreography in dwts to be way more entertaining, but strictly has way better technique and the dances stick more closely to true ballroom technique and the standards are higher. Does anybody else feel this way? I don’t know if I just have yet to get used to the strictly style, but right off the bat I liked the ukrainian and french versions of dwts/strictly.
My condolences to Vogue.
What with the international news, a sad time all around this weekend ….
Sending lots of love to Vogue, hopefully she’ll be back to discuss Strictly with us again this week.
Anyway, what’s with this series’ apparent obsession with Harry Judd, really? Re-using his Viennese Waltz song, Aliona doing the first AT of the series in week 7, Jay vs Peter which is nothing unlike Harry vs Jason, and now using his Quickstep song as well (which was freaking glorious, by the way, the dance that’s it). Can’t wait to see someone, probably Jeremy, to do a full on BLOKE RUMBA WITH SCARVES THAT ARE SO NOT GAY to Aerosmith next week then.
Whatever, cheers for a good weekend of dancing then.
Mr A, someone on Strictly did it the year after Derek did it – that might be where you recognize it. Don’t remember who.
@PH Quite possibly. That would have been season 16, which was the first season I properly watched, but it might not have been on the show. Might have been a live competition. Derek probably was the first time I saw it though.
This may be because of my meds, but tonight’s show was possibly the best I’ve ever seen. Yes, they could have cut it one dance short, and yes I thought Peter was a bit overscored but other than that some amazing dancing, fun and unexpected themes, mostly fair judging and an unexpectedness which was really refreshing. Fantastic show.
Based on the dances and song choices I thought this week would be a letdown compared to last week, but it was another great show. I just love how much actual dancing there is, with no troupe or set distractions. I also like the judging–each one adds something. I gather that a lot of people don’t like Darcy, but I do. She always points out a positive to encourage the celebrities, and she gives a lot of constructive criticism.
Like Craig, I have no other words for Georgia/Giovanni: loved it! Will watch that one a few more times.
This is the most I have liked Peter/Janette. I thought he did a very good job with the footwork and whooshing around the floor. The costumes were lovely.
Anita/Gleb’s quickstep was traditional but still a bit different. She is such a delight. Her lovely personality in the post-dancing interview made up for an almost bad package. I loved Gleb’s facial expressions during Kevin’s OTT performance during the terms and conditions.
Jay/Aliona-I adore him but agree with Craig that he didn’t yet have the expression. Still love to watch him dance, though.
Jamelia/Tristan—mostly watched Tristan. Good on him for making a dance that suits her. It was fun.
Helen/Aljaz-I loved their color scheme. It was obviously well-danced, but I feel like she’s got a bit of a Jay problem–she seems expressionless. She started strong but Georgia has overtaken her and Anita is catching up.
Katie/Anton—what a different rumba, elegant and Audrey Hepburn-esque rather than the usual sexy.
Kellie/Kevin-a bit overdone, but fun and well danced by Kellie. I think one of her best dances.
Jeremy/Karen–he’s back in my good graces. The quickstep was sometimes slow, but at least he had the character of the dance and did plenty of dancing and the concept didn’t intrude too much.
On a side note, I didn’t realize Kym and Robert were actually dating!
By far the best week so far this series.
My favorites:
Georgia & Giovanni: I am officially on the #TeamGG train and I wanna ride it all the way to the finale (hopefully). My God this woman does not stop surprising me.. She kicked major Charleston booty tonight and I loved every second of it.
Katie & Anton: I loved their take on the Rumba.. It wasn’t raunchy or overly sexy but it still had moments of passion and sensuality all mixed in with her natural grace and elegance. For me, it worked incredibly.
Anita & Gleb: Elegant, beautiful and I loved it. She’s really just made to ballroom.
Kellie & Kevin: This dance was just way too much fun 🙂
Jamelia & Tristan: Her technique aside.. I thought this was the most confident Jamelia has looked and I still thoroughly enjoyed it. Not to mention she looked amazing 😉
Everyone else was just “blah” for me. Helen was great but the dance was too bland for my taste. Same goes to Jay. Peter’s dance was actually very nice but something about him still turns me off.
And then there’s Jeremy…. Sigh…..
PH, thanks for putting up this post for us Strictly fans. Vogue has been in my thoughts all day, and I’ve been sending her loads of love!
Mr A, wish I had some of your meds (LOL) because while I thought it was a good show, it wasn’t the best-to-date for me.
Anita/Gleb: Loved their Quickstep, and felt it was undermarked (which I knew would be the case because they were first on). It was traditional, fast, clean, with very little gapping, and excellent performance quality. I see noticeable improvement in her upper body finishing. She just needs a touch more work on her feet.
Jamelia/Tristan: I was worried that she’d have trouble with the difficult Samba technique and she did. However, it wasn’t awful and she performed well. That said, this dance has bottom two written all over it.
Georgia/Giovanni: My favorite dance of the night. I thought Georgia nailed both the performance and the Charlteston technique. These two have really grown on me the last couple of weeks. I do think she’s a bit of a complainer, which is kind of a turn off.
Jay/Aliona: I love this guy, but he has got to get out of his head and start performing. It boggles my mind that someone who can move so beautifully, isn’t able to express anything while he’s dancing. The technique is all there, but it’s meaningless without the performance.
Kellie/Kevin: This was a fun and very unusual Samba. I think Kevin made lemonade out of a really bad song, and Kellie danced it very well.
Helen/Aljaz: I like Helen and enjoy watching her dance, and this wasn’t a great song for Tango; but I think she was overmarked for this effort. I didn’t think she was down in her knees enough and it wasn’t sharp and staccato enough. There was something kind of flaccid about it.
Peter/Janette: This one was a bit overmarked for me too. It was a good Viennese Waltz, but Peter still tends to be too sharp for me (too “pop”). He tries, but doesn’t get the silky smooth flow on the softer ballroom dances.
Katie/Anton: Loved Katie’s dress. She looked fantastic. Not bad, but it was a bit jerky and wobbly in places and didn’t have that continuous flow I like to see (and is so hard to get). However, it went better than I expected it to.
Jeremy/Karen: He’s always improving. His timing is good, he rarely messes up his choreography, but there was quite a bit of gapping and he lifted his knees up a bit too much and got a bit trotty at times.
Liked them all except for Jeremy and jamelia and to an extent Kellie (this screams Kevin…..not a bad thing BUT this was just not fun for me to watch at all.)
Not gonna lie I didn’t expect Katie to do so well and be scored so well. This leaves me scratching my head over the next elimination. Maybe Jeremy won’t make it to Blackpool after all. Jamelia will 100% be in the dance off. Anyone but Jeremy in there with her and she’ll be out. Going to be a close public vote for sure.
Just hit me: Georgia has the highest score of the season thus far. Kinda surprised since she blends into the background for me up until Halloween week. Talk about excelling at the right time.
Yeah, just after Katie’s Rumba I Tweeted something like “Katie doing a crappy Rumba was pretty much Jamelia’s last hope of avoiding the dance-off. That didn’t happen.” So Jamelia’s in the dance-off, but who’s with her? I hope Jeremy, and I’m hard-pressed to say anyone else. Jay is the next up on the leaderboard, and there is no chance of that happening. Katie was next, and she did better than expected, and her fans (including my dad apparently) seem pretty rabid. The only other person with a “history” of the bottom 2 is obviously Kellie, but that routine was pretty damn memorable. Personally I LOVED it more than any other routine all series but even if you hate it you will remember it, but enough people will like it to save her, guaranteed. Sad as it makes me, if anyone is going to be in the bottom 2 instead of Jeremy, it’s probably Anita. Pretty long shot though. 85% chance Jamelia sends Jeremy home, 5% Jeremy sends Jamelia home, 9% Anita sends Jamelia home, 1% something unexpected happens (any outcome where Jamelia is safe)
@Vin, absolutely agree. I pegged her as one to watch preseason, but live I was always bored by her even when she was dancing fairly well. Halloween she suddenly majorly stepped it up and since then she’s gone from strength to strength. That Charleston was killer, I think it was the best dance of the series. It bodes well for Blackpool, but there are some roadblocks. She’s not done many slower dances, so that could hurt her if she’s not as strong or memorable in them (she’ll probably have either a Foxtrot, Viennese or American Smooth for Blackpool.) She’s also the only survivor not to have done Cha-Cha, and a late-season Cha-Cha can be a bitch. Last series both Pixie and Jake left on Cha-Chas, and it’s just not a good dance to get late. In the final, as a week 1 rehash, sure, but to get one in the last 3 or so weeks pre-final is very hard to do a showstopper, and having seen it kill a giant like Pixie (from second on the leaderboard BTW) suggests anything can happen
My condolences to Vogue and her family. Sending positive energy to her at this sad time, and hoping she knows many of us are thinking of her.
@mr a: she kinda reminds me of abbey. She kinda was boring up until one week and bam she was on fire (but then again aliaj and Giovanni seem to have the same kind of attitude. a late in the game cha cha is a tough one. The only thing worse in my opinion is a late in the game quickstep. The only thing I wish she did more in the beginning of the competition was to just leave it all out there on the dance floor and my think too much about it and Halloween was when I saw it start but from the start this week you can just tell she was feeling this dance and just letting loose out there.
I will confess I usually don’t read these posts or see all the videos because I don’t have much time. But when I have some time I come to see how Gleb and Tristan are doing. I just saw these videos and they made me much more emotional that what I thought so I wanted to share something. These clips reminded me of the original DWTS US that I fell in love with and I miss (specially after these past weeks). Please Rob Wade look at these videos and see the magic of DANCING!!!
A list of stuff I just realized how much I miss:
– LEN!
– DANCE without the great productions. Just real ballroom dancing choreography
– Cool packages of the couple’s weeks without being nasty or pushing an agenda (even Gleb’s package showing him as strict was ok and not as intense as the US versions)
– The English voice that introduced the dancers and let us know clearly the dance style (not that they need it since you can recognize the dance style just from watching the dance, unlike some of our dances in the US lately).
– Tristan and Gleb (great dancers, professionals, humble and truly wonderful beings just concerned with their partners and dance unlike some of the “drama attracting pros” we have now in the US version)
Thanks really for this post. I will make it a point to read it weekly instead of some of the drama in our version of the show. I wish we could go back 🙂 This was truly amazing
@Tei, Glad you had some time this week to enjoy the more “old fashioned” feel of Strictly even though it made you nostalgic for what has been lost on the US version. Like you, I prefer the old DWTS so much more than the new version. So that’s why I look forward eagerly to Strictly every Fall.
Jeremy Vine was a gentleman and a truly lovely human being, and it was a pleasure to have him on Strictly, but it was his time to go.
As for Jamelia, I’m delighted she and Tristan made it to Blackpool in spite of the viewers’ concerted attempts to get rid of her. Being in the dance off four times must be very hard to bear. It can’t be easy or fun to be shown every week how unpopular you are (the GBP seem to be a very mean-spirited, unforgiving lot). However, I think with Tristan’s help/coaching, Jamelia has handled herself very well on Strictly and in their It Takes Two interviews.
I’ve seen improvement in both Jamelia’s Latin and standard, but she’s now the weakest technical dancer left. So realistically I think Blackpool is as far as she should go. Hope she and Tristan have a good dance and solid performance to go out on.
Welcome, Tei! Your Strictly Come Dancing newcomers’ pack comes with:
-One “Anita was underscored” t-shirt in your choice of signature purple, “Claudia’s skin” orange or “Tess’s personality” beige
-One set of scoring paddles: choose between “The Craig” (10 not included,) “The Darcey” (featuring pictures of Darcey on the back,) “The Len” (hand carved from 18th century wood) or “The Bruno” (written in crayon.)
-One jar of official Len Goodman pickled walnuts
-The official rules of the Strictly drinking game (drink every time Kevin looks ridiculous, drink every time Tristan is in the bottom 2. We were going to have more rules but we were too drunk.)
Seriously, nice to have you here. I’ll be posting the songs and dances for next week here on Tuesday around 7pm GMT or 2pm ET, post show analysis will go on tomorrow hopefully and we’ll get a new post for the big Blackpool special next Saturday hopefully.
The camera’s caught Kym Johnson and what looked like Robert Herjavec with a big haircut in the audience on Saturday. Wonder if she was on a scouting mission? Last DWTS pro spotted at a live strictly taping was Cheryl Burke at the 2013 semis with Jack Osbourne.
Good one, Mr A. You’re on form tonight.
Since they retired “Brucie” (shudder), I enjoy the Strictly “supporting cast”. For me, they’re definitely an example of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.
Looking forward to the camp and giddiness that surrounds Blackpool week. 🙂
My turn!
Well it’s a rather nice night of dancing, so I’m content. Sad that we’re losing rays of sunshine like Carol and Jeremy in a row, but they’ve gotten the farthest they deserved so it’s a satisfying end for them. And now the remaining celebs are indeed the strongest ones, so it should be interesting.
See what I said about this series’ apparent obsession with Harry Judd? Apparently he just won a favourite male winner award of some sort on It Takes Two. Now, he’s a great winner and I fancy him and all, but hello? Ramps, anyone? I wonder who the favourite female winner is, Kara will always be the Queen of Online Polls at Any Time and Anywhere, but hoping for a justice for Alesha.
– Anita’s Quickstep was lovely, and there’s that certain amount of lightness on her routine that I always adore on a Quickstep. It’s no Harry’s but she held on her own really well. Now, she’s been consistently undermarked but while I could do with one or two 9s, this certainly doesn’t deserve anything close to some 10s or even full 9s. Their height difference made her hard to keep up with him, and although there’s hardly any Gleb Special there, they broke hold in the middle there, oy. I love her, and wants her to be in the finale, but let’s not jump into the “ANITA IS UNDERMARKED” train every time she didn’t get anything over 8.
– Jay just HAD to mess up whenever the camera is panning down straight on him, huh? I think it’s a gorgeous routine, and the score is pretty fair if you ask me. I think they couldn’t be any more of water and flame though – Jay excels more when he had a character to remote (Jive, AS), while Aliona seems to prefer dancing straight there.
– Of course Jamelia wound up in ANOTHER death slot this week. Has she hold the record for most surviving Dance-Off? Lisa Snowdon escaped three, Mark Benton couldn’t get past his fourth and Simon and Mark Wright happened. Cute Samba though, and even better in the dance-off.
– Heinous music aside, I think Helen’s Tango was really good. Could use more staccato for me, but impressive nonetheless. My second favourite Tango so far after Katie’s. Fair scores as well, though I’d like her to start really impressing me and score 10s from Blackpool on. But whoever assigned that music to them should be guillotined. And I never thought I’d say this, since I’m probably too blinded by the beauty that is Abbey’s American Smooth, but Aljaz is not that great of a choreographer either.
– Katie’s Rumba surprised me in a good way. I thought the choreography was way too simple (and not in a simple, subdued kind of way, but a really simple “that’s it?” kind of way), but we’re talking about Anton here, so it’s to be expected. And if there’s something Katie does consistently, it’s looking gorgeous.
– KILL THAT WITH FIRE! Seriously, what the flying fuck. I’m more than done with Ms. Screechy McScreecher and Mr. Overdancing Smug here. At least the actual Samba steps are done pretty well? I don’t care, please kick them out after Blackpool. Probably the worst Craig 9 since Mark’s Contemporary (Rumba? What Rumba?) last series.
– So it took 8 weeks for Peter to proclaim his undying love for his kids, that’s kind of unexpected. They’re really kind of forgettable now, if they put him on one of the death slots next week we’ll probably see them in the dance-off. Really pretty frock there though for Janette.
– Georgia’s Charleston was fantastic, let’s leave it right there. Not exactly my favourite dance of the season so far, but certainly some of the best performed. That said, it doesn’t really thrill me, and it didn’t have that certain showstopping aura that would really justify the arrival of three 10s, like Denise’s Charleston, Susanna’s Paso or Simon’s AT. It’s still amazing though, especially that backflip to reverse teabag part.
– Who else was surprised that Uncle Jeremy, out of all people, got the ultimate pimp slot? Not his best dance (seriously, how many basic running promenades are there?) and it’s not showy enough (even for a duffer) to be danced last, but if Jeremy ever had to get the pimp slot, I’m glad it was for this. Truly his time, and I’ve really enjoyed having him around. Also yay for me for correctly predicting the last three eliminations.
Obligatory top four wish list: same as last week
Next three eliminations wish list: Jamelia > Kellie > Peter
Favourite routine of the series so far: Katie’s Tango.
Rankings for week 9 Part 1:
1) Georgia and Giovanni (9)- Wow! These two have gone straight for my heart over the last 3 weeks, and considering they’ve had the dance I know the best, the dance I like the least and the dance I consider “easy mode” that’s quite impressive. Chicago is my absolute favourite musical, but sadly I’m just too “male” to get an interesting part in it. Sexist, but whatever. This was just awesome. Fun, fast, challenging and performed nearly nearly perfectly. The one thing was that after that incredible over-the-head lift, when she was on her back kicking her legs, she just didn’t keep the cleanliness in her legs and feet (which I suppose is understandable but still worth noting.) Still very concerned that out of everyone she has the least helpful set of dances for the end of the series, with only Argentine Tango and Paso Doble as potential showstoppers among the less interesting Viennese Waltz, Foxtrot, Cha-Cha and to a lesser extent American Smooth. I’ll get into that later in the week if people want me to though.
2) Kellie and Kevin (9)- Forgive my lack of accents, I just can’t be bothered, but it’s very much a chacun a son gout thing. I mock Kevin a lot because, well, it’s easy but he reminds me a lot of me, and not just because we share a birthday. I love the weird, conceptual and avant-garde, and where possible I’ll seek it out. Kevin is the same, and I really wonder who else would have the balls, the skill and the brains to do a 90s rap themed Samba. I have to admire him for that, and do you know, it really worked for me. I know it didn’t work for a lot of people and I can see why, but for me it never lost sight of what it was meant to be and it really was a proper Samba. I still smile every time I think of it, and I think Kellie did a pretty good job of handling the Samba content. Was it perfect? No, but as far as I’m concerned it was clever, well thought-out, well-executed and brave.
3) Helen and Aljaz (9)- I’ll admit I like this a bit less every time I see it, and scoring it now I’d have to consider giving it 8, but what I’ve needed more of all along from Helen was impact and she delivered that in spades. It was a powerful, dramatic Tango and I really enjoyed it. She lost balance at least once, I hated the one-footed spin and she could have driven into the floor more because it was a bit straight-legged, but I’ve never seen her more committed, more present or more interesting in a dance, and it was still well-done despite the critiques. Plus, yay colour!
4) Anita and Gleb (8)- I was concerned about them for a reason. First again? Really? Add to that a Quickstep which was good but not their best or most memorable dance, and a middling score and one can see how I drew the conclusion that Anita could be in jeopardy. The dance was fun, fast and pretty well done but her footwork wasn’t perfect, and the judges do nitpick her. 32 was a fair score for her all things considered though. I still think she’s a decent bet for the final but other people are stepping up and her consistent good-but-not-great scores won’t be enough forever. I think her dancing and personality are both great and that she can and will step up with Gleb’s help, but I wonder if she can get over not being one of the people the judges have selected as final-worthy.
Week 9 rankings part 2:
5) Katie and Anton (8)- I’m bored of complaining about Anton, you guys are probably bored of me complaining about Anton and Anton’s stopped answering my texts, so I’ll say the choreography was simplistic to the point of boring and leave it at that. It was easily Katie’s best attempt at a Latin dance, and I liked the sophisticated romantic vibe of it. She looked gorgeous and she danced fairly well. Her legs are fantastic, but I still want so much more from her. Her American Smooth at Blackpool had better be extraordinary!
6) Peter and Janette (7)- OK, I’ll admit, that 7 is harsh, but there were a few things I didn’t like. I have loved Janette all series but in this she did somewhat show her lack of experience in pure ballroom. Too much messing about, not enough Viennese Waltz. I think heis probably getting better at ballroom, but I find it hard to say with this dance. The track was also far too fast, which combined with a lack of smoothness in his footwork and upper body made the whole thing feel very frenetic, and I just didn’t enjoy it. It may have been his best ballroom routine yet but he has a way to go. The 9s I can’t agree with.
7) Jay and Aliona (7)- And it was all going so well! It started so beautifully, but obviously it went to Hell. It’s really not about the mistake so much as the failure to recover. He panicked, and not for the first time. We’re at the point in the series where his nerves stop being cute and become something he needs to get the Hell over and perform through. And on that rather harsh assessment I have to say I still really like Jay, and want him to succeed and improve, but I think he’s carrying too much baggage, especially from that huge week 3 score.
I wanted to finish in this post but my laptop is dying and if I don’t hit submit soon I’ll lose this. 8th and 9th will be up asap.
Daniel, as always, I enjoyed reading your assessment of the couples’ latest offerings.
I was delighted you said you don’t think Aljaz is that great a choreographer because that’s my assessment of him as well. His routines get the job done but they don’t bowl me over. Of course, of all the things the pros are expected to do, I feel excelling at choreography is probably the most difficult. I think Aljaz is a nice fellow, a competent teacher, a good dancer. So that makes him a “keeper” in my opinion (just as I think Tristan is a keeper even though his choreography isn’t all that either).
I do think Anita was undermarked this week. No this wasn’t in the same league as Harry Judd’s Quickstep to the same song, but it did warrant the one or two 9s you mentioned. I felt her Quickstep was as good as Peter’s Viennese Waltz and Helen’s Tango. So 32s for all three of them or 34s, but I wasn’t liking the 32 for Anita and the 34s for Peter and Helen.
Mr A. As I said to Daniel, glad to have your views on the Week 8 dances.
I share your concern about Anita because I agree she still has the potential to improve and be a legitimate finalist. However, it does seem the judges don’t have her on their short list, and I’m not sure she’s going to be able to change their minds. The viewers could put her through but she better not end up in the DO with someone whom the judges do see as finalist material.
As for Jay, I agree with Craig’s comments and feel his frustration. Jay could so easily be running away with this series if he would let go and just dance. Of course, the doting “Jaybirds” (hordes of middle-aged women who (s)mother him but are secretly imagining taking him to bed) are ready to lynch Craig for that 6; but I think this was Craig’s way of giving Jay a wake-up slap. Hopefully, Aliona will see it for what it is and tell Jay it’s time to “do, or do not; there is no try.”
I’d like your assessment of the dances everyone still has to do. I was looking at Jay’s: Salsa, Samba, Rumba, Tango, Viennese Waltz, and Charleston. I think he needs to step up in a big way. We’re going to have to see hip action and/or expression for all of these (except maybe the VW, where he could slide by with just a dreamy far-away look in his eyes).
Thanks for the words, Cids! I, too, am always looking forward to see everyone’s opinion here, since I love me a good place where we can have different opinions without having to be nasty (hello DS).
Glad we’re on the same page about Aljaz. His choreography highs with Abbey were some of the finest of the series for me (Foxtrot, Quickstep, Viennese Waltz, both her dances in the semifinals), and of course Alison’s Wuthering Heights Halloween American Smooth Total Ham and Camp of Yay was glorious, but other than those, I can’t think of anything else that was on the above decent level from him. And this series, with someone as able as Helen, he’s only been really impressing me choreography-wise on her Waltz – and that was ages ago. I’m still wondering about what in the bloody hell is his beef with gapping as well, all of Helen’s Ballroom so far has had gapping on them.
About Anita – well for starter I don’t think Peter’s dance was worthy of 34 (more like 31 for me), but I do think Helen was a little better than her. They were all second to fourth this week behind Georgia for me, but while I’d gladly throw her a 9, she wasn’t undermarked for me. Really, I’d give her 32 or 33 and Helen got 34 from me too, it’s not like the point gap is huge or anything. I absolutely get how you think so though, and I’m not objecting it at all.
This week’s dances for me: Georgia >>> Helen > Anita >> Peter = Katie >> Kellie >> Jamelia >>> My favourite uncle.
Lmao of course I had to forgot someone, Jay would be behind Katie a little for me. Damn you and your good Latin for once, Anton.
Also, the remaining dances topic is very interesting! Say, if they’re continuing these past three years’ tradition of having the finalists not doing any new dance (bar the Showdance) in the finale, then in four weeks they’ll have to perform five more dances, and seeing everyone has six dances left to be performed, then they’ll miss one if they made it to the finale.. Oh, and in week 10 there will be a Quickstepathon lol, just when you think it couldn’t get any more random. I’ll try to put my input here:
– Anita’s remaining dances: Foxtrot, Viennese Waltz, Paso Doble, Rumba, Salsa & Argentine Tango
=> At the beginning I thought Anita would be a major force in Ballroom, and although my favourite routine of her so far is indeed her Waltz, I’ve enjoyed her Latin so much more. Now, many of her dances have a huge chance to be total showstopper (Paso, Salsa and AT in particular) so I hope she got the right ones all the way to the finale. Hopefully she’ll get rid of boring old Foxtrot, since the Viennese Waltz and Rumba could function as nice intervention between the other three lively dances.
– Georgia’s remaining dances: Foxtrot, Viennese Waltz, Cha-cha, Paso Doble, American Smooth & Argentine Tango
=> Well she’ll be performing AS on Blackpool, so let’s cross that out. She still had boring ones like Cha-cha and Foxtrot, so I’m interested to see how it’ll end up for her, since her momentum right now is really huge. Hopefully she’ll leave out one of those two, and the VW could look really good on her after her improvement from the Waltz back there. But like Gleb, Giovanni is new so I can’t really predict what’ll he bring.
– Helen’s remaining dances: Viennese Waltz, Jive, Paso Doble, American Smooth, Argentine Tango & Charleston
=> First of all, Aljaz is surely clever to ditch out the potentially dangerous Latin dances like Salsa, Samba and Cha-cha early for her. All of her dances forward have good chance of being showstopper, which I’m happy with. Helen got Charleston for Blackpool, and we’ll see if she could pull a Jake or not (although her Salsa is pretty animated already). I hope she’d leave out Jive, since I don’t see her nailing that, but Aljaz would probably left AT just like he did with Abbey, which will be a shame since I’d love to see an Aljaz AT now.
– Jamelia’s remaining dances: Quickstep, Tango, Paso Doble, Rumba, American Smooth & Argentine Tango.
=> Well I don’t see her making it past Blackpool to be honest, but I’ll give her a go here anyway. If she were to make it on week 10, then she should get the Quickstep this week since the week after Blackpool there’s the Quickstepathon, and would be funny if she had Quickstep that very same week with that. I would LOVE to see Tristan doing Argentine Tango, although I’m not sure Jamelia will do it justice. But really, I don’t see her making past week 10 at all.
– Jay’s remaining dances: Tango, Viennese Waltz, Rumba, Samba, Salsa & Charleston
=> Holy crap this late and Jay, out of all people, still have both Samba and Salsa? Well, he really need to catch up fast then. Aliona’s history of those dances are pretty good actually (Matt Baker’s Tango, Samba and Charleston, Harry Judd’s Viennese Waltz and Rumba), so I hope he’ll leave out either Samba or Salsa (preferably Salsa), and I could see him doing really well with the rest, although Charleston is still pretty questionable for him, as is the Rumba. Just as long as he doesn’t mess up majorly.
– Katie’s remaining dances: Foxtrot, Waltz, Samba, American Smooth, Argentine Tango & Charleston
=> Well Katie got AS for Blackpool, third year in a row Anton’s doing AS there. Based on the horrors of her Cha-cha and Salsa, I’m dreading at the thought of her Samba, so PLEASE leave that out if you made it there, Anton. Her Ballroom should probably be fine, both are slow which seems to be her forte. Would also love to see Anton’s AT though, and Katie’s Charleston should be interesting to see.
– Kellie’s remaining dances: Quickstep, Viennese Waltz, Rumba, American Smooth, Salsa & Argentine Tango
=> Just like Jamelia, Kellie should probably get Quickstep already by now. Kevin missed Rumba with Susanna and American Smooth with Frankie, so I don’t know what he’ll bring to those (something frantic, overdone and showing him off instead most likely), but both his Rumba with Frankie and Argentine Tango with Susanna were atrocious, so not exactly looking forward for them there. Kellie is very good at Ballroom though, so I think she’ll do just fine in the two Ballroom left, and for some reason I can see him leaving out Argentine Tango this time.
– Peter’s remaining dances: Waltz, Jive, Samba, American Smooth, Salsa & Argentine Tango
=> Peter got Jive for Blackpool, so we’ll cross that. Seeing that he’s still a hot one to be in the finale (despite me thinking they’re fading out more and more), my guess is that they’ll leave out boring old Waltz and use AS and AT for the Ballroom substitute. I don’t see him having much trouble with the rest in particular, Jake’s Samba last series was all style over substance so hopefully Janette will do it right this time.
Phew, that’s one long post.
I haven’t had time to watch SCD yet, but, I am sure enjoying reading over all of your reviews and thanks for all the love, All!!!! Thanks so much to Miss Heidi for covering me too!!XOXOXOX
Awesome. Thanks Daniel!!
Daniel, thanks for your thoughts on what’s left to dance. The beeb put up the weekly song and dance list so I’ll refer to that as I make my comments.
Anita: Paso Doble in Blackpool (hope it’s a show-stopper). Agree, the Foxtrot should go. Gleb’s likely to want to throw in a “Gleb special” to spice things up which could hurt them late in the series (especially with Len). A bit worried for her since she and Georgia have 4 dance styles in common and I’d say Georgia is the one with both momentum and the judges behind her. So Anita could suffer by comparison Sorry if that sounds like fangirl hand-wringing. 🙂 It’s just meant as an observation.
Georgia: American Smooth in Blackpool. She’s turning into a true all-arounder and Giovanni seems to be catching onto how to choreography for a non-pro dancer and for the show. So I think they can probably handle any of their remaining dances. She seems to like the “fun” dances so keep ChaCha and dump Foxtrot.
Helen: Charleston in Blackpool (should be fun). Agree they should abandon the Jive, although I’m not sure Helen’s Paso would be that great because I didn’t think her Tango was strong enough. Abbey wasn’t that much of an actress which might have been why Aljaz avoided the AT with her. I think Helen would do very well.
Jamelia: Quickstep in Blackpool will most likely be her last dance. I’d like to see Tristan to an AT as well, but I doubt it’ll be this series. Who knows, maybe they’ll give him someone who’s halfway decent and not a pariah next year.
Jay: Salsa in Blackpool, which at least is better suited to the venue than Rumba. So I’ll settle for dumping Samba. My guess is Jay could produce the technique but his face would have been a total mask of concentration. I want him to do Charleston because I think he has a goofy side to him which he might be willing to bring out in a dance that’s meant to be tongue-in-cheek.
Katie: American Smooth in Blackpool, and it better be good or I’ll never forgive Anton. If he can’t produce for that, then what’s the point? To be kind (to everyone), please avoid Samba, but will they be allowed to? It’s the only true Latin left for them.
Kellie: Quickstep in Blackpool. It is a toss-up between Rumba and AT for the one I think Kellie should avoid. So as long as Kevin picks one of those, I’m fine. I’m leaning toward AT because I think he struggles with lifts.
Peter: Jive in Blackpool. I agree that Waltz is the dance least-likely to suit Peter so they’ll scratch that one. I’ve tried to be open-minded about his dancing even though I find him annoying to listen to. That said, I don’t think his dancing merits a spot in the finals.
Vogue, hope you get a chance to catch up on last week’s Strictly dances. I think you’ll enjoy them. Also think you’ll appreciate some of the ladies’ frocks. Hope you’ll be with us for Blackpool!
Yeah, thanks Daniel, saved me the job and I’ve been sick this week so thanks. The one thing I have to pull you up on is Kevin’s Rumbas. His Rumba with Frankie was beautiful. The semi finals (Argentine and Rumba) was the only time I wasn’t bored by Frankie. I thought it was pretty great, even if not perfect.
Full song and dance lineup:
Anita and Gleb will perform the Paso Doble to the dramatic ‘Malaguena’ by Connie Francis.
Georgia and Giovanni dance the American Smooth to the Whitney Houston power-ballad ‘I Have Nothing’.
Helen and Aljaž are going to Charleston to ‘Anything Goes’ from the musical of the same name.
Jamelia and Tristan Quickstep to 1960’s classic ‘I’m A Believer’ by The Monkees.
Jay and Aliona will Salsa to the disco-flavoured ‘Cuba’ by The Gibson Brothers.
Katie and Anton perform the American Smooth to Dean Martin’s ‘Ain’t That A Kick In The Head.
Kellie and Kevin will be Quickstepping to Dolly Parton’s ‘Nine To Five’.
Peter and Janette are Jiving to Tina Turner’s ‘River Deep, Mountain High’.
These kind of more or less get progressively less interesting. Very excited to see Anita’s Paso, and I kinda love the fact they have such a classic song. They’ve done such a lot of out-there themes and dances that I just want a well-done Paso, and I think that’s what I’m going to get. Here’s hoping.
Georgia and Giovanni have a great song and I can’t wait to see her get back into ballroom now that she’s found her “it factor”
Fascinated to see Jay tackle Salsa. Never one I enjoyed and since he’s such a technician it may not suit him. He really does have to step up, and soon
Most of the rest, standard. Katie and Anton are doing the same stuff we’ve seen dozens on dozens of times before. That song, in someone else’s hands, could be classic but interesting. In Anton’s I’m bored already.
Peter and Janette will be getting 10s. I don’t know how the dance will be, but the scores are pretty predictable.
Thanks Mr A!!! I can’t wait.
Cids, thanks as well. I hope hope to be here for “Blackpool” too. I’ve been looking forward to this week the most all season.
Mr A, sorry you’ve been under the weather. Have a couple shots of a fine single malt Scotch and you’ll be all better…er, maybe; or maybe you’ll just forget how bad you’re feeling.
I left the music reveal to you because I’m like PH and “suck at the music”. Occasionally it’s so obviously a bad choice that even I can figure it out, but most of the time, I need to see them dance to it first before I decide whether or not it works. 😉
Hopefully since Anita has ‘Malaguena’, Gleb will feel it’s a good time to roll back to traditional choreography and focus on refining Anita’s technique as the way to make this performance “pop”. I think she’ll be able to get the character of the dance. She connects very well with the emotional content.
If it’s done well, I don’t mind seeing a straightforward, traditional ballroom dance. So I hope Katie and Anton deliver that. Also I hope Peter’s Jive is at least somewhat on par with whatever scores the judges give him. If it’s 10s, the Jive better be pretty darn good. I don’t need “perfection” for a 10 because these are celebs dancers, after all, but it’s got to be better than a solid 9 performance.
Omg, I am just starting to watch all the dances from last week and I am blown away by the caliber of dancing from them all!! Even Jeremy was a delight out there! I am going to miss him, but, I agree that he was the one who should go.
And ROTFL to Kellie confusing Craig and him not sure if he hated or loved their dance. Hilarious. I’m glad he went with “loved”.
Seriously though, what a tight competition. It’s anyone’s ball game still as they all have their weaknesses that they need to work on.
And Mr A, please get better real soon so you can watch Blackpool with us!!!
Thanks you guys. I’ll be fine, I’m just really drained, but believe me wild donkeys couldn’t keep me from Blackpool! I’m so excited! Last year it changed everything. Simon became interesting, Mark became a legitimate threat, Judy finally left on a real high and Pixie produced possibly my favourite routine in the history of the show. I agree with you Vogue that this is easily the tightest series I can remember. Georgia, Helen, Jay, Kellie, Anita, Peter and even Katie are easily in with a chance of the final (Yes, that’s everyone but Jamelia.) Honestly I think more people deserve to make it than can as well, and after Jamelia goes it’ll be extremely hard to say goodbye to anyone. I’m saying Jamelia’s a foregone conclusion to leave this week because I think she is. As well as obviously being the least popular with the voters, she’s now the weakest dancer left, and I just can’t see anything barring a dance-off disaster saving them. Still, despite the public’s continued efforts to send her home she’s stood her ground and come a long way. I hope she’s proud of herself.
Numbers for this week are quite simply that neither Jamelia or Jeremy could get enough votes to pass anyone with more points than them. Jeremy may well have got a few points but was quite unlucky that Jay, who I suspect is a voting juggernaut (3rd in votes minimum I’d guess) was the person just above the bottom 2 in scores. The only thing we can say for sure in ranking is that Jamelia was not able to beat Jay in votes, to which I say duh! Ask me who was next in line after the bottom 2, I’d have to guess but sadly Anita is a pretty good guess, Katie my second guess. I haven’t a clue which of Helen and Peter would have got more votes, but I will say I threw Helen a vote this week, the first for either of them. Do I still think Anita is in jeopardy this week with Jeremy gone? Hard to say. Katie has an extremely well-suited dance (although I said that about Quickstep) Helen has the ever-popular Charleston and Peter’s Jive should be good, but Kellie doesn’t have a great song and Jay has a horrible dance. Anita could well be a showstopper this week. Jamelia is in the bottom 2 and going home, but the person with her could be literally anyone.
I’ve been sitting on this since I found out from Oti a while ago but It Takes Two just released it so I suppose it’s public now
The Strictly Christmas special is another all-star episode with 4 returning champions and 2 other former contestants:
Abbie Clancy (Season 11 winner) with Brendan
Alison Hammond (Season 11, 10th place) with Robin
Cassidy Little (People’s Strictly winner) with Natalie
Harry Judd (Season 9 winner) with Joanne
Lisa Snowden (Season 6, 3rd place) with Pasha
Tom Chambers (Season 6 winner) with Oti
Longtime viewers will know the contents of the next 3 paragraphs already, but just a few brief things some people might want to know:
Robin appeared on Strictly for 4 series between 2010 and 2013, with his best result being with Lisa Riley in 2012 when he finished 5th. He’s known for his fun, bubbly personality and choreography (Read: GAYGAYGAY!) and is extremely popular behind the scenes.
Joanne is Kevin’s younger sister and former World Ballroom Showdance champion, a title she held in 2014 when she competed in Strictly. She was allocated Scott Mills, who is for me the single worst thing ever to happen to Strictly, so it’s difficult to gauge how good she could be on the show, but she was demoted to troupe member/ behind the scenes correspondent for this series
The People’s Strictly was a miniseries at the beginning of this year focusing on “everyday heroes” dancing with the pros.
Personally, I say Lisa is, or was, the best dancer but either Harry or Cassidy (who is a one-legged former Royal Marine) will get the support to win. I liked Lisa but she never seemed very popular.
Speaking of popular, I was going to round up some of the info I’ve got from certain horses’ mouths as well as Twitter and other less reliable sources about who MIGHT be liked behind the scenes and with voters, and I will stress the word might again, but I’ll save that for Saturday.
Thanks for the info, Mr A!
Always love the SCD Christmas Specials. Last year’s was fun but seeing Louis win again was a let down (sorry, don’t like the guy).
Only people I recognize from the list are Cassidy, Harry, Abbey and Allison – and I like all of them so I am very excited for this! Mostly about Harry and Abbey.. Can’t wait to see him dance again and Abbey is just such an exquisite dancer, I hope she does a ballroom dance because.. wow, how lovely that would be.
You guys are getting me so excited again….for Blackpool and now Christmas too.
And Mr A, hang in there!!!
@CCNY I agree with you. The Christmas specials are great but the last one was tainted by not just the fact Louis won but how obvious it all was. More pimped than a lot of DWTS. He was a guest in a pro dance two weeks before! I know it was after the special filmed but it felt like a slap in the face by how blatantly they were telling us he’d won. It’s not that I don’t like Louis exactly, I just tend to want to hit him whenever he speaks. Or dances. Or smiles.
The problem with Cassidy as far as this goes will be that not only has he only learned one style, it was Paso. As I was once told, “You can’t rely on Paso Doble forever.” Besides which, it’s Christmas. Paso isn’t a good fit. Even Alison, who only lasted half the series has what, 6, 7, dances to choose from to repeat. Cassidy will have to learn something new and I hope he can match up to far more experienced dancers.
I never would have expected to like Abbey but by the end of the series I really did. What I loved about that year was that by the end I thought they all kind of deserved to win in their own way (turns out that’s not true and Susanna is a terrible person but that’s a story for another day.) Point is, that was an amazing finale and while Natalie was one of the best dancers any version of the show has ever had I was happy for Abbey.
The one I don’t love is Tom. He was fine but I don’t know quite how he won. He was against 3 far better dancers by the end and not only did they have to change the rules to get him to the finals (which was part of a whole horrible situation and led to big changes in how scoring works) but I never really liked him that much. He was kinda boring and I think 90% of his votes must have come from ovaries. I will have to root for him at least a little because he’s with Oti but it doesn’t thrill me.
Vogue, glad you’ve been able to catch up on last’s week’s Strictly dances. Wasn’t Anita and Gleb’s Quickstep wonderful? And while I don’t want to start up the whole “Anita is undermarked” thing, I was thrilled to hear Karen Hardy say on this week’s ITT that *she* feels the judges haven’t given Anita the scores she’s deserved and wants them to step up and make things right from now on!
Mr A, That was an excellent primer on the Strictly Christmas Special for those who don’t have previous history with SCD. Also appreciated your assessment of last week’s voting and look forward to what you’ve heard from sources on who’s liked BTS. Now GET SOME REST!
My thoughts on the Christmas special:
Fingers crossed that both Abbey and Harry do ballroom. While they were both competent at Latin, I think they both preferred ballroom and were amazing at it. Considering who they have as pros, I’m somewhat hopeful. I’m particularly interested to see how Joanne gets on with a celeb who has dance talent.
I wasn’t watching back in series 6 so I’m not familiar with Lisa or Tom. However, as soon as I saw the reveal on ITT and compared Lisa’s 3 perfect scores with the 39 for Tom, it was obvious something other than dancing got him the Glitterball. So it was ovaries, huh? Eh, he doesn’t strike me as sexy or especially handsome. Oh well, I often don’t fall in line with what the majority of my gender find “hot”.
A wounded veteran like Cassidy is bound to garner a lot of support, especially at Christmas and with the Paris terrorist attack still fresh in people’s thoughts. I think it was very appropriate that he’s paired with Natalie again. In this case, it’s not so much an “advantage” for him to have his original pro as it is a way of leveling the playing field. After all, he’s only had limited training compared to the months of previous dance the other celebs have under their belts.
But enough of the Christmas special, that’s for later. Right now, bring on Blackpool!!!
Cidra the Christmas Special is pre recorded and the votes are cast by the studio audience rather than the viewers. Based on that I’d probably bet that Harry or Abbey will win. If it was a public vote you can bet Cassidy would win as the UK haven’t been introduced to an Amy Purdy/Noah Galloway contestant on the main show as of yet. I liked Lisa Snowdon but the best dancer in that series by a mile for me was Rachel Stevens. I think the fact Tom was an underdog and Camilla hadn’t won as a pro yet played into their hands like it did for Chris and Ola a year later.