It's Monday night and so I'm here to bring you my own personal thoughts on the dances, couples (and most likely the song choices or costumes) that Strictly bring us each week.
Last time, we saw Deborah & Robin fleckerl their way out of the competition after failing to survive in their dance-off against Patrick & Anya.
This week, it's Halloween week, so expect awful song choices, awful costumes and some awful dancing - but then, we get those practically every week on Strictly these days.
In this part, I'll be reviewing the first 6 dances from Saturday night (so from Patrick up to and including Mark).
Patrick & Anya - Quickstep - "Man with the Hex"
I didn't think this was that good when I watched it first time, but having seen it again Patrick danced it brilliantly. His hold and top line were so much better (he's had problems with his upper body for weeks but he must have been working on it as it looked great in this routine), his footwork was good as always, he put a lot of energy into it. However, this is probably the first of their dances where I didn't completely like Anya's choreography. She clearly took inspiration from Pasha's Quickstep with Rachel (which I also thought wasn't good choreography on Pasha's part) - the first part in hold seemed a bit too slow for the fast beat of the music, but at about halfway through the routine, they sped it up and it got much better from there. Also, they did the same hop-bend-slide move that Pashel did (although Patrick performed it better than Rachel did). I didn't mind that it wasn't in hold all the way through, as it was for the majority of the time (I'd guess about 75-80% was in hold) and it is Halloween week after all. I did love the Charleston elements that they had in there and Patrick was excellent at those. This was definitely his best dance.
Judges' score: 34/40 (8, 9, 9, 8)
My score: 8 (great technique, but I wasn't a fan of the choreography)
Fiona & Anton - Charleston - "Jeepers Creepers"
Not exactly the kind of Charleston that we're used to seeing, but I do agree with Len that that was more of a proper Charleston than the gurnfests that we usually get (although I did think the song choice wasn't particularly suited to the dance). I thought Anton did a good job in choreographing this (well, at least partly), and Fiona did well with it. There were a few issues with synchronicity and she does still sometimes pre-anticipate the next step, but on the whole, I actually really liked this routine. She had excellent swivel action, much better than Anton's I must admit - which is a bit worrying as he's meant to be the pro. Hopefully they get a nice Ballroom routine next week so that Fiona can concentrate on remembering all of the steps and the technique. A Viennese Waltz would be a good choice for them.
Judges' score: 28/40 (6, 7, 8, 7)
My score: 6.5 (she did a simple routine quite well, but still with some errors)
Ben & Kristina - Paso Doble - "Supermassive Black Hole"
Firstly, I LOVE this song, and I really hoped that they could do an exciting routine to it. Sadly not. There was at least one illegal lift in there if not two (although to be fair, the second one could be classed as an assisted jump), and it was mostly just posing rather than dancing. I also felt as though Kristina was leading Ben rather than him leading her. I do have to commend him on his cape work though, that was great. Just, I feel as though Kristina is really letting him down - he showed in his Waltz that he could dance and do it well, so why since then she hasn't really let him dance (especially in the Latin numbers) is beyond me. He can do it Kristina, so for god sake just bloody let him! *rant almost over, don't worry* One other thing, bad dancing gets you bad marks, but bad dancing whilst topless somehow gets you great marks? Nuh-uh. The judges have been overmarking Ben for weeks, and to be honest I'm getting fed up of it now. He's got the Jive this week, so hopefully Kristina will let him dance for a change, although I'm not getting my hopes up.
Judges' score: 32/40 (7, 8, 9, 8)
My score: 6 (he performed it well, but he's below Fiona for me as at least Fiona actually danced in her routine)
Sophie & Brendan - Jive - "Maneater"
Not a jubilant Jive I'm afraid. Normally I'm a fan of Brendan's choreography but he got it totally wrong this week. As Paul Hollywood said to Frances: 'style over substance'. Too much faffing and not enough Jive. Where were the kicks and flicks, the drunken sailors, the JIVE? And what on earth was Brendan thinking with the illegal lift? It wasn't an accidental slip of the foot, it was blatant and obvious. Sophie did ok with what she was given, but I feel as though with a more technical routine, she would have looked a lot better. I did notice that just after the lift, she seemed to set off on the wrong foot for the next step, and so she had to correct herself and catch up. Definitely her worst dance to date, and not much of it is her fault.
Judges' score: 28/40 (6, 7, 8, 7)
My score: 6 (not much actual Jive content, and some errors)
Natalie & Artem - Viennese Waltz - "Devil in Me"
Let me just state a fact right here: there was only 21 seconds of the routine where they were in hold. That was less than 20% of the whole routine - ie NOT A BLOODY VIENNESE WALTZ! *sorry, just needed to get that off of my chest* I swear Artem does this on purpose sometimes, does he not like being in hold or something? First Kara's American Smooth (which was a nice enough dance, but not enough in hold), then Holly's American Smooth (just, why?), and now Natalie's Viennese Waltz (her Quickstep wasn't in hold much either). Now, it's not all negative. I did love the concept that they were going for, and Natalie did dance it perfectly as far as I could tell. But there is no way that they should have got 10s when they did not do the dance that they were meant to. Artem seems to be Strictly's version of Derek Hough.
Judges' score: 38/40 (9, 10, 9, 10)
My score: 9 (danced perfectly, but nowhere near enough in hold)
Mark & Iveta - Paso Doble - "I Lost my Heart to a Starship Trooper"
I think this qualifies for 'Worst Song Choice of the Night Award'. And it would probably win too. Iveta let Mark down a bit with the choreography, but it was nowhere near as bad as Bentina's. Mark actually did some Paso steps, attempted the shaping (if not completely successful on that score), and funnily enough, looked brilliant in the disco section. So why on earth did he have the second-lowest score of the night, and Ben was 4 places above him? Words do fail me sometimes with the judges and their marking. Hence why I threw a couple of votes Mark's way, hoping that he wouldn't be in the dance-off. Mark's got the Rumba this week, and I actually think he could have a decent stab at this. His Waltz was lovely and so emotional, and if Iveta plays this right, then it could be one of, if not his best dance.
Judges' score: 25/40 (6, 6, 7, 6)
My score: 6.5 (more content than Ben and he performed it well)
So this is how my leaderboard would look so far:
1. Natalie & Artem - 9
2. Patrick & Anya - 8
=3. Fiona & Anton - 6.5
=3. Mark & Iveta - 6.5
=5. Ben & Kristina - 6
=5. Sophie & Brendan - 6
Part 2 shall be up on Thursday evening :)
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