Fright Night VIII - Even Stranger Things

The VTs get naffer, the opening dances crazier, the country has a shortage of pound-shop wigs...it's that time of year again! Saying that, the opening number with the Ghosts of Winners Past and a Disney's Haunted Mansion tribute brought the house down and was minimum kitsch maximum drama - I hope this bodes well for the evening.

Jonnie and Oti
Extra points for Jonnie's hilarious pirate voice, and they also win best couple's costume. It was all good fun and did indeed look like a cha cha, but it was also a bit of a mess - probably his weakest since the week one waltz. That and the death slot means it could be a scary night for them (I promise I will not do this all the way through...)

Ruth and Anton
The latest adventure in Ruth's hair is Peak Bee Gee this week, along with a sparkly apron because not even witches can smash the patriarchy. This was a lovely little quickstep, probably Ruth's best ballroom so far (which means best, basically). They also seemed to have mostly dealt with the gapping issues we all saw on ITT. Yes, there are some problems, but she seems to be overcoming her nerves and that's been half the battle.

Simon and Karen
These guys had some awesome Sweeny Todd costumes, Karen always rocks Halloween the hardest. You could see she'd really tried to cover with the theme, and Simon seemed to do well for it, but it does appear he forgot the steps more than once. Also, the song seemed slightly incongruous; if you're going to do a song about a jealous lover murdering his woman, you kind of need to show that, or it's just a jolly waltz tune!

Gemma and Aljaz
They stole my jive song! I didn't get why Gemma was so cutesy until it started and realised they were Buffy and Angel and then it all made sense and I liked it 100% more. This was easily the best dance of the night so far, but also Gemma's worst for a while, and was a bit heavy in places. But it's also hard when you're comparing it to the showstopping jives of the ages. Totally overmarked.

Joe and Katya
After last week's bombastic paso, it's a bit of a grinding change of gears to getting a ponderous foxtrot. I say ponderous, someone realised the song mentioned spiders and flogged the theme to death. It was a bit too high concept, I found it hard to engage with the foxtrot content, although Joe did well to take on everything thrown at him.

Mollie and AJ
Mollie looks a total knock-out, while AJ looks like he works in a Hell-themed Ibiza nightclub in the mid-1990s. I think this was actually Mollie's best latin so far, I still find her a bit hesitant, but she'd put the work in and she and AJ were a bit more together. Also, when you have such a cracking cha cha song, it can sometimes carry you through.

Alex and Gorka
Who knew a zombie tango outfit could be so glam? Although, without the costume I think this could have been a tango from any week, great song and choreography that surpassed the themeing. It had the attack that we all love from Alex and they held on to the tension throughout, plus everyone can learn from them how to work together as a team.

Davood and Nadiya
Featuring Nadiya as the Ghost of the Victoria's Secret Runway. I actually quite liked this, making them do a peaceful rumba means they have to calm the hell down, although it could have done with more basic rumba like Queen Shirley said. It did however capture the spirit of the rumba (boom boom), for which I'm thankful, and they probably went on about the the choreography more than they should when that's not Davood's fault and he had shown some improvement.

Susan and Kevin
The one we'd all been waiting for, and they delivered! I would not have taken any of this nonsense from anyone other than these two, from the flammable-looking dragon to Kevin's smiling Jon Snow, I should of hated it, but of course I didn't. Halloween is also proving to be a good week to bury a dance you're not that good at...

Debbie and Giovanni
This was somehow odder than Susan and Kevin, I could not take my eyes off Giovanni's Frankenstein mullet. The lifts were terrifying, it took way too long to get to the costume change, but everyone was raving about it, and then it got three 10s. Are you really telling me that was as good as Alexandra's jive? Also, that song was the bane of my life growing up.

Aston and Janette
Now, I've had my issues with Aston, but I loves me a flamboyant rock paso and this was one of the best. The themeing didn't actually kill it, which was my main worry, and even with the extra bits thrown in it was still full of paso content. He's actually had a few wobbly weeks and been overshadowed by Alex and others, this definitely put them back in the game.