Sunday 27 October 2019

Fright Night X - Curses!

Can you believe this is the tenth Halloween edition? That's all sorts of crazy and maybe we should indeed be locked in some sort of vaguely-offensive asylum. Shockingly though, we're not getting our annual outings of Thriller and the Monster Mash, so there could be some surprises in store tonight. We've already had poor Will and Neil had to drop out, is there a new Curse of Strictly?

Also to note, Shirley has brought back her awesome Halloween contact lenses, they look so good it's too bad it would be very strange to wear them all the time!

Emma and Anton
It takes Halloween to get us some dramatic tango music these days, maybe we should take it where we can? It was a very nifty routine from Anton, I liked all the intricacies of it, but as the judges said, it needed a bit more oomph. I am concerned that Emma doesn't seem to be progressing much, she could easily get forgotten by the voters. Saying that, she looked surprisingly good considering she was wearing a giant comedy ginger wig, that's Halloween for you!

Emma and Aljaz
I get the feeling Emma refused to dress up like a goth for Halloween, it's just not on brand for the fabulous Viscountess, glamorous Miss Scarlett was much more up her street. This was an odd piece, although Emma is much better at the Charleston than I was expecting. Yes she was as proper as ever, but it kind of suited the Agatha Christie elements of the routine. The lifts were bad, so very bad, and disrupted her flow, people should be allowed to leave them out if they want too. I have no idea why Aljaz was an old professor, he should have been a sexy vicar!

Chris and Karen
This was heavily trailed during the week, plus Karen is always Queen of Strictly Halloween, so I was expecting it to be eventful - but not as eventful as this! Karen's wig all over the place, Chris trying to be sex-u-al whilst looking like a zombie, spins of doom. However, there was a lot of samba content in this, despite it being Halloween week and a wee bit of a random song choice, and Chris couldn't have managed that routine in week 1. Fingers crossed for him!

Saffron and AJ
Saffron looks super-cute, the magic tricks were cute, the whole routine was cute! It didn't get overwhelmed by the theme and the song choice worked, and as the judges said, Saffron had clearly worked really hard on it. I agree with Shirley that things need tidying up, and she was a bit wobbly in the spins, but the jive kicks and flicks were all there and nippy. She's an example of someone who really is progressing!

Mike and Katya
This was a bit of a mess, which isn't a surprise. Nice of Kayta to try and do something resembling an actual tango, but there was still a lying-on-the-floor interlude at the end which suggested she eventually gave up. Yes, there was an improvement in technique, but I would rather have just watched Chris and Karen have a laugh again. I was a bit underwhelmed when it ended, not sure this will save Mike from the bottom 2?

Karim and Amy
Now, despite the paso already having a built-in theme, I quite like it when people get a bit experimental with it. Metal pasos, electronica pasos, I can deal with them all - and I thought this one worked on a surreal level. The costumes took a bit away from it though, and did make Karim look like a tiny child with trousers up to his armpits. Thought the judges were a bit harsh on this considering it's Halloween.

Catherine and Johannes
Thankfully, these two knew to bring us vampy outfits and Steps, so we're back in familiar territory away from the Upside Down. She clearly made a mistake and lost her way, which made me feel really sorry for her because the cha cha clearly didn't come naturally. Hoping she gets the votes, she and Johannes have so much more to give and definitely don't deserve to go!

Michelle and Giovanni
The best song-dance-couple matching of the night, you just knew this was going to rock! Her frame was very good throughout, and was the most you could see thanks the ever-present smoke monster. Cute little character moments, but still a visible and accomplished foxtrot, which is a challenge in any week. That was the Halloween dance we were waiting for!

Kelvin and Oti
This left me strangely cold, and not in a Halloween-chills type way. Yes, it had Oti being an imperious vamp like no other, but the flying was a bit distracting. There was some great proper sharp tango moments, and the music had the right kind of sultriness to it, but it didn't feel more than the sum of its parts. I'm sure Kelvin will be fine, but this is not shaping up to be a vintage Halloween year.

Alex and...Kevin?!
Poor Neil, missing his first Halloween with a partner. At least we didn't see Ghostbusters shoehorned into a tango for once, even though Couple's Choice is not our favourite, as you know. Fair play to Alex for carrying off the routine with such a change, she brought what she had learned from her Charleston last week. However, that was also the issue I had with it, as it didn't show me anything new and I think she was given much more to do last week and carried it off with aplomb.

1 comment:

Nicky said...

haha at the Viscountess her face, when craig said something negative to her, called it lame, and wooden, lacking energy

there you could clearly see what a spoiled rich girl she is, Always used to getting what she wanted, never used to criticism

also craig was right, it was lacking energy, and she looked wooden, stood still few times, overmarked to save her from dance off again probably