The One Where Bruno Sings

Time to pack away the bucket and spade, the Blackpool hangover is here and we're now into the proper slog to the final. There's only six couples left...and that might be why we've got the extra treat of Bruno going full Las Vegas showgirl at us. It was a camp, cherry Lambrini-soaked delight and the pros seemed to love it too. A bit of a random interlude, but welcomed nonetheless!

Saffron and AJ
So happy to see a return to an old-school samba dress for Saffron, all samba dresses should be three parts feathers one part 70s Barbie. Really enjoyed the carnival rendition of Walking on Sunshine too. I thought she had a pretty good stab at this, with bounce and proper choreography, but you could tell she wasn't loving it the way she has with other dances. She seemed to struggle with the transitions a bit and her old was a bit dodgy. She could be in trouble again this week, especially with AJ resurrecting his own samba curse.

I love a samba. Especially one with suitably feathery costumes. The song choice was sunshiney enough but I'd have preferred more latin flavour. Unfortunately I found this to be surprisingly laboured - more like walking on treacle than sunshine - and not a great body action. A few weeks ago I thought she'd be heading for the final but I'm not convinced now... time for Saffy bye bye?

Karim and Amy
Why do all contempo dresses look like washed-out bed sheets? I know this is Couple's Choice and so does not count, but I enjoyed this. It felt like the dance Karim's been wanting to do all series, instead of putting random twiddly bits into other dances. Also, fair play to giving us a joyful contempo routine rather than the paaaaain and emoooootion of other such numbers. Seems like this one has been quite divisive, especially with Craig going off on one...
FFS I'm not in a good mood. I can't bring myself to comment on a contempo-waft. He's excellent but wasn't he trained in this style at least to some degree? I can accept 'ringers' learning ballroom and latin for the first time but this is far too close to their own territory, right?

Alex and Neil
It feels like expectations for this were too high, what with it being the first Argentine Tango of the series. I think the judges were a pretty harsh on this, considering how far Alex has come in recent weeks and she's now performing properly in every number. Plus they had the Ramps Legacy Microphone Malfunction. A round of a applause for her mastery of the old jigsaw-legs and the way she attacked the dance in a way we wouldn't have expected at the start of this series.

Yay Argentine Tango! Yay Alex having a great time! Yay a contestant who is having a real journey! It was far, far, far from perfect. I would have liked an authentic piece of music. But I really like these two still, they're just so likeable...can she sneak into the final?

Kelvin and Oti
I'm here for a bit of Northern Soul on a Saturday night, especially when it's to a real cracker of a song like this. It almost cancelled out the horrific outfits, almost. Sadly, I found this a bit underwhelming; it took forever to get going what with the captivating 'making-a-cup-of-tea' segment. There were some flashes of greatness, like the side-by-side jumps, and the way that they always dance so well together as a pair, but there wasn't really much there for me.

Kelvin I've-Probably-Already-Won-In-Week-One-Anyway and Oti dressed children's TV presenters from 1978... I find Northern Soul dancing fascinating to watch and wish I liked that element more than I did. And meh - couple's choice still doesn't count.

Emma and Anton
Emma looks like she's the only one who's turned up for the party in fancy dress, but fabulously though. This while thing was bonkers, they clearly lost their place a couple of times and just had to keep going with super-manic grins plastered on their faces. As ever, I felt sorry for Emma, she just never seems to hit it on the nail.

Unfortunately my internet connection went poof and I missed most of it. The bit I saw was quick. They stepped. It was what it says on the tin. No complaints, no hurrahs.

Chris and Karen
I properly enjoyed this, it was lovely to see Chris talking about how he was growing into the paso on It Takes Two this week and then he really delivered on the night! Well done to Karen for choreographing such a great routine that brought out his strengths and really let him get into it, she's been on an absolute roll all series. It was one of those moments where it all came together as a performance to be proud of, well done Chris!
Well blow me down with a cape. I did not expect this to be my favourite dance of the night. I liked the music. I thought Karen's choreography was great. Hurrah for Chris. Genuinely, genuinely good.