Bill and Oti
Well they have to get the death slot one week, but still brought out a gorgeous ballroom number. This should hopefully dispel any ideas of Bill being the comedy contestant, it was actually a fairly old-school routine. Bill still needs to work on his hold a little bit, but his footwork continues to impress me. Extra points for delightful costumes and a perfect song choice too.
It was charming, and I still love them. However, I found myself a little underwhelmed. I have started to expect great things from Bill, but when you're already great, how do you progress? Bill's biggest selling point has been the sense of surprise he has offered, and let's face it, if we knew nothng about him, we would perhaps expect that classic ballroom might be a relatively strong style. So what I want to see now is for Bill and Oti to knock us down with one big samba-costume feather, with an awesome latin-flavoured, latin routine.
Maisie and Gorka
After the not-shocking-at-all bottom 2 moment last week, it was good to give Maisie the salsa as something more naturally suited to her. Plus an epic dress, I didn't know that much fringing was possible! I really loved this, I thought they flowed really well, great hip-action and Gorka just casually throwing Maisie over his shoulder while she somersaults. Interesting match of loosey-goosey salsa and bad-ass lifts, I hope this sees her through to next week!
ARGH the song. ARRRRRGH the song. The music on this show was shocking - this is not to knock the band, who are wonderful, but the choices? Just no. You can't just pick the correct time signature and hope for the best. Each dance has a mood and style that needs to be expressed and the music is KEY. However, this dance really suited Maisie - salsa is latin without all the rules and regs, and that is exactly her style. Now imagine this to Hector Lavoe, or Los Van Van or, La Excelencia, or Sonora Carruseles or...
JJ and Amy
After last week's rather messy jive it was nice to see JJ back in ballroom again, but this came across as a tad...uneventful? JJ is very endearing and clearly working hard, but it feels like the others are pulling away from him a bit. The hold wasn't great and it was a bit skippy. It certainly wasn't terrible and light enough around the floor, but it wasn't worth two 9s, that's for sure...
They are just lovely but really not keeping pace with the rest of the couples. The scoring here seemed a tad off.
Clara and Aljaz
Clara had a lot to live up to after last week's darling Charleston, but unfortunately she got saddled with the samba in a completely ridiculous and distracting outfit. Yes, it's a hard one and probably not the best for her, but she gave it her all. A bit lumpy in places but not as bad as the judges made it out to be.
I actually think samba could have been great for Clara. If she had been given a samba. If she had been given an appropriate song, and an appropriate outfit, or anything at all that made it look and feel what she was being judged to do. I have no more words. #VotesForClara
Jamie and Karen
This felt a bit jarring after the travesty served up with Clara, but their energy certainly brought the routine to life. It was fun and played for laughs, but clearly had a lot of work and sweat put into it. Plus Karen was wearing the shiniest pants ever, they could have burst into flames at any time! I didn't love it as much as last week's samba, but it's great to see Jamie careening along and having a brilliant time.
As I keep saying, Jamie is inherently likable. I was half expecting to find this routine crass, or cringe, but it wasn't. Again, it had a weird kind of charm and I very much doubt we'll be seeing these two leave this evening.
Harvey and Janette
This had slipped under the radar for me during the week so I went into it with no expectations, but I actually really liked it! There was a real commitment to the tango style from Harvey, even with the slightly odd song choice (nowhere near as bad as some tango disasters though). The outfits were gorgeous too. It felt like a piece of calm and focus in a pretty crazy night.
The song ruined it for me.
Caroline and Johannes
I was SCREAMING at the campness of this number, Caroline's facial expressions were worth it alone. The cha cha is supposed to be cheeky and they have it in spades, I didn't think this was going to be the best for Caroline but she took the idea and ran with it, for miles and miles. The cha cha content was pretty decent and her timing was spot on - not the most technically achieved but whatever. Johannes continues on his way to national treasure status.
Now this was entertaining and enjoyable. It just found the perfect balance between being kitsch and camp, and technically decent. I do wonder whether Caroline's Strictly days are numbered. They are an absolute joy, but she's not sprinting out ahead of the others. But it doesn't mean she won't. It doesn't mean she can't. I would love to see that.
Ranvir and Giovanni
Another clanging change of tone, but hurrah for a classic Argentine Tango with an extra layer of filth for good measure. It wasn't perfect, but it was impressive, there was everything in this routine choreography-wise, I'm always here for the jigsaw-legs. Ranvir is really wonderful at committing to a dance, which is sometimes hard for people with little performing experience, it's great to see her developing like this. A great ending to a strange show!
Finally, an appropriate song and a dance with the appropriate mood. I felt Ranvir's frame wasn't perfect, and her legwork could definitely have been sharper. However, over all, this dance pretty much saved the show.
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