If last week saw the first bubblings of this officially becoming the Year Of The Man, this week we went full boil. At this point all our scandal involves the men, the Official Frontrunners are both men, our beloved Comedy Contestants are both men, the injury porn was with the men… you wonder why any of the women turned up to be honest. Lesley (game old bird, gets a Musical Theatre Charleston that suits her Musical Theatre background, gets 8s, everyone’s hearts are warmed) and Laura (Bottom 2 Returnee overmarked up the wazoo for a frantic bouncy quickstep) are the closest we get to women filling a traditional story niche, and all the rest? Just kind of…there. I defy you to get excited over Naga doing a mediocre mermaid Charleston in a hideous Panda Pops Blue Raspberry wig, Louise (1960s housewife with remote controlled Kevin for a husband) and Cloudia (teenage romance at LGBT High School) doing decent foxtrots to wantonly inappropriate music and weird themes, Daisy doing a proper ropey rumba to Careless Whisper, or Anastacia doing a routine that is so clearly being angled as a Goodbye Dance they actually project her Strictly Best Bits onto the floor beneath her. You just can’t can you?
No, it’s ALL about the men this week. Firstly that Will has gone, goodbye, forever, for reasons unknown, in the most mysterious quit since John Sergeant gave about 5 different reasons for his departure in the space of a 10 minute press conference. In further sicknote news, Greg’s poorly wrist means that he can’t really do lifts in his salsa but he goes out and TRIES ANYWAY! What a trooper. It’s not great, but there’s something triumphant about him getting Natalie all the way up for the end pose, his dodgy arm quavering the whole time. It’s mostly that Natalie doesn’t end up dying to be fair, but that’s a kind of triumphant right? Judge Rinder doesn’t really deliver on the dancefloor in terms of comedy, with a Swiss Alps themed Viennese Waltz, (unless you count accidentally snogging a plastic cow as the height of hilarity) but off the floor his relationship with Oksana is still the most thrillingly weird thing currently happening on the show isn’t it Oksana?.
It’s at the top and tail of the leaderboard where the men really set the standards though. At the bottom, Ed does hands down the worst paso doble ever in the history of Strictly. Truly. A stupid theme, an awful costume, and a hideously slowed down arrangement of “Holding Out For A Hero” were never going to be a promising foundation, but in past weeks Ed has turned this sort of thing into gold. Not tonight, as he forgets the entire routine and just wings everything, flailing around aimlessly with Katya constantly miming and mugging him through it. He’s almost certainly built up enough goodwill at this point to not have to worry about being in the Bottom 2 too much, but it’s not an edifying display, and if he can’t get back on form Blackpool might be a difficult ask. At the top of the table? The beginning of FAN WARZ, as Danny (orchestra themed quickstep) and Ore (60s themed jive) both slay their routines, and bring the house down around them, with the judges now explicitly pitting them against one another as our Top Two. But even MORE exciting, the Fan Warz aren’t just confined to this series, as the judges immediately and officially plonk Ore in the pantheon of Holy Jives with a “MOVE OVER JAY!” and a Week 4 39. With a This? Isn’t going to be pretty. Don’t go on the Internet without a can of mace on hand guys, it’s going to be one of thise weeks. Again.
The mighty mighty Monk Seal 
As soon as Greg lifted Natalie I started shouting “PUT HER DOWN, PUT HER DOWN!” at the television. I think it’s probably the first time I feared for a pro’s life. Other than the time when Edwina was lusting after Vincent saying “I’m a cougar, raaarr”, obvs.
Oh I remember the days of Gavin Henson lifts where he was barely paying attention to anything he was doing, that was nothing.
Ore is done so far as I’m concerned – if Joanne’s personality isn’t grating on me, then Ore’s is – his Jive was epic – but if he’s going to cry every week between now and the final then I’m done. There’s such a thing as being too invested and Ore is hitting that mark hard constantly, it’s even more noticeable now that the keys to the prop cupboard have been hidden from Joanne.
Totally agree. Joanne has always annoyed me but he’s even more annoying with the arrogance and the crying.
Yes, good Lord, reign it in man!! I watched it on ff today, and even speed crying from him is annoying!
Thanks Monkseal. I daren’t go on Digital Spy yet. It’s a good job it’s not Vote to Evict. The Jay Fandom would have Ore out before you can say Strictly’s racist three times in a row.
I prefer Artem and Holly’s jive to Runaway so do not care about the unHolly trinity in any case.
I was disheartened not to have a Brendan close up (before his lungs collapse) pre, during or post BloodyLulu.
I agree with that paso. Every kind of wrong. I thought they might do a call back to last week with the face paint and go full Shrek (well, why not, there was a cow this week. A. Cow. A bestial viennese, who’d have thought?). Without borrowing Pasha’s ears and Chelsea’s dress, Ed might be a goner.
I could have coped if we had had 30 seconds of decent caping or knee work (you know, when the matador does his knees move, Artem and even Anton have done it) but nada. Costuming crap, if not doing full Shrek, should have gone for a Sean Connery Highlander look.
Did not like Greg’s shirt, Daisy’s dress or AJ going back into the closet/locker at the end of his routine, thought he was going to chuck Clouds in there for one minute. Underneath that Babyface lurks something darker.
Bless Tony Beak having a little holiday. I know he knows how to work a crowd (as does Rob) but he does seem to like Lesley.
Disappointed there was no beaded clam joke from Bruno re Naga’s bejewelled mermaiding. Did Laura do a nether regions joke tonight? She seemed to waft at her bits when they said she had lots going on down there! If so, can someone vote for her on my behalf?
Tessbot 2000 seemingly set to malfunction at Claudia’s antics tonight.
Daisy’s rumba seemed to incorporate both anal and blowjobs (I feel so unsure…as I raise my bum and let you through the backdoor) and a downtown position towards the end. Hope you have screenmoneyshots. I like Daisy, I do, but her sultry looked like indigestion.
Thought of you , Chris, when DogWarz feat Mick Jagger vs DannysDogAwwDressedUp came out. But YourOldTeacherYou’veNotSeenInTwoYears in This is your (ridiculously short) Life
segment seemed desperate. But not as desperate as Brendan in his solo gig from Anastacia stint. Serves you right for the previous lapdance choreo, mate. Now you’re stuck in a chair for all of Ana’s two hits. You heard me clearly.
Am so looking forward to the recap already xx
I was convinced AJ was going to shove Cloudier’s lifeless body in his locker. Darker depths indeed.
I think Ore’s contrived/awkward personality, distracting facial expressions, Joanne outdancing him, and the show blatantly overscoring him (screaming low fan vote) is more of an issue for Ore than fans of someone who isn’t on the show anymore. It’s the same reason I don’t blame Georgia fans for forgettable Laura/Giovanni being in the bottom 2 (although the ones who say nasty things to Laura on social media are awful).
Not for a second in that jive did I believe I was watching partners. Like most this series, there just isn’t much a connection. One of the reasons I enjoy jive is seeing the partners working together. At one point Ore seemed to be running in place like a comedy routine.
Oh Anastacia only did one of her hits, there’s still time for another VT of her singing down Brendan’s eye-sockets to come
Me before Ore’s dance – “Hmm, I’m not sure what I think about Ore. I mean, he keeps pushing people out of the way to get into camera shot and then staring at them like he wants them to die if they get high marks, but he is enthusiastic and a genuine fan and I do like that.”
Me after Ore’s dance and scores – “I HATE HIM! I HATE HIM! THEY ARE MINE ENEMY! I HATE HIM TO THE VERY BOTTOM OF MY SOUL!” This has gone beyond Snowdon. It’s the smarminess and the pushiness, combined with the overmarking and overscoring, that has perfectly trolled me. As for the actual dance, the choreography was horrible and the execution a load of aggressive kicks devoid of musicality.
Danny – I love Oti but feel rather less enthusiastic about Danny. I didn’t want to like this dance, because of the whole ringerdom thing, but I thought it was beautiful. It was old Strictly, it was proper Strictly and I loved it. If it hadn’t been for a tiny bit of gapping and slightly too much faff at the beginning it would have been my first 10 of the series.
The foxtrots – Tonight I witnessed the nadir of the foxtrot. I felt sorry for Cloudier because she was so good and the music and choreography let her down. Louise’s routine was classic Kevin; too cutesy, too much storytelling, forgettable content.
Lesley is amazing! She is my clear favourite. Lesley for the amazingness, Greg for the journey, Cloudier for nailing the technique, Daisy for the loveliness and Rinder for the curiosity factor. Potentially Danny for the Oti factor. I like Anastacia but I fear she’s hating it. I don’t mind Laura but it’s Giovanni my eyes are drawn to when they’re dancing.
I’m starting to think Janette keeps Aljaz in an airing cupboard and threatens to throw away the key if he smoulders with the wrong person. Poor Daisy’s sex face reminded me of the women on the front covers of those Top of the Pops albums from the 1970s.
If so, based on ITT this week, Oti’s getting a 5 mile clearance zone put around her and sharpish.
I was simultaneously applauding Ore’s jive and shaking my head in anticipation of DS. It kicked off approximately 7 minutes after his scores came in.
That long?
Oh dear the fan warz/Clifton hate already – and it is only going to get worse. Did you know that the v fingers across the eyes is a patented Aliona move? How dare Jwann pinch it!
Ah well at least it gives some of us a laugh. (Btw where is motorway man? And the fun from the Nats thread)
Loved the Claud9 shots at the end of the dance. No one up there thought they were overmarkeds
Well Ed still got my phone votes tonight but jeez he really messed it up tonight huh? Totally forgot everything and a much better camp than Russel ever did. But it is still way too soon for him to go. I hope he gets back on his improving form, if he survives, and goes on to the final/Blackpool at least. I’d rather him than a Ringah .
Spreadsheet question for you. Claud said it wasn’t the lowest scoring Paso. So what’s the stats please?
Unless that Ringah is Leslie.
Leslie getting Anton the glitterball would be the most gaymazing thing ever to happen on Strictly!
How the hell is she doing it all? Filming, Birthday, 71st Birthday at that, Training and to cap it all invigorating Anton so much. Best I remember seeing him dance and choreograph.
Danny and Oti were spectacular.
So long as they make it through I ain’t fussed who goes. I like them all
That jive reminded me more of feverish Karen Hardy choreography than anything from Aliona. Joanne danced it like she was trying to get away as quickly as possible.
Dennis Taylor’s paso scored one lower, as did Chris Parker’s.
Ah thank you
I watched Dennis but I can’t remember anything about his stint
Chris Parker was before my time -was that the batman dance?
Glorious company then lol Bless him and that dance. Shame because the (little) training footage wasn’t totally awful
Ore is insufferable. His Jive was good but if he wasn’t kicking (let’s face it that’s all he was bloody doing – THERE ARE OTHER STEPS) he was heavy and too hunched. For my sanity I really need him out.
Danny – immaculate quickstep my top pick.
Is it me or have make up gone a little spray tan happy this week. Kevin looked a little too sunkissed. It’s only a foxtrot lovey.
Kev definitely demonstrating deep mahogany this week!
My standard for Quickstep comparisons is Harry Judd and Danny was definitely at that level..
Indeed! Great frame, movement, encapsulated the dance well. He led Oti – it was wonderful
I think it was just Kevin. There must have been a malfunctioning nozzle.
Also for all my complaining about Ore, I did question why Joanne wasn’t delivering choreographically a few weeks ago. I feel like she heard me because she has started doing some fab work.
You’d think Ore had once killed a cat on live TV and Joanne stirred a boiling pot of water and cackled as he threw it in, the way some people are going on about him and her. Is it because he’s a confident black man and she a Clifton? I’m sure someone will wank themselves silly to say it’s not. That was a bloody good authentic jive. It’s okay for men to be invested and cry when they’re overwhelmed or excited. Let’s not shame men for expressing their emotions please. Goodbye.
My teenage niece feels it’s disloyal to like two things equally- “You have to choose!” It seems to be the same with some on DS; those not quivering with fury at him being compared to Danny are likewise about Jay. Quite why it’s a moral failing to like all three is a mystery to me- save a little nuttiness for the final when you really do have to choose.
The show is eagerly trying to pit contestants and fans against each other. I’m not surprised they’re getting the result they want. It just shows how little respect they actually have for the contestants or viewers.
Not if you’re Pauline Quirke you don’t.
I loved it. LOVED it.
It is possible to express your emotions, while maintaining your dignity…
Forget Digitalspy, Ore’s got a few jellus hataz on here too!
I joke (well…) but I really cannot see the problem. First two weeks it was ‘Grr Cliftons choreo is nuts Ore won’t last long’ then suddenly he gets good and it’s ‘Stop crying you diva ugh SO FAKE’
Look – no bloke wants to cry in public. He’s clearly a big lovey/softy. I’m getting a Flackster type presenter-who-realises-they’re-good-at-something-arty vibe from him, and in fairness Caroline looked like she wanted Pasha to get her preggers filming that Showdance. (Might have been more to do with the pro than commiting tbf).
Ore seems a nice bloke, the jive was good, we’ve lost a Clifton that would have been grinning and doing her Fraggle dancing for at least another 4 weeks, be happy people! We don’t have to have a weekly controversy/moan. I’m just glad Danny has competition, and MS is so right – it’s the year of the Man. Louise ain’t winning, she’s like Pixie or Natalie G, just not connecting. Cloudia’s partner is too inexperienced to make the most of her too.
And they don’t dance too well together either *rimshot*
Did anyone get bad Vorderuma flashbacks with Daisy and Aljaz? Same unflattering oatmeal color dress. Same incredible awkwardness. Same sticking her backside out to try to hide lack of passion or chemistry.
It was a little bit, but just letting her jaw hang open probably would have preferable to Carol’s facial expressions.
Another mediocre week with a mediocre cast. I skipped Rinder and Ed because…well, who cares really?
Lesley/Anton – my favorites of the night. A fun, energetic charleston that didn’t overload into gurn city just because she wasn’t going to be able to do handstands and cartwheels for a minute and a half. They continue to be one of the few couples this series who work well together and don’t seem like strangers thrown onto the same stage two hours before taping.
Anastacia/Brendan – I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. It was floridly melodramatic (Brendan’s wheelhouse), but she was into the performance in a way I wasn’t expecting. I actually felt something beyond unease, which is a first for Anastacia. Good for her.
Claudia/AJ – hideous song, hideous theme – AJ may be too aw shucks, but the show’s desperate need to make he and Claudia into Disney castoffs is just sad and limiting.
Ore/Joanne – lots of energy, but unfortunately lots of kicking and not much dancing, barely seemed to be dancing together. This was a better version of the Peter Andre jive last year.
Daisy/Aljaz – awkward, awkward, awkward. One of the cringiest rumbas in quite a while. Sticking your backside out doesn’t make you sexy, it just makes you look like the ads for that cheesy Catherine Zeta Jones/Sean Connery movie.
Greg/Natalie – another couple where chemistry and personality is in strong supply…almost enough to hide that this wasn’t much of a dance, beyond some lifts and Greg having fun.
Danny/Oti – much better than last week, but Danny’s continued lack of personality and connection stands out. This is something that can’t really be worked on, yet seemingly the closest they could get was for Danny to have a frightening rictus grin pasted on his face. It’s the only thing I will remember about this.
Louise/Kevin – 30 seconds of filler followed by a minute of Kevin following his sister’s lead of fiendishly outdancing his partner. As Louise doesn’t have the charisma Ore has to offset his partner’s me-me-itis, she just spent another week essentially taking up space. The next time someone asks why people ever criticize Kevin and it’s all unfair and he’s the best partner ever and so on, show them this dance.
Pasha/Naga – I wrote this twice and kept forgetting them. She still seems abjectly terrified, but at least she had the showbiz grin on and tried. Pasha looked delicious, and his posterior was the highlight of the night (admittedly not a difficult feat).
Laura/Giovanni – forgettable as ever. Herky-jerky and disconnected. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Giovanni believably connect with a partner and I don’t think Laura will be the exception…
One thing you can never successfully do on Strictly, is re-use old music and expect to create history. Iconic dances are unique and of the moment. Better to make icons with new music.
At least I know why Joanne changed from a smart dark bob wig, to the rushed blond version. Although I am left wondering why Ore did a weird move like a dog shaking its back leg after a pee.
I think you can if you leave it long enough. Last year wasn’t the first time anyone’s ever jived on this show to Teenage Wedding for one.
Thank you, Monkseal. Can’t wait for your recap. What do your spreadsheets tell you about the levels of overmarking? Last week seemed like the most overmarked week 3 in Strictly lore. Couldn’t care less about Danny and Ore – technically great but seemed to lack genuine connection with their partners. I fear the Glitter ball contact lenses Gloti has taken to wearing may have scared Danny off for good, while Jwanne’s strange lack of mirroring, and frantic wafting of her lady parts was just distracting. Laura and Daisy were just meh, though Laura protectively overmarked. If Rindy focused more on footwork and less on face pulling maybe he could dance, though there was way too much knee slapping for a Viennese. Greg was only memorable for injury porn and sickle feet. Totally at a loss as to what Ed was dancing – couldn’t they have painted him green again? Bizarrely, the only routine I remember is Lesley’s Charleston – never thought I’d say that about any Anton dance – but they seem to have genuine joy and connection. As for the producers’ relentless manipulation of the narrative – why not just have a puppeteer behind head judge Len and a giant storyboard to the audience. Is it my imagination, or has Len given up any pretence of avuncular uncle and just gone for plain nastiness? No great Brenda fan, but he was slapped down before he’d even opened his pie hole…
I seem to remember a lot of people loving the nonsense (to be fair, that was mostly backing dancers) that got added to Pixie’s Viennese – but then that was round the world week and we’d all given ourselves headaches rolling our eyes so hard.
Well overmarking is opinion based, so obviously not the concern of the spreadsheets, which are pure science
“At the bottom, Ed does hands down the worst paso doble ever in the history of Strictly. Truly.”
You’re kidding Monkseal?! What, worse than the boy from EastEnders in series one who just ran around with a cape over his head? Come on! That’s *got* to be worse! At the time I moaned on another forum (FSU) that menopausal women kept voting for him. I HAVE TURNED INTO THAT WOMAN! Though when Ed came striding on in his chainmail costume, I thought he was looking for #Battle1066. Such a shame he forgot the routine. 😦 But I want him and Katya to come back next week, pleeze!
I also voted for Cloudia, as AJ didn’t choose the music, and frankly, what other choreo could he come up with to that crap that was so *not* Foxtrot music FFS?! Can the Producers just get over their ages now, and allow them to be whatever they want to be and just dance? Craig was unkind to Cloudia, as she can Dance and I loved her double hovercraft spins, they were not “athletic” as he claimed, but danced well. Imagine if you’d gone all that way to Elstree to be in the audience and you’re sat behind a pointless Locker prop blocking your view? Why?????
I still preferred Louise’s Jive this series, and Jay’s, as they were danced beautifully. Ore’s was more of an athletic exercise routine, and not to my taste. I feel he is so OTT about being part of Strictly, as he was a wannabe sportsman who was never good enough to make it, and now this is his Olympics. But the contrived over marking of that Jive was astounding. He’s all over Twitter this morning, apparently he loves Joanne Clifton more than words can say. To be honest, I think even she is somewhat overwhelmed by his *enthusiasm*.
Danny’s Quickstep was the best Dance of the night for me. Wonderful choreo from Oti, & such a joy to watch that superb style of QS! Classy! It’s a shame that a dance more worthy of 10s didn’t get them first.
To see Anton so thrilled & inspired to be dancing with Lesley & producing his best work! ❤
They are such a great couple & super to watch! Every Dance he has choreographed and she has performed has been a highlight, and with Katie Derham sitting in the audience realising she had become yesterday's fish & chip paper. That's Showbiz hun!
Eville Moira promised us a spectacular series for Len's send off, well, so far the highlights are coming from the unexpected corners of the familiar Strictly we have always loved, so STOP MANIPULATING!
FSU had Strictly threads? OMG. (Although I shouldn’t be surprised, the V/M v D/W v P/C fan warz rival anything Jay & Ore fans could produce)
Yeah, on the Anything But Skating section. We were big on SCD, Strictly Dance Fever, especially series 1, and How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? From there I went to DS and now, praise the Gods, Monkseal’s blog.
He forgot 80% of the routine yes it was the worst ever I will not be moved.
Was Karen there at all? I didn’t see her lurking in the background.
She was to the right in a green dress when Louise and Kevin were getting their scores. Can’t remember seeing her at any other time.
Yeah I saw her a few times. She was wearing green.
Great summing up as always. It seemed last year was being set up as Anton’s swan song but this might turn out to be the ideal send off for him (if he goes or joins the judging panel). A partner he gets on with and who can dance well enough for him not to be stuck in the comedy roles, but who the audience/judges don’t have high expectations for so they are pleasantly surprised by their routines and not vaguely disappointed like they often were with Katie. Plus he gets to spend his days drinking G&Ts by a pool in Malta waiting for her to be free for rehearsal. Everything’s coming up Anton!
I hope Louise gets a tango or paso soon, soon, I’d like to see her be something other than nice.
And I liked Ore’s jive.
Have you forgotten Kellie’s Paso, with Kevin, which was niceness personified??
Wasn’t Kellie’s paso her jumping up and down on a table to Alice Cooper?
What’s nice with Anton is that all the POOR ANTONS seems to have been silenced to a degree by last year’s run so his partner can just get on with dancing rather than being treated like an albatross because she’s over 50.
Really expert baiting of the Jaypet army from Len. Digital Spy currently makes the average Trump rally look like a buddhist meditiation session. Hopefully the results show will have an extended discussion of why Ore’s jive is so much better than that half-arsed effort last year, complete with a shot of Ore and Joanne doing the Pulp Fiction eye/finger thing. Apart from the sheer entertainment value of the Jaypet explosion, the producers will have to spend all the remaining budget on security for Ore and the judges, leaving them no more cash for props. Win-win.
I did like that Kevin has now issued a statement saying that Ore’s was better than Jay’s because there was more content. Such a Clifton way of looking at things and not at all stoking the fires. The very easily stoked fires.
Crumbs, Gloti is going to be working Danny hard.
A Rumba and we already he’s got the hip action down, it’s gonna be one of the best blokerumbas in the history of the show and it will encourage wardrobe to give him an open shirt – so there’s definitely a lot to like.
You say that like it’s a new development…
Ore’s jive was good, but vastly overmarked IMO. A bit flat footed and frantic. I feel like this week the producers were engineering the ‘moment’ too much – putting his dance last, for one thing. It was unnecessary of Len to bring Jay’s dance into it – it’s a different series, they aren’t competing! It just felt like bait for the viewers (Jay’s was better). Although there is some fine dancing on show (and that’s what I like about the show) I can’t help feeling cynical about Strictly this year – maybe the partnerships just aren’t connecting.
They did the same with Kellie’s jive last year and it fell flat
In fairness regarding being on last who else is there? Louise, Greg and Danny have done it already, you can’t really close the show with a rumba (let alone Daisy’s), and nobody else has a routine of sufficient quality other than maaaybe Laura or Lesley. You could pull the trigger on giving it to one of Ed’s big production numbers but…that clearly would have been a disaster.
Monkseal, do you -or the seemingly sentient beings that are your spreadsheets- know who Len was referring to when he told Rinder that he once advised a komedy kontestant to serious it up a bit and when they did, got booted? It was asked on DS but didn’t seem to get answered.
Cheers.
I thought it was Mark Benton?
I feel like it was somebody on DWTS. Mark went home on a Lion King samba which wasn’t “straight”. Russell went being fired out of a cannon, Scott was the Addams Family, Jeremy was a miner, Julian and Chris Parker were never eliminated, Sarge quit, Gavin was never really funny *on purpose*, Dicky Arnold went out with Erin Island being fondled by men in speedoes, Hairy Dave went out on a comedy Scottish tango…I can’t think of anybody else
I like Ore, but… I’m going to be frustrated if he flicks between being poor or being excellent. That was an excellent jive, if rather overmarked – shades of Kellie’s tango in the final last year. How much of that is down to nerves, or down to Joanne’s choreo & coaching, or down to producers throwing props and theming at them? I suspect a bit of each tbh.
I like Danny and Oti a lot, more for Oti than Danny, but he is good. I’m waiting to see what happens when he has a bad week. Ringer, or hard worker like Zoe and Denise? I’m not sure.
My favourites so far are Greg & Natalie (not a surprise to me) and Lesley & Anton. Have always liked Lesley Joseph, but who predicted that she’d be the one making Anton seem to be having fun again?!
I’d never normally seriously suggest it, because it feels too much of a DWTS thing, but I’d quite like to see a few pairings swapped round for a week to see what happened. Pair up Kevin and Claudia, or Louise and Gorka, see what happens.
Kevin should never be paired with anybody, who has the ability to do a backflip – he doesn’t need another opportunity to shoehorn in a gimmick.
Oddly enough I thought AJ would be exploiting the hell out of Claudia’s gymnastics background, but he’s actually being very restrained with it.
Uncle Len made a bit of a point of not doing that in week 1 and it’s AJ’s first series, so he may not want to do anything that jeopardises Cloudier. If they make it to the Showdance (at least fairly likely), expect all kinds of backflip funtimes.
My problem with those weeks is either the dancing is better, in which case you’d rather the new couple stick than go back to where it was before, or the dancing is worse, in which case you’ve messed things up for one week for a gimmick.
Voting here for partner-swapping – but only if Danny and Ore swap pros. And Cloudier gets someone (anyone!) a sensible height…
No – I don’t want Danny anywhere near Jo, I’ll actually have to stop supporting him.
AJ is the shortest of the male pros, unless Neil is shorter than him.
KFG is 5ft 8. As Chloe looks quite a tall girl, I’d say AJ must be taller.
I think Vincent would’ve been the only Pro remotely suitable, as Cloudia is uber short. 4ft 5, I think.
Warwick Davis?