This year we found out the cure for a Blackpool Hangover. It’s a healthy dose of LSD delivered directly to whoever’s doing the choreography. Danny does a tribal themed samba, flailing about wildly with his top pulled all the way open and Oti dressed as the chief henchvillainess in an Indiana Jones movie. Ore does a Big Business themed paso doble (?) complete with lots of climbing around over and under what looks very much like an air hockey table. Ed does a tango in which he’s a male model and Benny Hill and Divine all combined into one slouching shrugging hunching pouting mess of a man. Cloudia does an Argentine Tango set on a rainy rooftop, performed to a Justim Timberlake cover where it sounds very much like the orchestra are being murdered one by one, where her feet don’t touch the floor I think at all. Kevin turns the schmaltz hose on full force as Louise does her nicest routine yet, so nice that it almost comes across as self-parody. Finally Rinder performs a rumba themed around the idea that Oksana is his beloved ballet teacher and also the returning spirit of his old law tutor who Claudia addresses “as Wendy” on Claud 9 and then Rindy starts yelling her to CALL HER MISS, like Mrs Danvers fresh about to shove her out of the window for disrespecting her Mandalay Mistress.
In short, it’s an ODD evening. Fortunately sanity (or, let’s be honest “predictability”) is restored with the old reliable tonic of the “…athon” to cause pointless drama. In this case, it’s a chachathon, and the drama comes from Louise winning despite possibly deserving to have finished about 3rd. Maybe. As always with a chachathon it’s hard to tell what’s really happening. Other than pot stirring.
The mighty mighty Monk Seal 
Well, the cha-cha-cha-cha-chathon didn’t exactly shake up the leaderboard as promised, did it?
And in things I have learned this week, Louise Redknapp is married to Dale Winton;
That leather jacket *was* very Dale.
Thought they nimbly avoided the Blackpool hangover this year. I really enjoyed the show tonight, except Ed and (sorry Monkseal) Rinder.
Danny was obviously brilliant (def best samba on Strictly ever) and I liked Ore’s routine, except for that end pose, which made me burst out laughing, which I don’t think was the intended effect. LOVED Claudia’s AT, well done AJ for keeping her midair for most of it, it was thrilling.
At this point I will be deeply upset if Danny doesn’t win and will stop watching if he doesn’t make the final. Yes, my ovaries are in full voting mode. Watch out.
Have pity on those of us who feel obliged to recap whoever’s in the final. Although I am glad I won’t have to come up with three different variations on “Ed Balls did this dance poorly but they covered it up with gimmicks”.
Danny – the best bit was at the beginning, when the silhouette of Oti’s hair made him look like Michael Bolton. He danced it well, but I didn’t love it. I think if he’d been wearing Mark Benton’s samba outfit, then I would have gone crazy for it. Oti could have been a crocodile. Think how much better it would have been.
Ore – I actually felt sorry for him being shafted by every aspect of that routine, until he got his comments and scores, and then I went back to thinking he is evil.
Louise – faff! And I hate faff in a waltz.
Rinder – I don’t care, I enjoyed it. It was like Robert Helpmann and Leslie Caron in a 1950s ballet movie. It feels like they’ve set him up to leave this week, though. Even the director missed his spins.
Ed – charmless, calculating and believing his own hype.
Cloudier – another dance that was danced really well, but which I failed to love. I just don’t like Argentine Tangos that are too crotchy, and this was very crotchy. Still, it was a travesty that Ore scored the same mark when he was so much worse.
The thingy-a-thon – boring and infuriating, as usual.
Fuck, I forgot Louise was in it. Lord, but she is dull.
I think comparing anything to Mark Benton’s Iconic (*drink*) Farewell Samba is cruel. That’s a high bar to clear.
Hated Ore & Joanne, loathe her choreography…would have preferred a game of ice hockey! Danny & Oti danced everyone else off the stage. Loved Judge Rinder’s rumba, got very annoyed with OH when he was “meh” about it. The game’s up, E’d, it’s time to go…
See that T&C are dressing as lonely penguins again…the imagination put in this show really is fathomless!
Just realised that “T&C” can be either Tess & Claudia or Terms & Conditions. The plot thickens.
Christ alive Ed is the least deserving successful crap ‘people champ’ ever on this show. So smug and gormless at the same time. Fuck off Ed, I normally asterisk my swearing online but dude needs to do one. Sit through two more of his next week instead of two of Ore/Cloudy/Rindy? Not bloody likely.
Ore was fine. The end pose kinda did it for mex
Cloudia was good. Impressive shapes in mid air. Core strength!
Rinder was a bloke rumba and it ain’t fair for Darcy to blame a lack of purpose (not trying to seduce Oksana) on his dancing. I assume he’s single or Judge Rinders Partner would have shown up by now, but gay contestants are still often completely desexualised on this show. Gay judges however…but enough about Bruno who was in full rand tonight and then some.
Oh and Louise’s waltz was nice but she never won the dance off.
He’s married. Not sure why his husband hasn’t been in the audience apart from the fact that Rob was quoted as wanting to keep his private life just that. Seth Cumming writes its own jokes though however ready I am to accept his cummings and goings are none of my business.
Nobody was ever less deserving than Widdy. Nobody.
Danny’s samba was technically brilliant. I just can’t get excited about him though. *chacha* I applaud you. Michael Bolton spot on. I did think ”Fuck Me he’s in a wig” for a second there.
Oh Lordy 😉 if he wanted to get angry about something Ore could have got cross about being saddled with that music. I felt sorry enough to want to vote for him. Jo looked like a nazi henchwoman. Maybe it was an Indiana Jones theme week after all (shame Melvin temple Odoom not there to see it. And Ed’s wrecking ball didn’t make an appearance).
Louise back to the baggy midriff flouncy top to the dress again. She has biggish boobs but no bigger than Sunetra who looked stunning that series. Boring waltz to Mickey Bubbles.
Noone addressed the elephant in the room…Rob (and I love him) ain’t Matt Cutler. For him to do a dance of love/passionate sex and make it credible would take acting skills even Cucumberpatch doesn’t have. So they went with that theme. Exactly the same reason others have gone with nutcracker/classy not filthy/romantic not cougary rumbas of yesteryear.
The fact that he looked constipated and I thought he was going to hoover with her at one point didn’t help though.
Ed. Oh Ed. Wanted you to smash that tango and hoped Katya would finish it with a central down the floor kicking chassis thing but nope. Crap theming (Love Dodgeball, Hate Zoolander with a passion) and even I, who loved your efforts, cannot defend that.
Cloudia. Still didn’t feel she wanted AJ in any shape, way or form but decent AT helped by the song if not the execution of said song (and boy, did they execute it). Pimp slot, AT playing to her strengths and a bottom two bounce should serve her well.
Will Louise survive party Latin next week though if she gets through? That is the question.
Party Latin? Louise? Never again.
I haven’t watched the show live so I came here to read your recap first to be warned of anything I should be avoiding. Which is plenty by the look of it.
It wasn’t that bad! I liked…two and a bit of the dances!
I enjoyed this more than just about any show this series – it felt less like a party that no one wanted to be invited to. Lots of good or decent dances, even if Oti and Joanne seemed to be choreographing more for SYTYCD.
Danny/Oti – This is one of those dances where if I disliked the couple in question I’d probably fume, but I’ve grown to enjoy them over the last month (it helps that they’re the one couple this series who have steadily grown in their chemistry and rapport), and I like how many risks Oti takes with her choreography. Danny is a bit of a ‘bot but he was believably sexual and dirty in this dance. Oti having him with an open shirt so his pecs could bounce along to the beat was shameless and very clever pandering.
Ore/Joanne – Probably my favorite dance of theirs, even with the cheesy end. The paso suits his dancing style and also suits them as partners. And this cover of “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” was much better than that Lorde pap that always sounded like an old record played too many times until every syllable is stretched.
Louise/Kevin – As often happens with Louise, it felt very lackluster; she seems to be, like Greg, becoming more hesitant with each passing week. The choreography also felt very herky-jerky. And I was distracted by their using the theme from a sitcom that always kind of got on my nerves. I didn’t think she was as bad in the rigathon as some claimed but throwing it at her to help keep her safe did her no favors.
Rinder/Oksana – Corky St. Clair expressions aside, this was one of the times where the effort he made in both dances felt genuine rather than self-satisfied and cloying.
Ed/Katya – I’ve defended his dancing in many weeks as not being any worse than most of the others, but I can’t say that this week. It just wasn’t good at all.
Claudia/AJ – I wanted to like this more than I did. Technically it was good, but AJ in particular just seems too immature to carry the emotion of the AT off. And his hideous, oversized smoking jacket that looked like something Kevin Clifton donated for Christmas distracted me more than almost any wardrobe ever has on this show.
I still think the song’s time signature and lack of Spanish style makes it inappropriate for a passable doble (although has been used for that twice on DWTS and for a tango too) BUT Jo did great with it and it has ended up being the dance I’ve watched multiple times over the last 24 hours. That and the cha cha cha athon, watched that six times to see how the hell Danny came 2nd and Rob came 5th. Ironically I think the least amount of footage went to Lou (although they also kept fdancing way after it had ended).
I think it was *supposed* to be that Lorde pap…
I think you’re right – I just thought it sounded a lot better.
It was an entertaining night, though I’m disappointed by the emerging storylines.
Danny danced the samba well, but rather than “the best samba ever,” he seemed to me to be doing an imitation of a frat boy gone wild in Rio. I felt nothing but embarrassment for him.
Rinder, on the other hand, danced a competent bloke rumba with all the hip and leg and flow and sliding door opening out thingies the judges expect, yet got no credit for it. And honestly, have any of the couples who’ve done rumba this series shown any sexual chemistry?
Like Carl above, I was so distracted by the poor styling in Claudia and AJ’s AT that I barely noticed the dance. Am I correct that there was none of the earthy filthiness that Len always tells us he expects? I guess here the storyline is “forget about last week, she’s a semi-finalist.”
Every single American Tango this series has been completely sexless, which is quite an achievement when you think about it.
Dunno, Danny and Oti’s looked a lot like break up sex to me. Break being the apposite word – one wrong move at that speed and it would have been a swift trip to A&E.
For me other than the select few like Kara and Artem, the Argentine Tango rarely seems like a sexual dance on Strictly because you mostly have people who are going to spend their week trying to get the steps right, which doesn’t really translate to being in the mood. I thought the Danny and Oti AT did have a grotty bitter ex sex vibe, especially the end poses, but it was so aggressive for a sensual dance. It felt a bit like an AT for people who really hate the AT.
https://m.youtube.com/?#/watch?v=5ifOqXLpRtA
Indeed. If James and Hamela could fake it despite the age gap, I’d expect the others to do better.
Greg and Nat aside, I have not seen much chemistry this year.
Re: Claudia and AJ – I wonder if someone took pity on her because there was so little going her way here – the height difference meant AJ just carried her around as some sort of overly sexed up dummy like they were starring in a very disturbing anthology show episode from 1985 written in a cocaine frenzy; AJ is about as sensual as Anton; the music was awful. Considering I thought she did about the best she could, maybe they decided to be positive to her. Yet not too positive (in scoring) as they are probably still in shock from the Ore bottom 2 appearance…
Ooh yes (puts on tin hat). I thought she got 36 even though it looked like she was being set up for her first ten(s) precisely so that if she and Ore end up in the DO they can legitimately save him over her.
What are you talking about, her jive only had one little mistake in it last week etc etc
Given the judges ignore technique 95% of the time these days unless it fits their agenda to bump someone off, I do the same and just enjoy dances for their sheer spectacle. So I loved all of them except Ed and Louise tonight.
But watching Louise I decided to watch her footwork after Len gave her ridiculous plaudits for the foxtrot footwork before. I struggled to see one heel lead. And I watched her in the cha cha. Well, Rinder ran rings around her in that let alone Danny or Claudia. Clearly Louise for the Final is a directive from above… but I can certainly say I was happy with the results after all that!
And at one point in the pointless-a-thon, she was clearly looking at her feet….
Really it’s about the destination, not the journey.
You give Man in the Hat a moments screen time and he grabs the limelight demanding attention. Maybe Dave Arch had a point.
Let the man run free and wild that basement was so damp.
Just watched the clips in time for results show. Loved Danny and Cloudia. The opening light show for AJ and C looked stunning. The Samba was very exciting.
I’d see Ed, Judge, Ore or Louise go. No idea what the comments from the judges are.
Mostly it was Bruno writhing around all over the table (Bruno <3)
Your mention of Ore’s “Big Business themed paso” confused me a little. Just reread Cold Comfort Farm for the umpteenth time in which Big Business is the massive and permanently priapic bull.
Now that’s a dance I’d like to see (possibly if done by Ore, definitely NOT by Kevin and Louise)
I could see Ore doing that yes. If I shut my eyes…