Strictly Come Dancing LIVE: Chris McCausland’s salsa blows audience away as Tasha Ghouri scores first 10s
All the updates from week four of the BBC dancing competition
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Strictly Come Dancing delivered another week of standout performances with phenomenal lifts winning two couples high praise as Tasha Ghouri landed the first 10s of the series.
The former Love Island contestant has topped the leaderboard for the past three weeks, and did so yet again thanks to her charleston to “Unhealthy” by Anne-Marie and Shania Twain.
Ghouri and professional partner Aljaž Škorjanec took on a series of challenging lifts and the risk paid off, winning them 10s from Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas and Anton du Beke. The pair missed out on a clean sweep as Craig Revel Horwood reached for his nine paddle.
Ghouri and Škorjanec weren’t the only ones to impressive with gravity-defying moves. Chris McCausland and his partner Dianne Buswell also showcased a series of lifts in their salsa to “Down Under” by Men at Work. Their moves left head judge Ballas temporarily speechless.
She then said: “I can’t even imagine how you managed to do that so flawlessly when you can’t see. On top of that, you kept to your music, you didn’t miss a beat. I’m telling you from my heart, that is absolutely impressive.”
Elsewhere, DIY SOS presenter Nick Knowles made his return to the programme after being forced to pull out of Movie Week due to a leg injury.
“When I signed up to Strictly I never thought for a moment that I would love dancing they way that I do and I well and truly have caught the dancing bug so I am absolutely delighted to be back tomorrow,” Knowles told fans on Instagram.
He added: “I am so grateful to all the physios and the medical team at the BBC for getting me back on my feet. See you tomorrow night.”
Incredible lifts from Chris and Dianne
Erm... wow? Chris’s salsa moves were great but the lifts were on another level. Even Shirley Ballas is speechless.
Having gathered herself, she said: “It took real eye-timing one person to another so I can’t even imagine how you managed to do that so flawlessly when you can’t see.
“On top of that, you kept to your music, you didn’t miss a beat. I’m telling you from my heart, that is absolutely impressive.”
Craig shows off his Aussie accent
In keeping with Chris and Dianne’s Aussie-themed dance, Craig delivered his critique with a phenomenal accent to match. I wonder how long he’s been practicing that for? Sensational.
Chris’s scores are in...
And he’s straight to the top half of the leaderboard with 30! Very well-deserved.
Montell and Johannes pull off another solid routine
I absolutely adore Montell (aka Fire from ITV’s Gladiators reboot) and that was a beautiful Viennese Waltz!
Anton has quickly named it his “dance of the night” - a compliment that means even more when the are only three other couples left to hit the dance floor.
Montell’s scores are in...
And she’s landed 33! With 8s across the board and a 9 from Anton. We’ve seen a few of those so far but will anyone reach for their 10 paddle tonight? We do still have Tasha left to dance...
Sam sambas to Shakira
That’s a lot of S’s isn’t it.
Once again, the wardrobe department has outdone itself in making a usually garish shade of pink look perfectly acceptable. Maybe I’ll get myself trousers like Nikita’s for the office next week.
Sam’s scores are in...
Four 7s give Sam a very solid 28.
In the Clauditorium, Sam, a self-described ‘tomboy’ and ‘bit of a lad’, reflected on stepping out of her comfort zone with the samba.
“We don’t celebrate our bodies enough as women,” she said. “I’ve never felt my curves before, it was so much fun. I gave it everything.”
Pete’s up next
I’m still not over Pete’s George of the Jungle routine from last week, to be honest, and nor will I ever be.
He has so far lingered towards the bottom of the leaderboard though and is lucky to have dodged the dance offs. THe TOWIE star really needs to pull something special out of the bag this week...
Pete debuts a Craig tattoo
Putting my PR hat on here, I think Pete could do well to make some sort of silly promise about getting this tattoo for real if he makes the final.
Also, his quickstep was actually good? I, admittedly, did have fears for how this routine would go. But even Craig admitted to liking it.
“You sir, are improving week upon week,” agreed Shirley.
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