Strictly Come Dancing: Five talking points from movie week
Fourteen couples channelled Fame, The Greatest Showman and Dirty Dancing for a Hollywood special
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Your support makes all the difference.A Strictly themed week is always a thing of joy, but tonight the show’s trip to the movies was even more impressive than usual. We had sensational choreography, reliably amazing costumes and a Grease-inspired routine that Shirley called “one of the best quicksteps in Strictly history”.
This is what everyone is talking about…
Faye and Giovanni do Sandy and Danny
This couple have it all – talent, likeability and Giovanni’s consistently innovative choreography. In some ways Grease is a gift of a theme, as it’s so instantly recognisable. But You’re The One That I Want is not easy quickstep music. It was a rapid, effortless, accomplished performance, that Faye delivered with charm and flair. The only bad thing about it was Giovanni’s Travolta quiff and Danny Zucko cardigan. Special mention must also be given to Katya’s choreography once again, as she turned Seann Walsh into Neo for an incredible Matrix routine, with slow-mo moments and some never-before-seen-on-Strictly steps.
From minions to Spiderman: give costume and make-up all the awards
The themed weeks are so exciting because they’re a visual feast, and that’s down to hair, make-up and costume. We had Kate in a long red wig as Jessica Rabbit, Graeme dressed as Spiderman and Dr Ranj and Janette as Aladdin and Jasmine. All exceptional, but the best look of the night had to be Kevin and Stacey as the minions from Despicable Me. They will be washing the yellow paint off their faces well into next week, and Kevin may just have to dye his hair blonde.
Ashley’s incredible lift: but is she not a professional anyway?
Everyone loves that Dirty Dancing lift, and what a relief that Ashley and Pasha managed to get it up (cough). But the usual grumbles began on social media, saying Ashley was too good to be on the show and her previous dancing experience was unfair. I’ll tell you what was unfair – Oti doing a solo in her dance so that Graeme could have 20 seconds off during the routine. It’s not Ashley’s fault she got invited onto the show, and that salsa was a treat for every viewer who loves good dancing. Leave her alone.
Who will go?
After you catch your breath from tonight’s amazing performances, you immediately start to wonder who will be sent packing. Lee and Nadiya plummeted towards the bottom of the leaderboard this week with an uninspiring Back to the Future cha cha, and last week’s dance-off proved they were struggling to get votes. It will be quite the feat if they avoid the bottom two tomorrow night. As for who will be joining them, Lauren, Dr Ranj and Katie are all in a vulnerable spot, but they’re also popular couples. It is a tough one to call.
Craig and Bruno’s bantz
These two judges are genuinely friends behind the scenes, where Craig is warmer than his on-screen persona and Bruno is a little calmer. Rumour has it he even manages to stay seated for prolonged periods of time. Despite being at opposite ends of the table they started a round of pantomime play-fighting tonight that the viewers lapped up. It all started when Craig started telling one couple their legs were not straight enough.
"You don’t know anything about being straight!" cackled Bruno, before remarking that at least he has his own hips, unlike CRH who has had both replaced. Lolz.
Strictly Come Dancing airs every Saturday on BBC One. The results show will then be aired on BBC1 on 7.15pm on Sunday night
Here we go, it's minions time! The moment we've been waiting for! They are extremely yellow. Stacey says the jive is right up her street after last week's difficult cha cha. Kevin says 'this is quite possibly the most ridiculous concept I've done on Strictly'. That's a hustle if ever I heard one, it's going to be brilliant. Unlike this random VT about bananas.
This is an energetic, fun, well-timed jive and Stacey looks in her element. But all I can think about is how Kevin is going to get that yellow paint out of his hair.
Stacey lost some of the bounce towards the end of the routine, but that was extremely enjoyable. Kevin looks exhausted. Shirley calls it 'a major breakthrough' and also randomly tries to call Stacey the Queen of Jive. We all know that's Jill Halfpenny.
Stacey and Kevin: Jive scores
Craig: 8
Darcey: 8
Shirley: 8
Bruno: 8
Total: 32
That's a huge score for this early on in the competition. 'I mustn't get carried away, I just didn't want to get a 4!' says Stacey. Brilliant routine, that's what Strictly is all about.
Here comes Joe Sugg, who is going to find it hard to top last week's incredible Cotton Eye Joe-inspired Charleston. This is his first ballroom routine and American Smooth needs real charm and smoothness, will be interesting to see if Joe can overcome his struggles with posture and frame to make this work.
Yes, Joe is young, we get it. But he's not 15. Bit embarrassing to make him go back to school for the VT and now do a High School Musical themed routine, which doesn't really work for an American Smooth. He doesn't look comfortable and his facial expressions are all wrong for this dance. For me this is immature and doesn't really work - but mainly because of the theme, which is the producers' fault, not Joe's.
Brrrrrruno liked it more than me and says Joe has good phrasing. Craig says he wanted it to be smoother but he loves watching them dance. Darcey was impressed too, but says Joe needs to work on his top line. Meh, I was still underwhelmed.
Joe and Dianne: American Smooth scores
Craig: 6
Darcey: 7
Shirley: 6
Bruno: 7
Total: 26
'You're going to be a frontrunner,' says Shirley.
Time for Graeme to do the Charleston dressed as Spiderman, something I'm sure cricket fans never imagined sitting down to watch on a Saturday night. He's wearing boxing shoes with sticky soles, so he's worried about nailing that all important swivel. The only way is up from last week...
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