The First Results show

Well, maybe it's beginner's luck, but I do seem to have managed to predict the bottom two. I like the fact that we are getting a whole hour for the results show.

You are never going to see huge amounts of quality in the first show, so it was good to see Alesha back, performing that routine to Crazy in Love, dressed in shocking pink. The chemistry with Matt was immediately re-created and she has apparently given loads of confidence to Matt's new partner, the beautiful Christine Bleakley. Like Camilla, he seems to get the beautiful people, too:-)

The professional dancers performed a Foxtrot to show the girls how it's done next week. I have to say that I don't really like this change of format. Week 2 always used to be Quickstep and Rumba. The Rumba is the slowest Latin dance, although I agree with Anton Du Beke that it's a very silly one, but easiest of the Latin for the girls to master. The pace of the Quickstep was mitigated somewhat by the fact that the girls were in hold. It's a bit mean to give them the Salsa, which not only requires pace and barely there clothing (better to wait few more weeks until they've trained themselves down a few dress sizes) and the Foxtrot which is just darned difficult. It's hard to watch let alone dance.

We then had all 32 dancers perform together to "I'm so Excited". I was more traumatised, to be honest. That's probably unfair, but there wasn't much togetherness and synchronisation. Rachel seemed to know what she was doing, which was a good thing but Andrew Castle did not live up to his earlier promise, but looked a wee bit lost. I seriously think Cherie might be quite good at this - she just seems to have the attitude and the acting ability to pull it off.

I'm sure they could have managed the intro with Bette Midler better - it was all a bit stilted, but it was quite funny to see 30 year old footage of Bruce and her. She actually looked much better now than then. She sang Wind Beneath My Wings while James and Ola performed a lovely routine with some gravity defying lifts.

It's always hard to see someone go in the first show. I wish we could just see them all dance for a few weeks before we get rid of anybody. Gary and Karen looked very nervous and then delighted to get through to fight another day. The bottom 2 were Phil and Don. The judges were split too. I didn't want Don to go because of Lilia, but I felt Phil danced better in the dance off. His facial expressions were more relaxed. I thought Phil and Flavia were safe after Craig and Arlene picked them - then Bruno picked Don and Lilia. Len agreed with Bruno and because he's head judge, he had the casting vote.

Next week is going to be a real challenge for the girls. Will Vincent and Rachel be miles above the rest?

I almost forgot - how criminal - Claudia has had her hair cut and I'm not sure whether I like it or not. It's now a lot shorter, but the fringe is longer than it needs to be. She and Tess had a girly chat which didn't work because Tess just doesn't get Claudia.

This first weekend has shown great promise. Can't wait for the next 13 shows.....