Strictly Sequins and Sparkles

No Claudia on ITT this year. Sob.

2011-05-24T13:09:00.000+01:00

Just when I thought May couldn't have any more bad news, I read confirmation on Strictly Come Blogging that the irrepressible Claudia Winkleman will not be presenting the Strictly Come Dancing Companion show, It Takes Two this year.

This is hardly a surprise. I couldn't imagine her giving birth to her third child in August and then doing a 5 nights a week show from mid September. I'm glad she's still going to be doing the results show on a Sunday evening, though.

It's telling that the quote from her in today's Mirror offers a glimmer of hope that she might come back in subsequent years.

“Everyone who watches Strictly knows how much I love the show and enjoy presenting It Takes Two.

“This year I’m dipping out, but can’t wait to watch it from the sofa.”

Claudia's pretty much irreplaceable and I don't know how the BBC will do it. Names in the frame so far according to Twitter have been Kate Garraway, Kate Thornton and Miranda Hart. I think that it might be fun, if she is only going to be away for a year, to have guest presenters for a week at a time. I'm not sure there's a studio around that could contain Marian Keyes, but she'd be good. So would Pamela Stephenson. Even Widdy. For a few days she could be tolerable and quite fun. Camilla Dallerup or Matt Cutler could also do a stint.

Or, and this is controversial and Billi will kill me but what about giving the show to Anton Du Beke? Then we get to see him 5 days a week and he could still do show dances on a Saturday night. That might be the best way to carry on the Claudia tradition. Is there anything not to love about that idea?

There's also always the option of giving Alesha ITT and bringing Arlene back on to the judging panel, but I won't hold my breath on that one.

Let's hope that the producers consider the fans when they decide on Claudia's replacement. ITT is watched mostly by hardcore fans so they need to be sensitive.

Strictly's Karen Hardy to judge Barclays Live Dance Competition in Glasgow this weekend

2011-01-20T17:10:00.000Z

Former Strictly professional Karen Hardy, who won with Mark Ramprakash in 2006 and who has one of Strictly's most fondly regarded partnerships with Bill Turnbull to her credit, will be in Glasgow this Saturday, 22 January.

She's going to be one of the panel for the Barclays Live Dance Competition at the St Enoch Centre. She'll be leading a dance masterclass too - I wonder if it will be the same routine as featured in the BBC ident and the Strictly Roadshows. Karen is one of the most talented and creative choregraphers I know and all my friends who've had lessons with her say she's a fabulous teacher, so if you like Strictly and want to meet her, get down there on Saturday. There is some vague connection, I think, to the opening of a new branch of the bank in Glasgow at 83 Argyle Street, but you can just ignore all of that and concentrate on the dancing.

Karen will be judging 10 of the city's top dance acts who will be whittled down to 5 by the judges. There will then be a public vote on the web and the winner will win £1000. They will then progress to a further stage of the competition where there's another £1000 up for grabs.

This is the first time the competition has been held in Scotland. I can't think of a better way to brighten up a miserable January day.

I'm gutted that I probably can't go as I have a meeting in Edinburgh on Saturday morning, but I'll certainly try and get across later if time and energy permits.

See Pamela and James' Argentine Tango

2010-12-23T13:21:00.000Z

Even though the series has ended, still those nice people in the BBC Strictly Office are giving us some little presents to make us happy.

All Pamela and James fans were as dismayed that we didn't get to see their Argentine Tango as they were that they didn't get to perform it during the Final on Saturday night. Here it is, though, as they recorded it in training.

Even though they're in a gymnasium, with a crew of at least 3, this is one smokin' hot dance. Can you just imagine how it would have been with them in full hair and make up and costume and atmospheric lighting. It would have been better if they'd put up their dress rehearsal, but then our laptops might have spontaneously combusted.

Enjoy!

Pamela writes about her Strictly experience and her crush on James

2010-12-22T12:34:00.000Z

As her beautiful showdance told us all, Pamela had the time of her life on Strictly.

She wrote about the final, her regret at not getting to do her Argentine Tango (I feel her pain, really), her crush on James and how they and their spouses handled it with honesty and humour in her Guardian column. Enjoy.

The Strictly Finalists 2010; Pamela Stephenson and James Jordan

2010-12-18T14:14:00.002Z

As we wait for the most exciting Strictly Final in years, this is the last of my profiles of each of our deserving finalists, with a look at their pre Strictly life (as if that actually matters), and Strictly story with their first, best and my favourite of their dances. Kara's is here, and Matt's is here.

Pre-Strictly Life

The first I ever heard of Pamela Stephenson was actually some time in the 70s as the wife of Nicholas Ball, the guy who played Hazell, the Cockney Private Detective who was the Minder of his day, I suppose. I can't really remember much except I thought he was quite good looking.

It wasn't until Not the Nine O'Clock News started that I really got to like Pamela. That show was my first real introduction to irreverent political and satirical humour. It felt very grown up and very wicked to be watching it. I really can't resist the opportunity to show a bit. In the making of this profile, much time was wasted watching great moments such as these. Here's Pamela in one of their fabulous parody songs, I believe:

It was during this programme that she met Billy Connolly. This man has been making me laugh since I was a tot. There was not one single long car journey that didn't feature the car cartridge gadget thingy playing one of his shows. He's hilarious. The two of them seemed exceptionally well suited and that's been borne out by the longevity of their relationship.

Pamela has also stood for election to Parliament, in 1987, for Windsor and Maidenhead, for the Stuff Blancmange down Terry Wogan's Trousers Party. Not something I'd ever want to waste a moment doing, but it takes all sorts. The proof comes courtesy of Mr Derek Payne, on Twitter, who very kindly responded to my plea for definitive evidence of this result.

If you're going to be a successful comedian, you have to have an interest in and understanding of human nature. It made a lot of sense then, that Pamela has been a respected psychotherpaist for the last 16 years. She specialises in sexuality and has done research as well as had a private practice.

As well as that, she wrote a super and frank biography of Billy Connolly, not an easy thing to do when you are so close to the subject.

That's not to say she's just spent the last 16 years sitting behind a desk. She decided to take a year to go sailing in the South Pacific. With that sort of adventurous spirit, it's not surprising that she's done so well on Strictly. She doesn't do anything by half measures, embracing every challenge put to her.

Strictly Partner

It's been quite a job to learn to love James Jordan. After his treatment of Georgina Bouzova in 2006, which verged on the bullying, I absolutely loathed him. He reminded me of some training footage of ice dancers Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean in which he absolutely ripped her to shreds and made me wonder why on earth she'd put up for him for so long. It was literally years before I could even look at him again after I saw that.

It took me a while to find his redeeming features - and there are plenty. He is a fabulous dancer and an inventive, intuitive choreographer who is capable of really suiting routines to the people dancing. His Rumba to Songbird, with Cherie Lunghi was utterly beautiful and tasteful when I suspect someone else (that'd be you, Mr Cole), could make it look brash and inappropriate. He is very funny, as his testosterone fuelled Twitter Banter with Brendan often shows.

He looked to be on course for victory with Gabby Logan in 2007, but while they were technically good, the public didn't warm to them because they made no secret of their desire to win. We British are strange - we're quite happy to encourage ambition, as long as we don't, at any time, show that we want success. Had they had any other dance than the Samba, always a difficult one to impress with, I suspect that they would have beaten Penny Lancaster in the dance off.

It was the Samba that saw him off last year too, in week 7, with Zoe Lucker.

By a little bit of luck, or producer sleight of hand, do you want to take a guess at which dance he and Pamela haven't done?

His wife Ola won last year with Chris Hollins, so will he be able to take home another glitterball to even up the mantlepiece tonight?

Strictly Story

Every so often, the producers put a couple together who have an absolutely magical partnership, bringing out the best in each other. Bill Turnbull and Karen Hardy were one example. Chris Hollins and Ola Jordan were another.

Pamela and James are another great match. Pamela has enough life experience, poise and balls not to take any of James' nonsense. They are two very strong personalities and it could have gone very badly wrong, but Pamela has really got James laughing and toning down his harsh competitive edge while he has appreciated the talent he's been given and taught her extremely well, giving her choreography that shows her at her best. He's appreciated that he has a partner who, despite being past her Diamond Jubilee, will try any challenge given to her and has an inner grace and radiance that is beautiful to watch.

It may be that with her psychological knowledge, she's ensured that she and James have been playing the audience like a fiddle, manipulating us into loving them. But even if that's the case, I don't care. I still love them regardless and could watch them dance all day. And train. And laugh. And talk to Claudia on ITT.

Pamela had a wee trip on her first journey down the famous Strictly stairs, which didn't bode well. Her waltz in week was one of the most beautiful, elegant dances we'd seen. The judges raved about her arm placement, which gave me some confidence as that's what I'd been saying too. The question after week one was could she do Latin? She came out the next week in a scarlet dress and showed that she could deliver an amazing Salsa. The fact that she stumbled, and while she seemed to be on her way to hit the deck, gave a radiant smile and a shimmy before she righted herself and carried on with the dance earned her many fans. "Don't throw Granny on the floor" she said afterwards. And then on It Takes Two the next week, she literally spent five minutes giggling about it with Claudia. I think that moment showed her spirit and even then set her on track to the final.

We knew that she had public support from the unfortunate incident on Hallowe'en. Ok, so she lost her place a couple of times in the Jive, but she actually jived down the stairs. The judges undermarked her, giving her only 27 when she desrved much more leaving her in a perilous bottom of mid table position. She made it through and that was her only real wobble and her only sub 30 score..

She always manages to capture the spirit of the dance and has used her acting skills and comic timing to great effect in her Tango, her cheeky Charleston and 40-scoring magical, ethereal Viennese Waltz to Unchained Melody. Last week she excelled with a dramatic Paso to Lady Gaga's Bad Romance but scored another perfect 40 for a complicated Quickstep which involved a routine with canes at the beginning, a costume change in the middle and a spot of tap dancing on her own.

Pamela's the finalist who's had the most improvement, who's surprised us the most and whose radiance has grown with every dance she's done. In an age obsessed with youth, she's struck a blow back for women with a certain age.

The Dances

First Dance - a beautiful waltz

Best Dances perfection for their Viennese Waltz and Quickstep

My Favourite

It has to be the Charleston. Of course it plays to her comedic strength, but look at how intensely difficult this choreography is. And it shows the depth of trust between them. Those lifts are dangerous. She had to pick him up, then end up a split second later upside down doing a tumble off his back. That takes guts. And to portray the cheeky, slapstick spirit of the dance while you're doing it is remarkable.

I suspect her showdance will have Hollywood panache, elegance and glamour, with a splash of comedy and some outrageous tricks. She's the one I'll be voting for as soon as the lines open tonight and I hope that the whole country will vote for a brave, spirited, funny woman who brings beauty and grace to the dance floor.

The Strictly Finalists 2010: Matt Baker and Aliona Vilani

2010-12-17T19:25:00.003Z

As we wait for the most exciting Strictly Final in years, this is the second of my profiles of each of our deserving finalists, look at their pre Strictly life (as if that actually matters), and Strictly story with their first, best and my favourite of their dances. Kara's is here and Pamela's is here.

Pre-Strictly Life

Matt Baker is another Blue Peter boy made good. Like Simon Groom, who was one of my Blue Peter presenters, he was raised on a farm - but unlike Simon, he is also a accomplished acrobat and gymnast. He wanted to be a physiotherapist, but ended up presenting Blue Peter for seven years instead. Since leaving Blue Peter in 2006, he's been doing various presenting jobs, most notably The One Show and Countryfile. He's also commentated on gymnastics and participated in a previous reality series, Only Fools on Horses, for Comic Relief which was ultimately won by Jenni Falconer. He's also been on tour in a dance show before, Disco Inferno.

So, coming into Strictly, we knew that he had a cheeky chappie side to him, he was incredibly fit and agile, and game for anything. All of these indicate huge potential to do well on the show and he has wowed us with tricks and acrobatic feats never seen before on the show, but which were there to enhance his already natural ability to dance. He's back-flipped off the Judge's desk and ridden a unicycle, for goodness sake. Sometimes the dancing hasn't been as polished as it could have been, but when you consider that he had a full work schedule as well, what he did achieve was spectacular. He has thrown himself in to everything he's been asked to do despite the exhaustion.

Strictly Partner

We didn't learn much about Russian Aliona Vilani last year as she was out very early on after her partner Rav Wilding in the third week. I have to say that I didn't take to her at all. She seemed quite sulky and petulant with few saving graces. This year, it's been very different. She can sometimes be quite fierce and sulky, but anyone who is as obsessed with custard as she is has to have a lot of good in them. She is also very funny and quirky. Her hair is the most garishly unashamed shade of red I have ever seen - although she seems to have put some softer highlights in it for the final. It clashed with everything except her Austin Powers dress. Her inventive choreography has sometimes brought trouble and their marks generally haven't reflected how good their routines are.

Strictly Story

Matt's first move on Strictly was a double cartwheel. I don't know if he's the first ever to do that while wearing a tartan tank top but the evidence exists, so he could end up in the Guinness Book of Records. He could have been mistaken for a professional in that first dance - and he even beat Kara that week by one point. He threw down the gauntlet in style.

He has always been up there at the top of the leaderboard, but the judges' marks haven't always reflected the excellence of their performance. I think that maybe they didn't appreciate Aliona's choregraphy. Their American Smooth was a case in point. Aliona had captured all the drama of the song. It was very untypical to see a man do the Smooth without a suit on.

I said at the time that whoever thought of doing an Argentine Tango to Bat out of Hell should be shot at dawn. Despite that mismatch, they did really well and deserved their 34.

They have established themselves as the couple with the quirkiest choreography and spectacular acrobatics and were dead certs for the final from the very first show.

The Dances

First Dance

That show-stopping cha cha cha

Best Dance

There are two of these, a carefree, bouncy, Samba from Blackpool and a dramatic, edgy Tango from the semi-final. It was strange that Matt managed to achieve his highest and lowest scores in the space of 24 hours in week 11 of the show. His Salsa was uncharacteristically as insipid as the costumes he and Aliona wore on the Friday, but he came out and nailed his Tango on the Saturday.

First though, that spirited Samba, in which he demonstrated beyond any doubt that he knew where his hips were and what they were for. They also really captured the essence of young hearts, running free. And getting a ten for a Samba takes some doing.

And the Tango, to Hung Up, one of my favourite songs.

My Favourite

I have hummed and hawed over my favourite dance. Charleston or Jive, Jive or Charleston. At one point I thought of copping out completely and putting up both. But, because Matt nailed his character so well, and he was so brave in doing the backflip off the Judge's desk on live tv, it has to be Austin Powers. There was next to no Jive content. And they'd spent half the week in the Outer Hebrides - the first week of the snow, too. It was just perfect for the theme and I loved it.

Matt has to start tomorrow night as the favourite - he's a boy, and it's women who vote, and he has charm, pizazz and lots of tricks at his disposal. Their showdance will be acrobatic and fast. He'll have all our hearts racing.

Download X Factor Gamu's Charity Single for Aberlour Child Care Trust

2010-12-17T17:12:00.000Z

I hope you don't mind a bit of an X Factor crossover. I like the way Strictly and the X Factor have not clashed so that it's easy to just sit down with your glass of wine and watch them both on a Saturday night. So, many of you will remember the lovely Gamu Nhengu, who lives in Clackmannanshire. She got through to the Judges' Houses stage and everybody seemed to love her. Unfortunately, Cheryl didn't pick her.

She has recorded a charity single, Where will you sleep this Christmas?, in aid of the charity Aberlour Child Care Trust which helps vulnerable children across Scotland.

Please take some time out of your day today to download this song. As a mum, I find it searingly poignant. Christmas is about helping people and the fantastic folk at Aberlour will make good use of the money it raises. Have a look here at some of the things they do right across Scotland.

The Strictly Finalists 2010: Kara Tointon and Artem Chigvintsev

2010-12-17T11:23:00.003Z

As we wait for the most exciting Strictly Final in years, I thought I'd do a profile of each of our deserving finalists, look at their pre Strictly life (as if that actually matters), and Strictly story with their first, best and my favourite of their dances. Matt's is here and Pamela's is here.

Pre Strictly Life

Kara's been acting since she was a child, playing Brigitta, one of the Von Trapp children, in a production of the Sound of Music,then roles in various team dramas like Dream Team, before playing Dawn in EastEnders for four years. After leaving the show last year, she became the face of Michelle for George underwear at ASDA.

She also has Dyslexia and filmed a documentary about it, called Don't Call me Stupid earlier this year.

Strictly Partner

Russian Artem Chigvintsev made it to the final of So You Think You Can Dance in the US and has been dancing all over the world since he was 15. My friend Elspeth will be particularly interested to know that he was once in the OC - being seduced by an older woman. I think I want to borrow that episode.

He can be quite fierce and exacting and has pushed Kara way beyond her comfort zone. He's given her very complicated choreography from Day One. She's had to master lifts and drops and props and all sorts. Doing the Argentine Tango with a hatstand takes some skill.

If the tabloids are right, though, his ferocity doesn't seem to have put her off him as there is all sorts of speculation in the tabloids about their off screen relationship. I have to say, though, it must make it a lot more difficult in some ways if a Strictly couple are getting it on for all sorts of reasons.

Strictly Story

Kara and Artem don't know what it's like to get a Strictly score of less than 30. They have been that good, from the beginning. They did get away with murder, though, in the lifts department as, until Len laid the law down about half way through the series, all their dances contained some sort of lift. They've also played fast and loose with the format of some of the dances, much to Len's dismay. If their adherence to the rules has not been total, their performances have always been excellent. Their American Smooth caused the biggest division of the judges all season, with a grumpy Len only giving it a 6 while Bruno and Alesha gave them 10. They are taking a risk by doing it again in the final, especially after poor Artem was injured during rehearsals for it. My view is that so what if they were only in hold for a few seconds - it was fabulous.

It looked for a while as if Kara might go the way of people like Emma Bunton and Lisa Snowden who were always panned for being technically good but not giving enough emotionally to their dancing. I wonder if that had more to do with the fact that she had to spend so much time mastering the incredibly difficult choreography Artem gave her. He will squeeze every tiny nuance out of every single phrase in the music. Maybe that intensity was hard to get to grips with at first.

It wasn't until her Paso Doble, danced to the Phantom of the Opera, in week 5, that her performances really started to join head and heart. That was strong, passionate and dramatic and she looked Artem's tempestuous equal on the floor.

I am, frankly, very annoyed that her semi-final performances of Viennese Waltz and Rumba didn't get 40. The Rumba certainly deserved it and Craig really needs to be slapped about the head for that. The Rumba is a hellish dance to master - although it may have been easier if the speculation about their relationship is true. The routine was technically very complicated but still captured the emotional frisson of the dance.

Kara is incredibly graceful and she manages to produce beautiful, fluid, elegant lines. She has this great awareness of what each part of her body is doing - but makes it look effortless. She's also really gone for it in the costume department - really flaunted everything she has, but in a very tasteful way. From the vampish cha cha outfit, to the tinsel two piece she wore for her Charleston, she's looked fabulous.

The Dances

First - Cha Cha Cha Dominatrix style with wardrobe malfunction and fantastic recovery

Best - there are two here, so I might as well put them both up. First a graceful Viennese Waltz, secondly probably the best Rumba on Strictly ever. Up there with Rachel Stevens.

Now, my favourite. I have found it really hard to choose between their Paso, Charleston, Tango and Argentine Tango. I've had to watch them all again several times. In the end, though, the Tango wins. I mean, a hatstand is one thing, but overbalancing a chair and then continuing, seemlessly, a complicated routine is quite another.I also think it shows how everything combines to make a fabulous performance. It's not always about the dancing - the props, dress, make up, acting and music all mix together to give an outstandingly intense performance. It made me think the unthinkable - that it might be better than Zoe and Ian's from five years ago.

Kara is one of the best dancers ever on Strictly and I'm looking forward to seeing their showdance tomorrow. It will no doubt be full of drama and deep intensity.

The Strictly Separation Anxiety has started already

2010-12-16T13:20:00.000Z

I can't believe that we are just two days away from the Strictly Final already. This must have been the fastest series ever.

Every year about this time, I get Separation Anxiety. Claudia Winkleman has been on my tv every day except Saturday since the middle of September and the thought of not seeing her makes me feel a bit sick. How will I cope without her batty hilariousness for a whole nine months?

At least we still have Film 2011 to look forward to. I know that re.l film buffs were less than happy with her appointment. However, I never bothered with the programme before - it was on way too late and an hour of Jonathan Ross in any given week was more than enough. I now have it on series link on the Infernal Wickedness of Sky Plus and I thoroughly enjoy it

Jennie felt that Claudia's knowledge wasn't as broad or as deep as she wanted but maybe those are the very reasons she appeals to my trashy shallowness. My knowledge of film isn't great & nor really is my interest, but I feel like she's dragging me along on a great adventure & making me want to learn more. That surely has to be a good thing. You have to follow her on Twitter to get the maximum effect, though. She went off to see Burleseque at about 8am the other day. That just didn't seem right, somehow. It's the sort of film you'd watch after several cocktails, I feel.

This last week of Strictly is always hard - things like coming to the end of Vincent's Strictly alphabet, or Len's last dance class, or the closing stages of the pro challenge. I still think we should have an ITT on the Monday after the final and around the Christmas Special. Maybe next year.

I am so looking forward to the Final. The right three made it, much as it pained me to lose Scott Maslen. I actually prefer him and the partnership he has with Natalie to Matt and Aliona, but the latter pair have been more consistent.

Do you experience Strictly or Claudia Separation Anxiety and how do you deal with it? I always save a selection of the classic ITTs to watch later so I don't have to go completely Cold Turkey. Ann and Anton and Pamela and James have provided most of my must see again moments. Pamela discussing her Salsa stumble has to be one of the funniest tv moments of the year. Here it is again, just for fun.

Ann to dance with Craig on Strictly Tour

2010-12-03T19:00:00.030Z

When I say Craig, I'd better make it clear that it's not Daniel Craig, I'm talking about, or Wendy Craig, even. Nor Craig Charles, nor Craig David.

In one of the biggest twists in Strictly history, Ann Widdecombe will be doing a special dance with the man whose been cruellest about her weekly performances, judge Craig Revel Horwood. I'm impressed that Craig has put his professional reputation as a choreographer on the line because he'll have his work cut out to do a better job than the genius of Anton Du Beke. Who can forget Ann flying in to dance her Tango, or her finger waving Salsa, or the hilarious Titanic themed Rumba?

I also wonder how the dynamic between Ann and Craig will be. They have a very feisty banter on the show, and that will probably transfer over into their routine. She and Anton have a hilarious relationship, but there are times when she's dancing with him that she looks at him with an almost childlike faith and trust. Will Craig get as much out of her as Anton does, or will he get upset if she refuses point blank to do certain things?

Craig is stretching himself this year - as a judge, director and performer in the show. I'd decided to give the tour a miss on financial grounds this year but now that Ann's going to be there, I kind of think that eating can wait that week. With Patsy, Pamela, Matt and Jimi, also appearing, it'll be well worth seeing.

Erin Boag against the machine

2010-12-03T16:52:00.000Z

If you've been watching It Takes Two, you may have seen Erin Boag giving the Midweek Report the last couple of weeks, with the wonderful machine which makes Claudia feel nauseous and scares the life out of Ian Waite.

Erin, though, has no such fear. Her mastery of the technology is complete. She can make it do things nobody else can and talk quite happily while she's doing it. This may be very wrong, but I kind of had a mental image of her showing her Christmas Special partner Vince Cable some detailed feedback on his performance, drawing for him what he should be doing with the various bits of his body.

Joking aside, though, this gizmo must be an incredible teaching tool.

In Erin's hands, it's her that's scary, not the machine. She is a genius.

Here's this week's in case you missed it. Enjoy.

Anyone fancy a Midnight Tango with Vincent and Flavia?

2010-11-17T09:45:00.000Z

I was cheered last night to read that Strictly Pros and Argentine Tango specialists Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace are touring the UK from the beginning of April to the end of July next year with what seems to be a very sensuous and sultry show called Midnight Tango.

Midnight Tango is set in a late-night bar in downtown Buenos Aires. Vincent and Flavia will be joined by ten of the finest Tango dancers in the world, and, between them, they will take the audience on a journey into the heart of this intoxicating city, as danger and excitement, joy and jealousy, pain and passion combine into a spectacular and explosive evening.

Anyone who has ever been captivated by Vincent and Flavia's spellbinding dances on Strictly will I'm sure love them dancing live on stage. The performances I'm in interested in are in Edinburgh from 28th June to 2nd July, and in Glasgow from 26th-30th July. I'll definitely go along to one of them.

The site also has clips of some of the couple's Strictly highlights, just to give you a wee taster of what to expect.

Ann Widdecombe vs OMG cat

2010-11-10T11:20:00.001Z

Just in case you had the idea that the BBC as on organisation was terribly serious and a bit pompous sometimes, look what it's put up on its own You Tube site - a video, which is going viral, showing the transfixed reaction of a cat watching Ann Widdecombe's descent into the studio the night she did her Tango. I am eternally grateful to my friend James Harrison for alerting me to it on Facebook. It was a very pleasant surprise to wake up to.

It's very funny. Enjoy.

Matt Cutler to appear in Dancing on Ice?

2010-11-06T16:10:00.000Z

If there's anything that can lift the post Strictly Winter gloom, it's the thought that January will bring a new series of Dancing on Ice. It's not the same, but it helps to pass the time on a Sunday night. The next series may well give Strictly fans an extra reason to cheer, though, because the Daily Mail is reporting that Matthew Cutler is going to be in the series. When I say reporting, I mean that he's mentioned in passing in an article that's really about Kerry Katona also being in it.

I really enjoyed his performance on the Strictly stage last weekend and it would be fabulous to see him take to the ice. Given that he's such a talented choreographer, it would be particularly interesting to see whether he'll be able to bring his dance knowledge to the routines, or whether it'll be a hindrance.

Looking more into this, it appears that the Sun had this story in August. It just goes to show that if you insist on taking yourself off to the highlands away from internet access for a week, you are bound to miss something interesting.

Spooky Saturday - the Strictly Hallowe'en Special Review

2010-11-04T13:10:00.000Z

This show could just as easily been subtitled "make up department at play". It was great to see them emerge from their sparkly glittery world and go for the sinister approach.

The first indication we had of their talents was when the show opened with a display of cape twiddling by some half naked young men - the male professionals including former and much missed Strictly dancer Matthew Cutler.

Tess had decided not to go with Hallowe'en black, but wore a split to the thigh reddish brown sparkly dress with a belt that looked like it had bolts of lightening on it.

I always thought that James Jordan was a horny devil (sorry, couldn't resist) but seeing him clad in red, with red eye make up and devil horns was a sight to behold. He and Pamela's jive to a not very good version of Devil Gate Drive was very, very difficult. Starting on the mezzanine, Pamela let no trace show of the difficulty of her descent down the stairs, which included kicks on several stairs and a turn in the middle. I couldn't do that on a flat surface. The routine was tough and included James leapfrogging over her while she was standing up, and a complex lift in which she had to propel herself backwards. All I could say was wow, and I was expecting the judges to be as complimentary as usual. I couldn't believe it when Alesha says that it was messy and tippy toey and lacked punch. Bruno said she'd messed up the steps which I felt was really unfair. To give them 27 for such a complex routine was way out of order.

Then came Tina and Jared's Argentine Tango. How would Cuteness Personified cope with a dance that requires a bit of sleaze and sultriness. Tina was wearing a catsuit made of "pleather", plastic and leather, a concept which had Claudia Winkleman on the point of vomiting on It Takes Two. Now, I have a theory that when Sandy in Grease was done up in the skintight leather and the high heels, she really wasn't that comfortable with it - and Tina's demeanour reminded me of it. In terms of the dance, I felt that she wasn't sharp enough on her kicks, and very unsure at the beginning when she was kicking towards Jared behind her.
I was shocked that she scored more than Pamela at 28, and that Len had said it was her best dance to date. I felt that their cheeky Charleston last week was much better.

Next were Kara and Anton with a fantastic, atmospheric and passionate Paso Doble to the Phantom of the Opera. Kara's lines were beautiful and her steps positive.Everything worked. Her blood red cape dress just added to the dramatic feel. It was no surprise to me that she was given the first 10 of the series, getting 37 in total.

Patsy and Robin's Jive to the Monster mash was heaps of fun but the choreography was pretty simple. They acted it well and the expressions on Patsy's face as she regarded and danced with the monster she had created had great comedic effect. I loved Craig's comment that he wished it were as easy to make a man like Robin. Certainly many people admired his skin tight green shirt. I still don't think it deserved more than Pamela, though and it was well overmarked at 31.

Felicity and Vincent's Viennese Waltz started on the mezzanine where two caped strangers met at a masked ball. The difficulty is that their walk down the stairs took an age - although to have rushed down would not have been in keeping with the dance. I actually enjoyed the atmosphere, but the execution was a bit flawed in places. Their Fleckerl was a bit of a damp squib. Felicity's footwork wasn't fabulous, but her dress, studded with beautiful stone work on the back, was gorgeous. I think that 26 was maybe too generous a mark for them.

Thriller really had to feature in a Hallowe'en dancing show and it was Jimi and Flavia who had that particular honour. Their Paso was very good, with Jimi sporting some very weird zombie contacts. You would think he was a born zombie, honestly. He lifted Flavia using a cape which was very trusting on her part. I just keep thinking of what could have gone wrong. Len criticised the cape work afterwards, but (and here's the benefit of writing this up after seeing Karen Hardy's Choreography corner on ITT) apparently he'd picked it up by the wrong end so it was never going to flow as it should, no matter what he did to it. They scored 30 which I think was merited - although, at the risk of sounding boring, this was more the sort of mark Pamela should have had.

I felt the music choice of Time Warp for a Jive would be quite confusing but Brendan made it work for himself and Michelle. I was impressed that Michelle's footwork seemed to be a lot more positive than it has been. Len had a go at them for doing more Time Warp than jive for the last part of the routine, but what else can you do to that chorus? She's shown she could do the Jive stuff and I felt it was all in keeping. Brendan answered back to Len and the two of them had a bit of a barney which ended with Len telling Brendan to "turn up, keep up and shut up". There's nothing like a bit of a row to bring in votes for someone who's been in the bottom two for the last two weeks, some might say. Maybe I've been involved in politics for so long that I see conspiracy theories in everything.......... I reckon that it merited 7s, and Len was a bit mean with 6, and Alesha and Bruno over generous with 8s, so they ended up with 29.

Gavin Henson's trick to gain attention this week was to dance his Paso half naked and it didn't work for me. Craig was right that his dance was basically just posturing. I really don't see what he brings to the show. The Paso suited him better than other dances because he could just stomp around and be moody, but the sooner he goes the better as far as I'm concerned. 26 marks for stomping around the stage for a minute and a half was outrageous over marking.

I'd been a bit nervous about Scott and Natalie after failing to see what was so good about their Tango last week when everyone else raved about it, but Natalie had choreographed a Viennese Waltz that left me breathless. That's quite an achievement for a dance that is not known for its ability to thrill. Dancing around a huge cauldron in the floor, their fleckerl up the steps was beautifully done and, like the song they were dancing to, it certainly put a spell on me. I'm not sure it was three tens good, but it was certainly atmospheric and dramatic. Scott's posture was much improved, partly because of the invention of a character for him to play, Farquhar, who's apparently very much the straight-backed toff. His arm placement is also getting better and better.

I had wondered if the thought of Ann Widdecombe dancing the Paso to Wild Things on Hallowe'en might cause some sort of fissure in the fabric of the Universe. Would we survive? Their training footage showed them being trick or treated by a load of children in costume and having a bit of a dance around to them.

Unfortunately, Anton was far too modestly dressed for the proceedings. Ann certainly seemed to capture the aggressive spirit of the dance and coped with a couple of throws, landing them well. When Anton spun her, she remembered to point her toes, which was a big improvement. I feel when she looks up at Anton sometimes, she has an almost childlike quality about her. Very sweet. There's something else I never thought I'd say about Ann Widdecombe. They did their best but I really think Anton needs to try to get her to sort her arms out.

With Ann it's always the confrontation with the Judges which is as much fun as the dance. Alesha laughed at Ann's habit of counting out loud to keep time, Len said watching her was a bit like rubber necking at a road accident, Bruno finding yet another nautical metaphor for her (HMS Aptitude this time), Craig just saying OMG. They went back to their week one score of 16, which I think was fair. Ann got her own back in Tess's tower, denouncing them as the miseries, who hadn't given her credit for getting every step right.

Whoever had the idea to put an Argentine Tango to Bat out of Hell should probably be shot at dawn. Quite a mismatch. Despite that, Matt and Aliona coped, with some good story telling. In a homage to Meatloaf, Matt was in an old fashioned leather jacket. It looked a bit like Gene Hunt on the floor, but a Gene Hunt who knew how to show a lady a very good time, if you know what I mean. The overhead lifts were fabulous and although Len had a moan about them, they were very bat like. I also loved the way Matt had had a flash of Aliona's hair colour dyed into his. I think they deserved their 34.

I ended the show very worried for Pamela and James who were had gone from consistently topping the leaderboard to fourth from the bottom. It appears that Ann, Pamela and Gavin all have an element of public vote because people wanted to save them - leaving Tina, languishing in mid table, to be the casualty. I suspected she might find herself in trouble but I'd hoped that Gavin would go. Maybe next week.

I really think the theme evening worked well. Sometimes the Christmas stuff is too stilted, but maybe they could do things like 60s, 70s or 80s themed nights. It was good to see them make such good use of their fancy new lighting walls with witches, bats moons and all manner of spooky things.

All in all, more good work, building this year's claim to be the best series for 5 years.

Do you have the iPhone SCD App?

2010-10-30T18:15:00.006+01:00

Just while we're waiting for Strictly to start this evening, I was wondering if those of you with iPhones had found this SCD app? It's not official, but it's a veritable hive of information. You can update it as often as you like to get up to the minute Strictly geekery. It has profiles of the contestants from all 8 series, scores for every dance ever, top 10s of dances, celebrities, professional dancers, all of the above split into Latin and ballroom, as well as selected videos. It's a Strictly addict's dream.

It also has the voting numbers, so if you happen to be out, you don't have to rely on people to text you the number like I did when we went to see Doctor Who Live the other week. And, being an iPhone, you just have to touch the number and it dials it for you. Bliss.

There's even a Showdown feature so you can see how two dancers performed comparatively. I've just run some James v Brendan stuff and they're very evenly matched.

It's probably the best £1.79 I've ever spent.

James Jordan and Brendan Cole - the Twitter Rematch

2010-10-30T14:41:00.000+01:00

Remember a couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how James Jordan and Brendan Cole had lit up Twitter one night with a bit of playful banter?

Well, last night those bad boys were at it again - and it got personal. By the end of the evening, I had giggled a lot.

I'm sure neither of them are doing this as a ploy to get votes for tonight, of course - although Brendan probably needs them more given that Michelle has been in the bottom two for the last two weeks.

Anyway, in case you missed it, here it is.

James Jordan started it with:

Guys @thebrendan_cole is getting a bit old now, so enjoy his dancing while you can. He's starting to struggle to keep up with us young ones.

He followed up with:

@thebrendan_cole Oh yes, you did win Strictly once!! Was that before or after I was born. How many years ago. And 8 couples right.(easy)

and then

I think @thebrendan_cole has admitted defeat! To scared to reply!!!!

Brendan was quiet until he delivered the killer line:

@StrictlyJordan... I'm not too scared to reply, I'm having dinner with your wife!

James: You can have her!! If you can afford her shopping habits !
Brendan: @StrictlyJordan...if you like I can retire after this series so you have a chance? Am out to dinner can't tweet anymore. Ola says hi x
James: Brendan Cole announces retirement on Strictly after this series!!.... We will all miss you mate....
Brendan: Would just like to clarify I have no intention right now to retire from SCD! Was purely thinking about giving @StrictlyJordan chance to win

In between times, Brendan's wife Zoe Hobbs Cole had tweeted James Jordan saying

@strictlyjordan. Dinner? X James: I'm in room 432 babe!!!

This is actually where the fun got multidimensional, as Zoe teasingly later tweeted:

Would anybody like my Husband? I'm a bit fed up with him! Any offers will be considered. Willing to swap for shoes or handbags.

She was quickly admonished by her husband:

OUCH! Harsh but fair I suppose! You'll still be punished!

But his dance partner, Michelle Williams loved it:

ha hahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

She too faced being karmically retributed, to coin a phrase of this week;
I suppose you think the same as @Zoe_Hobbs? You'll pay too!
I won't bore you with the subsequent arm punch challenge, but you can see it for yourself on their Twitter feeds if you like. James is here and Brendan here.
For me, these exchanges show that Strictly, as well as X Factor, has a talented Mrs Cole and we'll give her the last word:
Actually I think I'd rather have dinner with @StrictlyOla than either of the boys!
Me too!

Aladdin to star in the Strictly Christmas special

2010-10-29T11:42:00.000+01:00

Well, not the real Aladdin, obviously, but the scrumplicious John Barrowman, who's playing the pantomime character at the SECC in Glasgow between 11th December and 9th January.

I do hope that the Strictly producers are kind to us and give him a Latin dance to show him off at his best. It would be very unfair of them to hide his best attributes with ballroom bow tie and tails.

He's going to be a busy man - they normally film the Christmas special either the Monday before or the Monday after the final, so either way, he's going to have started his run in in panto. I wonder if he'll have to miss a performance to take part. Either way, his professional partner is going to have to come up to Glasgow to train. All I can say is that from 12th December, there is a new train line from Glasgow virtually to my back door. Either of them are welcome to pop round for a cup of tea.

Is anyone else thinking that John and Ola would be a smokin' hot combination which would have something for everyone and she deserves a treat after being partnered with Paul Daniels.

I can't wait!

In the meantime, here's a clip of him singing "Anything you can do, I can do better" with Ruthie Henshall which can be found on You Tube here.

Is Laila Rouass the luckiest woman on earth?

2010-10-27T13:00:00.014+01:00

This time last year, Laila Rouass was in Strictly. And not only that, she got to dance with Anton. Ok, he may have put his usually nimble feet right in it a couple of times in a manner for which he rightly had to humbly apologise, but they were still good together and they made it to the Quarter Final.

Here is their American Smooth:

I was thrilled that Anton actually had a partner who could dance and it was fabulous that he managed to get all the way to December.

Anyway, since then Laila has landed a role in Spooks and, more importantly, this week has seen her in the Sarah Jane Adventures as the Colonel in UNIT who comes to break the news of the Doctor's death.

I've watched both parts of Death of the Doctor on CBBC earlier in the week, but they're on BBC 1 today and tomorrow at 4.30 pm.The story is brilliant and it's fair to say that Ms Rouass looks mighty fetching in UNIT uniform.

In the last year, she's had two of my absolute dream jobs, covering two of my absolute favourite programmes. Not bad at all.

Ann Widdecombe appearing in Clacton on 29th November

2010-10-27T09:27:00.001+01:00

If you'd told me a year ago that I'd be plugging an event involving Tory blogger Iain Dale and former Conservative Home Office Minister Ann Widdecombe, I'd have laughed in your face.

However, since then, Dale has revealed his soft underbelly as a charming and silver tongued radio host (on LBC every weeknight between 7 and 10, which even I try and listen to from Scotland) and Miss Widdecombe, as we all know, has been reborn as a national treasure because of the way she's making us all smile every Saturday night on Strictly.

Iain is hosting an Audience with Ann in Clacton on 29th November. Whilst he complains about perhaps having to widen the range of the show,

I have an awful feeling we're going to have to alter our tried and tested opening routine to include some sort of dancing. You probably didn't think there was a worse dancer in the country than Ann. But I can assure you there is....

he is not above using Strictly to entice people in and take their £8 of them. Oh, and I'm sure he must have been talking about Gavin Henson when he mentioned a worse dancer than Ann.....

I actually suspect that it will be worth going to if you are in the area. Iain may be a Tory, but his interviews with people both on the radio and in his Total Politics magazine are always interesting. I still feel quite uncomfortable about Ann - she did some thing I find hard to stomach in Government and she has some highly illiberal views but on the other hand, I love her spirit and attitude to the Strictly experience. Until someone persuades Jo Swinson to go on Strictly (and she'd be good), this is as close as I'm going to get to seeing my passions for Strictly and politics combined.

I can't imagine that the Ann and Iain Show will be coming to Scotland any time soon, but I'd go if it did.

Tutus, unicycles, light boxes: the week Strictly went Eurovision. Series 8, Week 4

2010-10-24T13:25:00.000+01:00

I have to say, last night's show was one of the best ever. You could see that it would have potential, with the promise of dramatic, sensual tangos, and cheeky, lively Charlestons - but it exceeded all expectations. I even laughed at some of Bruce's jokes.

Tess's dress was the sleekest and loveliest of the series so far, a black, one shouldered number. The only problem was that my eyes were drawn to its left armhole which seemed to be unnecessarily deep. That probably wasn't quite the point. Thankfully when she went up to her tower, that side was away from the camera.

Anyway, first up were Jimi Mistry and Flavia Cacace. I wondered if we'd landed in Eurovision land when their routine started off with them in light boxes. They gave a whole new meaning to having fun with the neighbours as they each exited their respective "houses" and danced an energetic and fun Charleston which included cartwheels (Craig was right, though to point out that Jimi needed to straighten his legs), leapfrogs and cane twirling. Flavia really goes for broke. If Jimi had missed those leapfrogs, I shudder to think what state her neck would be in. I was shocked that it wasn't as well received by the judges as it should have been. Despite warm words about the storytelling, Craig only gave it a 6, which I thought was very mean.

Next was Scott and Natalie's Tango. Last year, while I liked Natalie, her choreography just didn't inspire me. I wasn't over keen on Ricky Whittle, so I thought that might have had something to do with it because I've been blown away with her dances with Scott so far. Last night, though, all the judges were full of praise, saying it was the best dance of the series, but I just didn't get it. It was good, but not spectacular. I felt that they hadn't quite maximised the drama and captured the staccato element of the Tango. I was not alone, as several friends on Twitter agreed with me. I felt hat Natalie's dress, in a hideous shade of yellow, didn't help. Having said all that, the way Bruno says Scott with his whole body, is becoming a favourite moment of every week. What will he do by Christmas if, as I hope, they stay in? I felt the dance was overmarked at 35. I'd have given it an 8 rather than a 9, I think.

It was great to see Tina O'Brien back from her absence with Chicken Pox. I had that particular disease as an adult so I know how much it takes out of you. That she could come back within a week and dance a cute and utterly charming Charleston was incredible. It wasn't the best, and Craig was right about her footwork being a bit sloppy, but it was extremely enjoyable if a little overmarked at 29. Tess's joke about her knocking the spots of the competition was taken in good grace by Tina. I remember I used to get really annoyed about it.

Just as an aside, I found the image put into my head by tweeter @willjpatterson suggesting that Jared looked like David Miliband. Cruel. Too cruel.

Introducing Felicity and Vincent's tango, Bruce reminisced about her series The Good Life, talking about cars which ran on parsley. He said that he wanted to see a train that ran on thyme. Not a bad effort. A bit like the Tango, which had all the atmosphere, passion and just the right amount of sleaziness. Her kicks didn't have as much oomph as they could have but they did a beautiful floor spin and the tango ended in a full on kiss. The training footage was hilarious - Felicity not knowing her left from her right so Vincent putting a banana in one boot and an apple in the other. Their score of 29 was pretty much on the money, I thought.

Patsy Kensit looked like a very frightened Velma Kelly from Chicago in her dark wig. Their Charleston was competent but to be honest it didn't really grab me. In fact, in the middle it lost me completely. She does seem a lot more comfortable and confident out of hold. It was outrageous that Craig marked this the same as Jimi's because the latter was much better in my opinion and I'm not sure it deserved 28.

Then came Gavin and Katya. Gavin's training footage included an entirely unconvincing attempt to psych out Scott, Jimi and Matt. Their Tango may not have been toxic, but it was certainly slightly contaminated. Gavin's face looked like Katya had farted. His footwork wasn't positive enough and had none of the sharpness and staccato that the Tango needs. 23 was just about what it deserved.

Not even Gary Lineker turning up in training and Erin in an incredibly sexy short skirt, waistcoat and stockings outfit could save Peter Shilton's Charleston. To describe it as dire would be possible if I were in a very charitable mood. Peter just didn't get the steps or the timing and the transitions to and from the lifts were awful. Nice guy, like him, love Erin, but the 17 they got was where it's at. Erin was on the ball, making a plea for votes as soon as the score was in.

The Pamela and James comedic power struggle continued. I wondered if James would repeat his actions on Friday's It Takes Two where he made Pamela get down and give him 20 press ups in the middle of the dance. It was great to see Billy Connolly visit them in training and suggest that he may have picked up a few hints and tips from James in how to handle Pamela. Good luck to him on that one. If he wants to delude himself of that, then we should probably just humour him.

The Tango itself was everything a Tango should be. Maybe (whisper) Pamela's kicks weren't quite as pointy toed and sharp as they could have been, but it had enough staccato for everyone. It was sharp and stealthy and passionate and dramatic. And undermarked at 34.Another sensational performance from Pamela.

Matt Baker had adorned himself with a really hideous handlebar moustache, white braces and a very cheeky grin. Aliona had adorned herself with a tutu. Before a note was played, it looked like this could be Strictly's quirkiest dance ever - and Matt's entrance on a unicycle confirmed that. I felt that their Charleston was almost too cleanly executed, but that really didn't detract from its overall brilliance. It had that bendy legged look down to perfection and was probably the most slapstick one since Chris and Ola's last year but had a much higher level of difficulty. I would have had them on top of the leader board rather than Scott and Natalie, so I felt that they were slightly undermarked.

Sadly, Brendan Cole's dad passed away last Saturday. I totally admire the professionalism which got him through last week's rumba and I'm full of sympathy for him. His departure for New Zealand meant that Tango king Ian Waite took his place. This was his first competitive Tango since the spectacular dance he performed with Zoe Ball in series 3. I think this was Michelle's best dance yet, although she still doesn't have that certainty in her legs or footwork. Her arm movements were good, but again could have been done with greater flamboyance. The major mistake in the footwork was Ian's, which he was quick to own up to. Michelle's dress was a bit bizarre, with a flesh coloured bodice underneath big holes in the silver fabric. I just loved seeing Ian back. It would make the series perfect if he, Darren, Matthew and Lilia were given celebrities again. Their 27 was about right.

It was a pity, or maybe not, that they'd run out of budget for a dress for Kara, sending her out in a silver fringed bikini. Her Charleston was lovely and performed with absolutely no gimmicks. It was quite serious until she had her bottom spanked during one of the lifts.

And then came the Ann and Anton Tango, heavily trailed in the press as Ann was to be the first celebrity to make an airborne entrance. Ann really is a game old bird, saying to Anton "I can flap if you want me to". She looked lovely - her hair had been tamed into a sleek style and she wore black sparkly trousers and flapped her arms as she was lowered to the floor. It seemed to take quite a while to get her out of the harness so we had to watch Anton prowling about on his own. Nowt wrong with that. The surprise of the routine is that Ann actually did some proper footwork and the end, where Anton presented her with a rose and she kicked him back was beautifully done. They said that they were aiming for 19 points and they ended up with 21.

Ann gets the first word in with Craig every week - this week it was that the Ark Royal had been decommissioned so she was the Flying Fortress. Craig retorted that they were like dancing hippos. Len rightly observed that watching her descend was easily worth half the tv licence fee.

What was remarkable is that Ann said in Tess's tower that she was terrified of heights. You would never have thought it the way she just got on with it. And she pushed all the buttons of the Anton fans by saying that "if you had Anton waiting for you on the dance floor, wouldn't you fly in?" Oh yes. And then some.

How on earth this show is going to be bettered next week, I don't know.

I just hope they stay in. There are a few who should go before those two - Gavin, Peter and Michelle, that would be you I'm talking about.

Ann Widdecombe flies through the air with the greatest of ease

2010-10-23T16:51:00.000+01:00

In just over an hour, Ann Widdecombe will make Strictly history by being the first celebrity (and the second dancer after Flavia Cacace) to "fly" into Anton's arms at the start of their Tango.

I can't wait to see it, but, to whet our appetites, those nice people behind the BBC's Strictly Twitter account have given us a photograph of Ann in the dress rehearsal.

She's a braver woman than I, that's all I'm saying. For that alone, she deserves to stay in this week.

Pamela, Claudia and that stumble

2010-10-22T14:00:00.023+01:00

Two of the women I admire most in the world, mainly for their slightly off the wall sense of humour and total passion for whatever it is they're doing, are Pamela Stephenson and Claudia Winkleman. Having them both in the same room at the same time twice per week (on the results show and It Takes Two) has got to have some good effect on the Universe.

Claudia always makes her interviews sound a bit like an improvised chat and she is naturally very funny. Put her together with one of the greatest innovative comedy minds of her generation, and you're going to get laughter.

This is from last week's It Takes Two. I know it's a bit late to post it here, but it's good to be reminded of such comedy moments. I defy you to watch Pamela and Claudia talking about Pamela's stumble in the Salsa and not end up crying with laughter.

How Edinburgh caught Strictly Fever

2010-10-22T09:02:00.000+01:00

Last Saturday, Bob, Anna and I headed into Edinburgh for the Strictly Come Dancing Roadshow in the city's Festival Square. Anna and Bob had been at a Doctor Who event earlier in the year at the same venue.

When we arrived, Anna and I were sent to the gazebo, with a proper dance floor, where they were teaching people to do Karen Hardy's 20 step Cha Cha Cha.

It would have definitely helped if we had actually had time to learn Karen's dance, but it didn't really matter that we hadn't. If you want to go to events in Swansea or Plymouth this weekend, here it is:

We were put through our paces for a good 20 minutes by choreographer Susie Harvey, pictured here later with Anna:

She was very patient with us, particularly those of us who could manage the footwork reasonably well, but found co-ordinating it with the opposite arms, moving in opposite directions a bit, well, challenging.

Anna, however, was really good at it. She really managed to master the footwork and enjoyed it.

At the allotted hour, we were invited out to dance in the square itself in front of the big screen.

First of all, the Edinburgh Dance School showed us what dancing was really all about by performing an excellent American Smooth. I caught some of it on video - and somebody decided to pop up and say hello while I was filming.

Then it was our turn. We were supposed to dance the routine 4 times. Tess Daly had recorded a message for us and there was a bit of a trailer of the new series. Then there was a slightly extended version of Karen's video, and then we had to dance the routine 4 times, led by choreographer Marisa.

To say that I was shockingly bad, and that John Sergeant and Ann Widdecombe would have been like Fred and Ginger in comparison, is an understatement. They had told us that we were going to be filmed but somehow that didn't compute in my head to the idea that I, on my own, would be appearing on the Big Screen in front of me. When I looked up and saw that , there was a bit of a comedy moment when I said "Oh Yikes" and tried to hide. Having said that, I got some of it right, some of the time, felt like I'd had some exercise and felt very happy at the end. You can't do something like that and not feel happy. I've often thought that dance is a much healthier mood enhancer than virtually anything else.

Anna really enjoyed herself too. She wouldn't sit through a whole programme, but she liked actually dancing.

I think it would have been nicer if they'd had some freebies to hand out, or even some Strictly merchandise to sell, but I guess in these straitened times, etc....

Having said that, it was free to take part and a thoroughly enjoyable way of spending an hour on a Saturday afternoon. Here are details of this weekend's events If you like Strictly even a little bit, you'll love it, I promise.

And look who else was there?

Sizzling Salsas and Filthy Foxtrots - a review of Strictly Season 8 Week 2

2010-10-16T11:28:00.000+01:00

Yes, I know - a week on, this is a bit late - and because I am off in a bit to the Strictly Roadshow in Edinburgh, it's going to be a bit short, but I wanted to at least get something down before this week's show. Unfortunately I won't be able to watch it live tonight as I'll be with my daughter at Doctor Who Live at the SECC. We had originally booked for Thursday night so as to avoid this sort of clash but the performance was cancelled so we had to rearrange.

Anyway, back to last week.Tess is back to the short dresses. This week it was greyish brown satin that was a bit like a bathrobe on back to front. If that doesn't sound very appealing, well, it wasn't. Sorry, Tess.

First to dance were Matt and Aliona with a wickedly filthy foxtrot that ended up with Aliona on top of Matt on the floor. It was very sexy, sultry and seductive, although the clash of Aliona's pink/red hair and her purple dress was a bit distracting. The bit at the end where Matt jumped on top of Aliona was really spectacular. On It Takes Two, it was pointed out that Aliona clearly trusted him because he was using his gymnastic skills to stop himself from hurting her. If that move had gone wrong, he would have landed on her with a hell of a force. Their 31 was well deserved.

Next up were Peter and Erin whose Salsa was as uncomfortable to watch as I expected it to be. Erin was doing a lot of the work with Peter looking clumsy and very laboured in places. I couldn't work out whether he was enjoying it or was embarrassed by what he was doing. He doesn't really seem to have found his hips, either. Craig was a bit mean by saying that it looked like he'd broken his ankle, but it couldn't really have been marked any higher than 17.

When Tina and Jared were shown just before their dance, Tina's fixed grin didn't fill me with confidence. She actually said to Tess later that she didn't know if it looked like a grimace or not - it had. However the dance was much more confident. The bits out of hold where they were shadowing each other were really pretty - and Len picked up on them so I must have been right. They ended up with 26.

One of the biggest surprise of the night was Patsy Kensit. Gone was the nervous, needy lady from last week and she rocked! Apparently she and Robin had had only a few hours' training because she was filming her final scenes in Holby. It looked great superficially and I enjoyed her dance because she did, but despite the sultriness, beneath the surface thee wasn't that much in the way of Salsa content, her arm placement wasn't very good. The gimmicks and drop at the end were very eye catching, though. I felt that their 28 for it was a bit over generous, but I loved it.

Paul and Ola's foxtrot was much better than I thought it was going to be. Again, the 21 was a bit more than it should have got, but Paul did well for someone who really doesn't get rhythm and beat, which you really need in a Foxtrot. It was quite pleasant and it was very funny when he put in earplugs at the end so he couldn't hear the judges' comments. I creased up when Bruno asked him why he couldn't do it well all the way through and Paul replied "because I can't remember it".

From sweet ballroom to another cracking salsa from Scott and Natalie. They looked very hot in their checked shirts and Nat's glittery skin tight trousers. However, I'm not sure that Scott's vest was strictly necessary. I mean, it can't have been so cold in the studio that he needed a vest and a shirt open to his navel, surely? This was sexy, energetic and fun and I loved the start on the mezzanine. Those two have a fantastic connection and chemistry. I felt it lost momentum for a wee bit in the middle but it thoroughly deserved 32. As the song they danced to says, "Let's hear it for the boy....."

Michelle to be honest sat on her backside on the park bench they'd brought in for too long while Brendan did all the pizzazzy bits like sliding down the banister. They also danced to It has to be you which, and this is not their fault, was used by Anton and Patsy Palmer for their American Smooth the week they went out so it makes me cry. It was much better with their Cha Cha Cha once it got going though with some fast footwork.

Goldie & Kristina's foxtrot had a kind of sleazy smokiness to it, which wasn't a bad thing. Their hold wasn't fabulous, with loads of gapping and it was quite patchy with some bits being nailed and others not being so good. Craig loved the choreography and commended Goldie for trying to go off on his heels.

Pamela and James would any other night have been my absolute favourite dance of the night, but they have to share the top billing with Ann and Anton, but more of that later.Their pre dance training clip showed more very funny banter between them about who was in control. The routine started with James lying on the judges' desk and Pamela approaching in a doctor's coat - which she soon ripped off to reveal a fabulous full scarlet salsa dress split to the thigh which was incredibly well designed. Their dance was so good and they really conveyed the party spirit. I want to go to a carnival in Rio with that woman. She did some complicated stuff - floor slides, great hips, beautiful arm placement and spins. One move nearly ended in disaster. She'd spun round, on the floor and when she got up it looked like she was going to fall over. Undaunted, even though she was teetering and trying to regain her balance, she shimmied and smiled and managed stay upright. That will be one of the classic moments of this series and was much laughed about on Monday's ITT. All the people who thought that she was going to be a ballroom girl and her Latin would be rubbish were crying into their beer. I actually want to see her win this series with the promise and spirit she's shown so far. Their 32 propelled them into the overall lead for the two dances.

Felicity and Vincent's foxtrot wasn't as convincing as the Cha Cha Cha. It was a bit walky in places but still very cute. I just love them even though they only managed 25.

And now for the moment of all 8 series of Strictly and possibly the tv moment of the year if not the decade - Ann and Anton's Salsa. The clip of Anton saying to Ann "I'd like you to take out the heaving if you could" to Ann in training had me in fits of giggles before they even started dancing. Their song, Mambo Italiano, slowed down a bit seemed out of place with Ann in a long blue dress and shoes with a very low heel. I had been disappointed earlier that Anton's shirt was buttoned up to the neck as I thought he'd have gone for as much gratuitous chest flashing as possible. He did rip open his shirt and then Ann gave him a searing look of disapproval, wagged her finger, and did it up again. She did, however, get to touch it. That alone makes me jealous of her.

You could see them talking and laughing together all the way through. At times Ann looked a bit like a child, and Anton looked like he was encouraging her through. They seemed to lose what little momentum they had at the end, though, which we found out much later that they'd missed a great load out. The routine ended with Anton spinning Ann round several times - a risky manoeuvre given that they could hardly afford to lose the points.

The whole thing was hilarious and bless Anton for his talented choreography. That man knows how to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse. Ann came out fighting to the judges "Don't bother, you haven't got a zero, just give us 1 and be done with it" she said to Craig, who actually laughed. He replied that he couldn't find one single word in the English language which described what 10 million people had just seen.

Ann wanted to do a salsa that Queen Victoria would have watched without blushing - but I think she'd have needed smelling salts for a different reason. Their 12 was a fair mark for the dancing but it deserved a 40 for the entertainment value.

Following that, was a brilliant foxtrot from Kara and Artem. She made heel turns look easy and she and Artem have a gorgeous chemistry. They deserved their 32.

The less said about Gavin and Katya's salsa the better. His comment "I hate the salsa" in the training footage set the scene. His hips looked set in concrete and the whole thing was so lacklustre that not even Katya's barely there pink dress and flashing his abs could rescue it. I so want him to go. That is a minute and a half of my life I am not going to get back.

The show ended with Jimi and Flavia dancing to Fever. This was much hotter than Henson's and believably sexy. I wonder if Flavia is sexing things up to match Natalie and Aliona. If so, more power to her elbow. It looked great, lots of fast footwork, it matched the music well and was well acted, earning them 30.

It was a great show - and I am wondering if this could shape up to be the best series ever.

Ann and Anton's Salsa - TV Moment of the year, surely

2010-10-13T08:29:00.000+01:00

I am acutely aware that I haven't published my review of Saturday's show yet - blame a combination of poorly child and Vince Cable. I'm hoping to do so later today but in the meantime, here's the absolute highlight of the show, if not the series.

It had to be the most anticipated dance in Strictly history for all the right reasons. I defy you not to laugh.....

Anton is a genius!

Bad Boys Brendan and James Banter on Twitter

2010-10-12T20:37:00.000+01:00

You might have deduced in previous years that Strictly bad boys Brendan Cole and James Jordan had turned into sweet ickle fluffity bunnikins over the past few years. Last year Brendan was so sweet with Jo and the year before very encouraging with Lisa - no sign of his strops with Sarah Manning. James has not shown any sign of abrasiveness since his first year with Georgina Bouzova.

Their tempers may not have returned by their swaggering, edgy bad boy banter is making me cry with laughter on Twitter from time to time. Take, for example, this exchange from last Friday morning:

Brendan: Need to find way to stop elbowing my wife in the face while sleeping! It's starting to upset her? Don't know why, I don't do it in purpose!
James: Just tell her to sleep in the other room mate!
Brendan: I like it! Wonder what she'll say?
James: I do understand her too. You do move a lot in your sleep!! Annoyed me!
Brendan: You are filth! People will start to believe you! Great rumour!
The moral of the story is never to believe anything James says on Twitter. Last night he was accepting congatulations on Ola's pregnancy - except she isn't pregnant. And by the end of the evening, both Vincent and Brendan were suggested as beimg responsible for this non pregnancy. I guess you had to be there at the time but it was very funny and one very good reason to follow these two on Twitter.

Learn Karen Hardy's Cha Cha Cha for Strictly Roadshow events

2010-10-07T16:45:00.000+01:00

Those nice BBC people are running a series of roadshows around the UK to get us all dancing in the streets this month. The Edinburgh event is on Saturday 16th October between 10 and 4 in Festival Square outside the Sheraton Hotel.

Do any fellow Scottish Strictly fans fancy coming with me? All we have to do is learn this routine put together by former Strictly pro and ITT choreography commentator Karen Hardy. Simples.

I have to be honest and say that I expect to look like a Baby Elephant (sorry Millennium,darling) who has taken a small quantity of sedative or alcohol or both while I do this, but I'm willing to give it a go even if I end up making a prize arse of myself.

It should be fun. Earlier this year, there was a similar big screen event for the new series of Doctor Who. I didn't go but Bob and Anna did. She was chased by a cyberman and had a whale of a time.

I will probably want to go in the morning or very early afternoon as we have Doctor Who Live in the evening and I might need a rest, but who fancies coming along for a tweetup?

Strictly Come Dancing Twitterati - updated with Anton and others

2010-10-05T19:30:00.000+01:00

I thought it might be a good idea to try to list all the various Strictly related Twitter accounts so that you can follow them if you wish. It seems that a lot of the professional dancers and celebs have woken up to the advantages of a good relationship with Twitter followers. I've split them up into various categories - official Dancers, Celebs, and judges, fan groups, blogs and good fans to follow during the Saturday night shows.

All the pros are on except Anton and Vincent, which is a shame because they would both be good value.

There are bound to be some accounts I've missed out - if you want to be on the list,or you know of any I've missed, please put the details in the comments and I'll add to the main directory.

So, without further ado:

Official Twitter Feeds:

BBC

BBC Strictly

Claudia Winkleman

Judges

Craig Revel Horwood

Alesha Dixon

2010 Celebs

Paul Daniels

Tina O'Brien

Michelle Williams

Jimi Mistry

Matt Baker

Kara Tointon

Goldie

Scott Maslen - not updated by him personally but an official site

Peter Shilton - not verified

2010 Professionals

Anton Du Beke - yes, really, absolutely - Yippee!

Aliona Vilani

Kristina Rihannof

Erin Boag

Ola Jordan

Katya Virshilas

Natalie Lowe

Flavia Cacace

Jared Murillo
murillonetwork - says it's official. Will give benefit of doubt for now.

Brendan Cole

James Jordan

Robin Windsor

Artem Chigvintsev

Dance Troupe

Ian Waite

Former Professionals (sob)

Matthew Cutler

Nicole Cutler

Lilya Kopylova

Camilla Dallerup

Karen Hardy Studios

Brian Fortuna

Former Judge

Arlene Phillips

Unofficial and Fan Feeds

Team Alesha

Team Ola Jordan

Team Robsy - for Patsy and Robin fans

Team Felicity

BrenMichSCD - forMichelle and Brendan

Team AliMatt
Team Aliona Angel

Team Tointon
Team Kartem

Team Virshilas
Team Gatya

Team Erin Boag

Team Murillo
Team Tina O'Brien

Team ScottSCD
Team Scottalie
Team Maslen

Team PamJam

Team Widdecombe

Team Flavistry

Strictly Series 8

SCD Fans

Layla Tango

Tweam SCD

Bloggers and Commentators

Matt Ball

Strictly Blog's Frankie and Clover

Strictly Come Blogging's Loulabelle

Strictly Goss

Mine

Jaye Nolan

Graeme Robertson

Antony Holeksa - Learn to Dance

Elizaday24

Good people to watch Strictly with

Soggous

Sarahgb

MammyDalby

Stephenpglenn

andyreeves

billiwilliams

Mags Haliday

OMG, Anton Du Beke is on Twitter - really!

2010-10-05T16:57:00.000+01:00

Billi can be a bit obsessive about Anton Du Beke, not at all in any way like me, of course, but that can be useful some times. She was kind enough to send me an invitation on Facebook to "like" Anton's new page.

Like? I think I can go a bit further than that. Our boy seems to have embraced the technical age as enthusiastically as he embraced the Widdy on Saturday night.

He's also taken up Twitter and seems to be updating both this and Facebook himself in his own inimitable and utterly charming style. My Strictly Come Dancing Twitterati has been duly updated.

Let's just have a reminder of his and Ann's training footage - it's absolutely hilarious. Full of humour, and typical Anton mini-rants, it's unmissable.

He and Ann were brilliant on It Takes Two last night. I'm sure Ann could have wanted no more than to spend her birthday in Anton's company. The two of them do seem to genuinely get on and spark off each other which I suspected might be the case. They were on fine form, with Anton joking (at least I hope he was joking) that they had to change their routine on Saturday night to remove the gymnastics so people didn't think they were copying Matt.

Ann said she wasn't nervous at all because she had seen people so much better than her be torn to pieces by the Judges on Friday night that she was just resigned to her fate.

Their Salsa on Saturday night is going to be the most anticipated dance in Strictly history. Anton described it as "nonsense in a short frock" and Ann said they were so desperate that they were putting things in the Salsa that didn't belong in it - Anton interjected "like the waltz". I actually think that that's the best way for Ann to do a Salsa and it's a blessing that she's with a partner who, bless him, really isn't that great at Latin.

I, for one, can't wait.

Cuteness, vampishness and Widdecombe (tho not all together) - Series 8 show 2

2010-10-03T17:47:00.001+01:00

I'm having a bit of a guilt trip that Tess wore a long dress after reading what I wrote yesterday about her knees. It was a very fetching purple one shouldered number. Her hair looked like last night's style had fallen out. I do get upset every single year about this - you would have think that by series 8 she would have learned to point her toes at the end of the wee dance with Bruce. Don't her daughters learn about good toes/bad toes at the dance classes they must go to?

Anyway, tonight it was Jimi and Flavia who were first up. Flavia, so the intro said, had cut her hair back to the 2007 style and her mission was to get back to the final like she did then. Their routine was a bit gangly and there wasn't enough gratuitous chest flashing, but there were some fast moves in there. However, I really don't think it was worth the 2 marks more than Felicity's that Craig gave it even though he was much more scathing about it, saying he was like the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz. Flavia's choreography was a joy to watch but he did seem to be walking through parts of it at times. A good, pacy opener to the show, though.

Next up were Erin and Peter. Their waltz was quite simply choreographed by ballroom expert Erin Boag, but Peter looked awkward and tight for most of it and although Alesha said he smiled through it, his facial expression looked more like a grimace to me.His arms were quite unpleasant to look at. T Dropping Erin at the end was not a moment he'll want to remember. She is such a trooper. She fell down, went through his legs and got herself into a smiling, graceful finishing position.

The one we were all waiting for was Michelle and Brendan's Cha Cha Cha. She's been touted as the one to watch and we've seen some fun and feistiness in the training room, she has the longest legs I've ever seen, and she's obviously been in a girl group. It all fell a bit flat, though - a bit unsure and tentative and limp, not to put too fine a point on it. She and Brendan looked fantastic together but her wish to have nothing less than an 8 was never going to be fulfilled. The judges told her to work on strength through her legs to produce a better hip action. Craig was quite mean, saying it was a big disappointment and Len talked about bad technique. I love Michelle as a character because she just took it and said she was going to work on her legs to get them like rugby player Gavin's.

Then we had Gavin and Katya. It looked like he was trying to get her into some sort of head lock at the start. I'm surprised that Len didn't have a go at them for taking ages to get into hold. However, he had good posture, lots of rise and fall and more precision in his footwork than I expected. He did look a bit grim and scary though and didn't have the tenderness that the dance required. The judges were much more positive about it than I felt it deserved - I thought it deserved to be around 3 marks less than Scott's, not a mere 1.

Gavin is a bit dour, so we needed a bit of cuteness - and we got it as candyfloss couple Tina and Jared hit the floor. Tina was in a quite demure pink dress with silver hotpants underneath, Jared in geeky checked trousers with a bright pink shirt and a mustard coloured bow tie. They totally played up to the High School Musical theme, with Jared starting the routine with his head in a book, albeit a sparkly one. The routine was pretty simple but incredibly cute to watch. The judges don't often criticise the professionals, but Jared was told to challenge Tina a lot more with his choreography. They'll be around for a while though because they are just lovely.

The absolutely most anticipated and talked about couple, although not always in a good way, were up next. There was a small glimpse of Anton in cardigan and tie in training which made me almost lose consciousness. Anne's dress was a full bright pink affair that looked like it was made of PVC with a silvery spangly jacket. She actually looked good. I think a sigh of relief went round the entire nation like a Mexican wave as she said that she didn't want to pull off any dance moves that wouldn't be appropriate in front of the Pope. But on to the routine. Anton had his fixed grin on which is not usually a good sign, but, actually, it was better than I thought it was going to be. I never expected to use the words endearing and Ann Widdecombe in the same sentence but it was. It was enjoyable and nostalgic and Anton's clever choreography as usual showed his partner off as best as possible. I'm glad they weren't last, beating Paul Daniels by a point. Next week they've got the Salsa which is bound to be hilarious.

Ann has exactly the right, realistic attitude to it. They seem to be doing nothing but laughing during their training. If only Strictly had been around in the 90s, we could have had her on every year and she wouldn't have been able to do some of the truly wicked things she did as a Home Office Minister. I have to say that I just love Anton more than ever now.

In complete contrast to the previous two acts, Kara Tointon vamped it up to a level only just acceptable on a family show broadcast at 6pm. She wore a flesh coloured leopard print, well there wasn't enough of it to say dress, but I can't think of another word. She had black lipstick, a black leather choker, hair scraped back into the most severe ponytail. You get the idea. Artem her partner in a black leather hooded waistcoat and nothing else on top. We saw him flashing his nipples in training as well. The routine had heat and passion and technique. She fell quite early on but managed to recover her momentum. I'd like the Jury's opinion on whether both feet stayed on the floor during the last spin, though. She got 30 despite having a fall so this definitely bodes well for the future.

In general, though, apart from the final performance of by a very sexy looking Robbie Williams and a very dad like looking Gary Barlow, Friday night kicked last night's backside by some margin. One whinge, though - what is the point of having a professional dance troupe if you don't use it? Having said that, if they had, we wouldn't have had the fun of reading Lilia's hilarious tweets as she and Darren spent the evening with Camilla Dallerup and her husband Kevin Sacre.

I can't wait until next week now - although I've just realised that I'm not actually going to be around for the next two shows. Next week is Scottish Liberal Democrat conference which doesn't finish until 7, and the week after, Anna and I are at Doctor Who Live. We had booked for the Thursday performance which was cancelled. Someone will need to please tweet me the voting numbers I'll need.

As I write, we are just over 24 hours from the first It Takes Two of the series with the eccentric and hilarious Claudia Winkleman. If you live in Scotland and you are recording it through the infernal wickedness of Sky Plus, don't forget to set it up on BBC London or at least not Scotland because remember we don't get it on a Thursday up here.

With ITT every weeknight and the results show being moved back to Sunday, this means that tonight is the last night there won't be any Strictly on the telly until 18th December. That thought alone makes me ridiculously happy.

Vests, nerves and wellies - Strictly Series 8 gets under way

2010-10-02T16:08:00.002+01:00

Well all I can say, having finally watched the first show of the new season is "Darn you, BBC!" Well, actually, it's a bit more than darn, but this is a family blog.

Not only have they infuriated me by removing five of my favourite dancers, but they've also conspired to make the line up and show unmissable. I may forgive the second if not the first.

The new titles added a sleekness and a bit of backbone to the pink and glitter that there was before.

It looks like Tess has completely ditched the ballroom look this year. Her black dress actually looked more like a vest (and was about as long) and her hair looked like it was taking the natural look to its margins - I spent most of the show wondering if her style was going to completely unravel. I know this is mean, because I am no oil painting, but if I were her, I wouldn't be inclined to show off those knees too much.

First up for Strictly 2010 was Felicity in a sunshine yellow dress. Her cha cha cha with Vincent was totally playful, charming and engaging and the chemistry between them is clearly good. She looked like she was enjoying every minute. Her timing was spot on and I really liked watching the way she moved. She placed her feet in a precise way. Craig was unspeakably mean about it, but if you stripped back his comments he was right on some of the technical aspects. Len was right that she needed more hip action. I actually wonder if that particular aspect of her routine was the reason her dress had had the frills which looked like dusters attached to it. It deserved much higher than the 4 Craig gave it.

Next up was Scott Maslen looking mighty fine indeed in a DJ as opposed to tails. He'd said in the trailer that he had demons to slay after fluffing his lines in the live EastEnders episode earlier this year and he wanted to get through a live performance without incident. You don't expect to see rumba-esque body strokes in the opening of a waltz but it worked, big time. Craig was right about some of his hand positions, and I think his description of the dance as "dangerously romantic" was pretty much spot on. This was an inspired routine from Natalie. Presumably her aim was to make her mark on the competition early and she did that in spades.

Goldie looked like he was having fun at a disco. His routine was cheeky but managed to avoid being embarrassing. His hands were pretty dreadful and Craig was right to point out that Kristina couldn't hide that forever by making him put them on his hips. There wasn't much in the way of technical difficulty in the routine but it was fun. He's going to have to stop mucking about in training and do some work, though. As an aside it was interesting to see in the intro that he went out of his way to mention having introduced his wife to Kristina and her boyfriend, last year's partner Joe Calzaghe because he "didn't want any of that nonsense."

Poor Patsy Kensit. From her intro she's doing the show for therapy following her break up with Jeremy Healy after only 10 months of marriage. She said she'd had lots of laughs and would recommend it to anyone as a pick me up - but she's been insulated for 3 weeks in a training room. Unfortunately, on the live show, nerves well and truly got the better of her. She was tight, awkward and gawky. She really needs just to let herself go and enjoy the experience. You could have had Nadal and Federer play a full grand slam final between her and Robin Windsor so she has to work on her hold. I think she could do it if she could overcome her nerves - you could see that from the training footage. She looked gorgeous in a floaty, scarlet dress.

If Scott Maslen had intended to snatch the first night sex bomb mantle, Matt Baker made sure he was disappointed. It didn't look good to start with. When he and Aliona came down the stairs at the beginning with her wearing next to nothing and him wearing a tartan waistcoat and a tie - for the cha cha cha, I almost despaired. In his VT when he spoke about comparing dancing moves to sport, it really did not bode well. Gimmicks in Strictly are usually there to hide bad dancing - but Aliona Vilani clearly hadn't read that rule. There she was standing behind a pair of sequinned wellies. He was on the stairs with binoculars, playing up to his Countryfile background. It could have been awful - but it was brilliant. The third staircase up to Tess's tower is actually a good addition to the stage. Matt came down it and did 2 cartwheels across the dance floor in a testament to his gymnastic routine. He even had a bit of a stumble as he arrived at Aliona but it didn't look like it had bothered him.

That boy really knows a) where his hips are and b) what to do with them. It is utterly wrong that a contestant could make me think of Darren Bennett on the first show. He danced confidently and cleanly, far away from Aliona. It was utterly stunning. Aliona had almost produced a biography in a dance routine and I think that'll be one of the things we remember about this series. I just hope that he can pull off similar when he only has one week to rehearse, not three. I think all the above can be summed up by a simple "Phwoar!"

I always thought the combination of Pamela Stephenson and James Jordan was going to be great. She plays the deferential woman, but she will give him what for - and it seems that they have developed a relationship that's spirited in the right way. She looked radiant and graceful last night. Dressed in a floaty aqua number, to mix my reality tv show cliches, she owned that stage. She did look like she completely belonged there. It was great to see her husband Billy Connolly in her training footage. He might whinge about her dancing with a man half her age, but he's clearly very proud of her.

Bruno raved about the grace and elegance of her arm placement, saying that it was the best he'd ever seen on a first show and I think he's right. It was fantastic. I hope this partnership goes a very long way.

The show was like one of those dreams you really don't want to wake up from - and then all of a sudden there was a huge crash to reality when Paul Daniels took to the floor with Ola. The gimmicks this time were back to their traditional use - Ola's aim was to waste as much time as possible centring people's attention on a
box. Paul is 72 and wearing less well than Brucie who's 10 years older so you have to admire him for giving it a go, but he really has no sense of rhythm and his cha cha cha to Could it be Magic (or Tragic as Bruno said) was about as dire as it gets. It would have been bad even without the added embarrassment of him singing along. Paul disarmingly said "Whatever Craig says, I agree with him".

When I got up this morning I saw that Twitter was full of references to Paul having said something homophobic to Craig. What he actually said was "Don't give up your day job tasting sausages." Well, Twitter is very smutty, but it's a good job I know what my Strictly judges are up to. Our Craig is the face of British Sausage Week and will spend the week after Hallowe'en promoting the British banger. I love sausages, and they've had a bit of a bad press this year, so I hope Craig helps to give them a bit of good publicity.

As far as scores are concerned, Matt and Aliona shared the top of the leaderboard with Pamela and James, both with an impressive 31, Then came Scott and Natalie with 29, Felicity and Vincent with 23, Patsy and Robin with 22, Goldie and Kristina with 20 and Paul and Ola with 16. Injustice of the night (there's always one), was Felicity getting only one mark higher than Patsy. In my view she should have been a couple of marks below Scott.

As season openers go, that was one of the best we've ever had. And there's more to come tonight, in less than two hours. And, on top of that, there's one of the sexiest and most talented men on earth, Robbie Williams. What more could you ever want from a TV show?

New Strictly Titles!

2010-10-01T18:12:00.000+01:00

Well all the pink and sparkles and fancy writing have gone to be replaced with something much more sleek and modern.

I like it though - what do you think?

Billi hits the Blogosphere

2010-09-30T11:22:00.000+01:00

If you do nothing else today, please point your bookmarking widgety things at this great new blog from my friend Billi.

Billi with an I, it's fair to say, has more than a passing admiration for Anton Du Beke. This is something that I completely empathise with. The man is amazing. End of story.

Anyway Billi promises to keep us entertained on all sorts of subjects close to my heart -

fashion and shopping, TV, films and theatre, Strictly Come Dancing (and yes LOTS of Anton), places I've been, hotels, bars and restaurants I love, cricket, hair and beauty products, books, men who catch my eye, a touch of politics and anything else that takes my fancy.

and some that aren't:

WWE (yes, really)

I now can't get the image of Anton doing WWE out of my head!

Anyway, bookmark Billi - there will really never be a dull moment.

Paul and Ola training video

2010-09-17T21:34:00.000+01:00

Have the producers got something against Paul Daniels? I would have thought that giving him the cha cha cha as his first dance was akin to cruel and unusual punishment and would be deemed constitutional in the US.

This is every bit as bad as you think it's going to be and there's zero humour to lighten it up.

Matt and Aliona - serious but not grumpy

2010-09-16T23:02:00.000+01:00

After a two day gap, the next training video is here - it's Matt and Aliona.

Theirs is the most serious and industrious so far, but I'm impressed that on the first day, Matt's hands are getting into the ballpark of where they should be. Aliona also seemed likeable this year. Last time she seemed to do nothing but sulk in the short time she was in the show.

Another partnership which has potential.....and very cool boots.

BBC insist Strictly pairings were done on the launch show

2010-09-16T08:32:00.000+01:00

Some of us have been a bit sceptical about whether the celebrities genuinely were allocated their partners during the launch show when it was recorded last Wednesday, especially given that the couples ended up together at the end of the Group Dance.

The consensus has been that they must have known before.

Not so, says the BBC.. Apparently it was all in the choreography. The professionals apparently rehearsed seven different endings to get them to their celebrities.

Then,

Just before the routine was performed, the choreographer was able to quickly remind the dancers which ending they had to dance - but as professionals they could adapt easily."

Hmmm. An awful lot of variables in there. Sounds very complicated even for fantastically skilled professionals. I still think they knew beforehand, even if the celebrities didn't.

Goldie, Kristina and the techno Cha Cha Cha

2010-09-14T22:14:00.000+01:00

Today's training video features Goldie and Kristina rehearsing their Cha Cha Cha. Sorry, but I can't even write it without hearing Craig describe it as the Chaw Chaw Chaw.

Again they seem to get on well, and he seems to be able to move - if you're into robotic chic. Very 90s techno stuff. There's going to be entertainment value in this partnership for sure.

A training session that ends with the words "You're a machine, stay away from me" and talks about the wheels falling off in the next one could give legitimate cause for concern. I think this was all a bit of harmless fun, though. This pair could mix things up.

Michelle and Brendan's first training session

2010-09-14T08:17:00.000+01:00

The nice BBC Strictly people have promised to post a new video from the dancers' training every day. First up, Michelle and Brendan.

It's only just over a minute but we already have some very healthy body language, funny banter and an equality in the relationship that's going to entertain us. I wonder how many people will dream about her saying "give me a back basic". And then there's Brendan retaliating by telling her she looks like his dad dancing.

It's not a huge surprise that they're doing the cha cha cha but even on the first day, it looks like it'll be good. That girl has rhythm.

Couples chat backstage after launch show

2010-09-13T18:00:00.008+01:00

Those nice people at the BBC have put up a video, which they've encouraged us to share with you, showing backstage interviews with the newly formed couples at the launch show.

Enjoy!

3 days left to apply for Strictly Live Show tickets

2010-09-13T14:25:00.000+01:00

I was surprised to find out this morning that it's still possible to apply for tickets to the Strictly live shows. On closer inspection, I discovered that the programme is again going to Blackpool on 20th November, with all the other shows being at TV Centre. Obviously, there are going to be many more applicants than there are tickets so it's all done by means of a random draw.

A full list of all the dates, and all the details you will ever need can be found here. The deadline is 10pm on Thursday and you can apply for as many dates as you can manage, but, if you are lucky enough to get tickets, it will be for one show only.

Good luck!

Jimi and Flavia on BBC Breakfast

2010-09-13T09:21:00.000+01:00

One good thing about this time of year is that you get Bill Turnbull talking to Strictly stars on BBC Breakfast on a Monday morning.

The competition hasn't started yet, but Jimi Mistry and Flavia Cacace called in this morning to talk about Saturday night's show.

Flavia revealed that the wire she and Vincent made their dramatic entrance on on Saturday night was very painful, but it had been something they wanted to do for a while. She says dancers view the floor as their best friend, and when you suddenly don't have that any more, you feel like you have no stability.

She also said that the partnership everyone's talking about, of former Tory minister Ann Widdecombe, and Anton Du Beke, was going to be incredibly entertaining.

Despite the new professional dance troupe, the professionals who are mentoring celebrities will be doing at least one routine as there's more time available in the show now that the dreaded dance off has gone.

Jimi seemed to be looking forward to the experience, saying that he was looking forward to the challenge of learning to dance.

Season 8 Launch Show: the secrets revealed!

2010-09-12T11:44:00.000+01:00

So we've had the first show of the 2010 series. I presume this is the BBC's attempt to give us a wee taster in order to re-ignite our enthusiasm for the show so that by the time the shows start proper on 1st October.

I'm still feeling a bit battered and bruised from the way the producers have ridden roughshod over so much of what, and who I like about the show, so it's going to take more than that.

Having taken away no less than 5 of my favourite dancers, they then insult my intelligence by trying to get me to believe that the celebrities had no idea who their partners were going to be before the show started. That'll be why they all ended up with their actual partners at the end of their group dance, then.

And then there were no opening titles. And the screen went totally blank at the start of the show, leading to my friend Elspeth and I madly texting each other, thinking our tellies were broken. But of course there were no titles - cos they have the couples' names, on, silly. Sometimes I wonder about myself!

But lets not dwell to much on those sorts of things. There is a nice new set, and Tess's area is no longer the cosy, plush, secluded backstage place it used to be. She now has a glass tower which overlooks the dance floor. It's a bit like a fancy cocktail bar rather than the. Its positioning kind of ruins the idea of it being a secret place, away from the audience and the judges, where contestants spill out their private thoughts or cry when Craig's been mean to them. This new place is a wee bit too sophisticated for me.

The Judges were all there, Alesha looking as if she was wearing nothing other than newly straightened hair. I'm glad they're all back, but, for goodness sake, what was the point in asking them to comment on the newly formed partnerships without seeing them dance? And even after a year, I miss Arlene.

The show started with a group dance from the professionals. I'm not convinced it went as smoothly as it was supposed to be as there seemed to be a bit of faffing around at the top right of the screen.

Then the contestants made their entrance. A few of the girls, Tina O'Brien and Pamela Stephenson notably, came very gingerly down the stairs. Hard to think that if they stay in until the end, they'll be using them as part of their dance routines. It's always interesting how they are actually introduced. Screen siren was the term used for Patsy Kensit. I knew she was in Holby, but I thought she provided more than the ambulance noise.... And Miss Widdecombe got her full title, The Rt Hon Ann Widdecombe. It'll certainly play up the comedy value.

So it was down to the real business of the night - revealing the couples who will be entertaining us until Christmas.

The disappointing thing for me is that having mucked around with so many things that we fans were quite happy with, so many of the pairings were incredibly predictable.

Erin got an aging sportsman, and this one's called Peter as well. Aliona was paired up with another TV presenter, Natalie was given another soap actor. James has the middle aged lady. Mix it up a bit, for goodness sake. I am annoyed that Erin has yet again been given somebody who might last until mid season if we're lucky.

In full, here are the new couples:

MIchelle Williams and Brendan Cole - I loved Michelle's attitude - she seemed very enthusiastic and genuine. Brendan is clearly delighted. This partnership has the potential to captivate us.

Patsy Kensit and Robin Windsor - she didn't seem too comfortable with herself last night, very self conscious. Let's hope Robin can get her into the groove or she'll be going fairly quickly. She'll have to watch that she doesn't become one of those bland mid table people who don't attract votes and who go when people are trying to save the people at the bottom.

Tina O'Brien and Jared Murillo - they don't come much cuter than the sweet blonde actress and the ex High School Musical dancer. The candy floss couple!

Pamela Stephenson and James Jordan - this has the potential to be funny, fiery and fantastic. Let's hope they don't get the Samba (James' dance of doom) for a long time.

Kara Tointon and Artem Chigvintsev - they put her in an Argentine Tango style dress for the first show and she wore it well. I don't know enough about either of them to really predict what they'll be like. One to watch, though, given her previous experience.

Felicity Kendal and Vincent Simone - I think this pairing could be excellent as long as it goes beyond the usual Vincent sleaze. It has potential comedy value and if he can unleash her sensual, darker, side, they could really make an impact.

Ann Widdecombe and Anton Du Beke - he obviously knew. He doesn't normally bare his chest to that extent so early in the season. I'm clearly going to have to keep the launch show on my Sky + box because I'm probably not going to see much more of it. I'm just praying to the gods I don't think exist that they have the waltz rather then the cha cha for the opening show. Personality wise, I think that they'll get on. She'll like his suits and his humour. He'll like the banter that will no doubt develop between them as she tells him what she thinks. She knows it's not all about the dancing - although she is going to have to put a bit of work in. I like her attitude - she has a refreshing amount of perspective about the whole thing.

Now that she's bagged my favourite dancer, who, for all his many faults, rarely fails to make me laugh, she'll have my unqualified support for the duration.

Gavin Henson and Katya Virshilas - I love her, can't stand him. Let's see how this pans out. Andrew is quite taken with Mr Henson, so I'd better be nice in case he makes good his Twitter threat to fall out with me.

Peter Shilton and Erin Boag - well he kind of looked like he was made for the wrong side of that study on the BBC about the link between good dancing and male health. Having said that, the study is clearly nonsense given that the man's had a career in football which requires a certain amount of fitness. Fingers crossed that they don't go too soon.

Goldie and Kristina Rihannof - this could be quite a gutsy, gritty partnership if he can dance.

Jimi Mistry and Flavia Cacace - I hope he's got enough time to put the training hours in. Otherwise the dangers of the mid table await

Matt Baker and Aliona Vilani - Matt has a background in gymnastics, so should be co-ordinated and flexible enough. I wasn't impressed with Aliona's grumpiness and lack of bonding with Rav last year so we'll see if she's got any better this year.

Paul Daniels and Ola Jordan - poor, poor Ola. I guess she was due for someone who couldn't win, but this was going a bit too far. Enough said.

Scott Maslen and Natalie Lowe I reckon they could be quite a good couple. Natalie won a lot of friends last year when she partnered Ricky Whittle to the final.

The reveals were punctuated with another professionals dance - to Two Tribes, which had Vincent and Flavia flying in on a wire. Very good.

We also had the three new boys doing a swishy swashy paso doble type thing.

And the professional dance troupe, with Ian and Darren in it. Darren without Lilia was just wrong. Strictly without Lilia is even wronger. Their routine was ok, but the same sort of standard as the professional dances we've always had. The whole project is a net loss, I'd say.

All the contestants did a brief group dance at the end which confirmed that Patsy needs to get rid of her inhibitions, Pamela thankfully doesn't seem to have found any since the 1980s and Felicity can really move very gracefully. I thought it was very good given that they haven't actually started their proper training yet. The choreography was simple, with the professionals doing most of the hard work, but it didn't look at all bad.

One of the things I'm most looking forward to is Billy Connolly being around. Can you just imagine Billy and Claudia on ITT?

I shall keep you posted with any little morsels of gossip from the training rooms which come our way over the next few weeks.

Countdown to Strictly Season 8

2010-09-11T17:59:00.000+01:00

It maybe says something about my cold fury about some of the changes made by the producers that it's only now, an hour before the launch show, that I'm commenting on the celebrity line up, announced at midnight on Wednesday.

On tonight's show, the celebrities will be introduced to their professional partners. I am fairly sure that these partnerships will have been blabbed somewhere on the internet in the same way that the results always were for the Sunday results show - which, unfortunately, returns this year. I haven't looked, though.

I am really unhappy that 3 of the most popular dancers, Brian Fortuna, part of Team Awesome with Ali Bastian, Matthew Cutler and Lilia Kopylova will not be part of the series. I'm not sure Strictly superfan, Irish author Marian Keyes, will survive the absence of Lilia.

I am also very fed up that Darren Bennett and Ian Waite have been sidelined into the professional dance troupe and will not have celebrity partners. They can work magic with their celebrity partners - look how well Letitia Dean did with Darren as her guide, and how Ian managed to find a dancing heart beating in athlete Jade Johnson last year.

Despite my unhappiness, I can't imagine not watching the show. I mean, I could never miss Claudia on It Takes Two, and it's great that if there has to be a Sunday results show that she's fronting it. She has such a delightfully crazy presenting style and she obviously loves the show in the same way Davina loves Big Brother.

I have to say I'm also being sucked in by the celebrity lineup. It's by far the best probably since series 3 in terms of the calibre of contestants - and I've heard of almost all of them. There's bags of personality and potential for fun there.

Without further ado, then, here they are:

The Girls

Felicity Kendal - feminine, funny, one of my favourite actresses since I was a child. I think she might have the grace to do very well and I can see her with James Jordan.

Ann Widdecombe - former Tory Home Office Minister, famous for failing to stop the practice of handcuffing women as they give birth. If they give her Anton as a professional partner, as I suspect they might, you will hear my screams for miles. I think she'd be better of with Vincent. He might not think so, but she'd take him down a peg or two. It's about time somebody did.

Kara Tointon - formerly Dawn in EastEnders. She's already had a bit of Strictly experience as she was in the sports relief version, with Mark Ramprakash, in 2008.

Tina O'Brien - another soap actress, formerly Sarah Louise Platt in Coronation Street. The only woman with a northern accent, I think, in this line up.

Michelle Williams - from Destiny's Child. She's also a Broadway star, having played Roxie Hart in Chicago among other things. She can clearly already dance, then, so perhaps not so much opportunity for a "journey". However, Nicole Scherzinger won Dancing with the Stars in the US having pretty much led from the start.

Pamela Stephenson - this is who I want to see with Anton. I remember her from Not the Nine O'Clock news in the 1980s. Now practising as a psychotherapist, she has the personality and the knowledge to forge a hilarious partnership with Strictly's star male dancer.

Patsy Kensit - presumably she's using Strictly as an extension strategy to keep her in the public eye when she leaves Holby City soon.

These seven dancers will be paired with professionals Anton Du Beke, James Jordan, Vincent Simone, Brendan Cole and new boys Robin Windsor, Artem Chigvintsev and Jared Murillo.

The Boys

Gavin Henson - Thoroughly charmless Welsh rugby player and ex of Charlotte Church. I guess a partnership with Kristina, who had a brief relationship with her last partner Joe Calzhage would get the tabloids talking.

Goldie - ~~was the Blue Peter dog for several years in the 80s~~ is a musician and DJ and was in the Celebrity Big Brother that Mark Owen won and was first to be evicted. However, he went a bit upmarket in 2008 when he learned to conduct an orchestra in reality show Maestro and he finished second.

Jimi Mistry - has been in films like Blood Diamond and 2012 as well as a spell in EastEnders.

Matt Baker is your archetypal presenter type with previous on Blue Peter, various daytime shows and the One Show.

Scott Maslen - plays Jack, the character in EastEnders that all female characters under the age of 40 seem to sleep with.

Paul Daniels - a magician whom I took against many years ago because he said in an interview that he didn't date fat women.

Peter Shilton - ex England goalie. If they give him to Erin, I will not be happy. She deserves someone she can win with, not yet another sporty type.

The female professionals are Katya Virshilas, Erin Boag, Aliona Vilani, Flavia Cacace, Natalie Lowe, Kristina Rihannof and Ola Jordan.

It's good that the producers are doing the launch with a show this year rather than a press conference. It'll perhaps help me muster up some enthusiasm over the next 3 weeks until the first live show on 1st October.

We'll also see the professional dance troupe, consisting of longstanding professionals Darren Bennett and Ian Ian Waite, who have now been joined by Shem Jacobs, Crystal Main, Aneta Piotrowska and Tanya Perera.

I hope we'll get to see all of these and get to know them a bit on It Takes Two.

I think the producers could have brought in changes without mucking about with the line up of the dancers. Dancing with the Stars in the US has shown that the format can be kept fresh with various twists and turns and new dancers. I think it would be good to have things like competitive team dances which have worked well in that format.

I hope they keep in the dances like the Charleston and the Lindyhop that they introduced last year, too.

Here's Chris and Ola's fabulous Charleston just to whet your appetite.

Team Awesome v Team Cola v Team Whittle - Strictly Semi-Final Drama

2009-12-12T16:36:00.000Z

First of all, I was completely gobsmacked to discover that this little blog has been linked to by none other than the great Lib Dem Voice in a post by the funny, sometimes profane and slightly wicked Jennie. Jennie has written an article for Lib Dem Voice telling everybody that they can change the world by blogging. Now, there's absolutely zero politics in this post, so if you're reading this and half thinking about blogging but worrying that you have to be a white, male, with famous friends to do it properly, go and read her post and she will have you blogging beautifully within the hour, I promise.

Anyway the link itself has motivated me to write a preview of tonight's semi-final. Before I even go there though, I have to recount a totally brilliant Claudia Winkleman moment from last night's It Takes Two. She had on John Pienaar, the BBC's political correspondent along with a sports journalist and a royal correspondent who tells us that Camilla is apparently mad on the show. Pienaar was saying how Peter Mandelson would love to be on the show. Claudia came out instantly with one of her classic lines "that look of death would be perfect for the Tango." I wonder if she's being interrogated in a Whitehall basement as I write this.....

I expect the three Strictly semi-finalists are full of nerves as they prepare for their two dances in tonight's show. All are doing the lustful, actually downright filthy, passionate, Argentine Tango and a dance of their own choice which they've revamped from earlier in the series.

Ricky and Natalie have chosen to do the Waltz which they did on their ballroom debut. They made a reasonable job of it, too. 33 for a debut is pretty amazing.

The thing about Ricky is that he's not had such a marked improvement since then. He' not had the leap that both the others have had. The weeks when he's done badly have really been because he hasn't had time to practice, not because he can't do the dance. You can tell when he's trained for 12 hours and when he's trained for 20, but that's about it.

With Ali and Brian, they had a good start but then Ali's skills have had to develop. She's a good actress, but she can't always manage to bring the emotion of the dance into her performance. Mind you I can't criticise her because I certainly couldn't write a blog posting while learning to ride a unicycle. She's technically very good, and an extremely elegant and graceful dancer, though. Alesha said she had the best arms of any female celebrity ever and I think she's right. I thought her Samba last week was the best I'd seen since Zoe Ball's, full of party spirit and technically excellent. I do get annoyed with the judges telling the female dancers that they need to be passionate and sexy, though. Not all of us are like that and I don't mind the occasional bit of wholesome on my dancefloor. I wonder what their Argentine Tango will bring. It certainly looked good in the training footgage. I have to say, Lisa Snowdon last year came in for the same criticism as Ali's getting but her Argentine Tango was the sexiest thing I'd seen in a long time.

Here's a reminder:

For their second dance, Team Awesome are doing the American Smooth, which will suit Ali perfectly. Here's their first effort.

And finally we have Team Cola. These two are one of Strictly's legendary partnerships, along with Bill and Karen, Anton and Kate and Darren and Lilia. Chris has brought out a warmth and sense of fun I previously hadn't really noticed before in Ola. While Chris might not be technically brilliant, and he might forget the steps sometimes, he sells every single dance and he's enjoying himself. Who can forget their brilliant Charleston which made up in cheek what little it lacked in technique?

Ola's taken an enormous risk by going for a Rumba for their second dance. Again this was their debut dance and he performed what is an awkward dance for the celebrity very well for such an early stage in the competition. How well it will sit on Week 13, I don't know, especially when the first dance has a required element of passion. While Ricky and Ali are going for contrast, Ola and Chris just clamber down the smut-o-meter a bit.

This has all the ingredients of a dramatic semi-final - but then we have the added element of the dance-off being removed. I have to say that I think this favours Chris who would almost certainly have been in it but I think it's absolutely the right decision. The X Factor abandons the sing off for the last 3 weeks and I think there's an argument for Strictly to do the same.

Whatever happens tonight, a really good dancer is going to go out - unless, of course, for the second year running, we have some sort of muck up with their voting system so they can all go through to the final. If anyone can arrange this, I'll buy you a gingerbread latte! And if you can bring Natalie Cassidy back too, I'll spike it with rum.

I'm off to open the Rioja, make the dinner and put my feet up and enjoy. See you later.

In Praise of Team Awesome - Ali and Brian to win Strictly

2009-11-28T16:47:00.000Z

What a week it's been for Strictly Come Dancing. Just a week after losing Jade Johnson to a ligament injury, and a fortnight after Laila Rouass sprained her ankle hours before the show, Ali Bastian fell on her foot in training for the Charleston on Monday. A shell-shocked looking Brian Fortuna told Claudia on ITT on Wednesday night how he'd taken her to a specialist on Tuesday morning and she's had all sorts of tests. Thankfully there's no fracture or ligament injury, but her bone is badly bruised. Ouch.

The Charleston is a lively and energetic dance which requires lots of jumping and swivelly ankles so I can imagine how painful and unpleasant training must have been for Ali this week. Team Awesome, as Ali and Brian are colloquially known by their ever growing legion of fans, are usually right up at the top of the "hours trained" leader board, but as of Thursday's ITT were 10 hours down on Chris and Ola. It would be a miracle if their performance came anywhere close to the perfection they achieved with their Viennese Waltz at Blackpool.

For that reason, I'm quite worried about them tonight, so they are going to need every single vote. There's only five couples left and if they end up mid table, they could easily end up in the dance off. Natalie and Chris are, rightly, very popular. They may not get as high marks from the Judges but I suspect they run away with viewer votes. Neither has yet been tested with a dance off. Laila and Anton have had a couple of off weeks but the Charleston should suit them and they seem to be having fun with it.

If their performance has already been compromised by Ali's injury, then there is a possibility that the they could be eliminated in the dance-off. We know that this is only a blip in a series of amazing dances from them and it would be so unfair if they had to leave before their time.

Ricky may have the torso and the tricks, and he can certainly move, but Ali's graceful, often fragile, balletic style of dance is absolutely gorgeous. The Judges keep commenting on her arms and they are right - always so perfectly and precisely placed. Her attention to that sort of details is great. Ricky and Ali are by far the best dancers in the competition, and I guess the difference between them is like that between exquisite crystal and a marathon fireworks display. Both are great to watch.

Apart from the brilliant dances they've given us, from that perfect, enchanting Viennese Waltz, to last week's beautiful foxtrot, to the cheeky cha cha cha to their elegant and glamorous American Smooth, they are such a lovely pair. They obviously get on, whether or not they are actually an item. If they're not already, my guess is it's only a matter of time, but it's up to them.

I've been impressed too with the way that Brian goes out of his way to engage with their supporters. He often has some marathon Twitter sessions and he does make an effort to respond to everybody. I've had several replies from him, much to my surprise. He's also active on Facebook, too, not that the technology will let me into his page to link to it.

So, for great dancing by lovely people who are proactive about keeping in touch with their fans, there's no better team than Ali and Brian. Here's hoping they stay in tonight.

Here's a reminder of their brilliant American Smooth.

Bruce to miss Strictly show tonight

2009-11-14T17:52:00.000Z

Poor Bruce Forsyth has the Flu and is very sensibly staying at home tonight. For the first time ever, he won't be present for a Strictly live show. I hope he gets better soon and is back there next week. That man has been brightening up my Saturday nights since I was a child and I adore him.

I'm glad that the BBC have not decided they need to bring in a random man to replace him. For tonight, Tess will take over Bruce's presenting abilities and the effervescent and just slightly bonkers Claudia Winkleman will take her unique interviewing style backstage to do Tess's job.

It'll be a unique show, I hope, but I can't wait to see how Tess and Claudia adjust to their new roles.

Nobody should leave!

2009-11-14T16:26:00.000Z

I guess every year there comes a point in the season, athat you realise that you don't want anyone to go. All the really bad dancers and people who aren't enjoying have been eliminated. There's usually been a shock elimination of someone who should have progressed to the final, this year Zoe Lucker. Then you realise that what you actually want to do is lock everyone up in tv centre and simply not allow them to leave, having them dance each week in perpetuity for our enjoyment.

Every year you think it's the first time you've felt this. You completely forget as each season is caught up in its own little bubble.

This year, the eight couples left all have their unique selling point which endears them to the public.

For Ricky Whittle the attraction is obvious. Apart from his ability to dance, the man is, shall we say, not at all bad to look at, especially in Latin costume.

For Natalie Cassidy and Vincent Simone, it's her obvious love of what she's doing. She's like a wee kid in a sweetie shop and she sees every single dance as a challenge and an adventure. She needs to do a bit more on technique, but what she lacks there she makes up for in performance, throwing herself into the spirit of whatever dance she's doing. I can't remember hearing her whinge once.

For Laila Rouass it's the beauty of her ballroom dancing and her struggle to get to grips with the Latin. There's also the fact that she's dancing with Anton. He is back to his usual funny self after his faux pas earlier in the season. At least he had the decency to apologise and Laila the good grace to accept that and move on. The only real weakness is her Latin. That is not her fault. Anton, bless him, wonderful though he is in every respect, is not the best Latin dancer and choregrapher and it shows. He's competent, but he just doesn't get it. He also doesn't have any sort of love for it, thinking the samba is a silly dance.

For Jade Johnson, it's the fact that she's learning about being part of a team and not competing solely for herself, she's getting to grips with the girly side of the dance as well. I can't wait to see their Tango tonight - Ian Waite's first since the legendary performance he did with Zoe Ball 4 years ago.

For Ricky Groves it's the combination of his sense of fun and drama along with Erin's choreography which really gets the best out of him. I fear for them tonight however as they have struggled with their Viennese Waltz training and they were in the bottom two last week.

For Phil Tufnell it's the triumph over adversity thing - imagine going through surgery on your knee and being back in the training room two days later. He's been surprising in his ability to take it all seriously and he seems to have rediscovered his competitive spirit in the last couple of weeks. He could last a while more as long as he can stay out of the dance off.

For Chris Hollins it's been his fall from grace and slow rebuild after a fantastic start. That, and the fabulous and funny partnership he has with "Mrs Jordan". What is it about these BBC Breakfast presenters? Bill Turnbull was exactly the same. I've never really warmed to Ola as a person until this year but she and Chris obviously get on so well and have very complementary senses of humour. With Chris we've all been gutted for him in the weeks when he just lost it with the live performance and cheered when he rocked the house with his Foxtrot in Blackpool. His Paso looked fantastic in training - he's clearly been learning from Ola's tough love. I'm not sure about a Paso to the Darkness' I believe in a Thing Called Love, but I suspect it will turn out to be a real crowd pleaser.

For me, Ali Bastian has it all - a great chemistry between her and her partner Brian which they've had to endure a fair bit of teasing about, a fragility, grace and elegance that I don't think we've seen in anyone before. Alesha talked about how fantastic her arm work was. She really seems to have a good instinct for what she needs to do to make a beautiful line. Their Viennese Waltz last week thoroughly deserved its perfect score.

So I hope I've made the case for a BBC TV Centre lock in, but, sadly, it's not going to happen. I will be voting for Ali for sure this evening - the fact that she was in the dance off from fairly high up the leader board a fortnight ago worries me and I really want to see her in the final. Chris and Natalie also must stay, for me - they embody everything the programme is about - entertaiment and good dancing. I suspect that Laila and Ricky will be vulnerable - Laila because she's doing a Rumba which looked a bit awkward in training, and Ricky because he's doing a Viennese Waltz which is magical done well but uninspiring if not.

While we're on the subject of Viennese Waltzes, Ali's last weekend was so enchanting. It could have come straight out of a fairy tale.

Here it is again - it is simply not possible to watch this and feel miserable. Enjoy!

The First Show - the Countdown to Christmas has begun

2009-09-19T12:47:00.000+01:00

There's something about Strictly that makes it feel like all is well with the world, regardless of what else may be going on around you. I can almost feel myself relaxing and smiling with the merest hint of the theme tune and so it was with a sense of optimism that I dragged myself out of bed where I'd been languishing all day being ill to watch the first live show last night.

Bruce seemed sprightlier than ever when he did his little dance at the start. I'm constantly surprised by his fitness with every passing year. Tess looked great, in a fuschia off one shoulder satin dress with a thin black belt. I didn't look quite that good 3 months after giving birth!

It was fabulous to see the professional dancers produce a dramatic, tempo changing, complex, bright medley of all the dances they will be doing during the series.

There had been some musical chairs in the judges' panel. Alesha doesn't take Arlene's seat (which could be taken as a visual representation that she is simply not as good as the woman she's replacing) but cuddles up in between Len (who is now beside Craig) and Bruno. She was wearing some very scary green eye shadow and I think the make up people need to soften her look for tonight's show.

I like this new way of doing things - half the couples dancing a ballroom and then a Latin over two nights. It gives us a chance to see them in both disciplines to see if they take to one or the other. Although I was more than happy to see the back of the annoying Gary Rhodes last year, it did seem a bit unfair that he was given Latin dances, which he was clearly rubbish at, for his only two competitive shows.

While it may be fairer, it must be more stressful for the celebrities to have to learn two dances to performance standards which is why I really could have slapped Craig for being so mean to first up performer Rav Wilding.

Rav and Aliona kicked off with a Tango. They managed to capture something of the mood and drama of the dance, but Aliona really did all the work and Rav's posture and hold wasn't brilliant. To add insult to injury, they did an illegal lift which Aliona tried to make out was involuntary. Not big and not clever. Even so, he did a very good job but Craig was unduly mean, giving them only a 3, while the other judges gave them 5s and 6s. Rav is clearly throwing himself into the spirit of the show - and I laughed at a comment in his training footage where he shook his head and said "I can't even cross my legs."

The training footage for Erin and Ricky prompted me to tweet that her hair gets lighter every year, but it had gone very dark again by the time they took to the floor - as did her stare when Bruce referred to her as an old banger. I get the impression there might have been a few words said backstage after that one. Anyway, despite Ricky looking more petrified than a rabbit looking down the barrel of a gun, they executed a very nice looking waltz. He does have a dance background so may well be one to watch - although I'm not sure the Latin will work for him.

The Judges weren't so sweet to them, although Bruno's comment "I've seen more romance between David Cameron and Gordon Brown" was very funny.

Chris and Ola were up next with their Tango to Sharp Dressed Man - Ola certainly doesn't like conventional Tango music. I thought that they were technically very good, but there was just no great sense of drama and performance from Chris. Not surprising, seeing as he's a sports journalist, really.

Then in succession we had two elegant and graceful waltzes from the sportswomen in the field. First came Jade and Ian. Clearly they did very well, not perfect, as you wouldn't expect from a week one performance, but it looked fantastic, and it was to "Weekend in New England", which, and I don't care if it's a Barry Manilow song, I love. Jade's dress was so beautiful - creamy coloured, floaty and princess like. I think she needs to relax a bit more if she's going to get the public to take to her as competitive perfectionists don't tend to inspire votes in these shows. She was very self crtiical and clearly upset at the end of her performance.

You have to cut her a bit of slack, I think, because, unlike the likes of Tuffers and Martina Hingis, she's still part of that lonely, competitive athletic world and it'll be difficult for her to come out of that mindset. I think she needs to try though - and in fact, being able to be a bit more relaxed might actually help her on field performance, too.

Martina and Matthew were lovely, too. I think we were all waiting to see how Alesha would deal with her previous partner with whom she formed a close friendship. She told Martina to trust him because she was "in safe hands". I think the partnership has potential for the rest of the show.

They got some harsher comments from the judges than I think they deserved - I think in particular someone had hidden Craig's higher numbered paddles. No way was that only worth a 4.

Also in for some harsh criticism were Lynda and Darren. From the waist up, Lynda was fabulous - dramatic and tempestuous, but the footwork didn't really match up. She needed to be a lot faster and lighter on her feet but I certainly wouldn't write her off. Craig again was mean to her.

Then came the performance of the night - a fantastic, graceful, beautiful waltz from Ali and Brian. If she can do Latin, she's a clear frontrunner. To get 30 points on show 1 is quite something and it was well deserved. Here it is so you can judge for yourself.

Last up was a tango from Joe Calzaghe that disappointed. The guy's a boxer so I thought he'd be good with the aggression, but it was a bit of a limp lettuce to be honest. It was the only Tango of the night to be danced to proper Tango music, so they should be credited for that.

Then came the group dance of the non competing couples, a Mambo. In general it was a good effort, but it did look a bit like they were doing a Latin version of the Hokey Cokey at times and you could see the confusion in some of their faces. I have a horrible feeling that Natalie Cassidy is going to take a lot of flack in the press, but she looked fantastic and you could tell she was allowing herself to get swept up in the music.

Craig's comment at the end was unforgivable - saying "Good luck Brendan" in a very disparaging way. Jo Wood looked devastated and I felt that was outrageously cruel and unfair of Craig to be quite so horrid.

I wonder if he was deliberately upping the vinegar to counteract the sweetness and fluffiness from Alesha. I think the almost universal pleading from the Strictly Twitterverse was that we all desperately wanted to see Arlene back. Alesha's lovely, but I don't think she has the potential to even grow into Arlene's shoes. She can be very funny and I think she needs to relax and bring that side of herself out. Ricky Whittle seems to be the one to lust over this year, and I can imagine how Arlene would have played that. I think the BBC have put Alesha into a role she's just not suited to, which is a great shame.

One thing I think would have enhanced the experience of the first show would have been a pre-match ITT with a Friday Panel and Claudia. I hope they think about doing that next year.

It's exciting that rather than a week, we have only another few hours to wait until the next instalment of the new Adventures of Strictly.

See you tomorrow, I hope, for a round up of the Latin performances.

The Draw for the first two weeks

2009-08-26T09:58:00.000+01:00

Reigning champion professional dancer Camilla Dallerup, who has decided not to take part in Strictly this year is, I'm glad to see, keeping in touch with the show.

Here she is making the draw for the first two shows:

This has put up some interesting results.

In week one we have:

Lynda Bellingham and Darren Bennett

Ali Bastian and Brian Fortuna

Martina Hingis and Matthew Cutler

Jade Johnson and Ian Waite

Rav Wilding and Aliona Vilani

Joe Calzaghe and Kristina Rihanoff

Ricky Groves and Erin Boag

Chris Hollins and Ola Jordan

I know we haven't seen any of them dance, but I do have to say that it seems like couples with the most potential are in this draw. I fear probably for Ali Bastian and Rav Wilding. Ali is probably the least known and Rav's partner Aliona is new. I know that people do vote on the basis of their favourite professional, which might favour Ali's partner Brian who was immensely popular last year.

I'd hate to see Erin out so soon, but it was a soap actor in Brian Capron who was the first to go last year.

In week 2 we have:

Laila Rouss and Anton Du Beke

Natalie Cassidy and Vincent Simone

Zoe Lucker and James Jordan

Jo Wood and Brendan Cole

Ricky Whittle and Natalie Lowe

Craig Kelly and Flavia Cacace

Phil Tufnell and Katya Virshilas

Richard Dunwoody and Lilia Kopylova

In this one, there's a few vulnerabilities. Jo Wood might be begging for mercy from Brendan by that stage and may go - although I expect she will have the sympathy of many women, which might keep her in. I expect Phil Tufnell will sail through on personality alone. For the same reasons I expect Laila (cos she's with Anton) and Natalie to sail through too.

I would worry about both Ricky because I suspect he needs to light up the dance floor as he's relatively unknown and his partner is new.

If truth be known, out of 16 celebs, 3 are called variations of Richard. Surely they can't all survive the first fortnight?

Sequins are Go - Couples for new series announced

2009-08-25T12:01:00.000+01:00

Let's get that glitter ball dusted off and pull on our dancing shoes, cos it's that time of year again - the new season of Strictly Come Dancing is upon us!

I thought I'd revive this blog for this new series. I've tried the patience of my readers of Caron's Musings enough with copious postings about Formula 1, and I fear that I may lose some of them for good if I add too much Strictly to the mix, too.

Several of us across the Twitterverse have been awaiting the announcement of the participants for this year. And here they are.

The problem is that when you've had months of speculation about Fern Britton and Sharon Osbourne, a list that doesn't include them is bound to disappoint a little.

I'm pleased to say that I have actually heard of most of them. There's 5 sports people, and 5 soap stars to start with, so I'm fearing we're not quite going to have the diversity of previous years.

Anyway, let's have a look:

The Girls

Natalie Cassidy and Vincent Simone

The actress has the dubious honour of dancing with the occasionally sleazy Vincent Simone, who previously partnered her ex Eastenders colleague Louisa Lytton and last year got Rachel Stevens to the final. Since Natalie left EastEnders, she's done a fitness dvd which has led to her being stalked by the more pathetic elements of the press who think they have the right to take the mickey out of her weight at all times. There is comedy potential in this partnership and I suspect that Natalie will be able to dance having been co-ordinated enough for a fitness DVD and having been to stage school.

Lynda Bellingham and Darren Bennett

Lynda, of Oxo ad, All Creatures Great and Small (I'd forgotten she played Helen Herriot), Calendar Girls and Loose Women Fame. she should be around for quite a while even if she's not great at dancing on personality and support from her current tv audience. She also has a fantastic partner in Darren Bennett who will get the best out of her. Hopefully Darren will be around for much longer than he was last year with Jessie Wallace.

Zoe Lucker and James Jordan

Zoe's the first of the Footballers' Wives alumni to take to the floor in this series. She's interested in the Dalai Lama and his teachings. She might well need his calming influence given that she's been paired with fiery, grumpy James Jordan.

Martina Hingis and Matthew Cutler

Former tennis champion Martina follows in the footsteps of lucky women like Alesha Dixon, Carol Smillie and Christine Bleakley as Matthew's partner. I suspect that if she can dance, they'll go a long way.

Jade Johnson and Ian Waite

Another athlete for Ian Waite. Can he repeat his successful partnership with Denise Lewis of 5 years' ago with long jumper Jade?

Laila Rouss and Anton Du Beke

I'm quite excited that Anton hasn't been given the oldest contestant this time as he has for the past few years. This is a partnership with potential - let's hope Laila can dance.

Jo Wood and Brendan Cole

This partnership has disaster written all over it. Why take someone who's not used to being in the public eye in her own right, who's maybe not all that confident in her ability (as she said to 5 Live a few minutes ago) and give them to Brendan? Cruel and unusual punishment, surely? Surely Matthew, Brian or Darren would have made more sense? Brendan is not known for being kind to his partners - Clare King, Fiona Phillips and Sarah Manners all felt the sharp end of his tongue. He and Lisa Snowdon made the final last year, but unless he calms down a bit, their bid will be over before it really begins.

Ali Bastian and Brian Fortuna

I don't know much about Ali apart from the fact that she used to be in Hollyoaks and is now in The Bill. She's lucky to have Brian as a partner, though - he was very good at dealing with Heather Small's nerves last year and probably kept her in for about 2 weeks' longer than she should have been.

The Boys:

Joe Calzaghe and Kristina Rihanoff

John Sergeant stayed in last year for much longer than his dancing ability merited, partly due to his own entirely lovable personality but partly down to the fun dance routines created by Kristina. This year, she's been rewarded with a young sportsman - but will he have the grace and elegance for the dancefloor. He's also popular - he beat Lewis Hamilton to Sports Personality of the Year in 2007. One to watch, and he'll get the Welsh vote.

Rav Wilding and Aliona VilaniWell, Crimewatch presenter Rav has been in the Army, the Police and survived 3 months on a desert island for a tv show. I wonder how he'll cope with the finesse of the ballroom and will his service background inhibit him from really letting go in the Latin?

His partner is Strictly newcomer Aliona Vilani, one of 3 new girls brought in to replace the departing Karen Hardy, Hayley Holt, who apparently found out by e-mail that her services were no longer required and Camilla Dallerup, the highly popular series winner from last year who left on her own accord.

Phil Tufnell and Katya Virshilas

No pressure, either, for ex cricketer and King of the Jungle Phil Tufnell as he has to defend a strong cricketing record. Darren Gough took series 3 by storm. He found himself unexpectedly being bitten by the dancing bug and went from the guy who danced an ungainly cha cha cha in episode 1 to the gentleman who danced an amazing foxtrot to Big Spender. He also won subsequent Christmas specials. Then there was Mark Ramprakash whose sultry Argentine Tango and hot, hot, hot salsa with Karen Hardy propelled him to the 2006 title.

Ricky Groves and Erin Boag

The actor who plays EastEnders' Garry Hobbs teams up with former finalist Erin. Erin will be after a victory after being robbed in the quarter final last year. I wonder if his ballet training as a youngster will help. He could be our unexpected gem.

Chris Hollins and Ola Jordan

Will Ola Jordan be able to whip BBC Breakfast Sports correspondent into shape? The programme has a proud record, with Natasha Kaplinksy winning and Bill Turnbull being something of a legend. No pressure, then........

Richard Dunwoody and Lilia Kopylova

Champion jockey Richard Dunwoody has been teamed up with Lilia Kopylova, who's had successful partnerships with Aled Jones, Matt Dawson and Darren Gough. She has had a good record with her sportsmen. Richard Dunwoody may be 45, but he's recently completed a 1000 mile charity walk, so he's fit.

Craig Kelly and Flavia Cacace

Can Flavia do a Matt Di Angelo with actor Craig, who to be honest I'd never heard of, but if he was in the highly acclaimed Queer as Folk, I'm hoping he'll be interesting.

Ricky Whittle and Natalie Lowe

I have to say I know precious little about either of these, not ever having watched an episode of Hollyoaks in my life, so let's hope they are in long enough to get properly aquainted with them. Natalie is a veteran of five series of Dancing with the Stars in Australia which Craig judges, so she's no stranger to what it's all about.

There are a couple of changes - this year it's not going to be girls in first show, boys in second - we're going to have a mixture, and for the first two weeks, there will be two shows, one on Friday, one on Saturday. I presume the idea behind the Friday show is to hook you in so you decide you'd much rather watch Strictly than the X Factor on the Saturday. We'll see.

It all kicks off on 19th September. I can't wait. Bring it on!

Sergeantgate and sickness

2008-11-22T18:02:00.000Z

Just so you know, I haven't been ignoring you over the last week and a half - I have not been well.

It's actually been a bit of a mean virus which has made me feel very poorly indeed, but nothing serious. I hope it will go away soon - it's seriously annoying me, now, rather than overwhelming me, which has to be a good sign.

I have found it frustrating not to have had the energy to comment on so many of the week's news stories, particularly in such a momentous week for Strictly. For the record, I can understand why it was all getting a bit much for John Sergeant, but I don't necessarily think he would have made the Final. However, when his family were getting abusive phone calls suggesting he should apologise to better dancers who had left before him, you can kind of understand that he thought it was all getting out of hand.

Part of the joy of Strictly is that the contestants can captivate us either by their dance ability, their personality or both. I hope that the furore over Sergeant's departure doesn't detract from that.

The Judges have come in for criticism - I don't think they deserved it. They are there to comment on the dancing.

It's the public who have the choice on that show - and if they choose to take what the judges say with a pinch of salt, then they surely have the right to do so.

John's dance partner, Kristina Rihannof, deserves huge credit for helping us all to fall for John's charms. Her choreographic miracles showed a very shrewd understanding of British humour and she got the best out of John. I feel really sorry for her in all of this. The dancers are hugely competitive and it's a shame that she's had to leave before her time.

It has been quite amusing that as soon as the Sergeant departure hit the headlines (Newsnight, for goodness sake, Question Time - Jim Murphy, you should be ashamed of yourself) the X Factor mob went into overdrive to try to grab some of the attention back. A supposed row between Dannii Minogue and Louis Walsh over song choices was the best they could come up with. I suspect they'd need to wrestle naked on the live show to trump Sergeantgate.

What this now means, ironically, is that we are now going to lose a really good dancer every week. While John was there, there was always the chance that he would go and save the likes of Christine, Jodie, Rachel or Lisa who are now the most vulnerable. I have a feeling that the boys will be ok, but I am concerned that we could soon lose Christine and the adorable Matthew Cutler before we are ready to.

Week 8 Report - over half way through

2008-11-09T22:03:00.001Z

While I'm glad that Christine is safe after her excellent, bright jive, I can't hide my shock at seeing Rachel and Vincent in the bottom 2. Their quickstep based American Smooth was innovative, technically very difficult and the lifts, I thought at least, were amazing. The judges had no choice but to keep them in. Heather and Brian danced better this week than at any other time since week 2 - I saw more passion and drama in their tango than the judges did and Heather looked absolutely beautiful in red.

And John is safe again. He must have come at least third in the public vote to have avoided the bottom two. Maybe if the judges didn't savage him quite as much, people wouldn't feel they had to save him. For heaven's sake, he's in his 60s, he's doing his best, but how many portly gentlemen would you see dancing cha cha cha with amazingly talented Russian choreographers? We can't really expect more of him, but it is probably, regrettably, time for him to go next week.

I was a bit annoyed with the judges for their comments on Austin's rumba. I have seen dances with a lot less connection and it was technically very good. It is horrendously difficult for, especially a man, to act out the heat of passion if they are already in a relationship. Austin did one of the best jobs I'd seen at this and is still in contention.

Lisa's American smooth gave me goosebumps. I actually didn't believe that she didn't get a 10. It was completely beautiful. I could kiss Brendan too for being restrained, not breaking the rules and bringing the best out in her.

Cherie's waltz was charming and romantic too. I thought her footwork was delicate and her upper body is absolutely gorgeous.

Tom and Camilla's Quickstep got better and better. I thought his first solo spot looked a tiny bit awkward - but by the end he had warmed up and was nailing it. A fabulous effort.

Finally, I felt Jodie and Ian's pasting from the judges wasn't quite fair. Jodie got the performance right, and, sure the technical stuff wasn't fair, but Craig ought to be ashamed of himself for giving them a 3.

If Rachel fans want her to stay in next week, they will have to support her and encourage others to do so - her public vote isn't great, although I can't see why. She's beautiful, full of energy and a consistently good performer.

Next week will be a bit of a nailbiter because, apart from John, whose time, much though I love him, has come, there is nobody I want to leave.

I'm also sad that we are passed the half way point - we need to savour every moment from now on.

What will tonight hold for John and Christine?

2008-11-08T11:16:00.001Z

I'm going to stick my neck out now and say that I am worried about both John and Christine for tonight. I love John to bits and he has made this season of Strictly really enjoyable. Kristina has shown that she is a very clever choreographer, playing to John's strengths. However, is it now time for them to bow out gracefully and keep the best dancers in the competition. I'm not one of the ideological purists who believe that Strictly is a dance competition. It's a Saturday night light entertainment show and John does entertain us. There's always a tension at about this stage of the competition as better dancers are sometimes voted off to keep the entertainers in. Sometimes that annoys me, but it's just part of the show.

By the looks of the footage on ITT, it seems that Craig is wild about Heather's tango so I expect high marks for her which will insulate her from the bottom 2. Jodie is on a roll at the moment, and her Samba looks marvellous. If Rachel's smooth doesn't excite Len, it's time to start putting viagra in his tea, frankly. Cherie's waltz is fabulous and suits her down to the ground. Christne's jive has received approval from the judges so far, and I hope that she can pull it off after a couple of rocky weeks. Christine and Cherie started well and have faltered in the past few weeks while Jodie started badly and is improving immeasurably. My worry is that if Christine ends up in the bottom 2 with any of the other girls, she'll go.

I haven't mentioned Tom or Austin yet as I am assuming that they are safe - but is that a dangerous thing to do?

At this point, I can't think of a single one of them that I actually want to see go. It's quite early to get to that stage which is an indicator of how high the standard is this year.

A few years ago on the Strictly forums, we had this mega thread going called "No-one Should Leave. In it we outlined ever more outrageous tactics for keeping everyone in the show for ever more. It was very funny, and went from the absurd to the ridiculous and back again on every page. Perhaps it is time to resurrect it.

Anyway, I'm out tonight for dinner with a friend who leaves the area tomorrow so I won't bbe able to watch the show until the morning. See you tomorrow.

Strictly Beats X Factor

2008-10-29T22:13:00.000Z

Yippee! Strictly beat the X Factor in an award voted for by the public at the National TV Awards tonight.

Simon Cowell and the X Factor judges did not look happy..........

Tess, the judges and Alesha were among those accepting the award. Tess paid tribute to Bruce, as well.

Austin and Erin did a bit of their Quickstep, which looked fabulous, on stage.

Good to see people power work to give Strictly a well deserved first place.......

Don's out - and Jennie's anger

2008-10-20T08:25:00.000+01:00

Jennie has unleashed her anger at the voting public who were responsible for Don's exit.

I didn't really want to see him go either but thought it was inevitable that he would end up in the bottom two - although I was wrong and it was Heather who was there with him.

Neither Don nor Heather was the worst dancer. We reach a stage every year mid competition when the quality of the dancing loses out to personal popularity. Last year when Gabby and Penny were in the bottom two was a prime example of that. I guess there's no way round it.

We have the Paso Doble and Viennese Waltz to look forward to this week - bring on the capes...............

A Return to the Ballroom

2008-10-18T20:44:00.001+01:00

Well, I've been a bit rubbish at maintaining this blog - I think that any hope of consistent daily updates on Strictly vanished the minute the writ for the Glenrothes by-election was moved. Hopefully normal service will be resumed for the 8 November show and I'll dip in and out of here as often as I can.

I got back in time tonight to see Heather and Brian hit the floor. I have to say I agreed with the Judges. Their samba didn't have any of the atmosphere that it really needed to have.

I have Lisa and Brendan and Rachel and Vincent recorded and will comment on them when I can get near the tv again.

As far as the others were concerned:

Cherie and James confirmed their status as top dogs of the competition with a fabulous American Smooth. She is so precise and almost perfect with her movements. They danced the best rumba in Strictly history last week. We are usually lucky if we see a competent rumba, but that one had poignancy, romance, sensuality and technique in spades.

Andrew and Ola, bless them, were a disaster from start to finish. I thought very cruel thoughts as I was watching them and am probably a very bad person if I share them with you - he was more Frankenstein than Fred Astaire. The disastrous attempted lift at the end was a sorry end to a routine that had never delivered.

The best thing about Mark and Hayley's segment was a glimpse of the gorgeous John Barrowman, drafted in to teach Mark to act. He did show a bit of his personality during their performance, but he wasn't that great at doing the actual dancing - Arlene said that it looked like he'd forgotten to dance. He also wore a ghastly fishnet thing which did him no favours. I'm no great fan of musclemen which puts him at a signficant disadvantage. Mind you I'm sure that being the object of my lust is not high on his list of priorities.

Jodie and Ian on the other hand were a bit of a revelation - the judges said she was the dark horse - a remark previously given to Carol Smillie. Their Smooth was smooth and elegant and they did enough to keep her in the top half of the leader board.

Christine and Matthew's Samba was their best yet. Technically it wasn't perfect but spiritually it was bright, vibrant, full of bounce and happiness. Christine wore a stunning pink dress and those two are even more convincing as a fabulous partnership. I felt that their 30 was actually undermarked.

John and Kristina were never really going to set the world alight with their latin. The risk was that he would look like a drunk uncle at a wedding. He actually pulled it off - sure, it was slow and more measured than a samba should be, but it was fun, especially when you consider that he'd only trained 10 hours this week. He'd come a long way in a short time. The Judges were astonishingly cruel. I would happily horsewhip Craig for giving him a 2 - and I'm a pacifist - if I didn't think he'd enjoy it. John's bottom of the leaderboard. He was unworried, asserting that the public would save him in a funny rather than arrogant way. I hope that we do.

Don and Lilia got more flack than they deserved. I thought he had a bit of Hollywood panache in there some of the time. His posture wasn't always fabulous, and the lifts weren't particularly smooth, but was ok.

Last up was bridegroom to be Tom with his partner Camilla. They were the Smooth of the night, pipping Cherie and James with their glamorous, connected, dazzling performance. I personally would have taken marks off for the colour of Camilla's outfit the pink bit clashed with the crimson trousers, but the design was gorgeous.

Tess's Dress long, dark blue, one sleeved - very nice.

Angel Judge Bruno for a comment about Tom being better at spinning than Alastair Campbell

Devil Judge Craig, for that 2, and giving Don a 3, the same as Gary's much worse jive.

Brucie's Balls Ups I actually didn't notice any tonight - and Simon Cowell, who's half his age, got a contestant's name on the X Factor wrong.

Who's going to go? Don, I reckon. It'll be he and Mark in the dance off and Arlene won't be able to stop herself from picking Mark. The GMTV vote will save Andrew and the political/grey vote will save John.

The Boys go again - and why I'm really scared

2008-10-04T21:55:00.000+01:00

As I write this I'm conscious that they will be filming the results show and I just hope that my multitudinous votes for my favourite will be enough to save the day. I know I won't be able to resist a wee peek later.

Anyway, the show started with Bruce seemingly shocking the audience with a gag about John Sergeant looking like Jo Brand - well, I thought it was funny, not least because it's not only true but he has the same characterstics and humour as she does.

As the couples paraded on, there were dresses to admire as usual. Cherie has one heck of a figure for her age which was enhanced by her red sheath with fleshy cutouts in all the right places. Erin's was gorgeous - turquoise, shiny, off one shoulder, but Karen's did her no favours - she looked like she had been shrink wrapped in pink tinfoil.

So, on to the dances:

Austin and Erin Wow is all that can be said really - a well deserved 34 points, two 9s, with the boy showing he can do Latin and well as ballroom. It was everything a jive should be - joyful, light, good timing, delightful kicks and flicks. I probably do have to point out the fact that he was wearing a sequinned sleeveless black waistcoat thing which showed off extremely muscly arms. Arlene said "beat that if you can" in a most menacing way. Len said that although he recognised the difficulty of doing perfect flicks and kicks and giving bounce with the supporting leg, he didn't like it when Austin winked at him - who knows, he may have got a 10 if he hadn't done that. Bruno loved it - said they wer "pumping and riding with devilish confidence". It was one hell of a show opener.

It was a bit of a shame that Mark and Hayley had to follow that. I actually thought that it was a bit dull and hesitant. The footwork was competent, but it wasn't going to set the heather on fire.

In giving them 24 marks overall, Craig said it had been a vast improvement on last time when he said that it was d - u - l - l. Arlene implored Hayley to get Mark to an actng coach. Len said that his footwork had been dodgy and it had been longwinded at the start but it was basically an ok effort.

Gary and Karen were third up. Gary had had a troubled week with a fairly major barney with Karen in training cos he wasn't getting the jive at all - a bit of a shame because it is Karen's dance. After landing magical Mark Ramprakash and the delightful Bill Turnbull, it now looks as though Karen is being made to kiss her share of frogs, with Brian last year and Gary this year. It may just be me, but I feel that there's a bit of a concerted effort to keep Gary in - he gets a fair number of mentions on ITT, for a start.

Anyway his jive wasn't the train wreck we had been expecting but it wasn't great. A lot of the time he was posing while Karen did the work in her impossible dress which looked like it should have been more suitable for an Argentine Tango.

The judges' comments could have been worse. Arlene said he had enthusiasm but he needed to stop counting in his head and just feel the music. Bruno said that it had "more holes than the moon" and Craig said that it "wasn't dance disaster" before awarding them just 3 of his 18 points. It was nice to see Karen acknowledge the support Gary had had from all the other professionals and celebrities. In a more telling comment she said "Let us do a ballroom and we'll go". So how well does she really get on with Gary?

Next up were John and Kristina. Now, they weren't as good as the waltz. I had suspected that they would play it for laughs rather than anything else because I just didn't think John was capable of doing the hard gaucho man for the tango. He had said before that the real drama was whether the beautiful Kristina would succeed with him. He said that they had developed a sophisticated relationship where he did what she said.

The dance itself was much as I had thought. It had reasonably competent footwork but not much of the intensity and passion and drama that a tango requires. They went down the steps in hold which I think must be hard. Bruno was quite funny - said that he danced like a jolly godfather after a couple of pints but it worked. He added that Hayley was a bit like Diana Dors but there was no sex because they just couldn't be bothered.

Arlene was topical by saying that it started with the drama of Mandelson's return to the Cabinet but that John really had enjoyed it too much. Len stated that posture couldn't be done after a certain age, but that the footwork was lovely and the attitude was all there.

Craig appalled me by only giving a 3, stating that John was too nice to do the Tango. To equate his effort with Gary Rhodes' was plain wrong.

They finished on 22 points, which is quite scary.

Andrew and Ola followed with their Tango which was, to be honest, not great. The music choice was pretty rubbish - 20th Century Boy and there was a part where Andrew had to headbang in a painful reminder of the school disco. It would have been bad enough for an experienced dancer who was getting the dance. Andrew just didn't manage the hold, as his flexed knees implored him to stick his bum out. Ola's beautiful black and white dress couldn't hide what was behind.

Bruno came up with what I thought was the quote of the night by saying that the dance was like a house with subsidence held together by hope but then said that ht had been painful to watch. Andrew revealed, in what must have been a blatant appeal for votes, that he had been rehearsing naked in the bedroom - but hadn't expected his wife to wake up to see him.

They finished on 22, equal to John.

Tom and Camilla had it all, really - they had Tom's good looks and Camilla's very funky gold dress and black knee boots. Jiving away to Black and Gold, they were good and Tom wasn't as flat footed as the training suggested he would be. However, I didn't think it was as fabulous as Austin and Erin's. The timing wasn't perfect and the flicks and kicks weren't so good. However, the judges were falling over themselves with hyperbole. Arlene said "let the sparring begin". Len said that Austin and Tom were carrying the flag for the boys. They ended up with 33 points, just a single mark separating them. To be honest I thought it was 3,maybe 4 marks worse and wonder why this series is being set up to be some sort of gladatorial fight between the two of them.

The final couple up tonight were Don and Lilia. Their tango was intense, sensual and dramatic. Lilia wore a black and red dress that slit to the thigh to hammer that point home. The judges couldn't get enough of it and gave it a 30 which to be honest was probably a little more than they deserved although it was the best tango of the night.

Len, with his inimitable way with words told Don that he was a "gnat's scrotum" from being eliminated two weeks previously but he could be proud tonight.

Now the reason I'm scared is because, although Gary is on the bottom, the public saved him last time and he does have a wide fan base. Andrew and John are equal on 22 but Andrew has the GMTV fan base. I am most fearing a dance off between Mark and John and I'm scared that the Judges would save Mark and put competence over character.

I have voted for John a fair few times and hope he makes it through.

Now off to the forums to see if the result's through yet........

Andrew's Angst

2008-10-01T20:54:00.000+01:00

Andrew Castle was on ITT tonight giving a fairly frank impression of the fear he is going through and how he just occasionally hits a wall. He deals with it by nipping out for 15/20 minutes and switches his mobile off just to have some time by himself.

Unfortunately, Craig gave him no reason to feel reassured by being fairly scathing about his tango - you couldn't deny, though, that he was sticking his bum out. You would think to hear Craig talk that this was the equivalent of eating babies for breakfast, but at least Flavia explained how difficult it was for the men to maintain hold and flex their knees for the Tango.

We got an insight into the life of Gary Rhodes. As you would expect, he hardly sleeps, getting up at 4.30 am to go to the gym. Unlike most of us, this doesn't involve going out in the freezing cold and dark - he just ambles down the corridor in his house. We saw him go through his day from visiting his restaurant to cooking with Phil and Fern on This Morning to book signings to radio interviews - and when he'd finished all that, he had to go training with Karen. No wonder his jive looked so limp.

Unfortunately we didn't see John's tango on the midweek reports, but there was praise for Don's dramatic opening to his.

I can't wait to see Austin's jive - you would think the guy was a professional - he looked fantastic, light on his feet, in complete unison with Erin.

Tom got pelters for being too heavy on his feet and not taking small enough steps - he had rhythm though and I bet his pretty face will see him through.

Mark's tango didn't come in for much good comment - his posture wasn't great and he just didn't seem to be getting into the spirit of it. I suspect he might finish quite low down on Saturday night.

The show ended with an interview with Vincent and Rachel. Vincent is growing on me. He used to annoy me because I thought he was totally serious about himself, but now I am starting to think that actually, he's just taking the mickey. He and Rachel seem to get on really well. Her fiance, Alex, was filmed at one of their training sessions and he seems lovely.

I'm now a bit worried cos Claudia promised us Marian Keyes on Saturday and she wasn't mentioned as being on the show tomorrow. I hope she's not going to be hidden away in the Friday Panel. I couldn't bear it if she didn't have her own slot. The woman is a total legend.

Get me some smelling salts......

2008-09-30T17:12:00.000+01:00

.....because Marian Keyes, Irish novelist guaranteed to have me in fits and giggles, is on ITT this week..........

Claudia gets to do the EastEnders drum roll

2008-09-30T16:53:00.000+01:00

It was good to see Claudia with a bit of her old spark back - she was all excited about having been given a wee button to push that would make the drum roll that marks the end of an EastEnders episode. She did say that she would be bound to get the sack for playing with it too much.

She talked to Gillian and Anton who did seem to get on very well and were obviously disappointed to be out so soon. Gillian spoke about how all the celebs got on so well with each other to the extent that she couldn't name who she wanted to win. Anton, not surprisingly, plumped for Austin and Erin, who really are in with a chance.

Claudia was wearing that black strapless dress again which does her no favours - she is way too thin for it. Even on HD Tv she would look like she needed a few hot dinners.

The girls show how it's done

2008-09-30T16:23:00.001+01:00

Well, I think the girls whipped the boys' backsides this week. Their hesitant start last week was not an accurate barometer of their ability.

Who would have thought that Cherie Lunghi would have been the star of the show - her Foxtrot was brilliant? Rachel Stevens surpassed the already high expectations of her with a sizzling and complicated salsa.

I thought the judges were really unfair to Lisa. She did some really complicated stuff including a squatting spin type thing which must have been almost impossible to control and she got no recognition for it. To give her the same mark as Gillian and Anton was, frankly, insulting.

Gillian and Anton weren't quite as tragic as they looked on Friday - it was ok but fairly simple. It was quite funny when Bruce said to Anton that he was grateful that Anton had managed to fit Strictly in around all his other TV commitments.

Christine and Matthew's Foxtrot was graceful, elegant and had a fragile beauty about it.

Heather's salsa was good and lively but it needed a few more punches in places.

Jodie and Ian were a lot more elegant and graceful than had previously been anticipated but the judges weren't overly impressed.

Jessie and Darren's salsa was a bit lacking in attitude - Kat Slater would have done it a lot more justice. It was all a it sloppy and deserved its position at bottom of the leaderboard

The boys hit back with a merengue that had its moments - Austin and Erin and Tom and Camilla were by far the best. I thought John Sergeant would be embarrassing but he was ok - although better in the bits where the camera wasn't focussed on him. He made me laugh when he said that he had lost over a stone in weight and was doing all sorts of sensible eating - including cutting out his lunchtime glass of wine. Presumably his dinner glass(es) remain intact!

Brucie's Balls-Ups: I'm not doddery, doddery I am not. Just stop that. Please. It's not funny and it looked like the audience didn't think so either.

Tess's Dress a clinging strapless red dress with buttons, which was so tight she couldn't lift her leg when doing her little dance with Bruce at the top of the show.

Angel Judge Len, for not being evil about Gillian and Anton

Devil Judge Craig, for having a go at Lisa

Who's going to go I would have said Gillian and Anton anyway. It has been quite predictable so far this year......

The results show had Tess in a short dress in what John Sweeney would have described as a homicidal purple.

After performances by the new professional dancers, the boys again with a slightly different version of their merengue and the Sugababes, the results were in.

Jessie's name was called second which made it inevitable that Gillian and Anton would be in the bottom two. They were joined there by Jodie and Ian and from that point it was just a question of going through the motions. Jodie and Ian did perform extremely well and had taken on many of the Judges' comments under pressure. Gillian and Anton were sporting enough to applaud them enthusiastically and then took to the floor for what they must have known would be the last time.

The Judges were very complimentary about Jodie and Ian before sending Gillian on her way.

Real Life intervenes

2008-09-28T07:11:00.000+01:00

This weekend's Strictly watching has been rudely interrupted by real life - I got in from work last night with enough time to be blown away by Christine and Matthew's beautiful and emotional foxtrot before rushing out again. I'm now, at 7.15 am about to head off again to work.

The reports of the shows will come, but maybe not until tomorrow.

The Tension Builds - Friday's ITT

2008-09-26T21:12:00.000+01:00

Now, unless I am very much mistaken, ITT is recorded in Covent Garden and the main show is recorded in TV Centre in Shepherd's Bush, so the last segment where Claudia rushed from one studio to another in seconds was clearly nonsense. We weren't born yesterday, producers, don't insult us............

However Claudia did get to walk on the hallowed floor. Anton was her guide and then he and Gillian played out the show with a snippet from their dance. Let's just hope they are keeping their lights under a bushel because I have more razzle dazzle in me when I'm snoring my heart out at 4am than they showed. Oh dear..........

Prior to this last week's top and bottom of the leaderboard, Austin and Erin and Gary and Karen were on the sofa. Both are doing the jive next time round and Austin made the point that they all had 3 or 4 weeks to learn the first dance and the shorter time scale blows their minds a bit.

Gary said that he wasn't so bothered by the Judges, and esepcially Craig's treatment of him last weekend.

Jason Donovan, Len and Arlene made up the Friday Panel. Now, Jason virtually asked for a place on a future series by admitting that his daughter loved the show and that he had never really danced. Now, wouldn't that be good:-)

Cherie is wearing a very floaty green dress, Heather is wearing a very short green dress and Lisa is wearing a very short blink and you'll miss it blue dress.

Len wasn't so taken with Jessie or Lisa - Len's ok is Craig's dire.

It will all be fun tomorrow night.......

Thursday's ITT

2008-09-26T21:01:00.000+01:00

A double dose of ITT tonight - it was too late to blog last night by the time I saw it.

A charming interview with James and Cherie who actually seem to get on. In series 4, he and Georgina plainly couldn't stand the sight of each other, and last year he and Gabby's competitive tendencies in stereo put many off. James is at the most likeable I've ever seen him. Don't think I've suddenly fallen for his charms, because these things are relative, but I think this partnership could go places.

There was a trip round the training rooms from the good (Rachel, Cherie, Lisa, Heather, Christine) to the average (Jessie, Jodie) to the tragic (Gillian). The one thing which might save Gillian is her personality. Claudia was trying to big her up as the one who brings everyone together.

It was also time to meet the new professionals - heaven knows what Russian Krisina Rihannof has been told about John Sergeant, cos she's certainly making out that he's some kind of demi-God. I hadn't ealsied that it's the first one of these shows for her, while Hayley and Brian have done DWTS in New Zealand and the US respectively.

Salsa king Brian melted when confronted with a birthday video from his family, which was a nice touch. He seems like a genuine Darren Bennet sort.

I do cringe a bit when Claudia reads bits from the forums, and I just hope that it's researchers who look them up for her. Computers near Claudia should be the equivalent of spinning wheels in the world of Sleeping Beauty. Keep her away from them. There are too many threads going on about how old and tired she looks.

She's lost way too much weight, but give her a break.

Cutler Fighting to the Death?

2008-09-24T21:23:00.000+01:00

Tonight's ITT gems:

The male professionals having a bit of a testosterone fuelled rant about who was going to win. Matthew Cutler said something about fighting to the death to keep his trophy. Cut to Claudia saying that whenever Matthew comes in to them, he's so sweet and always makes people coffee - fight to the death? I don't think so:-)

James Jordan was typically bullish in a way that will not endear him to the public. Apparently he likes his fellow professionals but he doesn't care who he has to step on to win. I don't think he's done himeslf any favours.

Craig came in to give his opinion of the girls' training for Saturday night - Rachel and Lisa got the thumbs up, although apparently Lisa needs to get her bum further back into Brendan's crotch. Hmmmm.

You could tell he was trying not to be too awful to Gillian and Anton, presumably as not to give them the sympathy factor, but he didn't have much good to say. They have trained the least, apparently.

He liked Cherie and James' effort and had some praise for Jessie and Darren, although she would have to sort out some of her lines as they were't very ladylike. Kat Slater clearly lives on.......... He also liked what Matthew and Christine were doing, although there are some gapping issues that they will have to deal with.

Claudia seems to be covering up more as the week goes on - tonight trousers and long sleeved, high necked top.

Another highlight was footage of Rachel teasing Vincent about his lisp.

No signs of great tension, people are still having fun. Jodie says she knows the dance really well and she's just going to try and relax on Sunday night.

Tomorrow is Jessie's and Jodie's birthday so cakes and celebrations were had.

Boys on the Couch

2008-09-23T21:21:00.000+01:00

A jolly episode of ITT tonight. The highlights included an interview with Lilia and Don, talking about is nerves on Saturday and how the tango will suit him. Lilia said that she had thought they were out and had prepared herself mentally.

Then a cosy little session with John, Tom, Andrew and Mark. John had the mickey taken out of him for spending so much time sitting down reading the paper. Andrew definitely has the mark of a wee boy in a sweetie shop. He made several references to the women on Strictly - firstly teasing John for sitting there reading the paper when he was with one of the sexiest women on the planet, and then sounding completely mesmerised by Ola, saying nobody would notice him when they were dancing. He had to be reminded that she had a husband and he had a wife!

Claudia pointed out to Tom that the first to dance each year had made it to the final - he almost swallowed his tongue with horror and said that she jinxed him. Cue innocent look from Claudia and a comment that "nobody could hear me".

Andrew revealed that Ola fines him a tenner every time he looks down. Comedian Will Smith later pointed out that it was a bit mean to do that and then wear the explosive outfit she did on Saturday night.

Claudia told Mark that the forums were going nuts for his body and then showed a photo of his well defined 6 pack. I have to say this does nothing for me - way too many muscles, so all the forum girls are welcome to him. Andrew tried to make out that they had put a photo of Mark's head on his own body but nobody really believed him.

A comic take on Saturday night was given by comedians Rob Dering and Will Smith. They derided Arlene's advice to Phil,I think it was, as unhygienic and not good for kitchen equipment or the dancer.

Claudia was wearing a smart black dress, with shoulders, this time. I think all the guests should bring in strawberry tarts for her to eat because she does look incredibly thin. If TV puts ten pounds on you, then she must be positively skeletal in real life.

Tomorrow we have girls on the couch and Craig's midweek review........

Go Claudia

2008-09-22T21:12:00.001+01:00

So it was the first ITT tonight.

The shorn Claudia, still in her strapless dress from Saturday night - don't know if she'd had it on all the time since then, but you know what I mean, held court for the first time this year. Her shoulders are way too bony and need covering up!

They'd sent Alesha Dixon to do the behind the scenes bit of the show - she of course was the one who didn't get to do that last year.

The girls seemed worse than the boys in terms of nerves.

Phil and Flavia then joined Claudia for the exit interview. It seems that Phil was just completely overtaken with nerves on Saturday night. He was given a wee glitterball for his trouble. It's a shame they went out in some ways because they seemed to have such fun in training.

Len and Craig fell out across the miles (Len is in the US for Dancing with the Stars) over the eviction. Claudia was trying to get them to calm down, reminding them that there was months to go. Arlene felt very strongly that Phil had more potential if he could just get over his nerves. Craig said that Don made loads of mistakes and couldn't understand why he had been saved.

Then came Lisa and Brendan - a changed Brendan, apparently, not the grumpy git we've come to know and love. Apparently he's great to work with because a) he's loved up and b) Lisa is on his wavelength. The bit of her salsa they showed looked good.

Tomorrow's has Andrew Castle and John Sergeant. We're off..............

The First Results show

2008-09-21T21:26:00.000+01:00

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.....

Results Show Policy

2008-09-20T23:07:00.000+01:00

Thought I should let you know that this blog promises not to post the results before the results show has aired.

I know that the result is often up on the forums the night before and, to be honest, I can rarely prevent myself from looking there, but I don't think it's fair to post it before people have had a chance to see it on terrestrial tv.

Do you agree?

The First Show - 20 September

2008-09-20T21:43:00.000+01:00

I love my life and I love my job, both of which bring me in contact with wonderful people, but both of which make me aware of the grim realities of life. Strictly Come Dancing is pure escapism into a land of fluffiness, pink and glitter. For three months of the year, we can all insulate ourselves from the Credit Crunch and global economic meltdown and just enjoy the fun, the traumas, the nerves, the sarcasm, the costumes and the hair, the professionals' performances and the judges' bile and occasional insight that make Strictly the number one Saturday night show.

The first show tonight was fabulous - Strictly is back with a vengeance. Having watched the launch show last week, I was a little concerned that if you fancied women you had a considerable advantage over those who fancied men. I did post what I thought of the couples on the other blog so I won't repeat myself here.

Anyway, let's get to it. First to dance on Strictly Series 6 were Tom and Camilla.

Boy, does she get the good looking ones - James Martin, Gethin Jones and now Tom. Wow. Now it looks like she has one that can dance from the start. I have to say that I thought the glimpse of chest hair on Tom was a good sign - I can't bear all this waxing nonsense - as was the fact that he was willing to wear a fairly uncompromosing shade of green for their cha cha cha.

But wow - he knows what hips are for, he knows how to move.

Dare we hope that Camilla finally has a finalist in her?

He also has the story in that he is getting married half way through this and has already cancelled his honeymoon

Presumably the money he's getting makes it worth his while.

Score 28 from the Judges who were delighted with his performance.

Laugh of the night was Craig Revel Horwood say that Tom was mincing.........

Phil and Flavia were next up. He is clearly a funny guy and the laughs he had with Flavia were reminiscent of the daft narratives she and Matt used to make up for their routines. Anyway at one point Phil described himself as Anton Du Berk, which brought the house down and earned the forevermore disapproval of hardcore Antonettes.

To be honest, there didn't seem to be a whole load of rise and fall in their waltz but his facial expressions were unbelievable. At times they were like he was enjoying a particularly satisfying bowel movement.

I had a good look at Arlene during the Judges' bit. She had been quoted in the media as having been worried that she had put on 1.5 stone since the last series. You couldn't really tell, to be honest.

Next up were Don and Lilia. He was much better than expected and seemed to have more than a vague idea of what his hips were for.

The biggest surprise of the whole show was Austin and Erin's waltz. It was gentle, had fabulous lines, good rise and fall and Austin showed he had a sense of humour. Erin looked absolutely gorgeous with a softer hair colour and seems to genuinely get on with her partner.

Arlene seemed to go into hormonal overdrive with Austin.

Len's 9 was probably a bit excessive but this pair were the clear victors tonight. Can they maintain the momentum?

It must have been hard for Mark and Hayley to follow that, but they did. Hayley wore a dress the colour of radioactive snot. I tended to agree wtih Arlene - their cha cha was all a bit sterile for me. Craig went over the top by saying it was dull, but maybe he was trying to make sure Mark stayed in. They had decent lines, but his face had too much of the toilet about it to make the routine work. Mark is also not free of Arlene's hormones.........

I am really worried about Gary and Karen. They have serious comedy potential despite the potential for cringeworthiness I spoke about in the other place. He danced the dance like he loved it but his technique wasn't always great. His arms were playing a different game completely and the bit where Karen bent down and he made all sorts of cookery related hand gestures over her back was a clever incorporation that should have been written out the first time it was seen in the mirror.

I was a bit worried about John and Kristina too. As a hardcore politico of many years' standing, I have come to admire John. However, I have to confess I thought he'd be rubbish at dancing - but no. It was strange. He looked like Toad of Toad Hall doing a waltz, but it didn't matter. It was the essence of charm. It was endearing and sweet and quite lovely. Could he rival Bill Turnbull, whose impact on the show, whose humour kept him in when dancing ability couldn't is second to none? Three years on, the Ballroom Bill forum is still alive and well on the Digital Spy Forum.

GMTV presenters have not traditionally done too well on Strictly. Could Andrew Castle buck the trend with Ola Jordan? Well, Ola was taking no chances. If dancing wouldn't work, then she was going to try for nudity. It looked like her arms and legs had been sprayed in black pvc whild her front and back were slahsed to within an inch of decency. Actually, that was entirely gratuitous, 'cos Andrew was ok - a bit slow, but there's potential. And he's a sportsman so there's likely to be motivation.

The girls then followed with their group dance, to Lady Marmalade, slowed down a bit to take account of their noviceness. It wasn't bad. Christine is beautiful and she was having fun which seemed to belie the press stories of her stress at the whole thing. Brendan hit Lisa in the face in rehearsals but the two looked fab. Cherie Lunghi showed that older women can still be sensual. Jessie looked cumbersome and Jodie looked far from the "bambi on ice" that Ian had mantioned in rehearsal. Gillian was playing it for laughs and Vincent and Rachel just smouldered. Heather and Brian looked like they had gelled as a dancing partnership, too.

So, the regular features:

Brucie's Balls-Up He cracked a joke about Lilia being too young to watch Don in Rising Damp, which was as far as it should have went. He then went into the "I'm doddery" bit a bit too much.

Tess's Dress A simple fushcia pink srapless number. For some reason her boobs seemed to have sunk a bit by the end of the show.

Angel Judge Bruno. I loved his comment about Don and Lilia's dance - " there were more wrong turns and bad timing than in Gordon Brown's cabinet."

Devil Judge Craig, for giving Gary 1. Totally unnecessary.

Who's Going to Go? Phil or Don. Please not Gary and Karen - not the second year running for her........

Hope you enjoyed the first instalment. See you tomorrow night after the Results show.

An Introduction

2008-09-20T21:28:00.001+01:00

Three years on from when I initially caught the Strictly Bug big time, I thought I would like to try my hand at blogging my way through a season. Please feel free to come along and join in an appreciation of what I think is the best show on television.

I thought that some readers of my other blog, being the hardened politicos they are, might get a bit fed up of frequent Strictly posts, so I thought I'd set up an alternative site for my Strictly postings.

I shall probably play around with the format a bit for the first while but I thought that the major things to include each week would be:

Brucie's Balls-Ups - I love this man to distraction. He has been entertaining me on Saturday nights for pretty much all of my life But, like Murray Walker in F1, he fluffs it sometimes - but in an entirely enjoyable way.

Tess's Dress

The Best and Worst of the Judges

Who's going to go?

I like to think of this as a democratic blog, so please feel free to make your suggestions for what should be included. I am a huge fan of the Digital Spy Strictly Forum and I'm tempted to make a posting of the week accolade - but I can't go through them all myself, so need some help from participants making suggestions in comments to each main weekly show posting.

I also hope to try and keep up with the wonderful Claudia on It Takes Two. She is a completely wonderful, random and slightly bonkers woman and she gets the information we want out of the dancers.

So, slap on the sequins and the lycra and learn your voltas from your botafogos and enjoy a glittery and carefree glide to Christmas.............