Icons Week, and the most iconic thing in the building was Danny Dyer sitting next to Ray Winstone.
Craig and Anton arriving as the Gallagher brothers genuinely made me laugh out loud, although the longer I looked, the more Kevin and Perry they became. The costume department had clearly enjoyed putting those two together but had maybe run out of inspiration for the ladies. Shirley’s Lady Gaga was rather harder to identify. When Vanessa asked “Who is Shirley?!”, I helpfully explained that she was an English ballroom dancer, teacher and adjudicator known as the Queen of Latin. Apparently that wasn’t the information required. Motsi's whole look was styled on Beyonce's famous Coachella look - and now I've conducted an image search, I can see it, but surely there were more iconic Queen Bey outfits than a hoodie and some denim shorts?
I did like the couples being introduced as their musical icons alongside their professional partners. A small production change that worked in the new and improved format. And, to not break with the tradition of commenting on hosts' outfits, I adored Emma’s silver skirt but, pairing it with a white blouse? I'm still deliberating.
Before we get into the dancing, we lost Melanie and Aljaž last week, while Delta and Kai were missing this Saturday because of her rib injury. After all my Disco Delta enthusiasm, having her sit out Icons Week felt particularly unfortunate. Hopefully the rest gives her a chance to recover properly but I'm not hopeful - a rib injury is a lot to come back from.
Meanwhile, Vi (remember her? My fellow podcast host) reappeared in the group chat to announce that she hadn’t watched a single episode yet. I'm still not sure if this was an admission of reluctance or a bit of a brag because she immediately vanished again!
“This is your best dance so far” appeared to be the official phrase of the evening from the judges. I mean, it's Week Four so we should be seeing some week-on-week improvement. I think that's what is called 'progression'. But maybe if we had some sort of comparable structure like all couples doing the same style of dance, it would be more obvious. This is actually my dance hill I will die on!
Ok, on with the dancing!
༻❁༺
John’s Paso had some traditional shaping and a bit of Katya edge, which I appreciated, but the theatrics, including the flaming guitar, were another disguise to mask the lack of actual dancing. Vanessa described him as “a stomping teddy bear dragging a tea towel”, and I’m afraid that image is staying with me. Katya can create a spectacle. We know this. I still want John’s dancing to be the thing I remember afterwards.
What I wasn't prepared for was Dani making me enjoy a Rumba. I KNOW....please allow me some privacy at this difficult time. It suited her. She looked stunning as Mariah, the connection with Nikita worked and that final pose was divine. There is room for technical improvements, but I watched the performance without wanting to hide behind a cushion. Given my established feelings about this dance, that deserves recording somewhere official.
Johannes also made a good point afterwards about the version of Dani from two weeks ago not being able to manage that choreography. That says far more about her progress than another generic “best dance so far” - tell us what has changed and give the improvement some meaning.
Lawrence's Salsa was fun, energetic and full of those unmistakably Jowita-style lifts. At least this week I was worrying about where she’d land rather than what colour pants she was wearing. I would quite like her to stop winking at the camera, though - we’ve seen you, Jowita - concentrate on the man launching you and where to buy arnica cream from in the morning!
Tabby actually looked remarkably like RAYE, which was an achievement in a week when several wigs seemed to have been allocated by raffle. Her Samba was a little stop-start, and I was watching the spins and foot placements waiting for Shirley to mention them, but she didn't - very discombobulating! And then Craig produced an 8 while everybody else gave 7s. Craig scoring higher than all three other judges? During a Samba? I hope somebody checked he’d picked up the correct paddle.
Sarah’s Tango, meanwhile, needed considerably more attack. The tango has to be fierce and this didn’t have enough strength for me. I could see the effort, but there was too much bounce and not enough conviction. This put her at the bottom of the leaderboard for me - but she's not really been one of my favourites ever.
Also, whilst I'm thinking about it, was Sarah's video message from the actual Shania Twain a true confidence boost or a conveniently timed promotional appearance? Either way, as Kelly mentioned, surely showing it before Sarah danced would have been more useful?
Cach and Maddie's Foxtrot felt traditional by being in hold for most of the dance, no freestyle detour, no tricks shoved in to remind us that Cach has his own style. He still had flair and it still felt like him. He’d just put that energy and personality into the actual dance instead of using it to wander away from the requirements. For me, this was their first wow moment, and you could see the judges recognising that they’d listened. After the Quickstep criticism in Week One and my moaning about Couple’s Choice last week, this was proof that you can learn the rules and still be interesting.
Bethany properly committed to the Aretha character and I liked that side of her performance. Nancy’s choreography continues to give her plenty to work with, although I’m still not entirely convinced they always look comfortable together in hold. That’s something I want to watch as the partnership develops. The Cha Cha dresses, however, required no further discussion. Excellent.
Then there was Shaun who remains the weakest dancer left for me but gave us a much more confident Couple’s Choice. His timing was on point for most of it, he committed to the performance and, despite the mistakes, I enjoyed watching him. I can already hear somebody asking whether this means I’ve changed my mind about Couple’s Choice. Spoiler alert : no. I can think it arrives too early and still recognise that Alexis got something good out of her partner. His improvement deserves credit and this is testament to her choreography. I also had a feeling that this performance would get people voting for him, and on the strength of Saturday alone I could understand why.
Lacey appeared looking more like Duffy than Adele but we can’t expect the costume department to improve at the same rate as her dancing. Her American Smooth was beautiful to watch, but I didn’t think it was her strongest dance. There was a looseness that I couldn’t quite put my finger on until Shirley mentioned posture. That was it. I wanted more support through the upper body, even while the lifts and the overall performance looked lovely. Kelly thought she seemed more confident this week, at last. I agree, and that’s encouraging after three weeks of wanting to lend her some of Vito’s.
The evening’s next Salsa came with Graeme, Lauren and an ABBA wig situation in which Lauren looked fabulous as a Scandinavian blonde. At first I thought that Graeme was giving us a touch of the Ed Balls (yes, I did mean to type that) but this dance definitely isn't going to be as iconic as that Gangnam Style salsa. However, because he threw himself into this routine, I smiled all the way through it - it wasn’t perfect but it was a lot of fun!
Then Josh appeared in his own ABBA outfit and somehow looked like Anton dressed as ABBA. The impersonations were becoming difficult to keep track of.
And then, Jaime and Carlos gave us a brilliant Paso. She looked incredible, even if the Bowie styling on her veered towards Toyah or Cyndi Lauper, and the skirt swishing happened in all the right places without taking over the dance. There was strength and purpose here, but Craig’s reaction had my jaw dropping. I expected him to like it, but I hadn’t expected quite that level of approval. I called 8s and 9s before the paddles appeared and, for once, the judges cooperated. Joint top with Cach on 34. My entirely unscientific early favourite is making a considerably more convincing case for herself now.
Also, Jaime’s leap into Jojo’s arms upstairs was impeccable. Nobody tell the producers or we’ll have a Clauditorium Showdance category by November.
Finally, Will’s Jive. A big fat NO from me as it was too stompy and I spent an unreasonable amount of time trying to decide whether his bum was sticking out too far or whether something else in the posture was making it look that way. How wrong was I though? According to the paddles, very, because the judges were delighted. I still think the new-dad goodwill helped (lovely news about baby Sonny, obviously, but I’m reviewing the Jive here). I’ve also found myself missing some of Dianne’s usual spark and red hair this series. She’s one of my favourite professionals, so I notice when the partnership isn’t grabbing me in the way I’d hoped.
By the end, John and Sarah were my personal bottom two. That isn’t a prediction or a results spoiler. We’ve established that my opinions and the voting public don’t always occupy the same postcode. I do think that Sarah is in the danger zone this week, while Shaun could pick up the popularity votes because the Great British public love a trier - especially one showing real improvement.
TL;DR - Cach stayed in hold and proved a point, Jaime justified my early favouritism, Dani made me enjoy a Rumba and Craig briefly became the generous judge. Danny Dyer and Ray Winstone won the audience. Kevin and Perry won the fancy dress. Definitely maybe somebody’s best dance so far.
༻❁༺
The Spreadsheet Section!
I am pulling together the usual Latin/Ballroom/Speciality comparison but I think it needs maybe another couple of weeks' data before we make a fair comparison for equality and balance. For now, here are the dances, music and scores for Week Four.
༻❁༺
The podcast is on pause, but our Saturday-night opinions are still very much in service. Come and join the weekly chat in the WTF Strictly Facebook group.