First things first: there will be NO spoilers in these posts. I'm writing this on Sunday afternoon before the results show has aired. There are confirmed spoilers, unconfirmed spoilers and people on the internet who apparently cannot survive until Sunday evening without knowing who has been eliminated. I'm definitely one of them but you might not be so, if you're reading this before the results show, you're safe here and I won't mention an elimination until the following week's post.
Of course, the reason we can have spoilers at all is because the Sunday results show still isn't live. It's filmed after Saturday night's live show, complete with pre-filmed pro group dances and impossible costume changes but the BBC continues to describe the Strictly results show as being filmed "as live" for years.
It's well documented on the WTF Strictly podcast and I'm going to continue moaning about it because it remains ridiculous. If you're going to make us wait until Sunday, at least make the bloody thing live. Otherwise, of course there are going to be moles in the audience leaking the result before we've even gone to bed.
Anyway. Movie Week.
I complained about this last week and, having now watched it, I've decided I was right. It's too much, too soon.
We've had two weeks of competition and already we've had a Couple's Choice, Charleston, American Smooths, a Viennese Waltz, lifts, harnesses, hoops, CGI penguins and enough faffing around at the beginning and end of routines to fill another entire dance.
My friend Matthew summed it up in one word via WhatsApp: Chaos.
I come back to what Motsi said last week about learning the rules before you start breaking them. I want to see the celebrities learn the basics first. Give them time to understand hold, footwork, posture and the difference between their heel and their toe before we suspend them from the ceiling and ask them to recreate Wicked.
And then John and Katya gave us a Couple's Choice in Week Two. ACTUALLY. FUCK. OFF.
I know I have an irrational hatred of certain dances turning up too early, but Week Two is taking the piss. For me, Couple's Choice belongs much later in the competition. Personally, I'd save it until the semi-final and then have the Showdance in the final.
John was top of the leaderboard last week after a lovely Foxtrot which actually showed us what he could do. This week we got a lot of running around, jumping on and off things and Titanic-jig-themed tricks. Even Katya, who I think is one of the most inventive choreographers Strictly has ever had, couldn't make me love it. When you compare it with what she produced for Lewis's Couple's Choice last year, they are worlds apart.
And the scoring didn't help. Craig gave it a 4. Shirley and Anton both gave it 7s. I'm with Craig and think that the other two might have had a little snifter before they came on set...
Delta and Kai's American Smooth was beautiful. The colour of her dress was gorgeous and Kai's ballroom teaching really came through, but halfway through I caught myself thinking "no lifts!" before remembering that, yes, lifts are allowed in an American Smooth.
But should we already be doing dances with lifts? Delta can clearly dance and she's going to be good, but I want to see the progression. Last week Samba, this week American Smooth, already throwing lifts into the equation. Where do we go next?
Graeme and Lauren were probably my biggest surprise of the night. No faffing, despite Graeme starting behind a desk, and once they got into hold he looked like a completely different dancer. He covered the floor, the footwork was good and I think we've found somebody who could become a serious contender in Ballroom.
The group chat agreed. Tara thought he was going to be particularly strong in Ballroom and Vanessa described it as an "incredible ballroom dance".
Motsi also noted that this partnership was working well because Lauren was able to 'let go' and also be in the dance rather than solely being a choreography whisperer. That's as much a compliment to Lauren's teaching as it is to Graeme's dancing.
At the opposite end, Chris looked absolutely terrified.
His training footage had looked better than the actual Cha Cha he performed on the night and I wondered whether nerves were getting to him before he then admitted exactly that. The bare-chested Baywatch distraction didn't really help either. There seemed to be rather more concentration on Chris's abs than on whether he was actually dancing.
Meanwhile Lawrence and Jowita produced a lovely Viennese Waltz, although there was far too much messing around at the beginning and end. Apparently I have become the Faffing Police this year but if you've only got around 90 seconds to show us that you've learned a dance, stop spending a third of this time pretending to be a chef!
Long-term WTF Strictly listeners may remember that Shirley's tiny shoes once warranted an entire podcast episode title. Well... SHIRLEY'S TINY SHOES ARE BACK. I don't know why this pleases me quite as much as it does, but here we are.
This sounds ridiculously insignificant but Strictly has a long and distinguished history of dressing a couple as though the costume department received two entirely different briefs, so I want to give Will and Dianne's matching shirts a shoutout because, apart from the enormously appreciated Tom Cruise sock-slide, their Foxtrot didn't really hit the mark - it was in the safe zone though.
As mentioned last week, Jaime is still one of the people I really want to do well but... NO, JAIME, WE DO NOT DO TALKING BEFORE THE DANCING, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I can't cope with the little scripted bits before the music starts. Dance first. Talk later. Her Pretty Woman Cha Cha did, however, give us one of the better costume ideas of the night. She arrived dressed in the prostitute outfit and then changed into the polo-match look. Very clever. Although if you're going to do a costume change on Strictly, I want a Katya Jones-style transformation where somebody spins around and suddenly appears to be wearing an entirely different dress and half the audience has to rewind to work out how the hell she did it.
As for Jaime's dancing, I still think there's a very good dancer in there. She just seems to be trying slightly too hard at the moment. Sometimes it looks as though she's concentrating so much that she loses her balance; other times it feels like she's trying to put her own personality into the choreography before she's quite secure enough in the steps to do it. She doesn't need to force it. She's on her way to being good enough already.
TL;DR - Movie Week in Week Two is ridiculous. Couple's Choice in Week Two should be a criminal offence. Graeme may be our surprise Ballroom boy and everyone else needs to calm the fuck down. We need more appearances from Shirley's tiny shoes. There's a bonus spreadsheet section for those who love them!
Of the 15 couples, 12 followed a broadly Latin-to-Ballroom or Ballroom-to-Latin pattern, if we count American Smooth as Ballroom. Dame Sarah and John were given speciality dances instead, while Shaun and Alexis were the only couple to get two Latin dances: Cha Cha followed by Salsa.
Of course, the reason we can have spoilers at all is because the Sunday results show still isn't live. It's filmed after Saturday night's live show, complete with pre-filmed pro group dances and impossible costume changes but the BBC continues to describe the Strictly results show as being filmed "as live" for years.
It's well documented on the WTF Strictly podcast and I'm going to continue moaning about it because it remains ridiculous. If you're going to make us wait until Sunday, at least make the bloody thing live. Otherwise, of course there are going to be moles in the audience leaking the result before we've even gone to bed.
Anyway. Movie Week.
I complained about this last week and, having now watched it, I've decided I was right. It's too much, too soon.
We've had two weeks of competition and already we've had a Couple's Choice, Charleston, American Smooths, a Viennese Waltz, lifts, harnesses, hoops, CGI penguins and enough faffing around at the beginning and end of routines to fill another entire dance.
My friend Matthew summed it up in one word via WhatsApp: Chaos.
I come back to what Motsi said last week about learning the rules before you start breaking them. I want to see the celebrities learn the basics first. Give them time to understand hold, footwork, posture and the difference between their heel and their toe before we suspend them from the ceiling and ask them to recreate Wicked.
And then John and Katya gave us a Couple's Choice in Week Two. ACTUALLY. FUCK. OFF.
I know I have an irrational hatred of certain dances turning up too early, but Week Two is taking the piss. For me, Couple's Choice belongs much later in the competition. Personally, I'd save it until the semi-final and then have the Showdance in the final.
John was top of the leaderboard last week after a lovely Foxtrot which actually showed us what he could do. This week we got a lot of running around, jumping on and off things and Titanic-jig-themed tricks. Even Katya, who I think is one of the most inventive choreographers Strictly has ever had, couldn't make me love it. When you compare it with what she produced for Lewis's Couple's Choice last year, they are worlds apart.
And the scoring didn't help. Craig gave it a 4. Shirley and Anton both gave it 7s. I'm with Craig and think that the other two might have had a little snifter before they came on set...
Delta and Kai's American Smooth was beautiful. The colour of her dress was gorgeous and Kai's ballroom teaching really came through, but halfway through I caught myself thinking "no lifts!" before remembering that, yes, lifts are allowed in an American Smooth.
But should we already be doing dances with lifts? Delta can clearly dance and she's going to be good, but I want to see the progression. Last week Samba, this week American Smooth, already throwing lifts into the equation. Where do we go next?
Graeme and Lauren were probably my biggest surprise of the night. No faffing, despite Graeme starting behind a desk, and once they got into hold he looked like a completely different dancer. He covered the floor, the footwork was good and I think we've found somebody who could become a serious contender in Ballroom.
The group chat agreed. Tara thought he was going to be particularly strong in Ballroom and Vanessa described it as an "incredible ballroom dance".
Motsi also noted that this partnership was working well because Lauren was able to 'let go' and also be in the dance rather than solely being a choreography whisperer. That's as much a compliment to Lauren's teaching as it is to Graeme's dancing.
At the opposite end, Chris looked absolutely terrified.
His training footage had looked better than the actual Cha Cha he performed on the night and I wondered whether nerves were getting to him before he then admitted exactly that. The bare-chested Baywatch distraction didn't really help either. There seemed to be rather more concentration on Chris's abs than on whether he was actually dancing.
Meanwhile Lawrence and Jowita produced a lovely Viennese Waltz, although there was far too much messing around at the beginning and end. Apparently I have become the Faffing Police this year but if you've only got around 90 seconds to show us that you've learned a dance, stop spending a third of this time pretending to be a chef!
Long-term WTF Strictly listeners may remember that Shirley's tiny shoes once warranted an entire podcast episode title. Well... SHIRLEY'S TINY SHOES ARE BACK. I don't know why this pleases me quite as much as it does, but here we are.
This sounds ridiculously insignificant but Strictly has a long and distinguished history of dressing a couple as though the costume department received two entirely different briefs, so I want to give Will and Dianne's matching shirts a shoutout because, apart from the enormously appreciated Tom Cruise sock-slide, their Foxtrot didn't really hit the mark - it was in the safe zone though.
As mentioned last week, Jaime is still one of the people I really want to do well but... NO, JAIME, WE DO NOT DO TALKING BEFORE THE DANCING, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I can't cope with the little scripted bits before the music starts. Dance first. Talk later. Her Pretty Woman Cha Cha did, however, give us one of the better costume ideas of the night. She arrived dressed in the prostitute outfit and then changed into the polo-match look. Very clever. Although if you're going to do a costume change on Strictly, I want a Katya Jones-style transformation where somebody spins around and suddenly appears to be wearing an entirely different dress and half the audience has to rewind to work out how the hell she did it.
As for Jaime's dancing, I still think there's a very good dancer in there. She just seems to be trying slightly too hard at the moment. Sometimes it looks as though she's concentrating so much that she loses her balance; other times it feels like she's trying to put her own personality into the choreography before she's quite secure enough in the steps to do it. She doesn't need to force it. She's on her way to being good enough already.
Can someone please give Lacey a cup of confidence because she is so much better than she thinks she is. She still looks terrified before she dances, but once she gets moving something changes. This week's Quickstep was fun, she looked as though she was finally enjoying herself and I think Lacey and Vito may become one of my favourite partnerships.
The group chat seems to be heading in the same direction. Vanessa called them her favourite pairing and Tara made exactly the point I've been thinking: Lacey looks terrified beforehand and then goes out and dances really well.
Cach was another huge improvement even if he does think he's Danny Zucchini. I enjoyed his dance last week but understood Craig's criticism about the amount of freestyle in something being judged as a Quickstep. This week's Grease Samba was much more controlled while still feeling like him. I also feel that it was an easy choice to dress them as Danny and Sandy and use the finale song from the film - I honestly think there was a MASSIVE missed opportunity to use the dance-off from the film and dress Maddie as Cha Cha DiGregorio. Come on, it was right there!
Tabby was another one who looked much more settled this week. I could have done without quite so long in the hoop at the beginning but there was some nice shaping and once she started dancing, she was lovely.
And then there's Shaun. Last week he looked as though somebody had accidentally pushed him onto the dancefloor and he was desperately searching for the nearest fire exit. This week was so much better and much more fun. Alexis was working overtime to protect him with the choreography, but there was more control, more energy and, most importantly, he looked as though he was actually enjoying himself. I'm also torn between whether Shirley is feeling motherly towards him or has a little crush on him!
Dame Sarah's Charleston was way too slow for me. The final 16 bars showed what the whole routine could have been. Suddenly it had pace and energy and I thought YES, THERE IT IS. Unfortunately we'd spent most of the preceding dance waiting for it. The cartwheel wasn't bad though.
Bethany and Nancy looked dramatic as hell, helped enormously by the lighting again, but there was far too much going on before Bethany actually danced. Nancy dancing around while Bethany attached herself to wires is exactly what I mean about Movie Week being able to hide the actual dance.
And Melanie - turning up looking like Gail Platt was a bit unfortunate - but she seemed to completely lose her way with the footwork during her Waltz. Edelweiss always makes me cry however, this time I was crying for an entirely different reason. Aljaž appeared to be trying to steer her back into the dance at points but his response afterwards was possibly my favourite line of the night though, joking that they'd choreographed the mistakes in and were pleased the judges had spotted them.
And finally... the presenters. I feel like they are finally settling into their roles. Jojo was much better in the Clauditorium this week. There were still a couple of hesitations, but the production issue with his cues from last week seems to have been sorted and there were fewer moments where it felt as though he was waiting for permission to speak.
The Clauditorium itself works best at this stage of the competition because everybody is crammed in there. I love the noise and the chaos and the in-jokes. It always gets a bit more serious later in the series when half the cast has disappeared and there are just the pros and a handful of celebrities rattling around upstairs.
I'm still not sold on Josh, although some of his little comedy/sketch moments worked better this week.
Emma remains the consummate professional. Calm, collected but took a cue from Jojo's Week 1 style of presenting and read the voting terms and conditions whilst everyone was partying to the VOTE OPEN call! Can she repeat them please? I didn't quite catch them.
The group chat seems to be heading in the same direction. Vanessa called them her favourite pairing and Tara made exactly the point I've been thinking: Lacey looks terrified beforehand and then goes out and dances really well.
Cach was another huge improvement even if he does think he's Danny Zucchini. I enjoyed his dance last week but understood Craig's criticism about the amount of freestyle in something being judged as a Quickstep. This week's Grease Samba was much more controlled while still feeling like him. I also feel that it was an easy choice to dress them as Danny and Sandy and use the finale song from the film - I honestly think there was a MASSIVE missed opportunity to use the dance-off from the film and dress Maddie as Cha Cha DiGregorio. Come on, it was right there!
Tabby was another one who looked much more settled this week. I could have done without quite so long in the hoop at the beginning but there was some nice shaping and once she started dancing, she was lovely.
And then there's Shaun. Last week he looked as though somebody had accidentally pushed him onto the dancefloor and he was desperately searching for the nearest fire exit. This week was so much better and much more fun. Alexis was working overtime to protect him with the choreography, but there was more control, more energy and, most importantly, he looked as though he was actually enjoying himself. I'm also torn between whether Shirley is feeling motherly towards him or has a little crush on him!
Dame Sarah's Charleston was way too slow for me. The final 16 bars showed what the whole routine could have been. Suddenly it had pace and energy and I thought YES, THERE IT IS. Unfortunately we'd spent most of the preceding dance waiting for it. The cartwheel wasn't bad though.
Bethany and Nancy looked dramatic as hell, helped enormously by the lighting again, but there was far too much going on before Bethany actually danced. Nancy dancing around while Bethany attached herself to wires is exactly what I mean about Movie Week being able to hide the actual dance.
And Melanie - turning up looking like Gail Platt was a bit unfortunate - but she seemed to completely lose her way with the footwork during her Waltz. Edelweiss always makes me cry however, this time I was crying for an entirely different reason. Aljaž appeared to be trying to steer her back into the dance at points but his response afterwards was possibly my favourite line of the night though, joking that they'd choreographed the mistakes in and were pleased the judges had spotted them.
And finally... the presenters. I feel like they are finally settling into their roles. Jojo was much better in the Clauditorium this week. There were still a couple of hesitations, but the production issue with his cues from last week seems to have been sorted and there were fewer moments where it felt as though he was waiting for permission to speak.
The Clauditorium itself works best at this stage of the competition because everybody is crammed in there. I love the noise and the chaos and the in-jokes. It always gets a bit more serious later in the series when half the cast has disappeared and there are just the pros and a handful of celebrities rattling around upstairs.
I'm still not sold on Josh, although some of his little comedy/sketch moments worked better this week.
Emma remains the consummate professional. Calm, collected but took a cue from Jojo's Week 1 style of presenting and read the voting terms and conditions whilst everyone was partying to the VOTE OPEN call! Can she repeat them please? I didn't quite catch them.
TL;DR - Movie Week in Week Two is ridiculous. Couple's Choice in Week Two should be a criminal offence. Graeme may be our surprise Ballroom boy and everyone else needs to calm the fuck down. We need more appearances from Shirley's tiny shoes. There's a bonus spreadsheet section for those who love them!
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The Spreadsheet Section!
First I wanted to compare if each couple had done one Latin and one Ballroom as that would provide an even-ish playing field (let's not get me started on when couples had to all dance the same style each week because an actual level playing field would be bonkers, wouldn't it?).
Strictly Come Dancing 2026 Week Two: Movie Week Dances, Songs and Scores
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