Ultimate Strictly

Monday

29th November 2010

It's Monday, it's 6:30pm and it's time for Jared Cam. Lots of pre-show backstage footage to start and I love that Jared calls Anton "Dad" and Ola obviously thinks she's Mum with her observation, "Someone's going to get hurt!" when the lads were mucking about.

Time for Patsy & Robin's final interview, and good to his promise, Robin was wearing a string vest! Although disappointed to leave, both happy to leave on a high with a dance they were happy with. Robin was so sweet explaining how wonderful his first year on Strictly has been. Lots of best bits to show us as they've stayed in nine weeks, and tears all round by the end of it (including me).

Now it was time for something all Strictly fans wanted to see - the chance for Craig and Alesha to explain the differences between their scores at the weekend. Basically, Alesha admitted that she was trying to compensate and even out the scores as she thought that Craig would mark low, and I think that's the problem. By all means, be less critical in your comments, but your score MUST reflect the dance, not try and mark to raise the score on a talented couple who dance badly! Loved that Craig started talking what like Alesha does after sitting next to her on the sofa!

Time for some Out of the Glitterball and lots of confusion about a weird question before we learnt of some of the best presents the competitors have received from fans.

Finishing off the show, Claudia welcomed Matt & Aliona onto the sofa for a chat. Bless Aliona, she'd already had her hair done for the Christmas Special being filmed tonight, so holly leaves aplenty on view! She'd never been so eloquent tonight as she was talking about their contemporary American Smooth. They haven't started their Jive training yet this week - eek!

Tuesday

30th November 2010

Gavin & Katya in first, and he's still a bit shellshocked by how bad the judges thought his Jive was on Saturday, and Katya doesn't know what Craig's tactics are. Being in the bottom two though, Gavin had a panic about his exit dance! Foxtrot this week, and he's glad to be back in hold and wants to get to the final. Aww, bless.

J for judges and K for kicks and flicks in the next episode in the A-Z of Strictly next.

Time for some friends and family, with Gavin's friend, Kara's dad Ken and Ann's ex-colleague Ed but fascinating to learn that the House of Commons shops sells mugs and booze!

Choreography Corner with Karen Hardy and started with a discussion about the mistakes and the exhaustion that's hitting the celebrities. Karen showed us exactly how Scott went wrong and the effect it has on the rest of the routine, plus had a look at the other routines as well. Good stuff.

Pamela (in festive headgear) & James were the last guests of the night. As usual, these two were great entertainment, and I love them in training, on ITT and their dances. After their Charleston, James says he will never be lifted again, and they apparently only had three or four full run throughs of the whole routine as they kept having to work on specific parts of the dance, but Pamela likes the risk of that! Great VT of Pamela as Wonder Woman, although best comment of the night came afterwards when she said she thought she looked like Mickey Rourke in "The Wrestler"! Viennese Waltz for them this week.

Wednesday

1st December 2010

A visit to Aliona's flat was the first order of the night in the latest edition of Strictly Cribs. It didn't take long as it's pretty tiny, but it has room for all the essentials Aliona needs, shoes, fake tan and, yes you've guessed it, custard!

Len's Dance Clinic to follow, with some advice for first dances at weddings, including Claudia digging Len (and herself) out of a hole, how to improve your posture all the time, even when ironing and taking your socks out the drawer with a contra check, and finally, teaching Claudia hip action in the cucaracha step from the rumba.

Time for the Waltz dance files from Karen Hardy, before the lovely Erin joined Claudia for the mid week review, demonstrating her magnificent mastery of the marvellous machine. First off, she gave us her thoughts on the controversial scoring at the weekend, before we saw all the training footage. The machine highlighted Katya's chicken wing courtesy of Gavin's frame, Pamela's beautiful extended neckline which drooped later on, Scott's dominating chesticles also drooping into a concave posture and Ann's leaning forward posture throughout. Genius.

Back to the A-Z of Strictly with L for lifts before the final guests of the night, Kara & Artem. They talked about Artem's definition of a lift and an assisted jump, but to be honest, I don't actually think it affected the scores, so I'm not sure it really mattered, but it was nice to hear him say that if he'd known it was a lift, he wouldn't have included it.

Thursday

2nd December 2010

Training updates to start tonight, and Pamela seems to be injuring James rather a lot in their Viennese waltz training. After feeling under prepared last week, Kara is determined to know the routine inside and out for their passionate tango, Ann is convinced the judges scores are higher when they don't get a standing ovation.

And Ann & Anton were the first guests, and apparently it's an empty place inside of Anton's head. I have to be honest, I just don't see the appeal of Ann on the show, and I really don't understand the standing ovations and the opinion that she's providing great comedy - Anton I like and think he's funny, but I find Ann's approach to the dancing galling and her attitude with the judges just plain rude and arrogant.

Time for some Out of the Glitterball question, and amongst other things we found out that Flavia thinks she's naughty and nutty and nice just like pistachio ice cream, but that there's no one person in the world she wants to dance for particularly, because when she dances, she dances for herself and her partner and the music - BEST ANSWER EVER!!!

More training updates with Scott looking slightly less tired this week, Gavin knows he has to outdo himself this week to try and get in the semi finals. No training footage from Matt because he and Aliona have been training in the Outer Hebrides so no video available!

A few words from Su Judd next, talking about how this years celebrities approached the design of their own costumes this year, before it was time for the fashion panel with Hilary Alexander and Ben De Lisi, who is brilliant at explaining the construction of the dresses. I adore the design of Pamela's gown this week, and I think it will look stunning in a Viennese Waltz. Can't wait to see the song choices for Movie theme, and absolutely loving Katya's outfit.

Back to Su for a chat about the male celebrities outfits this year, including Scott's samba shirt which was the most expensive shirt ever on Strictly, Matt's dancers physique and his input to that country theme for his first cha cha cha, and some interesting info about why he hasn't worn tails much in the ballroom dances (Su likes his bum basically!).

Friday

3rd December 2010

Scott & Natalie first tonight, with Scott hating to be reminded of all the mistakes he made on Saturday night, and their shock at getting the two nines for a routine full of errors. Scott thinks the paso this week is about getting his mindset right, rather than the dance itself. Let's hope he earns his points this week!

Professional's Choice next with new boy Robin picking Lisa & Brendan's foxtrot from series six, explaining that it's because it was amazing to see a celebrity performing at such a high level. It's one of my favourite foxtrot's too - I always loved Lisa & Brendan although they weren't that popular with the public for some reason. Thanks Bobby, you picked a good 'un.

Following on with M for make-up, N for nerves and O for ovation (of which we've seen far too many undeserved ones this year) in the next instalment of the A-Z of Strictly.

Yet another filler video next, with a talking head segment linking in with tomorrow night's movie theme, and the contestants thinking about what sort of movie Strictly would be if it were a movie.

At last, we made it to the Friday panel, and Claudia was joined by Craig, Tamzin Outhwaite and Michael Ball. Had a chance to see Matt & Aliona's training and it looks pretty good so far, and time enough to have a quick look at everyone, If everyone performs to their best, we could be in for a great night togight. Lots of good comments on this weeks dancers, and the Friday panel remains one of my favourite segments of the week.