Ad & Subtract

Oct 20, 2023 by Rob

After contemplating whether Nigel’s poor treatment in the previous two weeks was indicative of TPTB’s uncooperative long-term plans for him, it was his main market rival, Bobby, who came under scrutiny last Saturday following his curious pimp slot performance.

Everything about his tango looked under-par and off-putting. The styling, the lighting, the choreo… It was by no means Bobby’s best dance and didn’t look befitting of closing the show on a high point. The judges duly dampened proceedings scoring Bobby a middling 30, and when this sort of thing happens from the pimp you can’t help wondering if it was intentionally deflating.

Given Layton produced a professional-looking CCC, which landed him a 37, it looked like Nigel, tasked with following him, could be in for another tough night. But he pulled a good salsa out of the bag aided by Katya’s clever choreo. Patrick Swayze was referenced and the judges weren’t prepared to nit-pick this one. It looked very much like Nigel back on track in the competition.

Bobby and Nigel both have ballroom routines tomorrow set to suitable music. There is greater scope for nit-picking when it comes to foxtrot but they should both end up towards the top of the judges’ leaderboard.

Angela S endured harsh appraisals and scoring for her VW which conveniently left her looking in trouble, her and Carlos noticeably appearing at the bottom of the list of four couples scored 28 on the leaderboard caption. After they seemed to purposely put it on early and score down her Charleston the previous week, this looks more suspiciously like journey building.

Week 4 judges’ leaderboard:

Layton and Nikita: CCC – (9) – 9, 10, 9, 9 = 37
Nigel and Katya: Salsa – (10) – 8, 9, 8, 8 = 33
Adam and Luba: Waltz – (2) – 8, 8, 8, 8 = 32
Angela R and Kai: Rumba – (12) – 8, 7, 8, 8 = 31
Amanda and Giovanni: Foxtrot – (4) – 7, 8, 8, 8 = 31
Bobby and Dianne: Tango – (13) – 7, 7, 8, 8 = 30
Annabel and Johannes: Jive – (7) – 7, 7, 7, 8 = 29
Ellie and Vito: Samba – (1) – 7, 7, 7, 7 = 28
Krishnan and Lauren: Paso Doble – (5) – 6, 7, 7, 8 = 28
Zara and Graziano: Viennese Waltz – (6) – 7, 7, 7, 7 = 28
Angela S and Carlos: Viennese Waltz – (11) – 7, 7, 7, 7 = 28
Eddie and Karen: American Smooth – (8) – 4, 7, 6, 7 = 24 – bottom 2
Jody and Jowita: Salsa – (3) – 3, 5, 5, 6 = 19 – eliminated

In AS she has the same dance as Zara for the second consecutive week. It will be foxtrot-based when a VW-based one might have been a lot easier for her. It could just be they keep Angela S simmering under for a while longer yet.

Ellie opened the show with samba. Her movements were quite jerky, and the optics weren’t great given the strain it imparted on her face throughout. Shirley quite cunningly intimated it was only any good from the waist up.

This was the sort of fast Latin you felt Ellie needed to excel in to advance her potential winner claims. She now has paso to an instrumental of a Faithless classic. Again, she looked a bit too frenetic in the mid-week training clip but at least she has the right sort of song to help create drama.

Amanda’s foxtrot highlighted her consistency. CCC is another technical dance for her, and she’s now had three of those in a row. This is potentially helpful for her with a good few aces up her sleeve, left to play later in the series, and with Halloween Week just around the corner, the week Giovanni historically tops the judges’ leaderboard.

Layton’s dance choices in the first 5 weeks are also noteworthy. After tomorrow he will have burnt through three highly suitable fast Latins for him. His salsa might prove the ideal opener.

It was a good effort by Annabel with her jive. It’s unlucky for her she is in such a strong year on the female side. That said, Charleston could well be her crowning glory tomorrow and might be one considered for the pimp slot. The song choice doesn’t seem right but we have been promised a twist.

The other obvious contender for the pimp has to be Angela R dancing the first AT of the series to the perfect AT piece of music. This should be a triumph for her and keep her on course for Blackpool.

In terms of the 4th elimination, Eddie appears to have been given the ideal opportunity to bounce back from his dance-off appearance with an AfroBeats-themed samba.

Zara did well with her VW last week and could potentially build on that with her AS which will also be foxtrot-based. On paper, the famous LeAnn Rimes track looks more suitable than Angela S’s choice of Madonna’s ‘Cherish’.

This leaves Adam who has been under the weather this week. He’s arriving on the back of a superb waltz, a genre that is a Luba specialty.

A CC set to a Backstreet Boys Medley doesn’t leap out as one of the evening’s strongest routines, and while Eddie looks on the up, it just might be Adam who discovers the knives are out for him this time. TPTB were ruthlessly efficient once more getting rid of Jody last week and we should probably anticipate more of the same tomorrow.

Please do let us know who got your week 5 vote(s) when the exit poll opens during tomorrow night’s show:

Strictly 2023 Exit Poll – Week 5

Week 5 dances & songs:

Adam and Luba: Couple’s Choice (Street) to Backstreet Boys Medley by Backstreet Boys

Amanda and Giovanni: Cha Cha Cha to Canned Heat by Jamiroquai

Annabel and Johannes: Charleston to Ladies Night by Kool & The Gang

Angela R and Kai: Argentine Tango to Tanguera by Sexteto Mayor

Angela S and Carlos: American Smooth to Cherish by Madonna

Bobby and Dianne: Viennese Waltz to golden hour by JVKE

Eddie and Karen: Samba to Calm Down by Rema ft. Selena Gomez

Ellie and Vito: Paso Doble to Insomnia by Faithless

Krishnan and Lauren: Quickstep to The Lady Is A Tramp by Frank Sinatra

Layton and Nikita: Salsa to Quimbara by Johnny Pacheco and Celia Cruz

Nigel and Katya: Foxtrot to I Just Want To Make Love To You by Etta James

Zara and Graziano: American Smooth to Can’t Fight The Moonlight by LeAnn Rimes