A&E Department

Nov 8, 2019 by Rob

There is an old adage: all publicity is good publicity and Mike’s survival is offering useful headlines for Strictly – Emma Weymouth’s tearful exit making the front pages of the Daily Telegraph, Daily Express and Daily Mail, and plenty of coverage this week about him being viciously trolled and even enduring death threats on social media.

A 4th dance-off save for Mike, to get him to Blackpool, remains conceivable, purely because of the ongoing narrative it is helping create, and the show refusing to kowtow to the online hate brigade arguably sends out a strong message.

You sense they were gunning for Saffron last Saturday to land in the bottom two with Emma Weymouth. The issue they had was, Mike glaringly lost timing with his pimp slot Charleston routine so the judges couldn’t big him up and score him up as much as they would have hoped to.

Outside of Couple’s Choice, paso is probably the best Mike could have wished for with a view to potentially surviving, and he has a decent track for it. The judges might be able to focus on how well he sells it and executes the choreo Katya’s comes up with to capture the drama.

It is looking difficult for Mike to escape the dance-off, however, and to survive he will probably need Chris to be scored lower than him and for Chris to end up his dance-off opponent. He is going to have to be serious with tango, that’s certainly not his strong point, and his training this week hasn’t convinced though to be fair nor has Mike’s.

Chris has obviously been polling well up to this point but his Street routine last Saturday looked the summit of his ability and aspirations on the show. Back doing an average tango from an early running order, and given underwhelming comments and scores, it is doubtful Chris’s vote would be high enough for him to leap out of the bottom 2 again from last on the leaderboard, as he did in week 6.

Alex continues to have to cope with the saga of whether or not Neil will be fit enough to partner her, with Ian Waite highlighting the fact Kevin, as her replacement partner, has done a great job in helping to improve her. His exact words on ITT this week were: ‘We’re beginning to wonder if she’s better off with Kevin than she is with Neil’. Cutting, yes, but accurate, probably also yes.

Jive is tough and her training this week has only looked ok so she might find herself placed lower on the leaderboard this week but you sense Alex’s pv is strong and being boosted by her positive attitude overcoming the training room difficulties she has been confronted with.

Michelle, Saffron and Karim all have ballroom routines that should be straightforward to score well with. Among the 3, Karim has looked the one who might be scored worst, as the technique of VW doesn’t play to his strengths.

Kelvin has the chance to shine this week back to performing a fast Latin in salsa. We all recall his amazing week 1 samba so this could be a show-stopper, and a potential pimp slot, though the song choice might have been better. These fast Latins are an Oti specialism too.

Mike is now the only remaining contestant not to have opened the show, though paso doesn’t look a natural opener. Alex’s jive looks a more likely opener and we might revert to a week 1 scenario with Alex opening and Emma B closing the show.

Emma and Anton have endured 3 weeks of harsh criticism and scoring but a Theatre/Jazz number looks teed up to be a triumph tomorrow night. Emma has had more time to train this week and footage from the training room has looked highly promising for their Bob Fosse-inspired routine.

From being placed last on the judges’ leaderboard last week, which led to a social media outcry regarding harsh treatment, Emma looks firmly in contention to top the leaderboard tomorrow night.

Week 7 judges’ leaderboard:

Karim & Amy – QS – 9, 10, 10, 10 = 39
Michelle & Gio – paso – 8, 9, 9, 8 = 34
Kelvin & Oti – VW – 8, 9, 8, 9 = 34
Chris & Karen – 8, 9, 9, 8 = 34
Alex & Kevin – AS – 7, 8, 8, 8 = 31
Mike & Katya – Charleston – 7, 7, 8, 8 = 30 – bottom 2
Saffron & AJ – salsa – 6, 7, 7, 7 = 27
Emma W & Aljaz – samba – 5, 7, 7, 7 = 26 – Eliminated
Emma B & Anton – rumba – 5, 6, 5, 6 = 22

Week 8 songs and dances:

Alex and Neil: Jive to Let’s Twist Again by Chubby Checker 
Emma and Anton: Couple’s Choice: Theatre/Jazz to Right Now by The Pussycat Dolls
Michelle and Giovanni: American Smooth to I Just Want To Make Love To You by Etta James
Saffron and AJ: Waltz to Your Song by Ellie Goulding
Chris and Karen: Tango to Survivor by 2wei
Karim and Amy: Viennese Waltz to Give Me Love by Ed Sheeran
Kelvin and Oti: Salsa to Let’s Hear It For the Boy by Deniece Williams
Mike and Katya: Paso Doble to Tamacun by Rodrigo y Gabriela