Cha-Grilled

Oct 7, 2022 by Rob

It was quite the fall from grace for Will in week 2; very much a hero to zero treatment by TPTB. His 26-scoring salsa earned 8pts less than his week 1 jive and it is hard to quibble with the judges as the drop off in quality was glaring.

Some tough love was to be expected but it also highlighted the fact Strictly contestants get a good couple of weeks to perfect their week 1 dances, but then only have around 5 days to nail the technique, and get the routine off pat once the series gets underway.

Will has understandably drifted to around 4.8 and now gets the chance to show off his ballroom prowess with an AS. This is quite a smoochy number from Dirty Dancing and it is clear Will enjoys trying to portray himself as something of a lady’s man when he dances so it will be illuminating to see if he is able to sell the right amount of Swayze-esque sex appeal.

Top of the aggregate leaderboard across the first 2 weeks was unsurprisingly Molly.

Week 1 + 2 judges’ leaderboard:
Molly and Carlos: Samba – (8) – 7, 8, 8, 8 = 31 – QS – (15) – 8, 9, 9, 8 = 34 = 65
Will and Nancy: Jive – (12) – 8, 9, 8, 9 = 34 – salsa – (1) – 6, 7, 6, 7 = 26 = 60
Hamza and Jowita: Foxtrot – (14) – 8, 9, 9, 8 = 34 – jive – (10) – 4, 7, 6, 7 = 24 = 58
Fleur and Vito: CCC – (15) – 7, 7, 7, 8 = 29 – VW – (8) – 7, 8, 6, 7 = 28 = 57
Ellie S and Nikita: CCC – (10) – 6, 7, 7, 6 = 26 – waltz – (3) – 7, 8, 7, 8 = 30 = 56
Richie and Giovanni: CCC – (6) – 5, 5, 6, 7 = 23 – QS – (7) – 8, 8, 8, 8 = 32 = 55
Helen and Gorka: AS (foxtrot) – (7) – 6, 7, 6, 7 = 26 – CCC – (4) – 5, 7, 7, 8 = 27 = 53
Tyler and Dianne: AS – (2) – 4, 5, 7, 6 = 22 – jive – (13) – 7, 8, 8, 8 = 31 = 53
Ellie T and Johannes: QS – (13) – 6, 7, 7, 8 = 28 – paso – (6) – 4, 7, 5, 7 = 23 = 51
Kym and Graziano: Jive – (1) – 4, 6, 6, 7 = 23 – VW – (11) – 6, 7, 7, 7 = 27 = 50
Jayde and Karen: Samba – (3) – 4, 7, 6, 6 = 23 – tango – (14) – 6, 7, 6, 7 = 26 = 49
James and Amy: Jive – (5) – 6, 5, 5, 6 = 22 – tango – (2) – 5, 6, 6, 7 = 24 = 46
Kaye and Kai: Tango – (4) – 6, 5, 5, 5 = 21 – Charleston – (9) – 4, 6, 6, 6 = 22 = 43 – eliminated
Matt and Nadiya: QS – (9) – 5, 5, 5, 5 = 20 – samba – (12) – 4, 6, 6, 6 = 22 = 42 – bottom 2
Tony and Katya: Tango – (11) – 3, 4, 4, 4 = 15 – Charleston – (5) – 4, 6, 6, 6 = 22 = 37

It is abundantly clear Molly is going to be good every week but this is unlikely to aid her chance of winning the show. A waltz for her tomorrow night doesn’t look like being one of the evening’s highlights.

Hamza endured the biggest score drop between week 1 and 2, a full 10pts, courtesy of a lacklustre jive which still demonstrated that for such a big guy he is extremely light on his feet and has impressive timing. He does also suffer from being pigeon-toed.

Now he is tasked with the first rumba of the series. It’s often an underwhelming dance, and one he should be pleased to see the back of so early. The suspicion is, the judges will be generous as Hamza looks capable of delivering a sensual, graceful, tender routine.

Fleur’s first ballroom, a VW, was a highly competent effort but it was interesting to see Shirley going into serious nitpicking mode regarding her footwork. Fleur has endured tough comments and scores in both weeks despite showing bags of potential.

Is this an attempt to tee her up for a journey or is Shirley just being pernicious? She does have some previous in targeting glamorous 30-something women who show panache, so it’s definitely one to monitor and well worth paying special attention to what Shirley says after Fleur has performed her AS tomorrow night.

You have to give plenty of credit to Nikita for creating two excellent routines for Ellie S so far and a QS to the classic ‘Peppy And George’ from The Artist, likely to be imagined in black and white, looks like being another good one, and possibly a stand out on the night.

Richie enjoyed the plaudits for his QS last Saturday though it was a lot about Giovanni’s choreo and the judges appeared generous in awarding him a 32.

Samba looks a much tougher assignment and Richie was struggling with the technique in early training footage. Given it’s Hakuna Matata from The Lion King, with Gio styled as a warthog and Richie presumably a lion, there could be a chance for the judges to talk and score up by focusing on the entertainment value.

That definitely applies to Tony doing his version of The Full Monty accompanied by ‘You Sexy Thing’ and stripping to his boxer shorts. Granted some Katya magic, it looks on the cards for him to swerve the dance-off again, and this could well be a routine they save until late in the show.

Helen has what looks an open goal with a VW to ‘Hopelessly Devoted To You’ from Grease to earn her highest score of the series so far. After two early-ish slots in 7 and 4, she could also be a contender for a late running order position.

Tyler had a breakthrough week 2 with his impressive jive, Shirley eager to point out Tyler has a special quality about him.

Like Molly and Hamza, Tyler needs some early series ramping more than most in trying to forge a connection with the audience as one of this year’s lower profile signings.

It’s surprising TPTB are now asking Tyler to perform a Charleston on the back of the jive and him running the London Marathon on Sunday. It’s a good track for a high impact number but physically he has clearly been struggling in training this week following his marathon exertions.

Kym has had an underwhelming start to the series but a Charleston to ‘If My Friends Could See Me Now’, given her acting credentials, should offer the chance for her to have her best week yet, and it is easy to envisage this routine potentially closing the show.

Matt survived the week 2 dance-off on a 3-1 verdict, with Shirley’s vote to save Kaye made redundant. Both he and Kaye were scored 4, 6, 6, 6 on the night so the judges had plausible deniability if they decided to save Kaye instead.

They claimed both their routines were error-strewn in the dance-off, and having gone to the trouble to save Matt, he may not be in their sights tomorrow night.

The record of week 2 dance-off survivors escaping the dance-off in week 3 is very hit and miss but a VW to that track from Maverick should, in theory, offer the chance for the judges to be kind and focus on Matt’s ballroom improvement.

Nadiya managed to help Dan Walker land 28 for his week 5 VW last year, so there looks scope for a generous score if they do want to help Matt avoid a second successive dance-off appearance.

Thinking about the quandary of the 2nd elimination, the answer could lie among the three CCCs being grilled on the night. We know it’s a tough dance to get right but Jayde has been given the iconic Flashdance song to potentially sell something memorable.

James has a track from Guardians Of The Galaxy that seems a bit ploddy for CCC, and he hasn’t been treated kindly in the first two weeks running-order wise (5 and 2), critique-wise and scoring-wise. It looked like he may have been on their radar for that first dance-off of the series, and he probably escaped by the skin of his teeth.

It’s said to be a fast routine, Amy will be painted green and James hasn’t looked convincing in training footage.

Both Craig and Shirley scored Ellie T’s paso down, understandably, as it was all style over substance, and she doesn’t look like someone who is going to cope with fast Latin dances at all well. Ellie T was quite popular on our week 2 exit poll, however, and has probably picked up a degree of support.

Interestingly, Debbie McGee danced a CCC to ‘The Shoop Shoop Song’ in week 4 back in 2017 and it was one of her low points of the series, landing her 27. While it’s early days, the signs are Ellie T is not in Debbie’s league.

If we presume they are going to try and aid all of Jayde, Tony and Matt, Ellie T could be vulnerable, along with James, of falling into the bottom 2.

It will also be worth keeping an eye on Richie’s treatment because if his Hakuna Matata samba falls flat and he is scored in the bottom 4, he will also look a potential dance-off contender.

Please do let us know who got your vote(s) in our week 3 exit poll, which will open at the end of tomorrow night’s show and can be found here:

Strictly 2022 Exit Poll – Week 3

Week 3 (Movie Week) dances & songs:
Ellie and Nikita: Quickstep to Peppy and George from The Artist
Ellie and Johannes: Cha Cha Cha to The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss) from Mermaids
Fleur and Vito: American Smooth to Part Of Your World from The Little Mermaid
Helen and Gorka: Viennese Waltz to Hopelessly Devoted To You from Grease
Jayde and Karen: Cha Cha Cha to What A Feeling from Flashdance
Kym and Graziano: Charleston to If My Friends Could See Me Now from Sweet Charity
Molly and Carlos: Waltz to One Hand, One Heart from West Side Story
Hamza and Jowita: Rumba to the Theme from Jurrassic Park
James and Amy: Cha Cha Cha to Hooked On A Feeling from Guardians of the Galaxy
Matt and Nadiya: Viennese Waltz to Hold My Hand from Top Gun: Maverick
Richie and Giovanni: Samba to Hakuna Matata from The Lion King
Tony and Katya: Samba to You Sexy Thing from The Full Monty
Tyler and Dianne: Charleston to Flash, Bang, Wollop! from Half a Sixpence
Will and Nancy: American Smooth to Cry To Me from Dirty Dancing