Earning His Stripes

Dec 6, 2019 by Rob

It was somewhat unexpected the show decided to ditch Alex in last week’s quarter-final and save Chris. With 3 judges giving the same score to both Alex and Chris in the main show there looked a clear window for a potential 3-1 dance-off verdict in Alex’s favour, with Shirley’s vote as head judge being left redundant.

As it turned out, Bruno decided to save Chris before Shirley gave the deciding vote in his favour. One purpose this served was in offering the show a strong statement of integrity and fairness.

The key take home from the quarter-final outcome was, Alex not, after all, figuring in TPTB’s final plans this year despite their series-long support of her, and the implications this has for Emma’s future prospects.

As things now stand, Chris looks the clear sacrificial lamb in tomorrow night’s semi-final. What we know from last Saturday is, he polled less than both Emma and Kelvin, so his continued presence heading into the semi-final appears to be of little concern.

Alex’s departure may turn out to be good news for Emma’s Outright chances. If she makes the final, she will be the sole female up against two guys and then there is the potential Anton narrative to factor in too.

If you put yourself in a producer’s shoes, it would make the final more suspenseful if both Kelvin and Emma avoid the dance-off series-long. For that reason, we may well see Kelvin top the leaderboard tomorrow night with Karim 2nd, Emma 3rd and Chris 4th.

Based on the fact Karim has already hit the bottom 2, that leaderboard scenario would likely lead to a Karim vs Chris dance-off. It would also look bad for Karim if he is scored clear top of the leaderboard only to hit the dance-off again, which could well happen.

Semi-final songs & dances:

Chris and Karen: Rumba to Don’t Watch Me Cry by Jorja Smith and Viennese Waltz to Somebody To Love by Queen
Emma and Anton: Cha Cha Cha to Hold My Hand by Jess Glynne and Waltz to Gymnopédie No.1 by Erik Satie
Karim and Amy: Argentine Tango to Libertango by Bond and American Smooth to Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond
Kelvin and Oti: Paso Doble to Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes and Quickstep to The Lady is a Tramp by Glee Cast

The semi-final dances look very fair for all. Denise Van Outen danced paso to the White Stripes track back in 2012 and did a very good job with it, earning herself a 36 in week 6.

Paso looks the sort of thing Kelvin should excel at and he has the ideal track for something impactful. Quickstep might prove a little bit more challenging.

Karim’s Argentine Tango routine looks jam-packed with content, possibly to the detriment of conveying emotion. His American Smooth might prove his stronger dance on the night while the waltz music for Emma and Anton looks ideal for something heart-felt and moving. We might well see Emma perform her likely weaker dance, CCC, first on the night, with her waltz offering her the chance for redemption.

Chris looks to have drawn the short straw having to perform rumba and while his VW will probably offer him the chance to produce something stronger, all of Karim, Kelvin and Emma’s best dances on the night look likely to be higher scored, which would leave Chris staring down the barrel if he ends up in the dance-off.

In many ways that 40 for Karim last Saturday didn’t do him any favours as it arrived too early. Any more 40s for him from this point will have less impact. If the show continues to try and ramp Karim in the semi-final and final, ahead of Kelvin, this is also potentially good news for Emma, because he will take ‘best dancer’ votes away from Kelvin.

Now Craig has had his big moment pulling out his 10 paddle for Karim last week, he may well hide it away until this year’s final, so there might be some juice in William Hill’s price of 3-1 no dancer scores a 40.

Quarter-final leaderboard:

Karim & Amy – jive – 10, 10, 10, 10 = 40
Kelvin & Oti – AS (VW-based) – 9, 10, 10, 10 = 39
Emma & Anton – 9, 10, 10, 10 = 39
Chris & Karen – foxtrot – 6, 7, 8, 7 = 28 – dance-off
Alex & Neil – samba – 6, 7, 7, 7 = 27 – eliminated