Hidden Gem

Oct 6, 2017 by Rob

Strictly’s first elimination market was something of a crossbar job for big-priced Brian and Charlotte backers, with Chizzy spoiling the party.

With Chizzy dancing first and then receiving a largely negative critique and such a poor score, it was clear she was extremely vulnerable. Charlotte, meanwhile, managed to dodge a bullet by avoiding the dance-off with Brendan doing a good job in galvanising a sympathy vote for her.

Looking at tomorrow night’s ‘Movie Week’ and the 2nd elimination, pre-show it looks like Brian and Simon are the two prime candidates to end up in the dance-off.

Charlotte has tango which may well suit her wooden frame. Certainly Brendan will do a good job dragging her round and making her look respectable. It could also be in the script to talk her up and over-score her after her mauling last Saturday night, though her treatment tomorrow night will be interesting given Brendan’s ITT tirade this week criticising Shirley.

The Rev’s Flash Gordon paso and Susan’s Wonder Woman samba should both be entertaining enough to secure strong public votes. A rumba for Ruth to a Bond theme shouldn’t be that demanding. We have seen older women in the past produce adequate rumbas and this should have a veneer of respectability. Even if it is sub-standard her and Anton probably have enough popularity to escape the bottom 2.

You often see a bottom 2 bounce but without a concerted effort from the judges to talk Brian up and score him generously for his AS, it is questionable whether he will get one.

Dressed as a scarecrow presumably, and dancing to a Wizard Of Oz song, it may also lack the entertainment value of last week’s CCC which still landed bottom 2. Brian was also on this week’s One Show sounding somewhat resigned to exiting the competition tomorrow night.

Technique-wise Simon certainly has the scope to score higher than Brian dancing a QS, and his Toy Story routine may have a bit more charm. But he will be outfitted in full Buzz Lightyear garb, with maybe even a fishbowl on his head, which would be potentially distracting.

Brian has had running order slots of 2 and 6, compared to Simon’s 4 and 10. Logic dictates Brian will be dancing later than Simon tomorrow night, but in a field of 14, they could both easily be buried away towards the middle of the show and end up sandwiched between much stronger or more memorable routines.

If a Brian vs Simon dance-off comes to pass, pre-live show you would have to make Simon favourite to win it. However, Brian’s short price of 7-4 is not especially appealing without gaining further intel during the live show.

Salsa last week and this week CCC for Aston… It’s starting to look like they are giving him his best dances at series start with potentially less suitable dances left when it gets to the business end of the competition. Certainly CCC should allow him the chance to impress again and consolidate favouritism.

Alexandra shone last week with her powerful paso granted the pimp slot. It’s an AS for her this week and no doubt she will do a highly competent job dancing it. It looks like she will be a constant presence at the top of the leaderboard and is likely to excel every week.

Debbie has another ballroom routine to a classic song which should be stylish and highly scored too. With the top 3 dominating, you sense they will need to change things up at some point and have some challengers emerge if only for the sake of making it look a more interesting and open competition.

Gemma might have something of a breakthrough week dancing a Charleston which she should be able to sell well given her acting background. Davood could also entertain to the classic Bee-Gees track though samba technique is demanding and it is usually a tough dance to score highly in.

Joe has an evocative song for his VW while Jonnie should bring the required power selling his paso. Mollie, meanwhile, hasn’t looked entirely convincing in training footage of her AS.

While Aston, Alex B and Debbie are looking hard to dislodge from this year’s final, stranger things have happened and there is a long way to go yet. The clear risk with all three is, they may have peaked too early in the competition and there is room for a journey candidate to emerge.

Gemma certainly has the winning personality to go far in the competition. With her, it’s much more a question of whether her technique can improve enough, especially on the fast Latin side of the equation, but it was interesting to read this week that she is Craig’s dark horse to win the competition.

Week 3 songs and dances:

Alexandra and Gorka – American Smooth to Wouldn’t It Be Loverly from My Fair Lady
Aston and Janette – Cha Cha to Can’t Stop The Feeling from Trolls
Brian and Amy – American Smooth to If I Only Had A Brain from The Wizard of Oz
Charlotte and Brendan – Tango to Danger Zone from Top Gun
Davood and Nadiya – Samba to Stayin’ Alive from Saturday Night Fever
Debbie and Giovanni – Quickstep to Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off from Shall We Dance?
Gemma and Aljaz – Charleston to The Bare Necessities from The Jungle Book
Joe and Katya – Viennese Waltz to Somewhere My Love from Doctor Zhivago
Jonnie and Oti – Paso Doble to The Raiders March from Indiana Jones
Mollie and AJ – American Smooth (foxtrot) to Climb Every Mountain from The Sound of Music
Rev. Richard and Dianne – Paso Doble to Flash’s Theme from Flash Gordon
Ruth and Anton – Rumba to Diamonds Are Forever from James Bond (Diamonds Are Forever)
Simon and Karen – Quickstep to You’ve Got A Friend In Me from Toy Story
Susan and Kevin – Samba to Wonder Woman (Theme) from Wonder Woman