Irish Setter

Oct 13, 2023 by Rob

Angela Scanlon topped the judges’ leaderboard last Saturday with an outstanding Charleston routine. She can feel justifiably miffed it wasn’t granted the pimp slot, as in a field of 14 it ended up slightly forgotten from its early r.o. slot in 5.

Anton said it was the best dance of the series so far. Carlos followed up by delivering an unintentionally funny line in Claudia’s area, and Angela S was in fine form on ITT on Thursday evening. Things are looking on the up for this pairing.

They have put Angela S on an upward trajectory – 23, 29, 35 – and maybe didn’t want the really big score arriving for her as early as week 3, setting her up for incremental improvement further into the competition.

The biggest potential plus for her is, she now has Charleston in the bank which looks readymade for reprisal in the final if she manages to make it that far:

Instead of Angela S, it was Eddie who was awarded the first 10 of the series for his Street CC, and 34 overall, which felt much less well earned. We know Shirley likes to lead the way with her 10 paddle so she can deliver her infamous catchphrase, but this might also provide insight Eddie didn’t poll well after week 2.

And yet, blatant over-marking can be a vote-dampener in itself. Eddie is back to ballroom tomorrow night and ’Sex Bomb’ may prove too tempting again for Karen to go off-piste with her choreo. Eddie’s score will be one worth monitoring because if he drops down low on the leaderboard he will look a prime suspect for dance-off duties.

Bobby’s hip movement during his samba looked so fluid it was a surprise it didn’t cause a flood in the Elstree studio. A tango to ‘Fashion’ doesn’t look quite as stand-out for him tomorrow as much as it’s an appropriate song given his modelling background.

He has now edged back into favouritism ahead of Nigel who was given the full reining in treatment last Saturday – tasked with opening the show, and him and Katya outfitted completely inappropriately in terms of trying to pull off a high class jive. This would have provided the show with handy data regarding how far Nigel’s pv slipped compared to week 2, and appeared to be carried out with this in mind.

Nigel’s salsa tomorrow night will give us a far better indication of his fast Latin skills and training footage this week has looked unconvincing. He could be in for another low score, with him and Katya noticeably put through the wringer last week as the last couple to be called safe.

Layton’s VW endured tough love from the judges. It was a reminder he may not be a shoe-in for the final if he has a slightly under-par ballroom week at the business end of the competition. The music for his CCC looks among the least impactful and it’s usually a tough dance genre to score well with so again his leaderboard position on the night will need close monitoring.

Amanda produced an excellent rumba and the extremely tough 6 awarded by Craig probably boosted her vote as she looked hard done by to be left on 30 alongside Annabel and Krishnan. A foxtrot gives room for ballroom progression from her week 1 29 for her VW.

Movie Week (Week 3) judges’ leaderboard:

Angela S and Carlos: Charleston – (5) – 9, 9, 8, 9 = 35
Eddie and Karen: Couple’s Choice (Street) – (11) – 8, 8, 10, 8 = 34
Ellie and Vito: Viennese Waltz – (8) – 8, 9, 8, 8 = 33
Bobby and Dianne: Samba – (9) – 8, 8, 8, 8 = 32
Amanda and Giovanni: Rumba – (6) – 6, 8, 8, 8 = 30
Annabel and Johannes: Waltz – (12) – 8, 8, 7, 7 = 30
Krishnan and Lauren: Charleston – (14) – 8, 8, 7, 7 = 30
Layton and Nikita: Viennese Waltz – (4) – 7, 7, 7, 7 = 28
Angela R and Kai: Quickstep – (2) – 6, 7, 6, 7 = 26
Adam and Luba: Jive – (13) – 5, 7, 7, 7 = 26
Nigel and Katya: Jive – (1) – 6, 6, 6, 7 = 25
Zara and Graziano: Paso Doble – (3) – 6, 6, 6, 7 = 25 – bottom 2
Nikita and Gorka: Jive – (7) – 4, 6, 5, 6 = 21 – eliminated
Jody and Jowita: American Smooth – (10) – 4, 5, 5, 6 = 20

Ellie’s scores have risen each week and if she is going to continue her upward trajectory she will need at least a 34 for her samba. She has the diminutive frame to be best suited to the fast Latins, has a classic party tune, and could come under consideration for the pimp slot.

Krishnan stole Angela S’s thunder with his pimp-slotted Charleston. He made a decent fist of it, as much as 8s looked generous. A paso should offer him the window to put his stamp on it and looking at his polling success last week, even taking into account the in-built boost of the pimp slot, suggests he has built up a fair amount of good will over the early weeks.

Angela Rippon and Kai endured some of the worst of the styling for their ‘Sound Of Music’ quickstep, among an extremely ropey set of costumes they chose across the vast majority of the ‘Movie Week’ cast. Rumba is a specialist dance that should suit an arch technician like Angela. The Eurovision 2014 winning song will at least help ratchet up the drama of it.

Annabel was one of the lucky few styled flatteringly as Audrey Hepburn in ‘Moon River’ for her dreamy waltz. Tomorrow she has a much tougher nut to crack in jive but training room footage this week has looked encouraging and at least she has an excellent track for it. Katya must be looking across enviously at that song choice for Annabel compared to what she had to work with with that unbefitting Batman theme music.

Adam’s Super Mario Bros jive worked pretty well for him, as the zaniness of it was in keeping with his personality. Back performing a sober waltz may prove less successful and he could find himself in a vulnerable position on the leaderboard.

Unsurprisingly, it was Zara who joined Nikita in the dance-off last Saturday as much as her paso wasn’t a complete disaster. And after hitting the bottom 2 the judges may be incentivised to score her up tomorrow night to help her avoid a second consecutive dance-off appearance.

Jody didn’t deserve to be placed last on the leaderboard for his charming AS. This all seemed to be part of the cunning plan TPTB instigated to ensure Nikita, despite their kind assessments of her jive, landed in the dance-off again so they could get rid of her.

We know Jody has been struggling with his leg and the fact they have now given him one of the fastest and toughest Latin dances in salsa might hint they wouldn’t be unhappy to lose him from the competition tomorrow. It is his birthday, however, which presumably will be highlighted and may boost Jody’s pv.

He is someone you can imagine the audience rooting for and he has clearly polled ok in the first couple of weeks, so despite being a short-priced favourite for third elimination there is scope for him to escape the bottom two. If that transpires, you would then have to be looking in the direction of Zara, Eddie and possibly Adam.

Please do drop by and let us know who got your vote(s) when our week 4 exit poll opens during tomorrow night’s show:

Strictly 2023 Exit Poll – Week 4

Week 4 dances & songs:

Adam and Luba: Waltz to I Wonder Why by Curtis Stigers
Amanda and Giovanni: Foxtrot to Everywhere by Fleetwood Mac
Annabel and Johannes: Jive to Feel It Still by Portugal. The Man
Angela R and Kai: Rumba to Rise Like A Phoenix by Conchita Wurst
Angela S and Carlos: Viennese Waltz to You Are The Reason by Calum Scott & Leona Lewis
Bobby and Dianne: Tango to Fashion by David Bowie
Eddie and Karen: American Smooth to Sex Bomb by Tom Jones
Ellie and Vito: Samba to Copacabana by Barry Manilow
Jody and Jowita: Salsa to Samba de Janeiro by Bellini
Krishnan and Lauren: Paso Doble to By The Way by Red Hot Chili Peppers
Layton and Nikita: CCC to Million Dollar Bill by Whitney Houston
Nigel and Katya: Salsa to Suavemente by Elvis Crespo
Zara and Graziano: Viennese Waltz to You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me by Brenda Lee