Nick Of Time

Oct 11, 2024 by Rob

Will he or won’t he? We’ve been left waiting on Nick’s fitness all week. The fact they are delaying confirmation of his Week 4 participation for as long as possible, and have allowed him to perform his Movie Week routine, tells us TPTB are desperate to keep Nick in the competition.

They don’t want a 3-couple final, with the risk of a 2-couple final should anyone else have to pull out between now and mid-December. Nick’s Charleston routine is likely to have been scaled back so he can cope with it and that could provide the ammo for the judges to criticise.

If Nick takes part and turns up early in the running order, it is easy to envisage a killing with kindness scenario, similar to the treatment they doled out to Toyah last Saturday.

Paul has an audience-pleasing QS in top hat, utilising a cane, which looks the ideal platform for Shirley or Anton to lead the way with the, ‘You are a dancer, your best dance yet” shtick.

Same goes for Pete, also dancing QS, and you start to see some parallels in Paul and Pete’s treatment. Last week, they were dealt entertaining fast Latin routines; tomorrow they look like potentially earning plaudits for their ballroom improvement.

The one that could be more vulnerable of dropping towards dance-off territory is Punam attempting a jive. This has the look of a big crash back down to earth, and she might need to rely on the voter good will she would have built up last Saturday for her heavily showcased, 33-scoring Bollywood routine.

Week 3 (Movie Week) judges’ leaderboard:

Tasha Ghouri and Aljaž Škorjanec – Rumba (4) – 8, 8, 9, 9 = 34
Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu – VW (10) – 8, 9, 8, 8 = 33
Sarah Hadland and Vito Coppola – VW (6) – 8, 9, 8, 8 = 33
Punam Krishan and Gorka Márquez – Couple’s Choice – Bollywood (12) – 8, 9, 8, 8 = 33
JB Gill and Amy Dowden – American Smooth (8) – 7, 8, 8, 9 = 32
Chris McCausland and Dianne Buswell – Jive (3) – 7, 7, 8, 8 = 30
Sam Quek and Nikita Kuzmin – Paso (9) – 7, 8, 7, 8 = 30
Wynne Evans and Katya Jones – CCC (11) – 7, 7, 8, 8 = 30
Jamie Borthwick and Michelle Tsiakkas – Quickstep (13) – 8, 8, 7, 7 = 30
Montell Douglas and Johannes Radebe – Tango (1) – 7, 7, 7, 7 = 28
Pete Wicks and Jowita Przystał – Samba (7) – 6, 6, 7, 7 = 26
Paul Merson and Karen Hauer – CCC (5) – 3, 5, 5, 6 = 19 – bottom two
Toyah Willcox and Neil Jones – Samba (2) – 3, 4, 4, 4 = 15 – eliminated

Can JB and Amy pull off a compelling, romantic rumba? The judges may well try and tell the audience it is a success but the spark has been seriously lacking so far in this pairing and their routines have felt underwhelming and forgettable.

Tasha will no doubt nail a top quality Charleston. Her swivels have looked good in training and this might be a routine that comes under consideration for the pimp slot.

Sarah will likely conquer the foxtrot and her and Tasha look set to excel every week. To dampen support is going to require the judges to either heavily nit-pick or cunningly distract or deramp, as they did last week, with Shirley highlighting Tasha’s ringer status by suggesting she was better than some of the pros she had been judging recently.

Might Shayne open tomorrow night’s show? Perfect upbeat opener material in ‘Ain’t No Love’ for his CCC which may well see the same sort of qualified praise he keeps getting.

This is exactly what Jamie endured from a puzzling pimp slot last Saturday which felt intentionally deflating for him while trying to portray him as the man to beat in the competition. Salsa is likely to see more of the same and looks another possible show opener.

The market has fallen out of love with Montell, currently trading around 80 after she previously hit a low of 9.2. Her VW looks one of the less memorable routines on the night.

With a week one pimp slot and memorable Mrs Doubtfire routine already under his belt, it has felt like Wynne has TPTB firmly on his side, and ‘Money, Money, Money’ by Abba looks the ideal canvas for Katya to create an impactful tango routine.

Having overcome jive, and moving to odds-on favourite, Chris has another tough fast Latin to negotiate to Men At Work’s ‘Down Under’ which doesn’t seem suitable for a salsa.

The Aussie connection is Dianne and leaves you wondering if there is going to be a clever twist applied. It looks good for his long-term prospects that in the first four weeks he will have ticked off three of the toughest fast Latins in CCC, jive and salsa.

While he has been the star of the show so far and the price drop is understandable, Chris has his own stand up tour happening next year which clashes with the Strictly Live tour and makes him look unavailable unless he cancels about 17 tour dates in January and February.

Given every past Strictly winner has taken part in the live tour the following year bar Bill Bailey, and that was because there was no live tour in 2021 due to Covid, this has to be of concern to those looking to pile in on Chris as of today at 1.88.

It has been a stuttering, fully under the radar start to the series run for Sam which explains why her polling figures have been poor so far. There is a simple equation at work on Strictly and if you’re disappearing into the wallpaper each week the way she has you’re simply not going to pull in the votes.

Sam may have it in her to produce a surprisingly good samba and this might be one withheld until late, or it could open the show, but she’s going to need something special not to start to look vulnerable of landing in the dance-off.

But if he takes part Nick looks the bet for third elimination because having burnt up his bye week, and proving himself injury-prone, TPTB may want to get rid of him before there’s any chance of him having to pull out.

A Strictly Icons Week has been added to this series, taking place on November 2 (Week 7). On paper, it at least sounds more interesting than the other theme weeks.

Please do let us know who got your Week 4 vote(s) when the exit poll opens at the end of tomorrow night’s show.

Strictly 2024 Exit Poll – Week 4

Week 4 dances and songs:

Montell & Johannes Viennese Waltz to Nobody Gets Me by SZA
Punam & Gorka Jive to 2 Be Loved (Am I Ready) by Lizzo
Sam & Nikita Samba to Hips Don’t Lie by Shakira
Sarah & Vito Foxtrot to Birds Of A Feather by Billie Eilish
Tasha & Aljaz Charleston to Unhealthy by Anne-Marie, Shania Twain
Chris & Dianne Salsa to Down Under by Men At Work
Jamie & Michelle Salsa to Danza Kuduro by Don Omar, Lucenzo
JB & Amy Rumba to You Might Need Somebody by Kara Marni
Paul & Karen Quickstep to I Won’t Dance by Fred Astaire
Pete & Jowita Quickstep to Town Called Malice by The Jam
Shayne & Nancy Cha Cha to Ain’t No Love (Ain’t No Use) by Sub Sub feat. Melanie Williams
Wynne & Katya Tango to Money, Money, Money by ABBA
Nick & Luba – Charleston to Rain on the Roof from Paddington 2