Rumba Punch
It’s the Strictly quarter-final tomorrow night, Musicals Week, and the surprise in the last 6 has to be Lauren. Despite being last on the judges’ leaderboard in the last 2 weeks she has managed to avoid the dance-off.
It looked telling Lauren & AJ had not been assigned a musical for the quarter-final when interviewed during Sunday night’s results show. The judges were guilty of going in too hard and a tearful Lauren probably got a degree of sympathy votes which looks to have pushed her public vote up to 3rd from top on the night.
She has AS which will suit her better than AT and salsa in the last 2 weeks but it’s probably a slight negative for her that Stacey is also dancing AS. Even if Lauren scores a mixture of 8s and 9s she may well still find herself last on the judges’ leaderboard again.
Stacey had her best week, scoring-wise, last week, earning her first 10s of the series with her pimp slot paso. She, along with Joe and Dr Ranj, was also announced as taking part in next year’s Strictly Tour. Her and Kevin have the more evocative track to sell their AS with and the more mainstream song compared to Lauren and AJ’s AS song choice.
Even if Lauren scores a mixture of 8s and 9s she may well still find herself last on the judges’ leaderboard again
Ashley made a surprise appearance in the dance-off last week but not that much of a surprise after Shirley nit-picked the routine and led the way deflating her, and her leaderboard tie for second place with Stacey made her more vulnerable. It will likely be in the script to talk Ashley up tomorrow night and place her at the top of the judges’ leaderboard dancing Quickstep to an ideal song.
Faye and Gio have the chance to sell a Charleston to a song in The Lonely Goatherd which, while a seeming obscure choice for Charleston, offers scope for something highly entertaining and memorable.
Rumba is considered the dance of death but looks like suiting Charles well given he possesses the required fluidity of movement and silky hip action. Early training footage has looked promising and ‘Maria’ is a nice choice for a tender, lyrical routine. This is also the first male celeb rumba of the series so it is probably more likely to be well received rather than criticised and poorly scored.
Joe has salsa and once again he hasn’t convinced in training footage. His week 8 samba earned him a generous 32, and a similar sort of score in the context of the quarter-final, could see him lurking towards the bottom of the leaderboard.
Rumba is considered the dance of death but looks like suiting Charles well given he possesses the required fluidity of movement and silky hip action
This is promised to be a big number with other dancers joining him and Dianne, so there might be a chance for the judges to focus on the fun, energy and entertainment of the routine, and ignore the technical frailties, as they have done in the past with Joe. It’s really a question of whether we will see more realistic scoring and appraisals from all the judges now we are at the business end of the competition.
How the judges score Charles in relation to both Lauren and Joe will likely hold the key to 10th elimination, and if there are no leaderboard ties, and Lauren is in the bottom 2, it will be hard for her to escape the dance-off and avoid elimination unless Charles is scored lower than her.
If Charles ends up in the dance-off again and manages to survive he will match the record of 4 series dance-off saves currently held by Jamelia in series 13 (2015) who finally succumbed to elimination in her 5th dance-off in Blackpool Week, infamously losing out to Peter Andre.
Looking at the remaining dances, ahead of the semi-final in which couples dance 2 routines, and usually have to pick one Latin and one ballroom, with both Charleston and Argentine Tango afforded special status, it is noticeable how all bar Lauren are yet to dance AT.
If Charles ends up in the dance-off again and manages to survive he will match the record of 4 series dance-off saves currently held by Jamelia in series 13
If making it through, Stacey looks nailed on to have Charleston as 1 of her 2 dances, while Faye will likely have 1 of either samba or salsa and Charles would look a good bet to have paso.
This week’s ‘Musicals Week’ songs and dances:
Ashley and Pasha – Quickstep to ‘Don’t Rain on My Parade’ from Funny Girl
Charles and Karen – Rumba to ‘Maria’ from West Side Story
Faye and Giovanni – Charleston to ‘Lonely Goatherd’ from the Sound of Music
Joe and Dianne – Salsa to ‘Joseph Megamix’ from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Lauren and AJ – American Smooth (VW-based) to ‘I’m in Love with a Wonderful Guy’ from South Pacific
Stacey and Kevin – American Smooth (foxtrot-based) to ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ from Les Misérables
Last week’s judges’ leaderboard:
Craig – Darcey – Shirley – Bruno
Faye & Giovanni (3) Waltz 9 10 10 10 = 39 + 6 = 45 (7)
Stacey & KfG (7) Paso 9 10 10 10 = 39 + 4 = 43 (6)
Ashley & Pasha (2) Samba 8 9 9 10 = 36 + 7 = 43 (6) – Bottom 2
Joe & Dianne (4) Street Commercial 7 8 10 10 = 35 + 5 = 40 (5)
Charles & Karen (5) Tango 6 8 8 8 = 30 + 3 = 33 (4)
Graeme & Oti (1) QS 6 6 6 6 = 24 + 2 = 26 (3) – Eliminated
Lauren & AJ (6) Salsa 5 6 6 6 = 23 + 1 = 24 (2)
Remaining dances:
Ashley & Pasha – American Smooth, Waltz, Paso Doble, Argentine Tango
Charles & Karen – Foxtrot, Waltz, Paso Doble, Argentine Tango
Faye & Giovanni – American Smooth, Salsa, Samba, Argentine Tango
Joe & Dianne – Tango, Viennese Waltz, Rumba, Argentine Tango
Lauren & AJ – Foxtrot, Tango, Rumba, Samba
Stacey & Kevin – Viennese Waltz, Charleston, Rumba, Argentine Tango
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Just the one bet for me this week on the high/low score markets. Faye to receive the top score at 13/8 (William Hill).
To date, there have been eight female celebrities who had a series average of more than 33 points per dance, who performed the Charleston between week 8 and the semi-final. Seven of the eight finished top, or joint top, of the leaderboard in that week.
Giovanni has performed the Charleston three times, scoring 39 & 40 with Georgia and 39 with Debbie.
My main concern is that the judges will aim to avoid another appearance in the bottom two for Ashley, by ensuring she has sole place at the top of the leaderboard.
Well done James – nice winner 🙂
Big price crash on Lauren today because Dan Wooten has said she is topping the vote. Would be some achievement if true considering shes at the bottom of every poll ive seen. We know she’s been polling in the top 3 in recent weeks but I see no way shes topping it.
I would be very skeptical regarding Wootton’s claim. ‘Lauren doing well on the pv’ going through the Wootton sensationalism filter, which is built-in for him as a Sun journalist, would translate as, ‘Lauren is topping the pv’. This is the precise sort of fact distortion he trades in.