Self-raising Fleur

Oct 14, 2022 by Rob

Last week’s analysis regarding Shirley’s treatment of Fleur proved prescient, the tabloids stirring up a sexism row after Shirley stated she would have saved Richie following the dance-off.

‘Fleur’s first ballroom, a VW, was a highly competent effort but it was interesting to see Shirley going into serious nitpicking mode regarding her footwork.

‘Is this an attempt to tee her up for a journey or is Shirley just being pernicious? She does have some previous in targeting glamorous 30-something women who show panache, so it’s definitely one to monitor and well worth paying special attention to what Shirley says after Fleur has performed her AS tomorrow night.’

In the main show Shirley awarded Richie an 8 and Fleur only a 7, so her Richie save comment had some justification but that doesn’t get away from the fact Fleur’s AS routine was transparently superior to Richie’s attempt at a samba, and yet the head judge saw things differently.

Week 3 (Movie Week) judges’ leaderboard:
Tyler and Dianne: Charleston – (7) – 9, 10, 10, 9 = 38
Molly and Carlos: Waltz – (2) – 8, 9, 9, 8 = 34
Kym and Graziano: Charleston – (3) – 7, 9, 8, 9 = 33
Will and Nancy: American Smooth – (11) – 8, 9, 8, 8 = 33
Helen and Gorka: Viennese Waltz – (13) – 7, 8, 8, 8 = 31
Fleur and Vito: American Smooth – (8) – 6, 8, 7, 8 = 29 – bottom 2
Jayde and Karen: Cha Cha Cha – (14) – 7, 8, 7, 7 = 29
Ellie S and Nikita: Quickstep – (10) – 6, 7, 7, 7 = 27
Richie and Giovanni: Samba – (1) – 5, 7, 8, 7 = 27 – eliminated
Hamza and Jowita: Rumba – (4) – 5, 7, 6, 7 = 25
James and Amy: Cha Cha Cha – (9) – 4, 6, 6, 6 = 22
Ellie T and Johannes: Cha Cha Cha – (5) – 4, 6, 5, 6 = 21
Matt and Nadiya: Viennese Waltz – (6) – 3, 6, 5, 7 = 21
Tony and Katya: Samba – (12) – 2, 6, 4, 6 = 18

Shirley did say she would have saved Kaye the previous week, in an identical 3-1 outcome when her vote didn’t matter so perhaps Shirley is just being kind to the departing contestant, providing them a small degree of solace. Even so, scoring Richie 1pt higher than Fleur on the night remains a baffling piece of scoring and begs the question whether Shirley, unwittingly, is biased.

Let’s not forget, on the flipside Shirley has gone out of her way to be effusive in her praise of Tyler telling the audience he has something special about him.

The shock bottom two appearance for Fleur could be a good thing for her long-term prospects. Not only does she have the chance to bounce back strongly immediately with the first Argentine tango of the series tomorrow night, but everyone is talking about Fleur.

The whole affair should stir stronger support for her moving forward, she has a narrative now, and the fall-out may even make Shirley redress her stance.

Tyler proved the star of ‘Movie Week’ with his brilliant Charleston which earned him the first 10s of the series:

He now has the first Couple’s Choice of the series which looks like playing to his strengths for a 3rd consecutive week with a ‘Street/Commercial’ routine to a UK garage music megamix.

Three high energy, uptempo numbers for Tyler in a row used up in the first 4 weeks of the series. While it means Tyler is earning the early plaudits, and he has the chance to shine again tomorrow, it also means he is likely to have underwhelming weeks further into the series and he still has the ballroom question to answer after his disappointing AS in week 1.

The run of dances handed to Will in these early weeks is not dissimilar. He has had 2 fast Latins to showcase his gyrating hips and we also saw that in his Dirty Dancing AS last Saturday. The message being hammered home to the audience is, Will is the ultimate lady’s man, and now he has the dance of love in rumba. Is there a danger of overkill?

The breaks were applied with his week 2 salsa and given rumba often underwhelms and offers the chance for judges to nitpick, it will be fascinating to see how the panel assesses Will’s attempt to make middle-aged female viewers swoon once more. It does look like he might be a little under-cooked tomorrow night after being struck down with illness this week.

Kym had her strongest week yet with her 33-scoring Charleston but she ended up thoroughly eclipsed by Tyler. She now has a samba to ‘Volare’, a Graziano favourite.

Kym has also been struck down with illness this week, heavily compromising her training time. Samba is an exposing dance so this could be a potential banana skin for Kym.

Paso for Helen is a litmus test of her ability to sell a dramatic, passionate routine. It’s the right sort of paso music to deliver an impactful number, and training footage has looked promising.

Following Richie’s exit, the show will probably go to great lengths to help protect Jayde. She has just enjoyed the pimp slot but an AS, incorporating a lift of Karen, should keep her clear of the bottom 2.

Tony also has an AS to ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ a subliminal nod, perhaps, to the requirement for the audience to vote him to safety. Last week’s ‘The Full Monty’ routine was one of those iconic Strictly moments and pure tv gold:

It was odd the judges didn’t acknowledge the impressive samba content Tony was able to deliver, but Craig’s ridiculously harsh 2 would have seen Tony’s pv skyrocket even more and he may well have topped the week 3 pv.

Maybe the AS will be the first time they highlight Tony’s improved footwork and technique. He has looked pretty good in training and it feels like he has more to give this series, with a potential MOTD-themed routine lined up for him in week 5.

Hamza has had a difficult couple of weeks with dances that didn’t play to his strengths. As an act of faith in his fast Latin ability it sounds as if Jowita has been happy to throw in plenty of demanding salsa content. What has been clear to see once more in their training clips is, Hamza has great timing.

Ellie S is also on salsa duties, returning to a fast Latin dance for the first time since her week 1 CCC. She can sell it with her beaming smile but the Shanice track might prove a little on the slow side compared to Hamza’s more BPM-fuelled ‘Ecuador’.

Ellie T struggled, as expected, with last week’s CCC but she appears to have some solid support which could help her avoid the dance-off again, especially with a VW which allows her to be in hold, led by Johannes, and is much easier to look passable performing.

You could see Matt’s utter shock and relief at avoiding last Saturday’s dance-off and if nothing else he comes across very gentlemanly in expressing his gratitude.

He’s a naturally chilled out guy so the high energy, fast-footed jive looks a tricky hurdle for him to negotiate. Training footage hasn’t looked great this week and he looks a solid favourite to get his marching orders tomorrow night.

He is not helped by the fact James, who you sense has been flirting with the bottom two, has a QS to an ideal QS song in ‘Don’t Get Me Wrong’.

It sounds as if his Eastenders filming schedule is interfering a lot with the hours he is able to put in in the training room but if he can maintain timing, it’s the sort of thing that could end up his greatest triumph so far and highest scoring routine of the series.

Molly has aced every week so far but now has the often troublesome CCC to contend with. Our week 3 exit poll would suggest she is struggling on the pv.

Having seen what just happened to Fleur, Molly will need a safety net on the judges’ leaderboard. A dip in her score and she could easily find herself in danger of a shock bottom 2 appearance.

Please do let us know who got your vote(s) on our Week 4 exit poll which will open at the end of tomorrow night’s show and can be found here:

Strictly 2022 Exit Poll – Week 4

Week 4 dances & songs:
Ellie S and Nikita: Salsa to I Love Your Smile by Shanice
Ellie T and Johannes: Viennese Waltz to Boom Bang A Bang by Lulu
Fleur and Vito: Argentine Tango to Paint it Black by Ciara
Helen and Gorka: Paso Doble to Tamacun by Rodrigo y Gabriela
Jayde and Karen: American Smooth to Wind Beneath My Wings by Bette Midler
Kym and Graziano: Samba to Volare by Gipsy Kings
Molly and Carlos: Cha Cha Cha to Do What I Do by Lady Bri
Hamza and Jowita: Salsa to Ecuador by Sash! featuring Rodriguez
James and Amy: Quickstep to Don’t Get Me Wrong by The Pretenders
Matt and Nadiya: Jive to All Shook Up by Paul McCartney
Tony and Katya: American Smooth to With A Little Help From My Friends by Joe Cocker
Tyler and Dianne: Couples’ Choice: Garage Megamix
Will and Nancy: Rumba to The Joker and The Queen by Ed Sheeran featuring Taylor Swift