Street Credibility

Oct 30, 2020 by Rob

Having teed up HRVY and Maisie as the 2 outstanding dancers of the series in week 1, it could well be more of the same tomorrow evening which will see both of them tasked with their first ballroom routines.

Training footage of HRVY’s VW and Maisie’s tango has looked highly promising but they may like to mix things up at the top of the leaderboard. This could see Maisie outscore HRVY but there is also the chance of another contestant stealing the limelight and taking top spot on the night.

It is going to be a big evening in assessing both Clara and Max’s long-term prospects on the show, with the spotlight falling on how well Clara copes with a first ballroom routine in a VW, and Max being tested with a first fast Latin in jive.

Clara has been shaping up ok in the training room and certainly has the better of the VW songs to create an impactful performance. Max looks a little hard done by in having to follow HRVY’s impressive week 1 jive, with the ghost of Jay’s iconic jive also hanging over him. Both Clara and Max look likely to continue on a slow, steady, potential improvement path.

Nicola gets to play her ‘joker’ of Couple’s Choice first in this series and ’Street’ looks right up her street. We have seen Street routines lauded by the judges over the last couple of years, and fanfared on the night. Charles Venn enjoyed a week 5 pimp slot in 2018 performing Street, earning 36pts. Last year, Dev landed a 36 in week 3 also from the pimp slot performing his Aladdin-themed Street routine. There have been a good few other Street routines in the last couple of years to earn high praise and scores as well.

After a 21 for her QS last week, we might even see Nicola in the pimp slot and given the chance to consolidate a strong start to the series. Another week 1, 21 scorer, Caroline, dancing paso to a classic track to sell an impactful routine, could also be in contention for the pimp. Among the Latin dance choices at her disposal you would have to think paso is one of the most suitable, as one of Caroline’s main strengths lies in her performance ability.

After enduring a pretty lacklustre start in week 1 dancing CCC, Jamie has the chance to bounce back strongly performing an AS to a classic Sinatra track. He should rise up from his current leaderboard position in 2nd last and will certainly enjoy a better r.o. after opening the show last week. Jason had a poor week 1 as well only scoring 16 but his salsa training has looked good and you sense the fast Latins are going to suit him much better than the sober ballrooms.

JJ, like Caroline, has the seeming good fortune of being handed a paso in his first Latin week. As we saw with Ranvir last week, paso is something you can almost bluff you way through in earning respectable scores. That said, he hasn’t looked especially convincing in early training VTs this week and could well score less than his week 1 waltz. With Caroline in the 2 slot in week 1, JJ could also find himself with the earlier r.o. slot tomorrow evening.

Jacqui has enjoyed no such luck in being given a very tough fast Latin in samba. Her week 1 foxtrot was a respectable effort and arguably merited a higher score than 13.

Week 1 judges’ leaderboard:

HRVY & Janette – jive – 8, 8, 9 = 25 (12)
Maisie & Gorka – samba – 8, 8, 8 = 24 (7)
Ranvir & Gio – paso – 7, 7, 7 = 21 (9)
Nicola & Katya – QS – 7, 7, 7 = 21 (10)
Caroline & Johannes – AS – 7, 7, 7 = 21 (2)
JJ & Amy – waltz – 6, 6, 7 = 19 (6)
Clara & Aljaz – CCC – 5, 6, 7 = 18 (4)
Max & Dianne – tango – 6, 5, 6 = 17 (3)
Jason & Luba – AS – 4, 6, 6 = 16 (8)
Bill & Oti – CCC – 3, 6, 6 = 15 (11)
Jamie & Karen – CCC – 4, 5, 5 = 14 (1)
Jacqui & Anton – foxtrot – 3, 5, 5 = 13 (5)

Already last on the leaderboard it is going to be difficulty for her not to remain there. There were hints on last night’s It Takes Two of a big production for her samba that might help galvanise support if it is high in entertainment value, with residual good will for Anton among Strictly stalwarts another potential boost to Jacqui’s chances of escaping the dance-off.

Bill has a QS and while he, too, endured a very harsh 3 from Craig in week 1, he should be able to showcase a degree of fleet-footedness and technical ability. Rather than praise him for his dance ability you already sense the show is keener to keep him in a comedy lane in giving him the song choice of ‘Talk To The Animals’.

Here’s a handy form guide of training VTs from earlier this week, with tomorrow night’s songs imposed over footage.

Week Two Dances & Songs:

Bill and Oti: Quickstep to Talk To The Animals by Bobby Darin
Caroline and Johannes: Paso Doble to El Gato Montes by Ramon Cortez
Clara and Aljaž: Viennese Waltz to You Don’t Own Me by SAYGRACE
HRVY and Janette: Viennese Waltz to Stuck With U by Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber
Jacqui and Anton: Samba to Help Yourself by Tom Jones
Jamie and Karen: American Smooth to Night and Day by Frank Sinatra
Jason and Luba: Salsa to Get Lucky by Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers
JJ and Amy: Paso Doble to Believer by Imagine Dragons
Maisie and Gorka: Tango to Midnight Sky by Miley Cyrus
Max and Dianne: Jive to I’m A Believer by The Monkees
Nicola and Katya: Couple’s Choice (Street Commercial) to Shine by Years & Years
Ranvir and Giovanni: Quickstep to You Are The Sunshine Of My Life by Stevie Wonder