Strictly Come Dancing - two dances for each couple and the competition is hotting up!

Tonight the remaining five couples all had to perform both a ballroom and a Latin dance to impress the judges. With this week’s sad news that Kelly Brook had pulled out of the competition following her father’s death, six couples became five and the competition is really hotting up.

Matt Di Angelo and Flavia Cacace opened the show with a dramatic tango – although Matt still looks absolutely terrified every week! He really has no need to – the judges on the whole were effusive in their praise of him, particularly Len Goodman who said he was “Bloody good.” Bruno told Matt he was a snarling young lion whilst Craig felt the performance fell between two stools due to the style change partway through. Arlene commented it was not as clipped or sharp as it could have been. They scored 32 for their efforts. Their Latin dance was a sensuous rumba which suited them far better – judges’ comments: great storytelling, fantastic control of the arms – better than any other man in the competition - but needs a bit more reach – pretty good comments all round and they scored 33, giving a total score of 65.

Gethin Jones was the surprise star of the night, starting off with his waltz with Camilla Dallerup. It was a beautiful, emotional performance which melted Arlene’s heart ( no easy feat!!) He was praised as being the most improved contestant of the series and whilst Craig (running true to form) was worried about minor foot faults, it was generally considered to be fabulous and they scored 39! Their Latin dance, the salsa, was almost as good – the judges commenting that whilst there were a few minor faults with the footwork, the acting coach who’d been drafted in to help Gethin this week had paid off – he really acted out the dances tonight and showed more character than he has done so far in the competition. The salsa received a score of 35, giving a total of 74.

Poor Letitia Dean has obviously been suffering from the flu or at least a really nasty virus this week. She looked pale and unwell and this reflected in her dancing – the ballroom dance was the quickstep, which the judges felt was stiff and lacked spring. They acknowledged it was a very difficult dance and that her opening solo performance was a very brave move. She must have felt more unwell as the evening progressed as her and Darren’s cha-cha-cha was again stiff and lacklustre. I really felt for Letitia tonight as she was so obviously feeling terrible and to have danced at all when feeling like that must have been a nightmare. However, the judges don’t take anything like that into consideration and told her she needed more energy – their score for the cha-cha-cha was 26 giving a total of 56.

Kenny Logan, amazingly still in the competition, started off with a foxtrot with partner Ola Jordan. It’s a very difficult dance and Bruno told Kenny he’d made extraordinary improvements, not perfect but a great job. Craig said it was Kenny’s best dance yet, but he had a problem with the movement of Kenny’s right thumb - talk about picky!!! Len said that in line with previous rugby stars who have competed in Strictly, Kenny gave it 100%. They scored 30. Their Latin dance was the rumba; the judges were less impressed with this , saying it was too much Ola and not enough Kenny; however the storytelling was good. Arlene and Craig both commented it was almost totally lacking in any traditional rumba steps. They scored 23, giving a total of 53.

Finally, Alesha Dixon and Matthew Cutler danced the tango – this was very dramatic and more serious than Alesha has managed to look all series – the girl just can’t help smiling and laughing!! Arlene called her the Tempting Tango Temptress whilst Len criticised the footwork. Bruno called her the Divine Dance Idol and Alesha admitted she’d been very nervous this week as this was the hardest dance she’d had to perform. She needn’t have worried; they scored 38 for this and their follow-up Latin dance, the samba, received equally good comments – the dances scoring 38 and 36 respectively giving a total of 74 and therefore tying with Gethin and Camilla for first place on the leader board tonight.

So who will leave the competition tomorrow? You can continue to discuss the show in the meantime in the Strictly Come Dancing forum.