Saturday night saw a marathon two hour helping of Strictly Come Dancing. This week it was ‘movie week’, so the show had an added ‘spectacle’ feel about it. The dancing was fun to watch, the make-up/costumes impressive and who does not love listening to old theme tunes from well-known films? My only small gripe was it being two hours in length.  I enjoyed it watching it but I did feel a bit worn out by the end……and I was watching it on iplayer and fast forwarding through some bits too!

One of the joys of watching Strictly is that you very quickly decide upon who your favourite dance couples are going to be for the series.  Katie Derham and Anton Du Beke are one of mine but unfortunately they had a bit of a stinker.  I am no dancer but as their dance ended, even I thought to myself that it seemed to be lacking a few cha-cha-cha moves. That too is what the judges deemed to the problem with it. In fairness to Anton, he did graciously hold his hands up and say the lack of dance content in it was entirely his fault.  He makes me chuckle at times but I also enjoyed seeing this more humbler side to him.  I did wonder if he had forgot the moves of the cha-cha-cha all together given he has been given some shocking celebrity dance partners to dance with through the years. The previous two weeks showed just what an amazing dancer Katie can be so lets hope Anton does not make the same mistake again with her.

Olympic bronze medal boxer Anthony Ogogo had a dance to forget.  It seemed more like a boxing dance than being a paso doble. I did fear the worst for him when the dance ended. You also know a performance is weak when the ‘fun’ element gets mentioned…argh.  He seemed like a lovely fella and did his best but to come into a dancing show already with an injured shoulder just seems like madness to me.  It is like trying to box with your hands tied behind your back.

Along with Katie and Anton, another favourite couple of mine is presenter Anita Rani with her professional partner Gleb Shavchenko. I just find Anita soooooo likable.  I love her cheery positive demeanor.  I love how she is not a trained dancer but has totally just thrown herself into show. She seemingly has this kind of ‘free spirit’ vibe about her which is appealing to watch.  I think they make a great dance couple and their American Smooth was brilliant.

However, the dance of the night belonged to pop star Jay McGuiness with his pro partner Aliona Vilani. In week one this guy seemed like a nervous wreck and to be honest with you, all the mothering of him by co-presenter Tess Daly really got on my nerves.  He was like a different person here though. He was more confident and performed such a technically brilliant jive(as John Travolta from Pulp Fiction). I definitely think this my favourite dance to watch when done well. It is just non-stop energy which gets you going(or perhaps it is just me).  Rather than finding him irritating like I did earlier, I am gradually warming to him as well. I cannot stand cocky male celebrities from soap operas or pop groups who have self-inflated egos the size of Big Ben. It is nice to see Jay is not like this. The only thing that slightly irritated me about the performance was the the over-the-top reaction of the studio audience at the end of it.  Hysteria is the word that springs to my mind. You would have thought he had just discovered penicillin or something going off their joyous reactions….blimey O’Reilly calm down!

The bottom two in the dance off ended up being celebrity chef Ainsley Harriott(who I really like)with his dance partner Natalie Lowe, and the aforementioned Anthony Ogogo with his pro partner Oti Mabuse.  All four judges decided to save Ainsley. To me this was the right decision.  I have a real soft spot for this saved couple. Ainsley like Anita a bit, has this sunny smiley demeanor about him that makes me smile just looking and listening to him. He did a brilliant salsa the week before as well. I am sorry to sound harsh but it was time already for Ogogo to go.  He is not a dancer I imagine with two healthy arms and shoulders, so therefore just having one healthy set made it mission impossible for his pro-partner Oti.  Hope to see to soon excelling at boxing once again Anthony.

Others ones to note were Kellie Bright and Kevin Clifton’s brilliant charleston, together with a great paso by Captain Jack Sparrow(Aka Peter Andre) and his pro partner Janet Manrara. Actresses Helen George and Georgia May Foote also continue to be a delight to watch.  Regarding the latter, I loved it when head judge Len Goodman added some drama into the proceeding as he tore a right strip off her Italian pro dance partner Giovanni Pernice for acting a bit cocky.  Len went all Godfather on him for a second and I must have replayed him telling him off about ten times, very funny.

There we are then, that was Strictly for another week.  Fun to watch and I look forward to seeing Katie being back on form next Saturday……..GIVE IT ALL YOU’VE GOT GIRL, as loveable Len would say!