Camilla Dallerup's excit from the jungle means I don't have to watch I'm A Celebrity... Get Me out Of Here! any more (although I still found myself doing so last night, and learned more about Gino D'Acampo than I needed to know).
Camilla may not be queen of the jungle, but at least she gave it a go. I couldn't live in the jungle, that's for sure.
It's just a shame that pretty much the only screen time she got was being very ill.
The Mirror has the first interview with Jade since her injury on Saturday afternoon.
She tells of that awful moment: “It was all going well on Saturday. We’d done the dress run and I was loving the dance. I was really excited. Then as we finished, Ian went to pick me up and I heard a noise I don’t ever want to hear again. I don’t think Ian knew what had happened and I was in shock. I heard it, then I felt pain and more pain. I didn’t know what, but I knew it was bad.”
Jade has to be careful, as her whole athletics career is at stake, not just the glitterball. But she's still willing to get back to the floor if she possibly can: “My physio has been with me for 10 years. He knows me better than I know myself when it comes to these things. So I’ll trust him to make the right decision. If I can dance on Saturday, I will. I’ve had some really nice messages. It makes me want to get out there even more.”
Jade & Ian will be appearing on It Takes Two tonight. Tune in for the latest injury update.
The Mirror reports that the show will return to having a separate results show later on a Saturday evening from the quarter finals onwards, to allow a longer voting window.
The format was ditched after the 2006 series, when the results show moved to the unpopular Sunday slot.
A BBC spokesperson told the paper: "The current 15-minute window doesn't give enough time for the calls to get through as the contest hots up."
Of course, ultimately it's about ratings and phone revenues, but I think it's a brilliant move. I always preferred Strictly that way. And I missed out on voting this week because I missed the numbers and they don't scroll them on screen enough.
Lynda: " I Watched Myself After The Shows And Cringed"
Lyndia Bellingham enjoyed her time on Strictly Come Dancing, but says it did nothing for her body image.
The Daily Telegraph quotes an interview she gave to Yours magazine, in which she said: "I had not really taken on board how I would feel dressed in a flimsy dress in front of millions of people. I hate my upper arms. The costume designer was lovely and seduced me with long gloves and little capped sleeves, but I never forgot they were there. I watched myself after the shows and cringed... I am 61 and some of those gorgeous dancers are in their early 20s."
I think Lynda looked great. I'm a lot younger than Lynda and have the most disgusting upper arms, but you can't let these things get you down. Just love what you're doing and don't worry what other people think. Life is so much easier that way. Of course, I'm not a celebrity. But I never heard any derogatory comments about Lynda, the way she looks or her upper arms during her time on the competition. She did good.
He says: "Don't you think it's odd we went out when we were in the bottom for four weeks and the public kept voting for us? We had the highest votes every week, the producers told us. Then all of a sudden we lost out in the judges' vote. Something was up."
He did admit that he upset producers before he was thrown out, but doesn't elaborate too much, saying: "I know it's down to something I said about Craig Kelly. It was worse than a swear word. They were really angry with me. So you can say it - Strictly Come Dancing is a fix. I don't care, we shouldn't have gone out so early."
Sounds like sour grapes to me. I can't believe after all the contraversy over the split vote last year that the BBC would risk any fixing. Joe is just put out that the public got bored with sympathy voting - they moved on to Jo for a week instead. It's not like Joe had a hope of winning. He needs to get over himself.
Karen Hardy has given her thoughts on Saturday's very strange Strictly to What's On TV magazine.
Karen thinks that perhaps the wrong couple was sent home: "I think Phil was of a higher quality of dancer, but Ricky had the most amazing aura and he connects with the audience. I think viewers like what they see with Ricky and he brings an excitement to the dance floor. Maybe that's what swayed the judges as well at the end because technically Phil was the better dancer, but Ricky had that appeal. A technically great dancer is not always the champion."
There's lots more good stuff in the article, so do have a read if you get the chance.
Kirstie Allsopp has revealed that she was forced to turn down Strictly Come Dancing due to contractual reasons.
She told The Mirror: “I was approached to be on the third series but there was no way that I could do it because of the exclusive deal that I have with Channel 4. It was such a shame because I’m a big fan of the show although I do think it has got so tough now. Denise Lewis is a friend of mine and she said it was hard going."
I think Kirstie would make a good Strictly contestant, as she seems to be fun and friendly. Maybe she'll get a chance one day.
The promoters of the Strictly Come Dancing Live tour and the Pro tour, Stage Entertainment, are looking for a sponsor for the two tours.
According to Marketing, they are seeking a brand looking to align itself with family entertainment.
I hope they attract something yummy and not a mobile phone or something. When a Take That tour was sponsored by Kelloggs Corn Pops in the mid-1990s, I seem to recall I went home with a stack of Variety-sized boxes. Brilliant!
Strictly Come Dancing seemed to have been hit by a Friday 13th style curse last night. The whole thing just seemed totally bizarre.
It was odd having Tess as lead presenter, although Claudia did a brilliant job in the red room (or 'Tesspit' as it's affectionately known). But Ronnie Corbett just looked odd next to tall Tess, and I could have lived without the stupid 'Bruce on the phone' gags.
Anyway, onto the dancing.
Poor, poor Jade. I really hope everything is OK for her. Not only is her place in Strictly in the balance, but her fitness is her whole life, and she was looking forward to the 2012 Olympics. I wish her a speedy recovery, and hope everything works out. My thoughts are with her. I also hope that we get to see the dress rehearsal footage of her tango with Ian, because it really sounds as if it could have been the dance of the series. They were both so excited about it.
I thought there was little to fault about Phil &Katya's American smooth. It was truly smooth. Len criticised the choreography, but I thought it was pleasant enough. I thought it was a really solid performance. Phil looked relaxed and in control.
I enjoyed Ricky &Natalie's jive. I thought it had great choreography and great attitude. Len reminded Ricky not to be complacent, although I don't think they was anything complacent about their jive routine. I smiled throughout while watching it. The only thing Ricky needs to watch is his pigeon toes. Perhaps a ballet class would help.
Ricky &Erin's Viennese waltz was very nice. I thought the pivots looked a little laboured. But it was great to see Ricky keep his shoulders down at last! I thought it was understated, but perhaps a little too understated. But I think the Viennese waltz is quite hard to sell at times, because there are so few steps to it.
Chris showed a proper lead of Ola in the paso. It had bags of attitude and was very well presented. Although I think Bruno may have had a point when he said it was more like a child's tantrum than masculine. Chris is the most hit and miss participant in my opinion. Some week's he displays genius, other weeks he looks out of his depth.
Firstly, I have to mention Laila's bandage. Do bandages not come in a flesh colour? If not, then why wasn't it plastered with fake tan or foundation by make-up? It just looked wrong. Anyway, onto the rumba. It was a little tentative, naturally, but actually could have been Laila's best latin dance. Anton's choreography was actually pretty good, and Laila seemed to be doing OK. She looked awkward, but was that because of her ankle, or just her constant latin headache? It's a shame we'll never know.
Natalie & Vincent did a good job, although personally I think the foxtrot routine was a bit dull choreographically. It just didn't do anything for me. Natalie holds her head too far back, but that's really my only criticism of her now. This might actually be a turning point for Natalie.
The cha cha was easily Ali &Brian's best latin performance of the competition, but it was far from being a show-stopper. Ali still needs to watch her balance at times. Alesha summed it up well when she described it as 'polite'. I think the best word for Ali is vanilla. Rachel Stevens had a similar problem, but eventually managed to get past it and show some fire. Ali needs to start dancing from inside.
I do think that Limping Laila should have been in the bottom two, but the British public love a sympathy vote. Remember Matt & Flavia? It's the same thing.
Of the bottom two, it was very close, but I think I would have sent Ricky & Erin home. But I'm not unhappy to see them stay. It was a very close call, and not a decision I would like to have made.
Three more celebrities have been added to the Strictly Come Dancing Live tour next year.
Zoe Lucker, Natalie Cassidy and Ali Bastian join Austin Healey, Mark Ramprakash and Kelly Brook on the arena tour which begins in Manchester in January.
Camilla Dallerup has signed up with GMTV to lead the nation in some post-Christmas exercise. She will front a new exercise slot, following in the footsteps of Mad Lizzie and Mr Motivator.
She told The Sun: "I'm really looking forward to getting the country dancing. It's good for the body and mind, makes you laugh, lifts your spirits and afterwards you realise you've had a workout."
Camilla Will Have Celebrities Dancing Around the Campfire
Camilla Dallerup heads into the I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here jungle tonight, and she vows to get everyone bonding around the campfire.
She told China Daily: "I definitely think dancing may need to be brought to the campfire. I think that we will need some entertainment and exercise when we are out there, so as not get too bored. I just hope they are up for a dance. If the other teammates are up for it, I think it could be great to have a competition. We could have a goal together, sort of a bit of team-building. You do a lot of team-building anyway using dance, and it could be quite fun to see if it could help, especially if we have a bad day or something, a bit of dancing could bring us back and have a laugh."
It's annoying having Camilla on I'm A Celebrity.... It means I'll have to watch it. Still, Brendan's appearence on Love Island wasn't so bad. It ended up turning into a bit of a guilty pleasure for me.
