Sunday Serivce: Week Eight

Here are my thoughts on Week 8 of Strictly Come Dancing.

Tom & Camilla's quickstep was a fantastic start to the show. The routine was bouncy and fun, with great choreography throughout - especially the Billy Elliot-style opening and close. They covered the floor well with bags of energy. Tom's eye is well and truely back on the ball after the wedding crazyness. His cheekyness simply shone through.

The samba was never going to be Jodie's strong suit. Yet she attacked the dance and looked to be enjoying it. Ian's choreography was good for Jodie and it was a good performance of a dance that was going to be challenging for her. It was a pleasure to watch.

The tango was easily Heather & Brian's best dance of the series. The intensity and drama of the tango suited Heather, and could be enough to save her from the bottom two again. She still has a tendancy to look at Brian for prompting when she is not in hold, but that was the only thing that let her down. Brian's choreography was simple, but effective.

Austin & Erin's rumba was pretty good. The rumba does not really suit Austin's physique, but his arm lines were as good as they could be. Erin's choreography cleverly kept Austin's arms down for a lot of the dance. I didn't really buy the love story between the couple, though. Austin could have done more with his facial expressions. A sound performance of a dance that was likely to be challenging and probably his most difficult dance out of the way.

Cherie was back to her elegant best with the waltz. It was an excellent performance and should give Cherie a big confidence boost. James' choreography was lovely. It will be interesting to see what happens when she has to go back to latin.

I think the jive was one of Christine's best performances so far. It suited Christine's happy, bubbly personality perfectly. She looked to be having a ball. I liked Matthew's choreography, which showed Christine in a really good light.

Rachel & Vincent's quickstepping American smooth was lovely. Excellent and complex choreography from Vincent, and finally some personality on the floor from Rachel. If Rachel can continue like this, she could be a contender. Ballroom does seem to be her strength. I did agree with Craig though, about the clumsy trasition in the lift.

Sadly, this had to be John's worst week. He seemed to struggle with the cha cha timing, and was frequently out of time. I liked that Kristina had filled the 1 count with arm movements and accents to help John with the timing, but this sadly didn't always help. And, as much as I love Kristina's choreography, I really didn't like the mobile phone opening. It was really odd. Could this finally be the end of the road?

Lisa & Brendan's Viennese waltz was magical. I didn't like the fact that Brendan's opening was very similar to Vincent's. It looked like he'd copied it. But Lisa danced it well. Annoyngly, it was hard to tell if her fleckerls were any good because of the camerawork. But it was generally well danced and romantic. I also loved Lisa's dress. Monochrome has really been a style feature this series.

Bottom two? Well, it was certainly not John's night. He has finally been tripped up and it's time for him to take off his shoes. But it's difficult to choose a candidate to join him. Most other couples had an outstanding week, or coped well with dances that really didn't suit them. It pains me to say it, but I think perhaps Jodie would be my other choice - which reflects the judges' leaderboard. Which means it probably won't be those two anyway.

Here are the videos...

Tom & Camilla



Jodie & Ian



Heather & Brian



Austin & Erin



Cherie & James



Christine & Matthew



Rachel & Vincent



John & Kristina



Lisa & Brendan