Sunday Service: Week 9

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.

Here are the videos...

Phil & Katya



Ricky & Natalie



Ricky & Erin



Chris & Ola



Laila & Anton



Natalie & Vincent



Ali & Brian