Strictly Come Blogging: Sunday Service: Week 12

The show is over for another year. But I still need to write about the last couple of dances.

After the underwhelming showdances, the couples really had to pull it out of the bag.

Matt & Aliona's paso had lots of drive. It was a nice routine, but not sensational. On any other week it would have been a good performance, but in a final all of our expectations are higher, and it just didn't live up to them.

I loved Matt & Aliona's reprised Viennese waltz. I loved the look Matt gave Aliona as he kissed her hand at the beginning. It was an excellent performance and he danced very well. He knew it was the last dance, and the enjoyment poured out of him. It was magical. A good dance to finish on.

Kara looked confused at the beginning of the waltz, and I suspect that Artem kept her in check. I kept expecting her to go wrong. I can only suspect that was because of the pain she was in with her arm. Craig was right about her heel leads, which were lacking. Kara is such a joy to watch, and so elegant. It was a great performance.

I was surprised that Kara & Artem chose to reprise the American smooth after Len's comments about it. But I suppose they knew the judges scores wouldn't count, and the routine had gone down so well with the audience at the time. You could see Kara's pain during the dance, and there was a little problem on the split because of it. But it was still a better performance than the waltz.

I was happy with the result. I thought that Kara was a better dancer than Matt. Her lines were better and she was so graceful. I also thought she had a better chemistry on the floor with her partner than Matt did. If Matt had looked at Aliona the way he did during the Viennese waltz throughout the series, I might have had a different opinion.

Despite a slightly disappointing final, I think this has been one of my favourite series of Strictly. There were so many good couples that you could not call which way it was going to go and that's what made it so good. Thank you to everyone involved for keeping us entertained throughout the cold winter months.

Thank you all for reading my musings throughout the series, and for following and chatting to me on Twitter. I've enjoyed it very much.

See you on tour!

Here are the videos...

Matt & Aliona - paso doble