Strictly Come Blogging: Sunday Service: Week 6

Jennifer Grey. Lead actress in one of the greatest dance movies of all time. Reigning Dancing With The Stars champion. Total waste of space on the Strictly judging panel. Colin & Erin's muppets would have offered more insight. Next time Len is off, let's get in a decent judge (Karen, Matthew, Ian, Gordon the Gopher), or just leave the darned seat empty.

You couldn't complain that Lulu & Brendan's tango was lacking in content. It had plenty. Sadly, Lulu's technique was a bit ropey. There were no heel leads, it was toes all the way. Still, aside from a noticeable mistake with the swivels, it wasn't a bad attempt. Lulu needs to keep her eyeline up - she kept looking at her feet. Shame the Kiss at the end was a little late.

Audley & Natalie did a nice job with the Viennese waltz. I liked the content of the routine. Audley's posture has really improved over the weeks, and his ballroom is definitely better than his latin. Audley needs to work on the flow of the dance, but it was a good job. They even attempted a fleckerl, although annoyingly the cameraman cut off their feet for most of it. I have to give them credit for that, since so few couples have bothered in the past couple of series.

Harry's samba was a bit stiff. As is a constant for Aliona's routines, it was lacking in samba content. Not only that, but it was generally lacking in Harry content. He barely got to move his feet. The bits he did do were a bit stiff and lacking in bounce. Harry should have been explosive in the samba, but it was more like a dead sparkler.

Anita & Robin's Charleston was brilliant. It was totally Anita's dance. It was cheeky and very entertaining. The only thing that would have made me love it more was a little trick (like Chris & Ola's swim move). Something like that would have pushed it over the edge.

The armlines let down Jason's rumba. He was a bit scarecrow-like. However, I thought his dancing was excellent, and not the camp-fest I feared. It was manly and strong. I especially likes the lunge, where Kristina balanced across his legs. I agree with the judges that he could have had a better connection with Kristina and had more emotion, but for a male celebrity, Jason's rumba was excellent. Why do I always seem to like Jason on the weeks the judges slate him?

Alex looked good - she has certainly upped her performance levels. James made sure the quickstep had lots of content - a lesson Aliona could learn. There were a number of timing errors, and at times Alex looked as though she was hanging on to James for grim death, but it was Alex's best dance to date.

Robbie has been so annoying this week. He hasn't stopped banging on about the complaints about this MJ moves last week (267 of them), and even commented that he thought that the press might have it in for him. As if. It's called news, Robbie. Anyway, he was determined to put in a straight and classy performance this week, and that is what he did. Ola's waltz routine was simple and effective. It was elegant, well-danced and controlled. It would have been even nicer if Robbie had smiled.

I wasn't sure what to make of Russell & Flavia's paso doble. If it had been anyone else, I would have hated it, but Russell is so endearing with such a big heart that you just end up loving it. It was good fun. Russell was not as manly as the dance demands, but Russell does everything in his own style.

I thought the Charleston was going to be Chelsee's dance, full of fun and energy, but there were a few timing issues. It was good, but not Chelsee's best. She wasn't as in sync with Pasha as she could have been. You could see straight after that Chlesee wasn't happy with it herself.

Holly & Artem's jive was very cool and modern, but didn't have enough jive content for me. I find Artem so frustrating. His choreography is brilliant and innovative, and make for amazing showdances, but they always lack the content of the dance required. Holly was a bit flat-footed at the start of the routine (wearing flat shoes meant she wasn't as high on her toes as she should have been). However, it was good to see some performance from Holly at last. She really needs to work on the emotional side of her dancing, as so far she has just come across as efficient.

I think the bottom two should be Lulu and Audley this week. If I had to choose who should leave, it would be Lulu, simply because over the course of the competition so far, Audley has been better.

Although really the weakest person on the show this week wasn't Lulu or Audley. It was Jennifer. Thank goodness she is going home anyway.

Here are the videos...

Lulu & Brendan