Strictly Come Blogging: Saturday Service: Week 7

After a theme week, especially one like Halloween, it's actually nice to get back to a normal show.

Peter & Janette kicked things off with the Charleston, which was awesome. It was high-energy, and brilliantly in sync. The one-armed lift was confident and the last lift was very clever. It was great to see Peter finally recapture what he had in Week 1.

Jamelia & Tristan's Viennese waltz was not very inspiring. There was so much gapping you could drive a bus between them. They almost tripped over the props, which is a little poor on Tristan's part, although Jamelia actually handled it very professionally. She looked lovely in her red dress, too.

Carol & Pasha's American smooth was really not good. The whole thing was stumbly (hey, if the judges can make up words, so can I!) and woolly. The first lift was very clumsy. Carol has shown improvement in the past few weeks, but this was a step back. I did not enjoy the performance at all.

I had high hopes for Helen & Aljaž's rumba, but sadly my hopes were not realised. I had really hoped for more from them. The dance just seemed to be a series of poses. Rumba paint by numbers. They lacked an emotional connection. It was all a bit dead behind the eyes. Maybe they are still stuck in Halloween week...

I had also hoped for big things from Jay & Aliona's Argentine tango. When it's done well, Argentine tango can be one of the best dances on Strictly. Sadly, Jay was simply competent. Like Helen, Jay lacked an emotional connection with his partner. Jay needs to get his Frozen on and Let It Go. It's still too controlled. If anyone still thinks that Jay & Aliona's relationship was more than professional, that Argentine tango should reassure them that it's not.

Katie & Anton's quickstep could have been top of the leaderboard if they'd nailed it. Instead, it was littered with mistakes. There was too much gapping. It was all there, but Katie seemed to not be concentrating. There have been a few little 'incidents' in Katie's dances, where she seems to go to pieces, and forget parts. I'm not sure why this is happening, but she really needs to focus if she wants to go much further.

There were a few little errors in Anita & Glebs jive, too. Anita needs to point her toes on the flicks. You can't fault Anita's energy, though, which she maintained throughout. I loved the drop. That requires a lot of trust. I would have preferred her to wear heels, though. Flat shoes give the dance the feel of a lindy hop rather than a jive.

I really liked Kellie & Kevin's waltz. It took a little long to get going (although I did like the return of the light saber). I loved the heel turn sequence at the top. Kellie is technically one of the strongest in the ballroom. The pivots were fab. It was elegant and sweet. I thought they out-ballroomed Katie & Anton.

The song choice for Jeremy & Karen's tango was odd. It was the weirdest tango ever. There wasn't enough tango content for me. That old dodgy top line was back again. It was very entertaining, but I think Jeremy is coming to the end of his Strictly journey. It was bonkers, awful, genius and I liked it more than I've like Jeremy's more recent performances.

Georgia & Giovanni's samba was really good. There was actual samba, for a start. Georgia did a pretty good job at the difficult bounce action. It had lots of content, and Georgia did most of it well. It's a shame there was a small mistake in the middle.

My favourites were easily Georgia and Peter this week. The bottom two is very hard to predict. It will come down to votes. If Jeremy and Carol's fans keep them in, and Jamelia faces anyone but either of them in the dance-off, Jamelia is toast. But if the public feel sorry for her and save her too, there could be two good celebrities in the bottom. Katie, Kellie, Anita and even Peter could be in danger. Personally, I would put Jeremy and Carol in the bottom two, and I'd send Carol back to her weather map. But it's hard to predict. And we haven't had a shocker yet...

Here are the videos...

Peter & Janette