Sunday Service: Week 5

Last night's show was a hot mess. 

Fake Blackpool is not a week I need on Strictly. But that aside, the routines were a collection of poor themes and poor performance with a few high spots in between.

It started well. Bill & Oti's American smooth was classy. There were a couple of little hesitations in the cane section, but overall the dace was well performed. Bill has worked hard on his frame and his footwork. It wasn't a showstopper, but it was sound.

I didn't like the song choice for Maisie & Gorka's salsa. I like the sentiment of Better When I'm Dancing, but there's too much string plucking and not the trumpets that work much better for this style if dance. To another song, this salsa would have had much more impact. The routine had a lot of lifts which were well executed, it's just a shame that one of them wasn't landed very well. I liked it, but I really wanted Maisie to come back with a bang, and I genuinely think the song was what let this down. She got nines from all the judges, so she did well in spite of not rippling the water too much.

I didn't really enjoy JJ & Amy's quickstep. I felt like JJ was anticipating the music all the way though, making him slightly ahead at times. Some of the transitions lacked fluidity - there was a section where they went from ballroom hold to him having both hands on her waist, and it just wasn't that smooth, he was anticipating coming out of hold. It was perfectly fine, but it didn't have any wow factor. Definitely overmarked.

Next was the mess of a samba from Clara & Aljaž. Death by theming strikes again. Why on earth were they chefs? They were dancing to That's The Way I Like It. No mention of making cakes there. I am baffled. Once they got into hold, I thought it wouldn't matter. They started with some nice botofogos, the samba walks were quite nice. I thought they might get away with it. Sadly Clara then started to make a few mistakes. The promonade runs didn't quite come off. She picked the the wrong foot a few times and it all started to look like they'd taken it out of the oven too early. And then we got a disco section because that's what Aljaž does of you give him a disco track. Then there were the batucadas. Oh my. I love Clara, but this was not her week at all.

I didn't really enjoy Jamie & Karen's street/commercial routine. It lacked the camp charm of their last couple of routines. It was too similar to Karen's routine with Chris Ramsey last year for me. I definitely felt like I was watching the 30-something uncle trying to be down with the teenagers. I did like it better on second viewing, but that was mostly because a noticed all the nice chorographical touches. It didn't make me enjoy Jamie's performance any more. Massively overmarked.

Harvey & Janette's tango took a bit of a beating from the judges and on social media, but I really liked it. It had so much intent and purpose. Harvey looked in control and appeared to be leading Janette. I liked the musicality. He does need to watch his toes, which can turn in on occasion. But it was great to see him do something a bit more adult. I loved it.

I really wanted Caroline to have a breakout week. It was quite a weak night and she really had a chance to shine. Sadly, we got some sort of lost Carry On... movie which I am dubbing Carry On Down The Fireman's Pole. Caroline has great comedic acting credentials, so that side of the performance was great, but the dancing was the same, placed, light, dainty stuff we've seen every week. Oh look, it's that développé again. Although it wasn't as slick as their past performances. Caroline's shoulders looked too high throughout, although I couldn't make out if the dress had shoulder pads. And there was a small error in the middle. I can't decide if it is Johannes' choreography, or just Caroline's inability to connect with the more earthy side of dance, but something just isn't quite firing.

I loved Ranvir & Giovanni's Argentine tango. It's exactly what we needed to end a somewhat mediocre show. The intensity was electric. I just love their chemistry. They are running with the ongoing tabloid narrative that their relationship isn't strictly professional, and owning it. I love that. Technically, it could have been better. Her weight was too much on her own feet at times instead of leaning in to Giovanni. Her toes could have been pointed more to make her legs look longer - floppy feet are really noticeable when you're in dark shoes. But I still loved it.

My favourites this week were Ranvir, Harvey and Bill. 

As for a bottom two, there are too many to choose from! I love Clara and don't want her to leave, but she had a bad week. JJ's performance was solid, but dull. I don't really know what Caroline did. And how on earth did Jamie end up at the top of the leaderboard? I don't understand the scoring any more!

I think Clara was probably the weakest this week, but she's certainly not the weakest in the competition. Hopefully she would improve if she had a second go at the routine. But I fear that that routine would struggle to beat anyone else. I'd hate for her to get Aston-ed. I think the bottom half of the leaderboard is probably reflective of last night's performances. I wouldn't miss JJ too much if they let him go, but if he had Clara or Caroline in the dance off, he could probably send either of them packing just because his routine was more sympathetic than theirs. It could easily be a tough dance-off tonight.