Strictly Come Dancing - Rickyyyyyy!

Screech it like Patsy Palmer or growl it like the late Mike Reid, Saturday's show was, for me, all about two men named Ricky. In Messrs Groves and Whittle's performances we had everything that's great about 'Strictly...': the have-a-go hero and the class act striving to be the best that they can be. Take away either and a lot of the sparkle goes too.

At such an early stage in the competition, Ricky Whittle's dancing is incredible and I think his time on the show - which, barring some kind of ego overload, will run until the last night - is going to make him a big star. If he's this good now, what's he going to be like in a month's time?

As for Ricky Groves, it's going to be fun watching him improve every week. Because of his happy-go-lucky personality, people are too ready to underestimate him and see him as the clown. But out of all the dancers on Saturday night, he looked the most psyched up, and behind the crowd pleasing antics you can see he's taking this very, very seriously. He wants to do a lot more than make people laugh. And I think he will.

With 13 couples still there, it's difficult to keep track of all the personalities and their professional partners, but even after two weeks you find yourself wishing the best for every one of them and hoping that they leave the series knowing more and feeling better about themselves than before they arrived. It was tough seeing Rav get voted off on Saturday and he was so broken up about it that it was one of the saddest endings to any 'Strictly...'. Still, just like every other year, you have to get used to it.

And getting used to the criticism, I think, is the one thing that will help the celebrities more than anything else in becoming better dancers. For me, at such an early stage in the competition, Craig has been over the top in some of his comments to the celebrities and knowing that they have to face him, more than any of the others, is affecting performances - people can be great in rehearsals and then completely lose it out on the floor. But there's also a saying that you can use fear either as a handbrake or a gear, and if people start using it as the latter, they will surprise themselves.

As for this Saturday, aside from the Rickys making the floor their own again, what I really want to see is Joe and Jo forcing a rethink from the judges, Chris being the dancer he can be, Natalie having more self-confidence and Phil's knee holding out. I know, not much to ask for.

Harry Guerin