Strictly Come Dancing - Ali Falls At Last Hurdle

I know I have been championing Team Cola for a while now but I must admit I was disappointed to see Ali go over the weekend. All three couples deserved to be in the final and there would have been three if Jade hadn’t been forced out due to injury. It would have been great to see the two best dancers (Ricky and Ali) and the most improved (Chris) there for the final week with each having a chance to do their show dance.

While Ali and Brian’s American Smooth was beautiful on Saturday night (boy did the judges reward them predictably?) it has to be said that their Argentine tango was far from impressive. Ali’s performances are a real mixed bag. She can at times appear so accomplished and confident and then, mainly in the Latin dances, seems to just lose it momentarily. This is very distracting. I was under-whelmed with their tango on Saturday (not to mention that mad flower in her hair) but it did finish better than it started.

Their AS was fab-u-lous but what’s the story with Brian going in for the kiss at the end? Was that a last minute bid to secure their final spot? If so it didn’t work. I can’t really work out their relationship, is there something actually going on or is it just Mr Intensity with those mad eyes confusing us? Either way I am sorry to see them go and I will definitely be tuning into ITT tonight to get the low down.

Ricky seems to have found his chi sometime in the last week and honestly for the first time I can say I felt it would have been unfair for him not the make it to the final next weekend. Talk about perfect timing. Both his performance were fantastic and badly done Craig for denying them a fifty which they absolutely deserved! Natalie is a great choreographer but maybe it will take me a few series to warm up to her. It will be interesting to see what they come up with next week and I am nervous that from a dance perspective, rather than a performance one, they could wipe the floor with their opponents and make it a one-horse race from the start.

And so to Chris and Ola! I really hope they have not peaked in the popularity stakes two weeks too early and that they don’t suffer a backlash after the departure of Ali. The judges certainly did their best (some more than others – I am talking about you Bruno!!) on Saturday night to scupper their chances. They have been consistently under-marked throughout the competition. Let’s hope next Saturday that the panel can suck it up and just let them do their thing without giving them a hard time. They threw everything they had at it on Saturday night and I really enjoyed both performances. Ola continued to give the wardrobe dept very little to do with her barely-there rumba costume setting new standards in the minimal use of material. Well if you’ve got it girl then flaunt it!

I adored Ian and Natalie’s Foxtrot and felt that it was better than Darcy’s outing with Ian. I really don’t feel she adds much to the show and it will be interesting to see if she returns next year. The Daily Mail reports today that Alesha’s nose is out of joint over Darcy's participation and that there are plans afoot to replace Alesha next year. That has to be a load of nonsense - firstly that Alesha would be bothered and second that Darcy is making more of an impact. Rubbish.

Hats off to the couple who performed the show dance – they were incredibly acrobatic! But did anybody else feel that there was too little dancing and too much gymnastics? It reminded me of Brendan and Lisa’s show dance last year which I really didn’t enjoy. A show dance should have a little bit of everything as Tom and Camilla's did.

And so the end is near and I have to stick by Chris and Ola despite Ricky's prowess! Here's hoping they put on a good show.

Bree Treacy