Strictly Come Dancing - And Then There Were Seven - Or Is It Five?!

No Bruce, no Jade and Ian, nearly no Laila and Anton and a cameo by Ronnie Corbett in an amazing pair of trousers... For the strangest episode in 'Strictly' history Saturday took some beating. Never mind who's going to win the glitterball trophy, could they be two couples short this Saturday?!

From news programmes to game shows, there is a horrendous amount of nonsense when it comes to presenters. For years we've had this handed-down rule that you have to have an (older) man and (younger) woman on camera, as if two women would have every guy switching off the TV in disgust or two men would mean female viewers would be lost for someone to identify with. Well, I didn't switch off on Saturday and think that the best shows are bigger than whoever is presenting them.

I'd be the first to say that some of Tess' lines are clunkers and she did talk to Ronnie Corbett as if he was six-years-old, but those gripes aside, I thought she did a decent job on Saturday as the main host. The biggest challenges for her on the show are to stop with the clichés ("dreaded dance-off", "cheeky cha-cha-cha", "raunchy rumba", "frisky foxtrot") and be a bit more spontaneous. And they're issues she may have to think about a lot more after Claudia's stand-out stand-in performance - her backstage chat had a lot more bounce than we're used to and she certainly brought some sparkle to Saturday's show that the BBC should think about finding a place for.

On the dancefloor, it felt like a four-tiered competition. You had Ricky and Natalie and Ali and Brian looking like the finalists, below them - if they had been there - would be Laila and Anton and Jade and Ian, next were Natalie and Vincent and Chris and Ola and then Phil and Katya and Ricky and Erin. Does anyone feel that the order of elimination is getting much clearer?

Once again, I really enjoyed Ricky and Natalie's performance and it always impresses me that as the most gifted beginner he is so humble when it comes to compliments and modest about what he can do. The fact that he paid tribute to Jade and Ian during his own time in the spotlight is the mark of a class act and every week the battle involving himself and Natalie and Ali and Brian gets more exciting. Can Laila and Anton or Jade and Ian stop either couple? Will they even be around to try?

Biggest smiles came courtesy of Natalie and Vincent and Chris and Ola. I really like the vibe between both couples and it has been great watching them improve. The choice of music for Natalie and Vincent's dance was perfect, but for Chris and Ola's it was terrible! The Darkness for the Paso?! It was way too loud and took away from the dance. It's not the first time we've seen couples dancing to the wrong music and sometimes the quest for hipness leaves the routine coming across second best. It was the same for Ali and Brian's routine. I don't care what the music is, I just want it to suit what they're doing!

As for the dance-off, either Phil and Katya or Ricky and Erin's number was going to be up sooner than later. I enjoyed the American smooth more than Ricky and Erin's Viennese waltz. At the end I thought that Ricky's status as a vote-getter seems to be getting weaker and it wouldn't surprise me if he's dancing twice again on Saturday. I just hope that there are six other couples to choose from.

Harry Guerin