Team Cola All The Way!

It was absolutely no surprise on Saturday night that Laila and Anton went and I think the right three have made it into the second last show (are they calling it the semi-final?). Even if she had danced well I still think her number would have been up but as it was she had a dance disaster (as Craig would say) and you wonder how she managed to slip under the radar up until this point.

Even her American Smooth failed to impress. She looked off-balance from the start and she didn’t sell the routine at all. It should have been much stronger but she totally lacked confidence in herself. Her Salsa was terrible although to be fair it did start well but then went dramatically downhill. She looked like a woman who had already given up. It would be interesting to see how Zoe would have performed at this point, I suspect she would have shown far more improvement than her former acting colleague and how nice would it be to see Jordan versus Jordan in the closing straights.

Speaking of the Jordans – yeah team Cola! I am delighted they are through but not surprised. I reckon Ali and Ricky, for all their dancing skills, are getting a bit nervous about the obvious popularity of the pair among the public. Despite Bruno’s ‘constipation’ remark they got really good comments generally with Len saying that ‘I am seeing signs of a dancer emerging’. Personally I can’t believe he is only saying that now as it has been obvious from week one that Chris is a nifty little mover!

Chris really went for it with the Samba and totally nailed it. I mean it’s not a pretty dance but he sold it and looked like he was having fun. I am worried though about what will happen next week. Clearly they have the public support but the judges’ marks make up 50% of the total vote and let’s face it they seem determined to put Ali and Ricky through. Let’s hope the public pull out all the stops next week to make sure they get to the final. Chris demonstrates what the show is really about – a sports journalist with no history of dancing or performing having a go and triumphing hopefully!

Ricky upped his game over the weekend but it was about time. Finally some clean routines and the judges went into a voting frenzy to compensate him for the effort. Len said he was ‘too marvellous for words’ - yada yada yada – we’ve heard it all before Leonard! I just cannot get excited about him – he started out an amazing dancer and he still is so no story there then.

I would prefer Ali but am still conscious that she had enormous advantages as well from the beginning of the show. She performed well on Saturday but Len did call her one-dimensional which is a bit of a worry for her. Currently she is my second favourite to win although the jury is out on Brian (it's those mad eyes)!

So where are all the tens? I reckon when Mr Stats man from ITT tots up the figures at the end of the season we will find this to be a very low scoring series. The fact is there were fewer good dancers this season and next year they may have to hold auditions before drawing up their list of celebrities.

A final few observations

Darcey Bussell – grand but not really much of an addition.

Split show – works better and makes more of a Saturday night event out of the show.

Bette Midler – great performance (lovely routine from the aforementioned Jordans) but cut the sketches with Brucie.

Roll on next week and everything crossed for Team Cola!

Bree Treacy