Strictly 2012

I'm grinning.

And Bruno is in love too! 

With good reason!

Like the rest of you I was a little bit underwhelmed with them all last night  With the exception of Louis   Some people complained it was a straight copy but what the heck, it was good

Lisa was OK, bit too much armography and not enough footwork but she will sail through whatever.

Bottom two this week?  No idea at all.  Richard again I suppose, even though it was OK, Jerry was better but I agree with Len; she is too vertical, looks odd.  Sid's was a bit meh but he is popular.  Michael I think (and hope) will be OK, I think they are a great partnership and it appears others do too.

Denise, I do try to like her and sort of do but I just feel it is 'unfair' her being in the show, she is just a complete level above all the others.  The judges will keep her in till the final but I don't think she'll win.  Not keen on Dani (maybe the age difference and tatts!) but she can dance!

Roll on this evening

By the way, I am really liking Darcey, can waffle a bit sometimes but she gives very good comments - the paper one was a classic!

Right, only just caught up with last night's prog, and my strongest impression is that Brucie, even by his standards, was dire

Evening - is anyone else out there tonight?  Great start to the show with Top Hat. 

Tom was brilliant, wasn't he?

I have to admit something. I'm in love with Louis I adore Dirty Dancing, and that dance was just swoon worthy

Fair result for the dance-off so far. 

Arghhhhhhh-Victoria is winding me up again.  

She's very emotional. Which is fair enough, some people are. I just find it a bit irritating... 

Close thing but right result. 

Phew, I was getting a bit worried fo Michael there 

Thing is, there is nobody I really don't like so it is sad to see any of them go.

I think it was too early to do a theme week. Too many couples and some of the choices were bizarre:

Fern and Artem: Nice dance and she performed it well but she had no swivel and it wasn't v. energetic

Sid and Ola: Bad choreography, awful wig, nasty catsuit thing and not well danced. Felt sorry for Sid, glad he wasn't in the dance-off.

Victoria and Brendan: Oh dear another wobbly dance and now she has flashed her knickers to the entire world. Lucky not to have garroted herself either! A shame as at the beginning it looked like it might go OK. Time for her to toughen up or go

Jerry and Anton: she was a lot better but I'm not too sorry to see her go. I think she'd have been better off with a taller partner

Michael and Natalie: a bit better than last week but now he's just bad rather than so bad he's good. The highlight was when he managed to not fall off the chair at the end. Surprised he survived the dance off.

Colin and Kristina: Good God what was she (not) wearing?!?  So, so tacky and why does she keep chucking various bits of herself at his face?!? I guess they could never do a proper AT because of the height difference which is a shame as I think he could have danced it well.

Michael and Erin: good quickstep but the judges either seem to think he's too camp or not camp enough which must be confusing

Kimberley and Pasha: Great dance and she did really well. I think their partnership is starting to work. His hair looks better too  This was the best dance of the night for me.

Denise and James: I could see technically it was good but I found it boring

Lisa and Robin: was that really a jive? She's got great energy and timing but she didn't really seem to get off the floor

Dani and Vincent: I really liked this even though she's still a bit clumpy. Loved the little Toto as well, so cute!

Nicky and Karen: much better in that he seemed to finally dance properly but there is something really weird about his shoulders and back

Louis and Flavia: Finally a connection between them. It was v. well danced and the lift was amazing.

Did anyone else think they weren't allowed to give a higher score than 8 on Saturday?

Yes I'm the same - usually there's someone I'm rooting for to go but not this time (well apart from the ringer but that's not going to happen)

Faves are Louis and Lisa though - the rest of them are more on a par for me

Len is annoying me though - it seems as if he has already decided the ringer should win and seems to mark other "main contenders" down - not an issue in the stay / go stakes currently but seems a little off to me.....

Finally caught up too!

I'm glad Jerry went this week, it was her time and I also hope it has taught Anton a lesson. He is not so popular with the viewers that he can rely on comedy and sympathy to keep his partners in. Look at what some of the other professionals have to work with and what kind of dances they end up producing. More effort next time please, Mr Du Beke!

In more detail:

Fern and Artem - I thought this was a very classy routine, charleston can go a bit slapstick which wouldn't have suited Fern but this choreography did. Agree with Bruno that they needed to give it a bit more oomph but overall pretty good.

Sid and Ola - Wrong music, wrong costumes, too much messing around with the guitar and WHERE was the tango? I did wonder if Ola had been inspired by Kristina & Jason's Priscilla tango last year, which was fabulous, but Jason was not only a better dancer than Sid, but really went for it in the non-tango bits of that dance. Sid just looked a bit awkward and embarrassed in the rock god moments, and terrified in the tango part.

Victoria and Brendan - Not quite a return to the poor form of the first dance but definitely worse than last week. I just don't think she was comfortable with the 'sexy' dance and the wardrobe mishap didn't help. Seriously, what is it with the Strictly costume department?!

Jerry and Anton - covered above. Her time to go but she was really let down by her partner IMO.

Dani and Vincent - coming along nicely. A good effort and with a little more work on the footwork I think she will be a contender for QF.

Michael and Natalie - another shocker but huge entertainment value. A bit better than last week I thought, and I love that they seem to be having a really good time together.

Colin and Kristina - I stand by my earier comment that it is too early in the series for AT. He didn't (/couldn't) do any of the scissoring steps and seemed to struggle with the tango posture. I liked the lifts but there were huge chunks of the routine where he stood still and Kristina danced around him. I think he's a better dancer than that.

Michael and Erin - I thought it was pretty good, he seemed to miss a few steps but recovered well and did a decent job with a tough dance. Nice choreography from Erin. Wish the judges would change the record with the camp/not camp thing.

Kimberley and Pasha - very good, lots of dance content and great to watch. They are really starting to gel

Denise and James - the dance was great but long intro and outro. Denise can cope with more, it would have been good to see her dancing for the whole 1 min 40 or whatever it was.

Lisa and Robin - pretty decent effort with one of the most athletic dances but agree with Nemo, she didn't seem to get off the floor enough for a jive. Still one of my favourite couples though!

Nicky and Karen - I think someone must have had a word with Karen about her choreography! A big improvement on last week but I thought Nicky was a bit 'noodly' in the arms - unless that was part of the character?

Louis and Flavia - AMAZING! How that came in second to Denise and James I do not know. This is why I don't like theme nights, I thought there was good salsa content - as much as there could be in the context of that dance - but he gets penalised for the non-salsa bit, whereas Denise can sit on the floor for about 30 seconds of her routine and score higher? Not fair!

The difference between Denise's and Louis' marks was Len!  He gave her an 8 and him  a 6..............I rest my case mi'lud

Agree with everything up there 

Including the Len bias .