Kimberley and Pasha: I really liked the routine and hats off to Kimberley for working through her injury. However, I thought her footwork seemed a bit heavy and the lift looked a bit clumsy to me. I would have really liked this routine if it was a freestyle, but I didn't think it had enough salsa in it and I wasn't overly keen on the music choice.
Richard and Erin: dis-as-ter! But much better in the dance off. At least he kept going after he messed it up which is more than I can say for some of them (cough cough Victoria cough)
Victoria and Brendan: awkward, awkward, awkward. Not quite as bad as week 1 but she's definitely slid back a bit. I thought the judges were sucking up to her ... talking about her "bravery" instead of critiquing the performance? She really should be out soon if she doesn't improve. Although she's marginally better than Richard, I think he's more entertaining to watch because even when it goes wrong he carries on and looks confident. When Victoria gets something wrong she looks like she wants to stop dancing.
Michael and Natalie: another great ballroom routine from Michael! He's improved so much from the first couple of weeks, I hope he can carry it through to the next Latin dance too. I love Natalie, she's one of my favourite professionals and clearly a brilliant teacher.
Colin and Kristina: better than last week but he looked slightly awkward. I agree that he was not as bad as some others (Victoria, Fern, Richard!) but I don't think he would have lasted beyond the next 2 weeks.
Lisa and Robin: It was good to see a serious routine and she did well. I would have prefered if she was wearing a slightly shorter skirt so I could see her footwork properly and at a couple of points it seemed as though she was leading Robin!
Denise and James: very, very nice routine but I still can't warm to them. I'm not sure that it deserved 9's but one of the best of the night.
Louis and Flavia: What on earth are the judges on?! 6/10 from Craig. Absolutely ridiculous. The samba is the dance of death for so many couples, and can look awkward and embarrassing. Not only was this a really great routine to watch, but it was packed full of proper samba moves. Maybe there were a couple of bits that looked more like salsa, but when other couples who do not put as much content into their dances get marked higher I think the judges were serving another agenda.
Nicky and Karen: a decent ballroom routine but didn't make much of an impression on me - I think I was reeling from the poor scores given to Louis! I'm sure Nicky's fans will keep him in for another few weeks but he shouldn't stay at the expense of Lisa, Kimberley, Denise, Louis, Dani or Michael.
Fern and Artem: another dis-as-ter. Agree with comment above, surely the only reason they weren't in the dance off was because Artem had his shirt off! The sections when she was on the floor were awkward, clumsy and completely lacking in any grace. I hated the wafty, wafty thing she was doing with her skirt. Paso is supposed to be dramatic and passionate, not airy fairy. Particularly bad considering she had a special lesson from a professional flamenco dancer. She should have gone this week.
Dani and Vincent: a great routine, lots of good jive content, Dani was brilliant at the side-by-side sections - seemed to be totally in sync with Vincent. Music worked really well with the routine too.
