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Roar of the greasepaint next time
Thanks for watching along with me, glittery gang. Our Strictly six now dance into the quarter-final, the last themed show of the series, with routines inspired by West End and Broadway hits. Fancy dress and jazz hands pretty much compulsory. I don’t make the rules.
It airs next Saturday at 7.05pm on BBC1. Meet you back here to decide who’s a long-running hit and who’s a box office bomb. In the meantime, it’s our fridge magnet motto: keeeeep dancing! Thank you and a glittery goodnight.
joanieloves says: “Jamie is really sweet. He did well but Montell was in a different league. Brilliant quickstep. Going to be tactical voting next week. If Pete doesn’t go I’ll be fuming.”
Dunntalkin says: “Sugababes, eh? Let’s hope they make it all the way through the performance without having a massive row and breaking up.”
Finally, Inspissatedman adds: “Pete? Is that you?? I’ve a John Sergeant on line 2. Can you take his call right now, please?”
girlpanic says: “It’s such a shame that after such a great show last night, the dance-off has left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth tonight. Neither couple deserved to be there and the person who should have been there inexplicably got through on the public vote. I’m very sad to see Jamie & Michelle go this week.”
acanthe says: “I actually feel quite sorry for Pete. He’s probably got a real case of survivor’s guilt.”
DancingMom says: “I have loved Jamie’s ‘journey’ this season. He is such a lovely lad. Michelle is a sweetie. Too soon for them to exit. Seriously. Wow.”
MartGray adds: “Is that the first time this year a celeb has been lifted? Jamie deserves it.”
EmmyHarb says: “I can’t see Chris or Tasha being in a dance-off so fear it could be Montell again next week unfortunately.”
jagadox says: “What we seem to have in the quarter final are two real dancers in Sarah and Tasha. One sort-of-dancer in JB, and three non-dancer actual journey-ists in Chris, Pete and Montell. Whatever the ins and outs of who people think should or shouldn’t still be there, it’s interesting.”
Readers’ verdicts are in
A rapidfire vox pop of your choreographic comments. Rufusonly says: “Neither were the worst in the competition and I actually preferred Jamie’s rather sweet foxtrot. Michelle is a gorgeous dancer and gave an emotional farewell speech. I don’t know who is keeping Pete in but they have no appreciation of dance.”
MikeMoonlight says: “Jamie really should have just handed his partner Michelle some divorce papers and said ‘Happy Christmas, my sweet!’, before walking off the dancefloor whilst Dave Arch and his wunnerful orchestra played some ‘Doof Doof Doofs’.”
From Tudors to Bushtuckers
TV viewers can now stay on BBC One for Antiques Roadshow from Belfast’s Botanic Gardens, flip to ITV1 for Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? or to Channel 4 for All Aboard! Scotland’s Poshest Train.
At 9pm, choose from Wolf Hall: The Mirror & The Light on BBC One, I’m A Celebrity on ITV1 or Queen Camilla: The Wicked Stepmother? on Channel 4.
If you’re feeling filmic, there’s Last Christmas (9pm on BBC Three), Raging Bull (10pm on BBC Two) or Boxcar Bertha (10pm on Sky Arts).
Gender balance is equal at last
We started the series with a 9-6 men-to-women split, which pundits put down to problems recruiting female celebrities in the wake of Strictly’s summer of scandal.
Well, 10 weeks later, we’ve finally got ballroom parity. Our surviving six comprises three male celebrities and three females. The ballroom battle of the sexes is on.
Hard not to feel sorry for Montell
We said it last week. We’ll say it again. Montell Douglas didn’t deserve another dance-off. Judging by the scoreboard alone, this should have been an all-male affair with Pete Wicks or even Chris McCauasland facing Jamie in the dance-off. However, once again Montell tumbled from the top half of the leaderboard into the bottom two.
She’s prevailed over Sam Quek, Wynne Evans and now Jamie Borthwick in the dance-off, showing admirable fighting spirit. Thank her sporting background and Gladiatorial fire. Judge Motsi Mabuse hailed her as “the comeback queen”
After three appearances in four weeks, Montell looks doomed to be in the dance-off every week until she’s finally beaten. Undeservedly, considering she’s the contest’s third highest scorer and by rights a potential finalist. All Montell can do is keep working, keep dancing and hope the viewer votes come. At least she’s got the gorgeous Jojo Radebe as her chief cheerleader.
Michelle impressed on full dancefloor debut
Cypriot-Sri Lankan professional Michelle Tsiakkas has spent three years as part of the Strictly troupe but this was her first series with a celebrity partner. On this evidence, she’ll be a fixture on the main show from now on.
She formed a firecracker partnership with Jamie Borthwick. Born just 10 months apart, the pair hit it off immediately and clearly got on like a house on fire, laughing their way through training. He always had potential but Michelle taught him well, with Jamie becoming equally proficient in both ballroom and Latin. They deserved to dance onwards but getting to week 10 in her first full series was a fine achievement. We hope to see more of Michelle next year.