Millie-Moo And Chewbagga

... Or Maybe Not...

2011-12-19T09:38:00.000Z

So it seems I couldn't be bothered to blog about it after all.

My support for Dan Lobb didn't last very long, because it turned out I didn't like his attitude. So I turned my attention to Harry and Chelsee (honestly, I'm not just saying that now) and decided that I'd like them both to get to the final, preferably with Holly rather than Jason. I didn't really mind who won, but I do think that Harry was the best dancer between him and Chelsee. AND HE WON!!! But you knew that, didn't you?

I thought Chelsee was great though, and I think her Shrek Jive was my favourite dance of the whole series. But I did like Harry as a vampire ;-)

Not sure if I'll bother with the Christmas special, I didn't watch it last year. At least I get my Saturday and Sunday evenings back, till next September/October! Byeee!

Strictly Come Dancing 2011 - The Launch Show

2011-09-10T20:05:00.000+01:00

Da-da-da-da-da-da-daaaah, da-da-da-da-daaaaaah!

So here we are then, Strickly Cum Dancin' 2011! Tonight is just the launch show, where the pro dancers line up in a row while each celeb is told who they will be partnered with, and then the pro twirls their way over to their new partner. It's all a bit embarassing really.

The celebs taking part this year are:

Actor and Singer Jason Donovan
Waterloo Road Actress Chelsee Healey
Impressionist Rory Bremner
Singer Lulu
Olympic Boxer Audley Harrison
Ex-politician and Writer Edwina Currie
McFly drummer Harry Judd
One Show presenter Alex Jones
Astrologer Russell Grant
Actress Holly Valance
Daybreak presenter Dan Lobb
Actress Anita Dobson
Footballer and pundit Robbie Savage
Italian Siren Nancy Dell'olio

As with every previous year since the show began, Len thinks this is the best group they've ever had! What a surprise!

So without further ado, let's find out who's going to be dancing with who. I wish I'd made my predictions earlier, but as it is, I had a guess just before each one was announced, which I've put in brackets. I got one or two right, but most wrong.

Robbie, whose most important features are his hair and teeth, will be dancing with Ola (my guess Natalie)
Dan, who is very tall, is paired with Katya (since Robbie didn't get her, I guessed Natalie again)
Harry, who is a bit of a cutie, gets Aliona (my guess Flavia)

Anita has this year's 'famous spouse' and has been paired with Robin (my guess Robin - my first correct guess!)
Chelsee, who... actually I have no idea who she is, but she seems like she could be a good laugh, will be dancing with this year's new professional Pasha (my guess Vincent). Hello Pasha, goodbye, erm, the new boy from last year whose name I can't even remember... hang on (*checks old blog post from last year*) Jared! That was it, Jared! Yeah, bye Jared...
Lululotsofworkdone has got Brendan (my guess was Vincent again)

Speaking of having lots of work done, the musical interlude is provided by Dolly Parton, looking like Barbie's gran.

Back to the dancing, next up is:
Jason Donovan - hopefully there won't be 'too many broken hearts' between him and his partner Kristina (my guess was Kristina, wippee!)
Rory 'doesn't actually do such a great Brucie impression' Bremner is paired with Erin (I guessed Erin correct too, but I suppose it's getting easier now that there's only three left)
Audley Harrison, who I'm currently indifferent to, gets Natalie (my guess Natalie, although you can't really call it a guess any more)
Russell Grant has apparently lost 10 stone in weight, which means he's actually lost more weight than his entire partner, Flavia. I don't know how much she weighs, but I'm assuming it's less that 10 stone.

Alex Bleakley-alike Jones is partnered with James (my guess Artem)
Holly Valance only makes it to No 57 on the 'Sexiest Female' lists these days, which Kara Tointon is probably really pleased about, as Holly's partner is Artem (my guess Vincent, although I wasn't paying attention to heights)
Nancy 'famous shag partner' Dell'olio has been paired with Anton (my guess had been James when there was just these last four left, although I think I also guessed Anton, which was quite predictable)And finally, Eggwina Currie gets Vincent (my original guess had been Anton).

So that's that. Who are you most excited about seeing?

My favourite at this stage is Dan Lobb, yet I'm strangely drawn to Rory Bremner too - I just have this feeling that he might turn out to be a dark horse. I'm least interested in Audley Harrison, maybe it's the memories of Joe Calzaghe. Even Russell Grant showed a teensy bit of promise in the group dance right at the end. I think Edwina will be annoying, and I can't see her lasting very long. I'm sure Anton and Nancy will be very entertaining, and you'd expect the actors to get into the story of the dance each week, although that still doesn't mean they'll be any good.

Apparently, they now have three weeks of practice, and then the series starts properly. So I guess I'll be back to blog about it then. Maybe...

It's Back!

2011-09-07T18:56:00.000+01:00

Damn you, Dan Lobb. I'm gonna have to watch it again...

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodnight...

2011-02-07T21:40:00.000Z

... Just a quick post to say that Millie-Moo and Chewbagga have moved on to pastures new, so I'm going to be 'closing' this blog down shortly, at least for the time being. If, for whatever reason, you want to continue to be able to read it, I think I can 'invite' you on the provision of your email address. Otherwise it will be on an indefinite hiatus, until I am once again struck by the urge to spend a third of the year religiously blogging about some cheesy, predictable reality tv show.

Thank you for reading.

Best Wishes.

Kartem Cart Home The Glitterball!

2010-12-18T19:35:00.023Z

Well, it's here at last - the Strictly Come Dancing Final. If you've continued to read this blog over the past few months, you will undoubtedly have noticed my increasing apathy towards the show. Hmm, maybe apathy is a bit strong, but I definitely started to lose interest about three or four weeks into it. As I said at the time, it probably had a lot to do with the complete absence of The Fortuna:

... but I think it was also because I didn't have a firm favourite who I could throw my support behind. I kind of liked Matt right from the start, and I also got to like Gavin and Scott as the weeks went on. To be honest, I was quite happy with the final five and I didn't really mind who got through to the final. Similarly, there hasn't been anyone voted off that I've been really sad to lose. So yeah, I've kind of been a bit ambivalent towards the whole thing.

Another factor is that I kept reading comments about how much SCD had become like Dancing With The Stars. I've never seen DWTS, but I can totally imagine what it's like now. The props and gimmicks didn't bother me at first, but the more we saw of them, the more I started to find them, I don't know, predictable, I guess, and a bit laughable (in a laughing at them, not with them, kind of way). The ridiculous standing ovations every week, and Denture's "Look! Look at them!" as if he thought he had an audience full of people paralysed from the waist down who'd just learned to stand again was irritating beyond belief too.

Having said all that, I'd committed myself to watching this series and blogging about it, and so I have persevered, albeit with less and less commentary from myself and more and more videos! So imagine my chagrin, my disappointment, my frustration, my total and utter infuriation when I find myself sitting here on Strictly Final night WITHOUT A BLOODY TELEVISION TO WATCH IT ON!!! Yes, the blasted thing is still broken!

So I decided to start writing this whilst following all the #scd tweets (nigh-on impossible, they come through too fast) for a live run-down of what was going on on the show. I also thought I'd just have a quick look at the BBC SCD website, and to my surprise I found that I could've been watching it live on my laptop! I never knew that!! God, I've soooo lost the plot with Strictly this year! So at least I'll be able to watch part two, later.

Which is in fact, now!

Without further ado, the couple with the least votes is revealed, and finishing in third place are Pamela and James. Much 'awwing' from the audience... They don't get to do their Argentine Tango after all.

On with the show, and next up, Matt and Aliona are dancing a Paso Doble to 'Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood', which is a dance they haven't performed before. Len not too impressed, Alesha thinks it was made for him. Bruno sides with Len, but Craig actually 'rather liked it'! Judges scores are only for guidance this evening though.

Kara and Artem are also doing a dance that they haven't done before, which in their case is the Waltz, to 'If You Don't Know Me By Now'. Alesha: "understated, full of romance". Bruno: "quality". Craig: "occasional wobble, spiky, most amazing dancer". Len: "musicality, lovely to watch, a few 'foot things'.."

Tess has a chat with some of the previous contestants, before we're back with the dancing. Matt and Aliona have chosen to reprise their Viennese Waltz to 'Where The Wild Roses Grow' by Nick Cave, which is enough of a reason for me to want him to win!! Generally positive comments from the judges. A ten from Alesha.

Kara and Artem are performing their American Smooth again to Cry Me A River. Craig would kill to be able to dance like that, so she's obviously getting four 10's. Actually, scratch that, Len is complaining about the dance not being in hold enough, so probably a 9 from him. Hmm, a 7! Artem is in tears. Not because of the 7, but because it's their last dance together and he's a bit overcome.

Filler VT of Joe Public talking about their favourite bits, before all the previous celebs and partners do a group performance while Paloma Faith sings 'Upside Down'.

More VT - GET ON WITH IT!!!

While we wait, how about some videos of tonight's performances?

Matt and Aliona - Samba

Kara and Artem - Rumba

Pamela and James - Viennese Waltz

Matt and Aliona - Showdance

Kara and Artem - Showdance

Pamela and James - Showdance

Matt and Aliona - Paso Doble

Kara and Artem - Waltz

Matt and Aliona - Viennese Waltz

Kara and Artem - American Smooth

Thank you very much to MrAtariST for uploading all these great videos to YouTube - I'd head on over and subscribe to his channel if I were you!

Now, the moment you've been waiting for! The winners of Strictly Come Dancing 2010 are.....
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Kara and Artem!!!

They are both in tears, she makes a lovely speech and says she feels a bit embarassed, and Artem gives her a big kiss!!! Very worthy winners, but Matt and Aliona were fierce competition too.

(All photos from BBC SCD facebook page).

Well, if you've followed me this far - why? Seriously, thank you very much for sticking with me despite my increasing disinterest in this series. I know there's still the Christmas Special to come, but I doubt I'll bother recapping that, although I'll probably watch, just for old time's sake.

So it just leaves me to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year - I may, or may not, see you in 2011!

Poor Gav and Scott - Final-Bound, They Are Not...

2010-12-10T21:28:00.014Z

Well, this weekend's Strictly viewing has been a strictly shambles for me! Somehow I completely missed the announcement last week that the first show was on Friday (probably because I tune out when Dentures starts talking, and to be honest I don't pay much attention to Tess and Claud these days either). So, I missed the first 20 minutes of the show, tuning in just as Kara and Artem were receiving their scores.

Then, I missed the Saturday night show because I'd just brought my dad home from hospital, so I could hardly ignore him for an hour while I watched it.

And because these things always come in threes, I got up on Sunday morning to find that our tv is on the blink - no picture whatsoever! So I'm unable to watch the results show!! (I know there's iplayer, but actually... I probably won't bother with that).

Anyway, Friday's show began with Pamela and James, Paso Doble-ing to Bad Romance by Lady GaGaGooGoo:

Then it was Kara and Artem doing a Viennese Waltz to Stop by Sam Brown, which, incidentally, I used to mime along to in my bedroom with a proper mic on a stand, no pretend-hairbrush-microphone for me, oh no.

Gavin and Katya are third out doing a Samba. It's nice to see him smiling:

Next up are Scott and Natalie dancing the Argentine Tango to that music from the Finish Dishwasher Tablet advert with the standard AT prop of old-fashioned gas lamp:

And finally, Matt and Aliona salsa to Spinning Around:

Now it's time for the Strictly Swingathon. All five couples will be on the floor at the same time, swinging for all they're worth. They will get eliminated one by one until there is only one couple remaining - the first couple out will get one point, the second will get two and so on, and the last couple dancing will get a maximum of five points. Katya must've been 'fingers-in-ears-la-la-la-I-can't-hear-you!' when they called their names first:

Since the maximum scores of the regular dance and the swingathon are 40 and 5 respectively, the points tonight are out of a maximum 45. So the leaderboard after tonight's routines is as follows:

Kara and Artem - 44
Pamela and James - 38
Scott and Natalie - 35
Matt and Aliona - 32
Gavin and Katya - 28

Which brings us to the end of Friday's show! Saturday night begins with Scott and Natalie's Charleston, and there was something about this that I just didn't like. I don't think they're as suited to the more 'comedy' routines, and Scott had a strange expression on his face at times:

Kara and Artem are next with their rumba, which I haven't even watched cos I don't like rumbas, but which I'm sure was lovely and quite possibly a vertical expression of their horizontal desire:

Matt and Aliona are doing a tango tonight, which gets better scores than last night's salsa:

Next out are Gavin and Katya with their Viennese waltz, which is very nice:

And finally, Pamela and James do a quickstep, but I'm not keen, and I don't like her dress. I know it had to be kind of 'tucked in' to her top to begin with, but you'd think they could've come up with something a bit more flattering:

So that was the end of all the dances on Saturday night. As I missed the show, I can't comment on what else happened in it. Oh, apparently Take That were the musical guests. That's all I know.

Results show time, and due to the fact that I'll be missing that as well, I've actually been over to the Dark Side already to find out who is leaving. Remember, this week is a double elimination!! Ooh, just read on Facebook that there is going to be a performance from the Showdancers, and an early Christmas treat from Dentures. Yay, I get to miss him singing!!!

In an even briefer recap than normal then, I can reveal that Gavin and Katya, and Scott and Natalie, have been voted off.

So the final next week will be between Kara and Artem, Matt and Aliona and Pamela and James.

Personally, I think I'd like Matt to win, although Kara is possibly the better dancer. I've nothing against Pamela really, apart from the fact that they're always talking about her husband. I mean, who is he? Is he as famous as Claire Chambers? Or Chris Hollins' mystery girlfriend?? I seriously doubt it.

So that's that. The end is in sight!!

Widdecombes and Goes

2010-12-04T18:41:00.006Z

It's Movie Week!!

The first pro dance features Kristina and Robin doing You're The One That I Want from Grease, James and Ola doing Take My Breath Away from Top Gun, Anton and Erin doing something in slightly dusty top hat and tails from Easter Parade (I've never seen that) and Artem and Katya doing that dance from Pulp Fiction, complete with black wig like Uma Thurman.

In a nod to the bad weather we've been enduring over the past few days, Dentures tells us it's "Ice to see you, to see you Ice..."

Over the past few weeks I've been showing you the videos of what I considered to be the best dances, or the worst, but as there are only 6 couples left now, I thought I might as well put the videos up of all the performances. Less for me to recap then. WHAT?! I have Christmas cards to write, ok?!!

Scott and Natalie are first. She's in her bra and pants with a bed sheet tucked down the back, he's in the suit-with-open-bow-tie look. They're doing the Paso Doble to the James Bond theme. I like the bit where she nearly kicks him in the face:

Ann and Anton next, although obviously they already did movie week last week. They are American Smoothing to Hello Dolly:

Matt and Aliona have been rehearsing in the Outer Hebrides due to his Countryfile filming, leading to much jealousy from me. There was doubts as to whether they would be able to fly back to London. I can think of much worse places to get stranded... They are doing an Austin Powers inspired Jive, and I can't help feeling that Matt looks a little bit like Jared Murillo, when Jared was doing his geeky cha-cha:

Pamela and James are doing the Viennese Waltz to Unchained Melody from Ghost, therefore they are both dressed in white to make them look... ghostly. It's her 61st birthday and her husband (whoever he is) is in the audience, so what follows isn't a huge surprise:

Gavin and Katya are trotting their fox to Minnie The Moocher from Blues Brothers. It's better than last week:

Kara and Artem are tangoing to Roxanne, the version from Moulin Rouge, which is one of her favourites. I thought with her hair that it was going to be something Audrey Hepburn related. But no:

That's it, they've all danced! So it must be...

Results time!!!

The show begins with the Dance Troupe (who?) doing an Abba medley.

There's the usual filler which I can't even be bothered to recap before we learn that the first safe couples are:

Gavin and Katya
Kara and Artem

and the first couple in the bottom two is:

Scott and Natalie

Next up, Anton and Erin do a Fred and Ginge Waltz to Moon River, which is as elegant as you would expect.

The next safe couples are:

Pamela and James
Matt and Aliona

leaving Ann and Anton in the bottom two.

Tess reminds us that next week is the semi finals and asks Len what the couples have got in store for them. He reveals that not only is there a 'swingathon' where all five couples will dance at the same time, while getting eliminated one by one, but next week is also - brace yourself! - a double elimination special, OMG!!!

The musical interlude this week is by the Manic Street Preachers. I never thought I'd see them on a programme like Strictly, and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. I know I'm going back a few years but remember when James Dean Bradfield used to look like this?:

Mmm, me too...

Anyway, the couple leaving tonight is the correct one.

Semi-finals next week!

The Eighth Wonder Wanders Off...

2010-11-27T18:32:00.009Z

Well, we're back in that London after all the excitement of the naughty weekend in Blackpool, and Dentures starts with a horrific 'joke' about Ann and Anton snogging. He only dared say it cos she was still backstage.

Kara and Artem are first. After 'neck-gate' last week, their VT shows Anton offering to swap partners with Artem, telling him he wouldn't just end up with a bad neck, but his back, hips and knees would go too after a week. They jive to Runaround Sue, and it's kind of a little bit of a slowish pace. Len says it was a great start, and Alesha says the journey word. Bruno calls her Kara Von Tease, the sexy jiving... penis? peanut? It's taken me a few listens to realise the word was pin-up. Craig thought it was clean, specific, with good attention to detail, but it lost synchronicity and had a strange ending. Scores: 7, 9, 9, 9 - 34/40.

Ann and Anton are next, supposedly doing the rumba. The music is My Heart Will Go On from Titanic, so we have a prop iceberg and... once again, it's easier to show the video than try to explain...

Next up are Patsy and Robin, doing the Argentine Tango to They by Jem. Scores: 7, 8, 8, 7 - 30/40.

Scott and Natalie are doing the American Smooth to Fly Me To The Moon. In their VT he brings up the "I've got two jobs" storyline and talks about how completely knackered he is, to the point where he almost falls asleep standing up. In the routine he makes lots of mistakes and still looks like he can hardly keep his eyes open, and I think he apologises to Nat at the end of it. Judges comments are generally that it wasn't his best, but he shouldn't let one bad week affect him, because he is a good dancer. Scores: 6, 7, 9, 9 - 31/40.

As there are seven celebs left in the show, they are being referred to as the Magnificent Seven - surely it should be the Magnificent Six plus Ann Widdecombe? There's some filler VT of them dressed as cowboys and cowgirls, and they've even got their own special character names:
Gavin 'Big Guns' Henson
Patsy 'Blonde Buckaroo' Kensit
Kara 'Queen Of The Leaderboard' Tointon
Scott 'More Tens' Maslen
Ann 'Wild West' Widdecombe
Matt 'Tricksy Dixie' Baker
Pamela 'Fun Dance Kid' Stephenson

Oh the hilarity!

Next to dance are Gavin and Katya, jiving to Hey Ya! by Outkast. In training she's trying to get him to release his emotions by saying that he hates the jive, which he does. Repeatedly. It's not a good routine. You can tell he hates it, even if he hadn't said so. I can't really watch. Judges comments are mostly along the 'not very good but well done for trying' line. Scores: 3, 6, 7, 6 - 22/40.

Matt and Aliona are doing an American Smooth next to Empire State Of Mind by Alicia Keys. I'm not sure if I liked it or not, it was almost a bit rumba-ish, but here's the video anyway, just because they're still one of my favourites:

Last to dance are Pamela and James, doing the Charleston to Let's Misbehave. It's one of the slower Charleston's that we've seen, and possibly a little messy in places, but this woman is 60 years old, so credit to her for throwing herself into lifts like these:

That's it, lines open!

Results time - it's as if we've never been away! We start with a pro jive consisting of Aliona and Jared, Katya and Artem and Natalie and Brendan, before the usual backstage gossip and judges bickering.

The first round of safe couples are:
Matt and Aliona
Pamela and James
Ann and Anton

And finding themselves in the bottom two are:
Patsy and Robin

James and Ola do a Raunchy Rumba to Russian Roulette by Rhianna for us now (invoking the spirit of Arlene Phillips there). She's in a lacy catsuit, and at one point he supports her entire body on his neck - y'know, like Ricky Whittle did last year with Nat? For the most part though, I feel like I'm invading their privacy by watching their sexy shenanigans, so I avert my eyes.

We have some filler VT of the Magnificent Seven acting out some famous movie scenes: Matt Baker and Patsy Kensit are Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds in Singin' In The Rain, Kara is that bird from Flashdance, or is it Fame, who dances with a chair, Scott and Pamela are Danny and Sandy from Grease, Ann is Dorothy from the Wizard Of Oz, and Gavin (and Scott again) pretend to strip, Full Monty style. Pourquoi, I hear you ask? Because next week is MOVIE WEEK, that's pourquoi!! I can barely contain my excitement!

More results, and the next safe couples are:
Kara and Artem
Scott and Natalie

leaving Gavin and Katya in the bottom two.

Claudia chats to the bottom two and admits that she has no idea what Gavin has just said in response to her question. He tries to speak a bit more clearly but she still doesn't understand his mumbling.

The musical interlude this week is provided by James Bluzzzzzz....

Wha?! Has he finished?! Just nodded off there for a moment... I can now reveal with absolutely no air of tension whatsoever that the couple leaving tonight is Patsy and Robin. She makes quite a long goodbye speech, but then she's been practicing for the last nine weeks. Robin doesn't get a word in!

Next week is movie week! Costume and props departments must be practially wetting themselves in anticipation!

Kiss The Good Life Goodbye...

2010-11-20T18:30:00.010Z

You're probably unaware of this, because they haven't really mentioned it, but SCD this week is coming to you from the Tower Ballroom at Blackpool! The opening pro routine is to Viva Las Vegas; the male dancers are dressed in Elvis-style white jumpsuits, the female dancers are dressed in, well, not much really.

Patsy and Robin are first, dancing the samba. In training, Robin tracks down some genuine samba showgirls to ~~completely intimidate~~ show her how it should be done. They're dancing to Copacabana. She's getting stuck in to it, but also looks a little bit lost at times. Apparently, she got on the wrong foot 'over there', Len says it was one of those moments that you just want to forget, so Patsy says "let's forget it then!". Scores: 6, 7, 8, 7 - 28/40.

Kara and Artem are up next, dancing the American Smooth. She hurt his neck in rehearsal whilst doing a lift. They both cry a little bit, which is ironic cos they're dancing to Cry Me A River. Not the Justin Timberlake version. The other one. Kara's just done a Natalie Lowe running slide. And now she's applauding Artem instead of the other way around. He's practically grimacing while he stands in front of the judges. Alesha, Bruno and Craig loved it, Len doesn't want to be the party-pooper, but he claims to be "as confused as a baby in a topless bar". Apparently he couldn't tell if it was a foxtrot or not. Scores: 9, 6, 10, 10 - 35/40. Here's the video:

Third to dance are Matt and Aliona, doing the samba to Young Hearts Run Free. I don't really like the samba, generally, and to be honest, I watched this and thought 'he won't be getting any tens this week'. He's just finished with a triple backflip though! Len wasn't too keen on that bit; he thinks that just because you can do something, you don't have to put it in the routine, and recalls a boy at his school who could fart God Save The Queen. This doesn't please Dentures, so Len doesn't really get to finish that anecdote. Scores: 9, 9, 10, 10 - 38/40. Ha! Silly me! He's been talking about it for weeks, and now they're in Blackpool. Of coooouuuurrse they were going to get a 10!!! Obviously, I know nothing about sambas. Here it is:

Felicity and Vincent, American Smooth, Me and My Shadow. I think even Vincent is getting bored with Felicity judging by their training footage. Dentures has just made her his second favourite, so he must know her time is nearly up. Not that that's worked for Ann yet. Scores: 7, 7, 8, 8 - 30/40.

Gavin and Katya are doing the American Smooth to She's A Lady by Tom Jones. In the training room they're practising a move where he lifts her with one arm. He says she's about 50kg and in the background somewhere she shouts "don't say my weight on national television!". After their first rehearsal in the tower ballroom he notices that the dancefloor is quite springy so thinks that if he drops her she'll be ok. I actually love him a little bit! As for the big lift, I'm not sure if they do it properly or if he kind of bottles it; Katya looks very wobbly and nervous. However, he seemed to start with a lot more confidence, and I thought he looked very nice tonight, so here's the video! Scores: 4, 7, 8, 8 - 27/40.

Scott and Natalie are next, but during their intro we have to endure Dentures tapdancing into a microphone. In rehearsal Nat tells him they're going to do some promenade runs, which he thinks sounds like something you've got to get tablets for. They're samba-ing to Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher and Higher. Scores: 6, 8, 9, 9 - 32/40.

Pamela and James are dancing an American Smooth to Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps by Doris Day. Len thinks it was the best AS of the night. With Tess, James reveals that they did the whole routine with his mic tangled around her legs, a la Mark and Karen. Scores: 8, 9, 10, 10 - 37/40. They are very happy with those 10's.

Finally, it's Ann and Anton. They are supposed to be dancing a samba tonight, but as we're all painfully aware by now, Ann can't/won't/doesn't do Latin, so we'll be in for one of their 'comedy' routines instead. She is in a canary yellow dress, he is in a matching shirt and gold trousers, so clearly the comedy begins with the outfits. In their VT, Ann completely fails to keep up the tradition of gazing in awe-inspired wonderment at the Tower Ballroom. When asked if she's ever seen anything like it before she replies "Yes, the studio at television centre". Ann, you philistine! In training, she refuses to do a samba roll as it's 'a most improper move', and pleads with everyone to "GET A LIFE" and stop obsessing about sex, or something. As usual Anton literally dances rings around her, while she stands still or spins a bit. Speaking of which, she does a floor spin and, well, thank goodness for the canary yellow leggings is all I'm saying... Len compares her to haemorrhoids, she "keeps coming back, more painful than before". He's really excelled himself tonight with the slightly tasteless comments. This is a family show, Len, lest we forget. Think of the little children that Dentures says hello to every week. Scores: 1, 5, 4, 3 - 13/40. I was almost expecting Craig to hold up his '10' paddle with the '1' tippexed out!

So after everyone has danced, Matt and Aliona are top, and Ann and Anton are bottom of the leaderboard.

Onto the results show, which begins with a high-energy samba from the strictly pro ladies to Bootilicious - bit of a kick in the teeth for Michelle Williams there?

Claudia informs us that we'll be having performances from Cirque Du Soleil and Duffy, and then we see the usual VT of all the backstage gossip, before learning that the first safe couples are:

Kara and Artem
Scott and Natalie
Pamela and James

and in the Bottom two:

Felicity and Vincent

Alesha is asked why Felicity is there, and sounding more like a football manager than a Strictly judge she says it's "the nature of the beast" and "that's the way the cookie crumbles"...

Cirque du Soleil's Viva Elvis troupe perform now, all wearing blue suede shoes, I note. It's a mixture of dancing, gymnastics and aerial acrobatics, and someone balancing on one hand, on the hand of another person. It's all very clever.

More results and the next safe couples are:

Matt and Aliona
Ann and Anton
Gavin and Katya

leaving Patsy and Robin in the bottom two.

Claudia chats to Patsy and Felicity, which is a bit of a nightmare because neither of them want to shut up once they get going. Felicity says she's there because of Vincent, meaning she's made it this far (ie. a compliment) and Vincent replies that he's there because of her, which sounds like he's blaming her for being in the bottom two. And he'd be right, I guess.

Before they find out their fate, we have Duffy screeching down her nose at us in her bizarre nasal voice. Someone get the girl some Olbas Oil will you? Please? The male pros get their turn for a boogie. I'm hopeless at identifying dance styles, so based purely on the fact that this is Duffy I'm going to say that they were doing a homage to Northern Soul...

Finally we are informed that the couple leaving tonight is Felicity and Vincent. Their last song is The Good Life (Tony Bennett); Vincent is crying, Felicity can't seem to hold him tight enough, Patsy is in floods of tears.

That's it. Time for everyone to pile back onto the fun-bus and head back darn sarf!

Destiny Unfulfilled

2010-11-13T18:01:00.007Z

Two weeks ago I watched the spooky Halloween special from the cosy comfort of a little cottage on the West Coast of Scotland. I was well and truly laptop-free and I'm glad I wasn't blogging, cos to be honest, I wouldn't have known where to start! All I will say is credit to hair, makeup and costume, because they really went to town. Tina was the vote-off victim that week. They say bad luck comes in threes, which I think was true in her case. First, they made her wear 'pleather', and the song choice constantly referred to her as a 'monster', so it was almost inevitable that she was going to leave. Oh and Matt Baker in guyliner? Yes please!

Last Saturday we'd just got home after a 7 hour drive. I was missing the Highlands, as I always do, and praying that I could win the lottery so that we could go and live up there, so I really wasn't in the mood for blogging, although I did watch again. I can't really remember much about it though - stand-out moment was probably Matt and Aliona dancing to Nick Cave. My twitter account will explain why that thrilled me! Jimi was the 'shock exit' - he couldn't speak through his tears. I generally steered clear of forums, twitter and the like, but I imagine much Widdy-bashing ensued, along the lines of "why is she still there when a better dancer has been voted off?" I don't really care...

This week they're bigging up the fact that they're going to Blackpool. Next week. Blackpool Week is forever tainted for me by the whole "it's-all-about-Craig-Kelly" storyline from last year.

Pamela and James are first, and talking of Scotland, Pamela has taken James home to her humble abode in Aberdeenshire. He gets to wear a kilt. They're doing a cha-cha. They both start off wearing pin-stripe suits and tapping away on glittery laptops, before James rips off her suit to reveal a little sparkly costume. I'm not really watching it. In fact, I've even missed the score. Oh well.

Michelle and Brendan are doing a paso doble. He's in a red lace shirt, she's in a white lace dress and seems to be counting her steps. I've missed the scores again.

Patsy and Robin are doing a Viennese Waltz, but I'm typing instead of watching. I did glance over though, and she looks lovely. Craig likes it this week, he thought it was delicious. She's uber-modest as ever with Tess. 7, 9, 8, 8 - 32/40. I got them this time.

Gavin and Katya are up next, dancing the Quickstep. His kids turned up to rehearsal, which unleashed his inner child. Katya's gone for the comedy routine and it's actually paid off. Here's the video, plus the judges comments:

Ann and Anton are next, doing a foxtrot, and as this is safe Anton territory, they've pretty much got straight into it without any comedy element. Well, apart from the last pose maybe. In fairness, she's not that bad in the ballroom hold. She continues to say what dances she's got coming up in the next few weeks which is either optimistic or overconfident, and also just a bit annoying. I've missed the scores again, I think it was 20/40.

Kara and Artem are next. In her VT she meets the Chuckle Brothers - but they're currently coach tripping around Europe, aren't they? They (K & A, not the Chuckle Brothers) do a pretty awesome Argentine Tango, as you can see:

Felicity and Vincent next, doing the salsa. Meh. She has to leave this week. Well, unless it's Ann.

Matt and Aliona are next, doing a raunchy rumba. I don't like the rumba much, but I still like Matt. Scores: 8, 9, 9, 9 - 35/40.

Last up are Scott and Natalie, doing a jive to Hit The Road, Jack, which is excellent:

Annoyingly, nearly everyone gets a standing ovation these days, and even more annoyingly, Dentures feels the need to point this out to every couple, shouting at them "Look! Look at this! Enjoy this moment!" Yeah, they've got eyes, Bruce...

That's it, everyone has danced. I want my final three to be Matt, Kara and Scott, please thank you.

Results time already! Doesn't it come around quickly?

We start with a very glam American Smooth to Beyond The Sea by Bobby Darin, followed by the usual behind the scenes chit chat.

The first safe couples are:
Matt and Aliona
Gavin and Katya
Pamela and James
Scott and Natalie

And the first couple to find themselves in the bottom two is:
Michelle and Brendan

There's a performance from Annie Lennox, which is dire, and quite frankly a bit of a fire hazard too with all those candles, and then Claudia has a natter with the safe celebs.

The next couples going to Blackpool are:
Patsy and Robin
Kara and Artem
Ann and Anton

and in the bottom two:
Felicity and Vincent

Next up, Alesha is performing what I suppose is her new single, along with the dance troupe. It's awful. Ironically the lyrics refer to 'turning up the radio' and yet whenever I hear it I'll be turning it down. She is donating all the proceeds to Children In Need though, for which 'I commend her'.

Claudia has another natter, this time with Felicity and Michelle, before introducing another song, by The Soldiers, and a dance from Vincent and Flavia, who gets her heel caught in her dress.

Finally, Tess reveals that the couple leaving tonight is Michelle and Brendan. She's relieved that she doesn't have to worry about being in the bottom two anymore.

And that's it! Vegas Of The North next week! Get your Kiss-Me-Quick hats at the ready...

Someone dropped the ball...

2010-10-23T18:06:00.010+01:00

So it's week 4 and the couples will be dancing either a Tango or a Charleston, and there are certainly some interesting outfits coming down the stairs.

Jimi and Flavia are up first, doing the charleston to Do Your Thing. It's very bouncy, which is the idea I guess, and features some prop 'windows', and although I'm not a huge fan of this couple, I find it quite enjoyable. Scores: 6, 7, 7, 7 - 27/40.

Scott and Natalie are next with a tango to Allegretto. She's in a bright yellow dress which somehow seems too sunny and cheerful for an intense tango. It's very good - Scott definitely seems to be proving himself to be an accomplished dancer. Len thinks it's the best dance this series. 8, 9, 9, 9 - 35/40.

Tina and Jared are back this week, after she got the all-clear from her doctor, and they are dancing the charleston to Bad Guys from Bugsy Malone. It's quite cute, and Jared is growing on me ever so slightly (*traitor!*). 7, 7, 8, 7 - 29/40.

Felicity and Vincent are next to tango, using the judges desk as a bar. She full-on pashes him at the end, and then just stands there giggling. 7, 7, 7, 8 - 29/40.

Patsy and Robin do the charleston to Hot Honey Rag from Chicago, hence the Velma Kelly look that she's going for. 6, 8, 7, 7 - 28/40.

Gavin and Katya are next, doing a tango to Toxic. Apparently, he didn't want to get voted off last week in front of his idol, Peter Andre. Peter's abs in the Mysterious Girl video were Gavin's inspiration. Bless. He looks a bit more lively in rehearsal, bench pressing Katya, and seems a lot more confident. Until he starts dancing, that is, and the nerves kick in. 5, 6, 6, 6 - 23/40.

Next to dance are Peter and Erin, doing the charleston to Life Is A Cabaret. She's in full-on Sally Bowles outfit, he's in pinstripes and white gloves. I'm still not a fan. 2, 5, 6, 4 - 17/40.

Pamela and James are next, tango-ing to Love Is The Drug. Although the judges seemed to think Scott's was the best tango, I preferred this one, so here's the video:

Following that are Matt and Aliona, with a charleston to 42nd Street. They are still my favourites, and I loved this, so it gets a video showing too:

Next to dance is Michelle, and this week she is with Ian Waite. He's standing in for Brendan, who sadly had to return home for his father's funeral. They're dancing the tango to Killer. Watching this made me realise how much I like Ian - it's great to see him dancing again (in the competition, the dance troupe doesn't really count) despite the unfortunate circumstances. He seems to have worked his magic with her, as although it's still far from perfect, she probably looks the best she has so far. 6, 7, 7, 7 - 27/40.

Kara and Artem are out next doing the charleston to Put A Lid On It. I thought it was great, but the judges seem to want more impact from her, or as Len says, "a bit more wellie". 8, 8, 8, 8 - 32/40.

Finally, Ann and Anton with their own unique (as ever) interpretation of the tango. Once again, words cannot do it justice, so here's the video:

So that's it, everyone has danced!

Straight onto the results show, which begins with a pro 40's jive medley choreographed by Matt Cutler.

There's some VT of the judges discussing the performances, before the first few couples are announced. Safe are:

Gavin and Katya
Scott and Natalie
Matt and Aliona
Tina and Jared
Patsy and Robin

and first into the bottom two are:

Michelle and Ian

There's another pro dance, an Argentine Tango this time, and seriously, where the hell is the dance troupe?

More safe couples are:

Ann and Anton
Pamela and James
Kara and Artem
Felicity and Vincent (Tess seems very excited when she announces this, I wonder if they're her favourites?)
Jimi and Flavia

leaving Peter and Erin in the bottom two again.

The musical interlude is courtesy of Neil Diamond, with his cover of Midnight Train to Georgia. He's accompanied by Robin and Kristina, which is all very pretty, but I'd have preferred to see Anton, James and Vincent dancing like the Pips in the background!

Gotta love the "woo-hoo" bits!

Moment of truth time, and the couple leaving tonight is Peter and Erin. Which I'm pleased about. He seemed to be from the Craig Kelly school of thinking he was better than he actually was. Their last dance is to The Name Of The Game by Abba.

Just a note to say that there will be no blog post for the next couple of weeks, although I shall hopefully still be watching, and will continue with the blog as soon as I can.

Now You See Him, Now You Don't...

2010-10-16T18:02:00.012+01:00

It's Week 3 of the competition aaaand.... I'm kind of a bit bored with it...

Basically, due to personal circumstances (ie. I have the rest of my life to get on with) I don't feel that I can (or want to) devote as much time to this blog as I have previously. I have other things that I'd rather be doing, and on Saturday night, I really wasn't in the mood for blogging. Also, Strictly just isn't really doing it for me this year. I suspect that has a lot to do with the Brian Fortuna-shaped hole that he left behind him when he decided to quit. Although I have a couple of favourites celebs this series, I don't feel compelled to support them to the level that I was supporting Ali and Brian last year. In the last two seasons I felt very strongly about the likes of John Sergeant and Craig Kelly getting through each week when better dancers were being voted off. This year however, my initial misgivings about Widdy and Paul Daniels have lessened to the extent that I don't really mind how long they stay in. I'm just not that interested. That isn't to say that I've gone off the show altogether, not by any means, and I don't think I'm quite ready to give up on this blog completely either. I do still get that frisson of excitement when someone comes out and does a really great routine, and so far I'm enjoying the 'comedy' elements more than I expected to. So, having said that, I've decided that I'm going to simply concentrate on the dances which I enjoy, for whatever reason, and not really comment as much on the ones that I find boring or uninteresting. Hopefully that will mean less time spent hunched over the laptop. There are others who write lengthier and much wittier recaps than me, and they're not difficult to find if you know where to look. I will certainly be continuing to read their accounts (but only after I've published mine)...

So, on with the 'briefer' than usual review.

Kara and Artem are up first.

Len thought it was an excellent performance throughout, and a great start to the show. Alesha wasn't too sure about the modern twist at first, but then decided that she liked it. Bruno felt it was very pacy and very lively, but her arms were not as well-placed as usual. When he starts to get the pantomime boos from the audience he gets very defensive and says that he has to keep her in check because she's so good. Craig calls Bruno "picky, picky, picky" and compliments her on doing a cartwheel in heels, "I've done it myself, I know how difficult it is". 8, 8, 8, 7 - 31/40.

Felicity and Vincent are next doing the rumba to True Colours. I love Vincent and I thought I'd like these two, but I'm finding them quite forgettable so far. Scores: 7, 7, 8, 7 - 29/40.

Patsy and Robin are quickstepping to Black Horse And The Cherry Tree. All kind of things wrong with this. They started out of time, and it kind of went downhill from there. The judges seemed to think it was too fast, but I actually thought the music sounded a lot slower than the original. Bit of a mess basically. Scores: 5, 6, 7, 6 - 24/40.

Next up, Paul and Ola. Rumba. I couldn't watch. Scores: 2, 5, 5, 4 - 16/40.

Matt and Aliona are doing the quickstep to Dreaming Of You by The Coral.

I'm glad he started to smile eventually. Alesha tells Matt that the "ladies love you"; she noticed it was a bit serious, but he danced it well. Bruno says he has brilliant timing and is a great dancer, so he should relax. Craig thought he kept up really well, he should point his feet in the kicks, but it was absolutely brilliant. Len admires Matt and can see he works on his technicque, but he felt the whole thing was a bit manic and needed some calmness. He thinks they are too good to be wasting time doing spins. 8, 7, 8, 8 - 31/40.

Gavin and Katya are doing the rumba to Always On My Mind. She's still struggling to get him to show any emotion, he's clearly just terrified of getting a woody. Very self-conscious. 3, 6, 7, 6 - 22/40.

Tina and Jared are not dancing this week, as she has the pox.

Jared's family has flown in to watch them dance. Timing FAIL.

Scott and Natalie are out next, with an amazing quickstep.

She does really great choreography. Bruno describes it as an action packed adventure, like "Indiana Scott in the Temple of Dance!" Craig always feels relaxed and at ease watching Scott, who he says is very assured. Len tells him that he's very close to being a very good dancer, and Alesha says it was a great song, great outfits, and incredible musicality. 8, 8, 9, 9 - 34/40.

Michelle and Brendan do a rumba to Wicked Game by Chris Isaak and it's basically still wobbly, stilted and stiff, although the judges seem to be a bit more impressed this week. 4, 6, 7, 7 - 24/40.

The next Quicksteppers are Peter and Erin, dancing to Lullaby Of Broadway. She's in a kind of flared trouser-suit. He's clearly better suited to being in a ballroom hold, and for this kind of dance he couldn't really be in safer hands. I'm still bored though. Len says he'll show his bum in Tesco if they're in the bottom two on Sunday. 6, 7, 7, 6 - 26/40.

It's Jimi and Flavia's turn to rumba next, to Ain't No Sunshine, which is one of my least favourite songs and therefore I was never going to like this. 6, 7, 6, 6 - 25/40.

Time for another comedy interlude by Ann and Anton, quickstepping to Putting On The Ritz. He asked his twitter followers if they wanted to see him in top hat and tails, with a cane, and clearly they replied in their droves with an affirmative.

I think that was helped massively by the cameraman spinning around them like a whirling dervish. Alesha "I commend you!" *drink*. 3, 5, 5, 5 - 18/40.

Last to dance are Pamela and James, doing the rumba to Make You Feel My Love.

Without a doubt the best rumba of the night. James seems to excel at choreographing this dance. Craig describes it as "absolutely fab-u-lous!" Len says it had good musicality and technique, but the last lift detracted from the rest of the dance. Alesha found it so romantic and mesmerising, and tells Pamela that she was born to dance. Bruno says she sang with her body, and was emotionally and technically satisfying at every level. 9, 8, 9, 9 - 35/40. Apparently her-husband-Billy-Connolly sent her some advice about this dance - "There's only one way to succeed at the rumba, keep your back straight and wiggle your bum-ba!"

That's it, they've all danced - Pamela and James are top of the leaderboard, Paul and Ola are at the bottom, everyone else is somewhere in between.

Moving immediately on to the Results Show, we start with a Charleston by the Strictly Professionals (not the dance troupe - where are they? what is the point of them?) - Jared is dancing with Aliona, so hopefully his family got to see that.

There's some VT of the judges discussing all the performances from last night, before Tess reveals the first couples who are safe. They are:

Ann and Anton
Pamela and James
Peter and Erin (shoppers in Len's local Tesco can relax!)
Patsy and Robin

Flavia has choreographed a Tango - Unleashed, which seems to consist of Artem, James, Vincent and Robin dressed in wife-beaters and dragging her around the floor with stretchy bandages.

The next few safe couples are:

Jimi and Flavia
Matt and Aliona
Kara and Artem

And the first couple to find themselves in the bottom two is:

Paul and Ola

The musical interlude is courtesy of Peter Andre, who has brought his own dance troupe along.

The last safe couples are:

Scott and Natalie
Felicity and Vincent
Gavin and Katya

leaving Michelle and Brendan in the bottom two.

I can't really create an air of suspense here, especially when there isn't even a dance-off, so I'll just say that the couple leaving this week is Paul and Ola. He says he's had a wonderful time and tells Ola that she's welcome round his place any time, "and the wife's going away tonight". Their last dance is to Magic Moments by Perry Como.

Going For Goldie

2010-10-09T17:45:00.027+01:00

It's Week 2, and according to Tess, we're about to see a Ballroom Battle! All 14 couples are going to dance, and in Sunday's results show, one will leave. But there is no dance-off! Huzzah!!

Dentures. Tess. Shuffly dance. Bad joke. Let’s meet the stars of our show! Etc, etc…

First to dance are Matt and Aliona. She's been following him up and down the country while he's been filming Countryfile, and they've had to practice in pumpkin fields. I hope she had her sparkly wellies from last week with her. They're dancing the foxtrot to She Said by Plan B. Wow! It's a bit blimmin' good again! This guy can definitely dance!

Len says "you're getting on my wick" because he's not supposed to dance so well in week two, and he'd noticed that he was overemphasising the heel leads. Alesha thinks it's the sexiest foxtrot she's seen, although she thought it was a bit serious and had some tango qualities. Bruno says he's never seen a foxtrot danced with such passion, "it was like watching a relentless, intense courtship". Craig found it sharp, clean, with good timing and frame, but the heel leads were ludicrous because his foot was so flexed. Scores: 7, 8, 8, 8 - 31/40.

Peter and Erin are out next, doing the salsa to Mambo No 5. It's a bit painful to watch, really; stiff, wooden, little control and no hip action. Erin is clearly doing all the work. Len thought that some of it was rhythmic, but there was a lot of standing around, but at least he came out and had a go, so it was a brave attempt. Alesha has noticed that Latin isn't his strong point, but he seemed more confident this week, so "I commend you on that" *drink!* Bruno says it was a bad idea to draw attention to his bum by stitching a football onto his trousers, and points out that he went wrong so many times. Craig found it stompy and wooden and very lacking in hip rotation. At one point he thought it looked like he was walking on a broken ankle. Scores: 3, 5, 5, 4 - 17/40.

Tina and Jared are next, foxtrotting to Sunny Side Of The Street. She's having trouble in rehearsals, so he takes her to a 1940's club for some inspiration. Which reminds me of the time when Brian took Ali ten-pin bowling to get her in the mood for the Jive. Which makes me sad because of this. It's much better than last week. Tina looks lovely in a kind of aqua green floaty dress, and Jared looks very smart too - a vast improvement on last week's outfits, if nothing else. Alesha thinks Tina has grown in confidence, and it was graceful, delicate and charming throughout. Bruno tells her she looks like a little princess, and she looks better when she relaxes her posture. Craig thought they both got out of time together at one point, and when they're in hold her frame is too high, but there was still lots to like about it, and the end spin was very good. For some reason the camera cuts to a chipmunk in the audience.

Len thought it was very good, but in hold it lacked a bit of movement, so she needs to work on her frame and posture. Scores: 6, 6, 7, 7 - 26/40.

Patsy and Robin are up next. Dentures makes a joke about being naked in her dressing room and then says in a creepy voice "I hope you didn't have a mental picture". Trying my best not to Bruce, trying my best. Patsy has been filming her final scenes in Holby (wasn't Tom Chambers doing that a couple of years ago?) so they've only had a measly 3 hours training!! They're doing the Salsa to Canned Heat. She's in a little black dress and looks a lot nicer than last week. I thought it started off a bit stompy, a bit like a Tina Turner strut but she does look a lot more confident, if still a little wobbly. There's a moment where she goes up to the judges desk and kind of sticks her chest out at them, which wasn't pretty. Bruno calls her "spiced up, pumped up Patsy", she's found her confidence and that's something to build on. Craig says he agrees with Bruno but not with quite as much enthusiasm; he felt that she took ownership of the space and it was full of rhythm, but the desk moment was unnecessary. Len said she "nearly had me eye out!", but she came out and took command, it just needed a bit of polish. Alesha thought she looked like a different woman, she really attacked the dance, let go and had fun. Scores: 7, 7, 7, 7 - 28/40.

Next out are Paul and Ola. Dentures says that Ola compared Paul to Yoda from Star Wars, but she shakes her head in mock denial. Lets see shall we?

According to his VT, Paul and Debbie renewed their wedding vows last Sunday, and he was able to dance with her for the first time since they actually got married. Apparently, this was shown on another reality show called Four Weddings. Busy man. He and Ola are doing the foxtrot, but he doesn't think his little legs are long enough. In another 'magic' gimmick, he begins on the stairs playing with a pack of cards, but it's a bit more subtle than last week. As the dance begins he flicks them up in the air, which reminds me of the time my dad asked me if I knew how to play '52-card pick up'. I soon found out. (He also told me that the word gullible isn't in the dictionary, and yes, I checked). The music is Lady Luck, and they've projected playing cards onto the dance floor in a nice touch. It's actually quite pleasant, to be honest. He occasionally has a strange facial expression, but I think he might be counting or singing along again. It reminds me a bit of that 30's/40's style of dancing in the way it's quite relaxed. I suppose that's the idea though. Dentures asks him if he minds being called Yoda but he says no because it's Latin for Brad Pitt. He then proceeds to put earplugs in before the judges give their verdicts, but Bruno tells him to take them out because it's not as bad as he thinks. He says some bits were not bad, but asks him "why can't you do it properly all the way through?" to which Paul replies "because i can't remember it!" Heehee! Craig admires his honesty. He says the dance had rise and fall, but then it disappeared, and he was also looking down a lot which Craig hates. However, it was so much better than last week. Len says there was an ease about it, but it was a tad pedestrian, though still an improvement on last week. Alesha thinks ballroom really suits him, and that there is more to come from him. Scores: 4, 6, 6, 5 - 21/40.

Scott and Natalie are next, and we have our first sob story. Scott's grandma died last year, but she would've loved to see him appearing in Strictly, so all his dances are going to be dedicated to her. They're doing the salsa to Let's Hear It For The Boy in some very fetching checked shirts. They start up on the balcony and quickly make their way down to the stage and it's a confident, fun performance with Scott showing lots of potential. Her hair is a bit annoying though. Len says all the way through he was thinking "go on my son!" - it had hip action, energy and rhythm. Alesha thought he was really going for it and it was full of pizzazz, and he's proved that he's good at Latin as well as Ballroom. Bruno says "Scottt, so strong, so tight, so footloose, always your eye on the prey because you know you gonna get it! After this you gonna get plenty!!" Craig says the thought of 'getting it' from Bruno does put him off slightly, but he felt that the dance was flame-grilled and red hot. Scores: 8, 8, 8, 8 - 32/40.

Michelle and Brendan are next to Foxtrot. She's feeling a bit homesick, so whilst training she receives a visit from Kelly Rowland, the other backing singer. Brendan starts at the top of the stairs, she's on a bench on the stage. He slides down the banister, which is a bit good, and they're dancing to It Had To Be You, which I love, although it takes them a while to get into hold. It's better than last week but she still looks a bit stiff, and she's got that fixed smile look that some people suffer from when they're clearly concentrating. Alesha thinks it's nice to see her in a ballgown, but she's not quite 100% relaxed watching her; she finds her a bit jerky. Bruno thought it was beautiful and elegant, but someone slipped at one point, and he also warns her to keep her shoulders down. Craig thought she looked tense and had pigeon-toes, but he can see that she's applying herself, and put lots of hard work and effort into the routine. Len felt that they were a long time getting off bench, but it was far superior to last week; her posture was not bad. She looks a lot more subdued and humble this week - I think the negative comments knocked her a bit, and she makes no mention of wanting 10's this time. Tess asks her if she wants to stay and she says yes, because her Visa doesn't expire for a long time. Scores: 6, 7, 7, 6 - 26/40.

Goldie and Kristina are next. He messes about a lot in training, which I'm getting really bored with, cos he's not really funny at all. They are trotting the fox to This Business Of Love and it's pretty good actually. Bruno liked the beginning and end, but not so much the middle, because his footwork and frame were not right. Craig explains that his weight was too far back on his heel leads, but the interpretation of the music was fantastic - he needs work but he's getting there. Len thought it was more brassy than gold, but far superior to last week, and he was pleased to see that he's attempting to get the technique. Alesha thought it had the Goldie swagger on it, and he seems to be working extremely hard. Scores: 6, 7, 7, 6 - 26/40.

Next out are Pamela and James doing a salsa to Dr Beat. It starts off with James lying on the judges’ desk, and Pamela is in a white coat and glasses with her hair up. She quickly diagnoses his problem, then whips off the coat and specs, lets her hair down, and on with the dance. I didn't mind the gimmicks so much in week one, but I hope we're not going to have them all series. It's not the fastest salsa, but there’s still a lot of content and she seems to be thoroughly enjoying herself. They do a floor spin, and when she gets up she's clearly a bit dizzy as she keeps spinning and nearly disappears off the dance floor! It doesn't seem to put her off though, she just carries on and keeps smiling. Craig tells her she went off like a firecracker, and it was an amazing floor spin up until “the point of recovery”. Len praises her on her confidence and the diversity of styles she’s had to learn. Alesha loves her and says her body moves effortlessly; she thinks she is a force to be reckoned with. Bruno says that she is the only person who has managed to convey the correct balance of fluidity and rhythm so far, and it was the best salsa of the night. But Bruno, you haven’t seen Ann’s yet! Scores: 8, 8, 8, 8 - 32/40.

Felicity and Vincent are next to dance, doing the Foxtrot to Something Stupid. They’re dressed in brown, which isn’t the most flattering colour. It’s all a bit slow and steady, but pleasant enough I suppose. Len thought everything about it was just ok, but everything needs improving; it was better than last week though. Alesha thought she coped well with the choreography, but it was a bit average and she was underwhelmed. Bruno found it classy and controlled, if a bit stately at times, and thinks she needs to push it a level further. Craig liked the foxtrot/tango style of it but would’ve liked to have seen smoother transitions. Scores: 6, 6, 6, 7 – 25/40. Up in the Balcony of Bling, after seeing the scores, Vincent says “don’t worry I have lots of friends” to which Felicity replies “I haven’t, they’re all dead”. Bizarre.

Now for the dance that everyone has been waiting for, and again, I’m glad they haven’t saved it till the very end, which would’ve been a bit obvious. Ann and Anton are doing a Salsa to Mambo Italiano, however I use the phrase ‘doing a salsa’ as loosely as I possibly can, because this is almost as far away from a salsa as it’s possible to get. Ann stands still. A lot. Anton rips open his shirt to reveal the chest wig, Ann walks towards him and buttons it back up. What the heck, why not watch it for yourself, no description I could give could ever do it justice!

Kara and Artem are next, doing the foxtrot to From Russia With Love. It’s beautiful, and she doesn’t fall over at any point. Bruno purrs “mission accomplished Mr Bond”; he thought it had sophisticated elegance and chemistry. Craig thought she danced very very well, but she needs to sort out her top line and relax her left index finger. Len gives him one of his looks for picking up on such a small issue, and then says he was very impressed with the heel turn that she did. Alesha thought she recovered well from last week, and it was a stunning routine. Scores: 7, 8, 9, 8 - 32/40.

Next couple to dance is Gavin and Katya. In his VT he’s talking about being vain, and says in a little boy voice that he has to look after his appearance now that he’s single and “in the shop window”. They are doing the salsa to Please Don’t Stop The Music, dressed in bright pink. He looks quite uncomfortable, and there is no hip action. They seem to get their arms tangled at one point, and in a tacky move Katya rips his shirt open to reveal his six pack, but it doesn’t have the wow factor that she was hoping for, and to be honest, I thought she was above doing something like that. Obviously not. Craig says there were three fundamental flaws: bad timing, no rhythm and no hip action. If people were voting for abs he’d win the whole series, but they’re not, so he won’t. Len tells Gavin to have a bit of decorum, “you don't see me exposing meself”; he says the problem was that after last week everyone’s expectations were high, but he didn't live up to the promise. Katya defends him saying he’s quite shy so it’s good that he came out of his shell to perform this routine. Alesha was disappointed and says that his muscles didn't distract her from a poor performance, and tells him that he should dance like no one is watching. Bruno thinks he looks self-conscious and hesitant, and it’s not enough to just flash the six pack. He still thinks he looks good though. Scores: 3, 6, 5, 5 - 19/40.

Final couple to dance is Jimi and Flavia, doing a foxtrot to Fever. They take quite a long time to get into hold. They seem to start off all serious and mean and moody, but then all of a sudden he’s got a strange beatific smile on his face. Len says there was a lot of “messin’ abaht” on the stage, and he didn’t think he was going to like it, but as it went on he enjoyed it more and more, and the score in his head got higher and higher. Alesha thought Jimi acted it really well, and it was a sexy foxtrot. Bruno says they took off with pizzazz and calls him a great performer for going from serious to cheeky – oh, so that was intentional was it? Craig adored the dramatic intensity of the dance and thought Jimi was leading Flavia well. He also thought it was very clever how they danced all the little accents in the music. Scores: 7, 7, 8, 8 - 30/40.

So that’s it, all 14 couples have danced. The judges scores from last week have been carried over and added to this week, leaving us with a leaderboard of Pamela and James at the top, and Ann and Anton at the bottom.

And now, guess what?? The phone lines are open!!

There’s a reminder of all the dances, and the phone numbers, and then Dentures informs us that Claudia will be joining Tess for the Sunday results show, and he’ll be back next Saturday.

And whaddya know, it's Sunday already! I have avoided going over to the Dark Side to read any spoilers, so I have no idea who is leaving. Personally, I hope it's Peter Shilton. Sorry Erin. Despite my initial annoyance at the inclusion of Ann Widdecombe and Paul Daniels, so far I have found them entertaining at least, whereas for me, Peter doesn't really have anything going for him. He's not a great dancer, and his personality isn't up to much either. But we'll see.

Tess is hosting on her own down on the dance floor, while Claudia is in place up on the Balcony of Bling. She looks a bit, er, shaggy somehow. We have a recap of the story so far, which is lots of clips of the dances and rehearsal footage.

Without further ado, Tess gets straight into revealing the results. In no particular order, the first couples through to next week are:

Patsy and Robin

Michelle and Brendan

Pamela and James

Jimi and Flavia

Tess then announces that the first couple to find themselves in the bottom two is: Peter and Erin.

Tess asks Bruno what he thinks about this. He says the standard this year is so high, so the judges have to be really strict. Len says he was concerned for Patsy after last week, but he's glad she's safe.

There's a Quickstep demo by the Show Dancers, followed by Claudia having a quick chat with Peter and Erin. Erin is a bit tearful by the looks of it, Peter is philosophical.

Tess continues with the results. Next couples safe are:

Tina and Jared

Scott and Natalie

Gavin and Katya

Matt and Aliona

Tess reminds Craig of his comments about Gavin, and he suggests that he needs to stop being paranoid about the Latin, and lose his inhibitions. Alesha says if they lose a good dancer she'll miss the dance-off, but this show is for the public so it's really up to them to decide who stays and goes.

Claudia has another quick chat with some of the safe celebs, before introducing a (pre-recorded) performance by Robbie Williams singing Rock DJ with a dance routine performed by five of the female pro's.

There's a bit of filler VT about the celebs catching the Strictly Bug, before Tess continues with the rest of the results. Once again, safe couples are:

Felicity and Vincent

Kara and Artem

Paul and Ola

Then Tess announces the other couple in the bottom two is: Goldie and Kristina

So Ann and Anton are back next week.

There's some more VT filler of Peter and Goldie saying why they don't want to be the first to leave. Peter says he's been knocked out of lots of football competitions in the first round, so he knows how it feels, and it's not nice. Goldie doesn't want to be out first because his mum is watching.

Tess reveals that the first couple to leave is:

Goldie and Kristina.

I'm a little bit surprised at that, although personally he's not one of my favourites. I do like Kristina though, and I really wish she could get a good partner. As Alesha said, if they lose a good dancer she'll be wishing that they still had the dance-off, and I'm guessing that she's probably thinking that now. I'm sure Goldie had more potential than Peter, but I guess we'll see how the ex-goalie gets on next week, doing either a Quickstep or a Rumba.

I may be back next week, but I'm having shockingly bad internet connections at the moment, so it will depend on what kind of mood the sodding WiFi is in. I failed completely to even watch last week's ITT, let alone blog about it, so I'll see if I do a better job next week.

Ann and Anton Waltz - Week 1

2010-10-03T12:22:00.003+01:00

I suppose I ought to include this too, if only for the sake of curiosity - it's Ann Widdecombe's first waltz with Anton (not quite the full routine, which may or may not be a good thing):

From the BBC YouTube channel.

Gavin and Katya - Waltz Week 1

2010-10-03T11:54:00.002+01:00

Best dance (IMO) from part two, it's Gavin and Katya's waltz:

Video courtesy of fschnell again on YouTube.

Strictly Come Dancing 2010 - Week 1 Part 2

2010-10-02T17:59:00.012+01:00

It's Week 1!! Part 2!! Dentures still can't get through a 'joke' without fluffing his lines.

Lets meet the stars of the show! Aww, Ann's got her hair tied up! Whew, I'm out of breath just listening to those introductions...

Straight into the dancing, and the first couple is Jimi and Flavia. His VT shows him wringing sweat out of his t-shirt. Nice. They're dancing the cha-cha to Don't Upset the Rhythm and it mostly looks ok, but his moves are maybe a little lazy and not quite as sharp as they should be. Flavia is very happy when they finish, judging by her squeals of delight. Len says he came out with high energy, and it was a great start. Alesha thought it had lots of enthusiasm although it was a bit wobbly. Bruno says he can sell it, but he went wrong. Craig thought it was like watching the Scarecrow from The Wizard Of Oz - Jimi needs more control and definition. Craig 6, Len 7, Alesha 6, Bruno 7 - 26/40.

Second couple to dance is Peter and Erin. Dentures refers to how many clean sheets Peter kept during his footballing career, and warns him that he won't have any of those any more with all the fake tan that he's going to be wearing. Erin reminds us that she's the last female professional remaining from series one and she's very happy to be back, although her face seems to belie her words. They are waltzing to Take It To The Limit by The Eagles. Peter looks a bit wobbly. Sometimes I'm not sure if it's the camera angles and the fact that you can't always see their feet, but when they have those little changes of direction (I'm sure there's a technical word for that, but I don't know what it is) it looks more like they've stumbled or taken a step back when they were meant to be going forwards. If you see what I mean. Anyway, it wasn't bad, but Peter knows he went wrong. Alesha thought he seemed nervous, but he made it through, and she tells him he has a fabulous teacher. Bruno knows he'll come back and do better, because this time the technique was lacking. Craig felt it was too cautious and careful and *new word alert* pothole-ish, and he had balance issues. He says at the end that it looked like Peter dropped Erin, to which Peter replies "I never drop anything!". Hee hee! Len thought it wasn't quite premier league but it was an adequate standard for week one, and then gets all 'patriotic football fan' on him. Craig 4, Len 6, Alesha 6, Bruno 5 - 21/40.

Next up is Michelle and her partner Brendan dancing the cha-cha-cha to Stone Cold Sober, which is quite ironic because I doubt that she was. Due to her previous pop career it has been suggested that she might have an advantage with the dancing, and then in the launch show she said she "may very well suck" at ballroom and everyone thought she was probably just bluffing and being modest, so expectations were high. But actually... it's a bit of a mess. She's all legs, and not in a good way. Bruno thought she looked like she was dancing on stilts, and tells her she has to control them. Craig says her balance was off, she was very 'stiff of hip', and he was disappointed. Brendan tells him he's going to let him off this week. He must secretly agree. Len says it's an unfortunate combination of long legs, short skirt and bad technique, and it was all a bit unsteady. Alesha loves her though, so that's ok! She thought she had character and energy, she came out and performed it, put on a show "and for that i commend you" (*drink*). Craig 5, Len 6, Alesha 7, Bruno 6 - 24/40.

Gavin and Katya are next, waltzing to You Light Up My Life. Their VT shows a very frustrated Katya telling Gavin that there isn't a speck of emotion in his face. He shows no emotion while she tells him this. So we're expecting this to be a very stiff, emotionless routine. And do you know what? It isn't. It's actually quite pleasant, and he looks like he's quite enjoying himself. Craig thought it was a simple effective routine although it lacked a bit of movement, but it was still a brave and good attempt. Len thought it was better than good and that for a male celebrity he'd produced good footwork in week 1. Alesha thinks Gavin is a diamond in the rough, and she felt the emotion in the dance and thought it was genuine. Bruno thought he was going to be awful, but he wasn't and now he can't wait for the latin. Craig 6, Len 8, Alesha 7, Bruno 7 - 28/40.

Next to dance is Tina and Jared. They're wearing interesting outfits, to say the least. I think he's got a touch of the Pete Wentz about him, don't you?

They're dancing the cha cha to California Gurls by Katy Perry. They try to do a neck drop but, y'know, I've seen better (cough*Ali and Brian salsa*cough). There's quite a lot of just walking around, and it's not really a great routine. Even Jared doesn't look up to the same level as the other pro's, but I guess that's probably just an age/lack of experience thing. Everyone keeps telling them that they're a cute couple and they look like something out of High School Musical, and this was all a bit 'school dance' for me. Len tells Jared that he could've produced a stronger routine for Tina. Alesha thought she's full of potential but it didn't blow her away. Bruno noticed she went wrong lots of times. Craig felt that there was too much pointless strutting, and it was all a bit uneventful. Craig 5, Len 7, Alesha 6, Bruno 6 - 24/40.

Surprisingly they haven't saved Ann and Anton till last, they are actually up next, waltzing to My Cherie. I have to say, it's actually a pretty good effort, possibly better than I was expecting. It was generally quite a slow, sedate routine, but when the tempo increased slightly it looked as though Ann was having trouble keeping up. Alesha tells her that there is a lot of love in the studio for her, and she looks very lovely. Bruno says it was like watching the Ark Royal taking on the stormiest of seas; it was a bumpy ride but she made it into port! Craig thought it all looked a bit 'local authority', and he was concerned for Anton's health and safety. He also tells her she needs to learn to dance to her height, but at least she got through it. Len says the anticipation of seeing her dance was greater than it was for any of the other celebs, but then unfortunately it was all a bit of an anti-climax. He thought she did a wonderful job though, and her leg kick was like something out of Germany in the 1940's. Dentures tells her that she's still his favourite. Craig 2, Len 5, Alesha 5, Bruno 5 - 17/40. One more point than Paul Daniels.

The final couple to dance is Kara and Artem, cha-cha-ing to I Like It - the Enrique one, not the Gerry and The Pacemakers one. They've gone for a severe dark makeup, scraped-back-hair, leather dominatrix look, but near the start of the routine she kinds of falls over, which spoils the effect a bit. Apparently she got her heel caught in her dress. Bruno exclaims "Meow, catwoman, come and take me!" and tells her she's a great dancer and she'll be amazing. Craig says she made a fabulous recovery from the fall, and the rest of the routine was controlled and precise. Len agrees that she came back strong from the wardrobe malfunction. Alesha thinks that they both look very hot together, and even with the mistake she thought it was the best dance of the night. Craig 7, Len 8, Alesha 8, Bruno 7 - 30/40.

So that's it, everyone has danced! Matt and Aliona and Pamela and James are still top of the leaderboard, with Paul and Ola down at the bottom.

Just before we go though, the special guests are Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow getting all loved-up with each other on their duet, 'Shame'. Unusually, there is no dance routine by a couple of pros. I feel that Gary outsings Robbie, but Robbie outsuits Gary, so it's one-all.

Well, Matt and Aliona are still my favourites at the end of tonight's show. In fact, I don't think anyone really impressed me tonight, but if I had to pick a favourite it would probably be Gavin and Katya. Everyone else was a bit wobbly or made mistakes, whilst theirs was probably the cleanest routine.

Next week everyone gets to dance again, and they'll be doing either a salsa or a foxtrot. Ann Widdecombe. Salsa. Three words which can strike fear into the heart of any man.

See you next week!!

Matt and Aliona Cha Cha - Week 1

2010-10-02T11:28:00.005+01:00

As promised, my favourite dance from the first part of the first week - it's Matt Baker and Aliona Vilani doing the Cha Cha to Ain't No Mountain High Enough. A bit (ok, very) gimmicky, but I'll let them off as it's the first show.

Video courtesy of fschnell on YouTube.

Strictly Come Dancing 2010 - Week 1

2010-10-01T21:05:00.004+01:00

It's the first live show - woop woop!! But it's only on for an hour, so lets not waste any time!

There's some spangly new opening credits where everyone does a little jig, except Anne and Anton, who kind of just fling their arms out.

Dentures and Tess aren't doing stairs this year, they appear from behind them instead, but they still find time for their usual routine on the stage, before we meet the 'stars of the show'. It's a bit of a rapid-fire intro, poor old Alan 'Deadly' Dedicoat could hardly get their names out quick enough.

First couple to dance is Felicity and Vincent, doing a Cha Cha to Sunny, so she's wearing a frilly sunshine yellow dress. She looks nervous, and a bit stiff and wooden, but it's a good effort. Len says they came out with confidence, but Fliss was lacking 'hip action'. Alesha tells her she looks beautiful, and had just the right amount of sex kitten. Bruno thought she played it just right, and Craig thought it was very flat-footed, and her left shoulder was cripplingly raised, but it was a clean routine. Scores: Craig 4, Len 5, Alesha 7, Bruno 7 - 23/40.

Scott and Natalie are next, waltzing to I Ain't Never Loved A Man and it looks pretty good to me. Len says he had good hold, good posture and good movement, but he thought it was a bit raunchy. Alesha liked the sexed up version of the waltz, and thought he's set a very high standard. Bruno also liked the frrrrisson of sexuality running through it and thought that Scott looked like a leading man, and Craig thought it was dangerously romantic, although at times Scott looked like a puppet. Craig 6, Len 7, Alesha 8, Bruno 8 - 29/40.

Next to dance are Goldie and Kristina, cha-cha-ing to Tik Tok. Yes, that's how it's spelt. Expectations were high that Goldie would have rhythm what with him being a DJ and all that, but he looks a little bit 'dad dancer' to me. Alesha says it was very entertaining, although it was a bit disco. Bruno thought it was a bit too loose, but Craig thought it was a bit tight. Eh? Len says he came out "full bore" and sold it, but it needed a bit more content. Craig 3, Len 6, Alesha 6, Bruno 5 - 20/40.

Patsy and Robin are next, waltzing to When I Need You. They start at opposite ends of the dancefloor, and glide towards each other. She's very wobbly and it looks like he's dragging her around at times. Also, you could get a bus between them. Bruno tells her to relax and enjoy it, because she was tightening up. Craig says her bottom was sticking out and she needs to learn to spot on her turns, otherwise it will be a dance disaaarrster. Len tells her she has a lot of potential, but she needs to overcome her nerves. Alesha tells her she looks beautiful and she should work on her breathing techniques. Craig 4, Len 6, Alesha 6, Bruno 6 - 22/40.

Fifth couple is Matt and Aliona. They're in a kind of tartan and gold colour scheme, although there isn't much to Aliona's outfit. I've got bigger handkerchiefs. In his VT he does a cartwheel, so Aliona will be pleased. He says he's not afraid to put his hands on her, cos he grew up on a farm handling sheep. Charming! They're cha-cha-ing to Ain't No Mountain High Enough, and I've just decided he's my favourite! He cartwheels and backflips across the dancefloor to the stage, where Aliona is standing in a pair of glittery wellies on a piece of astroturf, but then she steps out of them and they get on with it and it's brilliant! There were one or two blips, but overall he seemed to be hitting all his lines and getting the hip action right. I only really know him from Countryfile, and granted, that's not really the platform for being sexy, but I had the feeling he was going to be kind of shy and awkward. How wrong?! He really went for it! Craig does his trick-scowly-face before saying "You, sir, are one to watch". Len says it was the best cha cha of the night. Alesha was so impressed, and loved the costumes and wellies. Bruno thought it was a brilliant first dance. Craig 7, Len 8, Alesha 8, Bruno 8 - 31/40. And yes I know I used too many exclamation marks just now. But I'm really excited!!

Pamela and James are up next, waltzing to If I Ain't Got You. Her VT shows them training in New York, where her husband-Billy-Connolly comes to watch. She starts off all backlit in blue, and then off they go. I wasn't watching it much, but the bits I saw looked pretty good. Alesha says it was breathtaking, and that Pamela has a gorgeous energy. Bruno says it was graceful and fluid, and it was a radiant performance, but apparently they go 'way back', so he's probably always going to be nice to her. Craig says it was dreamy, romantic and delicious. Len thought that she made a fantastic impression on everyone. Craig 7, Len 8, Alesha 8, Bruno 8 - 31/40. Dammit, tied with Matt and Aliona.

Last to dance tonight are Paul and Ola. He's 72! I hate to admit it, but he's quite funny at times. They're doing a slowish cha-cha to Could It Be Magic (what else?). It starts with Paul performing a magic trick (what else?). First there's an empty box. Then he covers it with a silk sheet. Then who should pop up from behind, as though she'd been in the box all along? Oh, it's Ola! Would've been really funny if it had been Ann. Anyway, Ola gets out of the box and they actually start dancing, if you can call it that. He mainly just saunters his way around. When they get to the judges, Paul quips that "Whatever Craig says, I agree". Bruno thinks they were dancing to the wrong song, it should've been Could It Be Tragic. Craig thought the best part was the empty box at the beginning, Paul tells him not to give up the day job of tasting sausages. Double entendre, anyone? Len thought Paul looked like he'd been sprinkled with fairy dust; it was light, dainty and entertaining, and his arm movements looked like he was pulling coloured hankies out of a top hat. Alesha just says well done for giving it a go, and bring on next week. Craig 2, Len 5, Alesha 5, Bruno 4 - 16/40.

So joint top are Matt and Aliona and Pamela and James, and Paul and Ola are bottom. The other 7 couples will dance tomorrow night, but there's no vote - all the judges scores will be carried over to next week, which is when you'll be able to vote for Matt and Aliona.

In an effort to speed up the blogging process, you'll have noticed the lack of pictures. Some may appear at a later stage. I may also add video of my favourite dance each week, or possibly of the highest and lowest scoring performances, in a 'compare and contrast' fashion. If this first show is anything to go by, I suspect there may be lots of videos of Matt and Aliona.

Anyway, the spectacle that will be Ann and Anton awaits us tomorrow night. Brace yourselves!

And So It Begins...

2010-09-11T20:10:00.043+01:00

THIS IS STRICTLY COME DANCING!! THE LAUNCH SHOW!!!

We begin with a pro dance which was apparently choreographed by this man:

so we're all still friends, even though he's not taking part this year.

Dentures and Tess appear behind the group of pro dancers, and it looks like, fresh from his duet with Robbie, Gary Barlow has joined the singers this year:

There's a new set:

but unfortunately the same old jokes from Dentures...

Oh dear. It was last year boys. Let it go...

We are informed that for the first time in Strictly history, the celebs will be finding out who their pro partners are right here in the studio, so without further ado, "it's time to meet the stars of our show":

Eastender's Scott Maslen
Grammy Award Winner Michelle Williams
Football Legend Peter Shilton
Screen Siren Patsy Kensit
Countryfile's Matt Baker
Actress Tina O'Brien
Magician Paul Daniels
Funny Girl and Psychologist Pamela Stephenson
Movie Actor Jimi Mistry
Model and Soap Star Kara Tointon
DJ and Music Producer Goldie
The Right Honourable Ann Widdecombe
Rugby International Gavin Henson
Star of Stage and Screen Felicity Kendal

From the SCD website, to save me some time:

The judges are still here and, believe it or not, Len thinks it's the best line-up ever... Alesha is looking forwards to everything, so that's narrowed it down a bit. Bruno is bursting at the seams already and can't wait to see Ann's rumba. Craig is also looking forwards to seeing Ann Widdecombe, the first politician they've ever had on the show.

Now we get to meet the celebs in a bit more detail, and find out who they are going to be matched with.

Peter Shilton thinks football and dancing are very similar, as you have to have good coordination, quick thinking and be light on your feet. Matt Baker has an incredible ability to be remarkably cheesy and hopes his partner doesn't mind getting muddy as she'll have to join him on location while he films Countryfile. Scott Maslen is this year's "scheduling issues" person as he'll be rehearsing and filming at the same time.

Scott is the first celeb to be paired up with his pro, as the seven of them line up before him, all flirty smiles and fluttering eyelashes. So who's the lucky girl?

It's Natalie Lowe and her amazing facial expressions!! She twirls over to him and he goes in for a snog straight away, no messin', which she tactfully avoids:

Next up is Matt and...

and then Peter and...

who set off twirling towards him before I even had chance to get a reaction clip. But if I say the words 'resigned to her fate' and 'fixed grin' I think you'll get the idea.

Each couple walks off towards a new staircase which has appeared near the bottom left corner of the dance floor, and it's a bit like when the couples used to walk off Blind Date hand in hand with that "oh crap, I should've picked number 2" look on their face.

Speaking of the mysterious new staircase, we learn that it leads up to what I'm going to try and remember to call the Balcony of Bling:

The backstage area has moved to the front of house, where it can overlook all the proceedings going on 'down there'. So after 90 seconds of frantic jiving, the couples then have to climb up all those stairs to talk to Tess. Great. Thanks for that, set designers...

Next up we get to meet the three new male dancers:

This guy says something unintelligble/in Russian, but then tells us we can call him Artem. So I will.

This is Robin, who's Australian:

and this is Jared

who claims to be the new 'American Boy'. Oi! We had one of those already and we were very happy with him! Big shoes to fill, Jared. BIG shoes...

They do a dance to Live And Let Die. As introduction-to-new-dancers dances go, it's no, err, *ahem*...

Anyhoo, on with the celebs.

Tina has gone from girl next door ("pregnant at 13") to one of the sexiest woman in the world. Really? Funny girl and psychologist Pamela shot to fame in Not The Nine O'Clock News. She's married to Billy Connolly you know. Grammy award winner Michelle was once a backing singer for Bouncy Knowles. She thinks she "could very well suck".

Blind date time, and she yells "bring 'em to mama!" She is partnered with...

and their Blind Date exit looks like this:

Next it's Pamela and...

and finally for this group, Tina and...

... who did a kind of heel slide thing over towards her. Now, where have I seen something like that before...?

Time for a quick training preview - although nobody has been officially partnered up (at the time of the training), they're all working on a group dance which will be shown later. It's the usual kind of thing - everyone is sizing everyone else up, some are being very modest and saying they're hopeless, others are showing off a bit, they're starting to split into boy groups and girl groups, you get the idea...

The next three celebs are Goldie, whose mum is finally happy that he's doing something worthwhile with his career; never mind about the music producing, leading an orchestra or appearing as a James Bond villain. Patsy Kensit is doing this for the older mum's, apparently, and is hoping that she doesn't embarass her kids. Paul Daniels says he's "under no illusion" (clever!) about his ability to dance, as he has never danced before and doesn't listen to music. In fact, he's wondering what he's doing here. He's not the only one...

And their partners are:

Paul and

(cos we wouldn't want her to win two years in a row)

Patsy and

Goldie and

I've got quite high hopes for Kristina this year - fingers crossed she gets a bit further in the competition!

There's another pro dance now to Two Tribes. Highlights are Vincent and Flavia descending on a trapeze while doing a bit of Argentine Tango

and some of the girls are wearing light up dresses, which you can only just make out here:

This routine was choreographed by Karen Hardy, so she's still a friend of Strictly too, even though they haven't asked her to be a judge yet.

The next three celebs are Gavin, Jimi and Kara. Gavin does admit to being well-groomed (he shaves his legs), but he hopes he's best known for being a rugby player... err, no. He's got a lot of stressful things happening in his life (splitting up from Charlotte Church) so he's hoping that learning to dance will take his mind off it all. Jimi is a big movie star who has had to dance in some of his films. He knows he's got rhythm, but he needs to translate that onto the dance floor. Kara is a soap star turned model who did lots of yelling and crying on Eastenders. She has already had a taste of Strictly when she took part in Sport Relief, where she danced the samba with Mark Ramprakash, but she thought she looked like a big chicken.

Their partners are:

Kara and

Jimi and

Gavin and

By the way, if you're someone who likes to take part in drinking games you'll probably be downing a few over the coming weeks, every time Tess refers to these:

which are, apparently, bigger than Austin Healey's. Yaaaaaawwwwnn....

Now that all the male celebs have met their partners, Tess asks Alesha who she thinks is in with a chance, to which she replies "it's anyone's game". Well, ask a silly question...

Time for the debut from the Strictly Showdancers Troupe which consists of:

Darren Bennett and Crystal Main (who at least looks a bit like Lilia, I suppose)

Ian Waite and Aneta Piotrowska

and Shem Jacobs and Tanya Perera

I'm kind of pleased that Brian isn't part of that.

Time for the final two celebs. The right honorable Ann Widdecombe, who leans to the right (and I'm not talking about her politics)

and Felicity 'Had A Good Life' Kendal who is pleased that she's doing something for herself, where she doesn't have to learn any lines.

So the last two dancers are Vincent and Anton... I just can't imagine which way this is going to go...??

Well, who'd have thunk it??

Lets face it, they might as well have just opened the show with a banner saying "Anton is just here for the comedy value, and nothing else". I mean, look at the size difference, for a start! Bruce tells them they're his favourite already, and Anton escorts his grandmother off the stage, while Vincent's sigh of relief is misinterpreted by the Met Office as a sudden force 9 gale located around the BBC TV Centre.

Quick chat with the judges. Len says it's never too early to start panicking. Bruno says there are some surprising packages this year. Craig reveals that he's put his tongue in for a service. Oo-er missus!

Finally, it's time for the moment we've all (not really) been waiting for, the group dance to Get This Party Started. I don't know who was good, because I was too busy trying to find Ann, but the camera didn't seem to want to linger on her for too long.

All the couples now have three weeks to rehearse either a waltz or a cha-cha-cha, before the first live show begins on Friday 1st October.

So far I can't really say I've got any favourites, or that there's anyone I really dislike. Viewers of the show seem to fall into two camps - those who watch it as a dance competition, and those who think of it as just an entertainment show (although really, it's both). Personally, I watch it more for the dancing. It's entertaining for me to see someone improve as a dancer week on week, so I will be frustrated if a promising dancer has to leave the show while a celeb who is really just there as an underdog is kept in each week. I think you know where I'm coming from. My initial reaction to the inclusion of Ann Widdecombe was one of derision, but I have warmed to her slightly on finding out that she's a confirmed cat lover (yes, I'm that easily swayed!). I hope she gets the waltz for her first dance, so that I can paraphrase the Joyce Grenfell song 'stately as a galleon, she sailed across the floor'...

I may be back on the 1st October...

To Blog or Not To Blog...

2010-09-11T19:48:00.005+01:00

...that is the question...

So unless you've been living under a rock for the past, um, 9 months (or you just don't like reality tv shows of a dancing bent) you will be aware that Strictly Come Dancing is upon us once more. It has been teased, and trailed, and even tweeted - who will be taking part this year? Which celeb will be partnered with which pro? Has ol' Dentures Forsyth stumbled through his last ad-lib?

However, several weeks ago it was announced that changes were afoot in Strictly Towers. I can't go into detail about it, cos to be honest I didn't pay a lot of attention at the time. The gist of it seemed to be that not all the pro dancers had been invited back to compete this year, although some had been offered the seemingly less attractive option of forming a special 'dance troupe' who would perform a lot of the show dances.

One of the dancers offered this booby prize was none other than Mr Brian Fortuna, who promptly said a very polite "thanks, but no thanks" and took his leave of the entire show. Readers of this blog (heck, even if you can't read, you just need to look at the pictures!) will be aware of my allegiance to the Fantastic Mr F during the last series, and will therefore probably not be surprised to learn that his impending absence from this year's competition has lessened my enthusiasm for it. So much so, I'm not even sure if I'm going to blog about it this time round. On the plus side, no Brian means no one to support (unless one of the celebs can win me over) which means I can watch it from a more detached viewpoint, and it will also save me a hefty phone bill.

So, I may blog. I may not. Time will tell.

And The Winner Is...

2010-05-22T18:19:00.046+01:00

It's the Grand Final!! Just three girls remain to fight for the role of Dorothy and Andrew can't do a damn thing about it!

Soundbites!

Danielle - "I know I can do this and I just want the public to believe in me too"
Lauren - "I would be the happiest girl on the planet if I was to win that role"
Sophie - "I just don't want it to be ripped away from me cos it's so close, I've come so far"

Graham enters the stage alone, to the tune of the Wizard of Oz. He's wearing a ruby red suit, and the panel are all dressed up too. Well, John's got a suit on.

To get the show underway, there's a group performance from Dorothy's 'past, present and future'. They're doing a Wizard of Oz medley, complete with Tin Man, Lion, Scarecrow and ACTUAL MUNCHKINS!!!

Graham says he feels cheated that there were no flying monkeys...

As he explains that this is a three-way fight between Lauren, Danielle and Sophie, the camera cuts to them, but it seems like they're still finding their place on the stairs:

Little Miss Professional is the first to get the smile fixed in place...

Graham explains the rules about the votes, and that there will be two live shows, which I didn't realise until just now, although I should've known that they couldn't do it all in one hour. They've got so much VT to fit in, after all.

The panel and Andrew are introduced - we like his brooch! - and we're told for the umpteenth time that Andrew has lost his power, and is unable to save ANYONE!!!

The first bit of VT is about Andrew inviting the girls to his 'little country house'. The intro is done in the Dallas style, and the girls are introduced in alphabetical order, just in case anyone thinks that Danielle going first is a sign of favouritism. To the backing tune of Don't Stop Believing, Sophie says that she really hopes the public can see how much she wants this, how hard she's worked and how much she's grown in this competition. She feels that she's so ready for this part, and it's in her body now, "I know that I am Dorothy". Lauren's backing track is What A Feeling. She can't believe that she's here in the final three; she feels like she's having a dream. Everyone knows who Dorothy is, and to be able to recreate that role on a West End stage would fill her with the most amount of joy she's ever felt in her life. To the strains of I've Had The Time Of My Life Danielle says that winning would be another life, and it's all she's ever wanted to do. Now that she's got this far, she can't turn back and she really wants to go all the way.

Graham reveals that Andrew has chosen the first set of songs, and asks him what the viewers should be looking for. In true Andrew fashion, he ignores the question and instead thanks the production team, and of course the three Dorothy's, telling them that to have got this far means that they are all winners; he'd be proud to present any of them at the London Palladium. In answer to Graham's question (eventually) he says we're looking for a Dorothy who can hold the stage, who can dance, sing and act, who can do comedy, and who can bring something special to the role.

Sophie is first up, singing Tomorrow from Annie, but it's been jazzed up a bit. She starts off standing on a podium on the stage.

She's kind of got 'serious face' again, but I'm not sure if this is a song she should be smiling in. Afterwards, she gets a message from Ruthie Henshall, who has been watching her progress from New York, where she's appearing in Chicago. She says she's blossomed week after week and is a huge talent, and no matter what the outcome, she's already won. Sheila thought she delivered. She says that the wonderful thing about Sophie is that she has true glamour, but not in a wag-gy, blingy way - she has old-fashioned allure, and the camera loves her. The way she lived the song was beautiful. John thinks she's so charismatic, and has an open and honest quality; he can really see her as the farm girl wishing for a better life. He admits to being her harshest critic, but says he's very proud of her, and Wales definitely has a winner in her. Charlotte thinks she has grown so much and has probably made the biggest journey out of all the girls in the competition. She also tells her that she's brushed up nicely, and has a very emotive face that makes Charlotte want to believe her; Wales should be very proud. Andrew agrees that Wales should be proud because she did it beautifully, and points out *ALW trivia No. 573* that this is the other big musical theatre song for a young girl (other than OTR) which is also sung with a dog. Well. I. Never. He tells her that if she wins they'll have to work on her dance but apart from that she's a very strong contender and they're all really proud of her.

Lauren is the next to sing. In her VT she talks about being in the bottom two the most, and although it's "incredibly wonderful that Andrew has saved me three times", she feels like she's the one who has got through by the skin of her teeth. After the last sing-off she sobs that she feels like the most unpopular girl on the planet.

I think there's some tears there, somewhere. She thinks the public might not have warmed to her because she hasn't entirely shown herself, and all I can think is why? Why haven't you been yourself? Who have you been pretending to be? Anyway, she's performing I Could've Danced All Night - you know the one, don't you?

"I could've danced all night, I could've danced all night, and still have begged for more..."

"I could've spread my wings, and done a thousand things, I've never done before..."

"I'll never know what made it so exciting, why all at once, my heart took flight..."

That's the one. There's a really high note at the end which sounded a bit off to me, but what do I know? Nothing, apparently. She gets a message from Sheridan Smith, who is really excited. She says she knew Lauren would make it to the final; she's got so much star quality and a huge career ahead of her, so she tells her to just enjoy it, and she's got everything crossed for her. She says "I feel like a proud mother, well, big sister". John reassures her that she is definitely not the most unpopular girl on the planet, she is a leading lady and a producers dream, and if he was producing this show he'd have cast her weeks ago. Ha, well you're not, are you? He thinks she's sensational. Charlotte tells her that she has undoubtedly the best voice in the competition, her performance was flawless and the top note was absolutely gorgeous. She's been slightly enamoured with every performance of Lauren's which she's a bit embarrassed about, and she's also slightly jealous. Sheila says that, like Sophie, she's had a real breakthrough, because at the beginning she was a bit "eyes, teeth and tits". There are a few gasps and she says "excuse me, I don't care, the show is finished, they can't sack me!" and everyone laughs like mad at the crazy old lady!

The point she was trying to make is that the sing-offs did her good; that last note was a note of pure joy - she allowed joy to come out, whereas at the beginning it would've been acted, so well done. Graham turns to Andrew and says "it may be the last show, but no more potty-mouth!" He's quite excited because he says it's the first top b flat he's ever heard on this show and probably on any other reality show, so bravo! He thanks Lauren for proving that he was right to save her, and says that when they were working together last weekend he heard her soprano voice for the first time, and thought it was about time everyone else heard it. He says she delivered it with all the vulnerability and everything else that everyone says she hasn't got, and that she's fantastic.

Last but not least is Danielle, who reveals in her VT that she nearly didn't come to the auditions. But now that she's put her heart into it, she's scared of it getting shattered. She appears on the stairs like this,

and my first thought is "she's actually doing 76 Trombones!" which I love, and it turns out, I was right! I thought the dress and heels look didn't quite go with the song, but she really threw herself into it nonetheless.

Danielle gets a good luck message from Miss Optimistic Tamsin Outhwaite who says she's so proud of Danielle, and always thought she'd make a perfect Dorothy. She tells her she's amazing, fantastic and brilliant, and if she'd been as good as Danielle at her age, she'd have been laughing. Instead, she ended up in 'Stenders. Probably crying all the time and looking miserable. John says the first time he saw her at the Hackney Empire he thought she was a contender, and she's never disappointed him; he tells her she is a star. Sheila is still a fan and says Danielle's great skill is in interpreting and acting a number, although she didn't think that one gave her much chance to act. She remembers her at the first workshop and says she was a revelation - a grave, solemn, witty Dorothy. She was worried her subtlety might get lost amongst the glitz and 'campery' but the public saw it and picked up on it, and she's grateful to them for that. Charlotte gets ignored for some reason and we go straight to Andrew, who disagrees with Sheila for the first time because he thinks this song is very witty and does have lots of acting in it, and points out that Danielle conveyed it all whilst dancing. He tells her she's a worthy Palladium follower of the likes of Liza Minelli, Judy Garland and Sheila Hancock.

Time for some more VT now from Andrew's little country house, where he invited the Dorothy's for some R'n'R and one-on-one time!

First he congratulates Danielle on getting this far, and asks if it was really her first major audition, which she says it was. All he can say is "wow". He says it's been great having her in the competition, and she says "thanks for having me". Danielle says that she's ready to give the best performance she's ever given on Saturday, and hopefully make Andrew proud. Next he chats to Lauren, who points out that she's been in the bottom two three times, and asks for advice about what the public aren't seeing. Andrew tells her to forget all her training and just be herself. Afterwards she says she's got a lot more confidence, and whatever happens on Saturday, she's really proud of herself. Sophie didn't thinks she'd get this far, because when she looked at the other girls she thought they were all so talented she couldn't believe she was as good as them. Andrew tells her that she is very good, and she just needs to come out of her shell more. He says he can believe her as Dorothy, and he thinks lots of people could, and he knows she has the talent within her to come through. Sophie says that it's been the best day ever, and all the wonderful things that Andrew has said to her has given her so much confidence.

After a reminder of the first solo performances and the phone numbers, the final three perform side by side with the Scarecrow, Lion and Tin Man. Personally I think Danielle is the best, but Sophie really shone and showed the humour.

Sheila thought Lauren related beautifully to all the 'animals', tin people, whatever they are. Charlotte thinks Danielle is one of the most extraordinary talents to come out of one of these shows, she interacted brilliantly with everyone else on stage, and Charlotte would pay good money to go and see her. John says that nine weeks ago Sophie couldn't even walk down the stairs in her heels, and now she's polka-ing around like a pro, she did really great. Andrew says he's purring with happiness because all three of them are extraordinary, and they could all be Dorothy.

Toto time now and Graham reveals that the winner of the search for Toto is.... Dangerous Dave!!!

The lines are now frozen, and while the votes are counted, we catch up with the former Dorothy's, who go to watch Sheila in Sister Act. They go backstage to see her, and we learn what a few of them have been up to. Emilie has got a scholarship, Steph has had a couple of auditions, Dani is doing her A-levels, Stephanie has got an agent. Sheila brings in some of the cast members, including 12th place Nancy

and someone else who I think was in I'd Do Anything, but I don't recognise. Then they do a group performance of Empire State Of Mind.

They all get a line or two each, and we wait with bated breath to see if Emilie has improved. She hasn't. It even crossed my mind that she might be doing it on purpose now, just to get people talking about her.

Anyway, it's results time.

The first Dorothy through to the Final Final is

and the second is

That's Sophie's hand by the way - Lauren hasn't just tried to floor her with a left hook.

Lauren gets a huge standing ovation. She says she's learned an incredible amount about herself and her abilities, and she's made some incredible friends for life. She says thank you to everyone, it's been fantastic. Andrew says he's not surprised that she's out, because he suspected that people might vote for the two younger girls, but he'd be proud to work with her, and she's got his phone number and he's got hers, so they'll be in touch. Graham's autocue seems to fail at this point and he starts reading from his cue cards, with lots of pauses.

Lauren still has to hand back her shoes, but she's very smiley and giggly.

Danielle takes the shoes and Lauren gives us an unfortunate knicker flash as she takes them off (her shoes, that is, not, er, oh dear....). Needless to say she has no trouble with her solo.

Even the Lion and the munchkins are clapping.

And then there were two!

Graham re-opens the phone lines, and I vote for the first time all series. Do they make the Dorothy's say their own automated reply when you vote? Cos it sounded like Danielle's voice to me.

In just under an hour, the second live show is upon us. Graham descends from the rafters on a bike. It seems to take forever for him to reach the stage.

Apparently they couldn't afford a monkey. We hear from Lauren just after being voted off, and she's still smiling. She says she lost to two amazing girls, and she's going to remember this experience for the rest of her life.

After a recap of what happened earlier, Graham has a chat with the girls. Sophie never imagined she'd make it into the final two. She came into the competition looking for experience, and she's really got some now. Whatever happens, she's so grateful to be here. Danielle thinks that all the girls have dealt with everything they've been through amazingly, and she's so proud of all of them.

The final mission is to sing Over The Rainbow. The girls practice in front of Andrew at his estate, borrowing his dog for Toto.

Before their performance, Andrew tells the girls that the viewers will be thinking 'why would I go and see her, what is special about her?' and that is what they need to remember during their song.

Sophie goes first, and you can just hear a tinge of Welsh in her voice, but it's still a beautiful performance. She just seems a tiny bit off time in places. Danielle is watching from the sofas, and looks... slightly amused?

It's Danielle's turn next, and she has more of a Kansas accent, and probably acts it a bit better. Sophie on the sofa... not so amused...

Excitingly, Graham reveals that the winner will be releasing Over The Rainbow as a charity single, with the proceeds being split between the BBC Performing Arts Fund and Prostate UK. Which is good. It's available for download now!

Both girls get the chance to speak to the camera to convince the viewers to vote for them. Sophie feels she's grown in the competition, and thanks the public for keeping her in. She hopes they can see that she's the Dorothy they want, just by her being herself, and she really likes wearing gingham and doesn't want to take it off. Danielle used to have to search for who Dorothy was, but now she feels that it's a part of her, and she hopes she'll get the opportunity to do this for a long time to come.

Sheila is asked if she thought they both captured the emotion of Over The Rainbow, and she says yes, they did. They've had to sing it so many times in sad circumstances so it's hard to sing it afresh, but they both managed it. John is bursting with pride for Sophie, as she's really grown and blossomed, and he meant everything he said to Danielle earlier, she really is a star. Charlotte thinks they both did it justice; she feels that the song really suits Sophie's voice, probably more than any of the other songs she's sung throughout the competition, and Danielle has been captivating from the start, and is captivating still.

Next up is some VT from the families which is as you'd expect - lots of proud parents and grandparents getting all emotional about their loved one.

The two girls now get a chance to perform their favourite song/strongest performance from the whole series. Sophie does Reflection, unsurprisingly as she got some of her best comments for this last week. It's another great performance, her voice does sound beautiful. I was hoping that Danielle would do Mambo Italiano, and when Sophie finished there was a long camera shot of the audience, which always means they're getting some props and dancers ready on stage, so I was pretty sure that she was going to, and she did. Another brilliant, amusing performance - Andrew and John liked it again:

Graham talks to some family members on the sofa. He tells Sophie's mum that she's her spitting image. Everyone is dressed up, Sophie's granddad Haydn is in his Team Sophie t-shirt. What a star he is!

The last bit of VT is a trip down the Yellow Brick Memory Lane with a recap of all the highs and lows of the series.

Lines are closed, and Graham reveals that the votes have raised over £430,000 for the BBC Performing Arts Fund.

Finally, it's results time.

The winner is:

Sophie runs off before Graham has finished with her; he pulls her back, gets her to take a bow and then lets her go to her family, before going back to Danielle. She says thank you just isn't enough, but she thanks everyone who's supported her, everyone who works on the show, and all the other Dorothy's.

Andrew is very pleased with the result (no surprise there). He tells her that now the hard work really starts, but she can act from the soul which is something very special. Graham tells her that she has to give back her shoes, but as she's the winner, she gets to exchange them for the Ruby Slippers. So she gives her shoes to the lion, and then the tin man escorts her over to Andrew. Charlotte removes the glass dome from over the slippers, and Graham asks Andrew to present them to her, but she just dives in and puts them on. She says they fit, but looks a bit uncertain as she says it...

So there's just time for one last performance of Over The Rainbow.

(I know, me too...)

Instead of flying up into the rafters on a crescent moon, Danielle goes up, up and away in a hot air balloon!

When she's finished singing her mic is still up and you can hear her giggling.

How excited is she?

I think that sums it up!

So that's that then! The nation has crowned another West End star - good choice everyone!!

Fearon, Fear-off!

2010-05-15T19:09:00.045+01:00

It's Bring Your Grandparents To Work Day!!!

Oh, and it's also the semi-final, and Andrew's last chance to save a Dorothy.

Soundbites!

Steph - "I can almost touch them [sic] ruby slippers now, I really really want this role"
Sophie - "Tonight is the biggest night of my life so far, it can make or break me"
Danielle - "I couldn't think of anything that I'd want more than the ruby slippers now"
Lauren - "I just don't want to go out now, I want to be there in those finals"

The first group performance is Together Wherever We Go from Gypsy. The song is all about being together through thick and thin, which is quite ironic considering another one of them is going to leave tonight.

Yes, tonight is Andrew's last save of the series - next week it's down to the public.

The panel is introduced and then Graham says to Andrew that next week the nation decides who's going to win the role. Andrew interrupts to make another one of his 'jokes' about the fact that each girl has faced rejection, much like our political parties, but the good thing about it is that it's a great lesson for when you start working in professional theatre. He begs the viewers to think of the girls as individuals, to look at them in the group numbers, think of them as people (as opposed to...?), ask yourself "Can they be Dorothy? Are they going to have the innocence?" There's got to be something real in their performances.

Even though there are only four girls left, they're still being paired up, and the first two to sing are Sophie and Steph. The theme of this week's VT is that all the girls went back home, just like Dorothy wanted to.

Sophie says that last week was the toughest so far, and the fact that the public kept her in is the best feeling ever. She can't believe she's in the final four.

She goes for a walk down ol' Tonypandy High Street with her granddad, signing autographs and having her picture taken.

Steph says that going from auditioning with thousands of other girls, to being in the final four, is the best feeling in the world.

She goes back home and apparently 'the whole town' are in Baby D's living room to welcome her.

She also goes back to the bar where she used to work, but says that she definitely doesn't want to be pulling pints for the rest of her life.

Just before their performances, Andrew is asked what he's looking for. He says that we know they can both really sing, so for Sophie, who has been a bit reserved, he wants her to come out of her shell a bit more. He wants to see Steph make the connection between 'up there' and her heart; he wants her to give something to the song. The camera isn't on him when he says 'up there' so I don't know if he meant her head, or just the fact that she's standing at the top of the stairs...

Sophie is singing Reflection from Mulan.

She really belts it out, and for me it's one of her best performances. It's another serious song, so there's not much room for acting, but still, really lovely vocal.

Steph is singing Rule the World, with lots of vibrato, as usual.

I really like Steph, but I think her voice is kind of too mature for Dorothy. Also, I think this song was Take That's finest hour so no one else can touch it. End Of. This wasn't my favourite performance of hers.

Charlotte thinks they were two outstanding vocal performances, although they both lost it a bit on the acting side of it. She thinks Steph had a tough song to sing, cos it's a man's song, but she has a fragile touch to her voice which she thinks would be great in Dorothy. She thinks Sophie has had a breakthrough; she's giving more of herself and is going to grow and grow, and it was a lovely vocal. Sheila says she's going to focus on the interpretation (just for a change). She says Sophie has made a big leap forward and took some risks but she could've been more subtle, and had more puzzlement. She doesn't know what the lyrics of Rule The World mean, but she felt that Steph made it sound as though it meant something. She also tells her to watch her shoulders cos they sometimes rise up a bit, and to flick her hair back. John says he's looking for a triple threat - someone who can sing, dance and act, and out of the four girls that are left, Steph is definitely that girl. He recalls that back in the auditions she had a flower painted on the side of her face for good luck (I did wonder...), but it takes more than good luck to make it in the business they call show - it needs talent and a break. She's got the talent, he hopes the viewers will give her the break by voting for her. To Sophie he says "talk about leaving the best till last", he thought it was her best performance to date, and he absolutely loved it! He even stamps his feet a little bit, bless him. Andrew says that Steph did well with a tough song; his interesting fact of the day is that Gary Barlow who wrote the song once came second in a talent competition on Pebble Mill; he'd like to know what happened to the person who won it. Me too. Google was no help at all... He thinks she should've played it a little more innocently, just because it's Dorothy that we're looking for. He tells Sophie that she did turn a corner tonight and did really well - "bravo you!".

Lauren and Danielle are up next (obviously). Lauren arrives home clutching a pooch - is she trying to dispel the image of her being a cat lover?

She says it's amazing to see the amount of support she's got, but two people who couldn't be there were her - you guessed it - grandparents.

She says her granddad has never been able to see her peform because he suffers from anxiety and panic attacks, and doesn't like to leave his living room. But they've got a tv, so surely he's been watching her every week?

Danielle turns up at her old school, where they've made a yellow brick road only slightly better than Stephanie's neighbour's mum's living room wallpaper one.

She wants to thank everyone for their support, and is also looking forwards to getting a massive hug from her friends. Massive enough for you?

She's in there somewhere. She goes for a wander round town, and the local cake shop have made this, which is pretty awesome:

Back in the studio, Graham asks Andrew what the girls need to do. He says that we know Lauren is a good singer, but now she needs to show some vulnerability. As for Danielle, he says she is extraordinary, she's very rare and has a very raw talent, and he thinks she's grown the most out of all the girls in the competition. Which is not really answering Graham's question, but then this is Lord Lloyd Webber, and if he wants to try and sway the viewers into choosing the girl who is clearly his favourite, who is going to stop him? His comments are becoming increasingly more obvious with regard to who he wants the public to vote for. I don't mind, cos luckily I want the same Dorothy as him ;-)

Lauren is performing the Bryan Adams song Heaven. She is, as usual, acting every line! Here, she's "finding it hard to believe"

"we're in heaven"

"It isn't too hard to see..." gets a shake of the head every time, and for the rest of the performance she's gone for OTT smiley wonderment to the point where she looks like she's going to burst out into hysterical laughter

Trying too hard, in my opinion. I bet John loves it...

Danielle is singing When You Believe from The Prince of Egypt. Not a lot to work with, but it's a great vocal.

Sheila says they were both cracking performances. She felt that Lauren got all the wonderment of being in love and kept it simple; even when the audience started 'making a noise' she didn't go with it, she hung on to the truth of the performance. Not from where I was sitting. She didn't know what Danielle's song was about, but thought she did it very simply, and didn't impose any meaning on it, which meant the audience could interpret it however they wished; it was lovely. John says this is a case of voice (Lauren) versus actress (Danielle); Sheila points out that Danielle has got a great voice. He tells Danielle that hers was a song of two halves, he felt that she was better once she got down the stairs, but even divas have an off day, and she should come back in her second number and show him the Danielle that he loves. He thought Lauren had adopted some of Danielle's sensitivity and truthfulness through the first part of her performance, and combined with her knock-out vocals, he thinks she's unbeatable. Charlotte says that Lauren is incapable of giving a bad performance. She thought it was good that she'd taken Andrew's advice from last week about being less shouty, although she missed the power in her voice, and then John interrupts and starts accusing Charlotte of saying that Lauren was screechy. I don't really know why he did this, because Charlotte was actually complimenting Lauren on taking advice and working with it (if I recall correctly, Charlotte said she was a bit shouty, and Andrew agreed with her - I don't think she's ever used the word 'screechy'). Anyway, she gives him the 'talk to the hand' move and carries on...

As for Danielle, Charlotte thinks she works better when she's got a song with more content and substance, so this wasn't her best performance, although it was still a spotless vocal. And as it's grandparents day, she wishes happy 70th birthday to her own gran. Andrew says that Lauren always gives her best and is a producers dream, but he wonders if she could've had more sweetness in her performance? He tells Danielle that some actresses rely on technique, and some rely on the truth within themselves, and she is one of the latter. He says that she's an extraordinary performer and has a long way to go in the theatre. *Hint, hint*. I really want her to win, but if she doesn't, I think her future is safe anyway...

So that is the end of their solo performances, but now they have to show their fighting spirit by performing a duet. The VT's are basically one big love-in where they each say how brilliant the other one is. Sophie and Steph are up first, singing I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair from South Pacific.

There's a bathroom vibe, as you can see. It's a so-so performance, I don't think their voices really compliment each other.

Lauren and Danielle are singing Popular from Wicked. It's a much better performance, with a lot of comedy in it, and they work well together. They even use their own publicity shots from the show:

I wonder who thought of pairing them up this way? Cos I'm thinking we've just seen our final two... Over to the panel, and John thought Lauren and Danielle were a great double act, he thought they were both great, but if pushed he'd go with Danielle on this occasion. He thought Steph was more polished choreographically, but Sophie is really raising her game and threw herself into it, so he chose her as his favourite of the two. Charlotte thought Steph was brilliant, and had a hard raucous edge to her voice, but overall she thought Danielle and Lauren were great, and tells Andrew that he should write a musical just for those two. Sheila thought Lauren and Danielle were wonderful, and that Danielle has a fabulous comedy gift. She points out that their number was slightly wittier and easier to do, and wants the public to bear that in mind when voting; it doesn't matter if they've all got nice grandparents, just think about what they've been doing each week on the show, and judge them on that. I don't think Lauren and Sophie approved of the grandparents comment:

Andrew is worried that the producer of Wicked might have seen Lauren and Danielle and want to steal them from him. He says Danielle has got a fantastic comic gift, and Lauren has experience, so it's raw talent against experience but they were both absolutely wonderful. When he saw the bathroom set for Sophie and Steph he was hoping he was going to get a Bollywood wet scene, but it wasn't to be *nervous laughter from everyone*. He felt that they could've got a lot more humour out of it, but tells Sophie that she's deliciously funny.

The mission this week is about the daleks. Yes, the girls are going to film an episode of Dr Who. Not really, of course. They go to a 'dark theatre', which Andrew explains is simply a theatre with no show on at the moment rather than one where they forgot to put 50p in the meter, and they work with a vocal coach to try and master the Kansas accent. She shows them lots of interesting techniques.

In front of Andrew they have to perform the scene where Dorothy asks the Good Witch how she can get back home, and then says goodbye to the Lion, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow, who they were having to imagine were standing behind them. He says that the way they play this scene is crucial. Afterwards, he gives his verdict. He didn't think twice about Danielle's accent, but what was really fantastic was that she made the role completely her own, and he was beginning to have a tear when she said goodbye. He says Lauren is probably the most accomplished, and her professionalism is total, but the question is whether they can get a bit of vulnerability and emotion out of her to turn it from a good performance into a great one. Steph was also very professional, but he felt that it was coming from her head, rather than her heart - perhaps because she was worrying about the accent, so she wasn't as focussed on the acting. He felt that Sophie struggled the most with the accent so she wasn't really projecting into the audience, but if she could master the dialect he thinks she'd be able to make the part her own and make a very beloved Dorothy. Overall he says that there's no question that they can all do the accent, to a greater or lesser degree, but this mission has made it pretty clear to him who the actresses are (is. *coughDaniellecough*)

So with their newly developed accent they do a group performance of I Cain't Say No from Oklahoma.

Unfortunate, Lauren.

Over to the judges, and Sheila can't be bothered to worry about the accent! She knows they'll get it, "they've all got good ears". She is, however, fascinated by the acting. Her husband John Thaw used to say to her "don't demonstrate, be". She felt, watching the scene, that it was all demonstrated, but the only one who 'was' was Danielle, who kept it totally simple. John thinks they've all developed over the competition, but for him Lauren was the best - not only is she a wonderful singer, she's now a fantastic actress. Charlotte really loved Steph and Lauren, and dares to disagree with Sheila saying that Lauren was quite big and brash, which is what the song is about. Sheila then interrupts to say that she was actually talking about the scene that they did for their mission, which actually makes a bit more sense. Graham was all "oh the scene, oh I see..." in a 'we-were-talking-about-the-song-they've-just-done-keep-up-woman' kind of way. Andrew says that yes they can all do the accent, it's just a question of time to make sure that it comes as second nature to them. He says he's at the point now where he doesn't want to lead the viewers any more; everyone has had a chance to see all their performances, and we've also seen the acting on the day that he was there (subtext: go for the one he liked best *coughDaniellecough*). He knows where he wants the competition to go, but he doesn't want to lead anyone himself. Graham asks him what people should think in terms of television versus theatre, and he says that's very important because what you feel when you watch them on tv is very different to what you'll be feeling when you're sitting at the back of the Palladium. We need a Dorothy who can command the stage, and not forgetting that she also needs to have that rapport with Toto. Dancing and acting are vital ingredients, but above all, Dorothy is the most important ingredient.

So that's it - the lines are open! Wippee!

Aaaand now they're closed!

The Dorothy's reprise Together Wherever We Go followed by a reminder of what happened earlier. Sophie is really happy with her comments, and feels like she's taken 1000 steps forwards. Steph is also really pleased with what the panel said about her, and just wanted to do her best as it's the semi-final. Lauren's mum thinks she deserves a place in the final as she's performed consistently every week. We don't hear anything from Danielle or her family. Sheila says it's impossible to predict the bottom two, and points out that she's been wrong every week. Charlotte thinks all four of them would make brilliant Dorothy's, and John is glad he doesn't have to make the decision about which one has to go.

Graham chats to Andrew and the panel. He asks Andrew how difficult it will be to choose between the girls, and he says very, as there are good reasons to choose any one of them. Charlotte is asked, if she was sitting on the sofa at home, how easy would she find it to vote for one of them, and she says she wouldn't have a clue. There are four ridiculously strong girls in every area, and they're all so individual. She drops herself in it by saying that Sophie has a certain charm and then has to say something about all the others too (Lauren's vocals, Steph is an all-rounder, Danielle's acting) and says she basically has no idea who to vote for. Her answer is so long that the other two don't get a look-in.

Tonight is the last 'mash-up' of the series. Graham asks Andrew if he thought he'd ever get to like mash this much, and he says "last week had black-eyed peas in it, I nearly swallowed a chipolata!" to which Graham replies "I'm trained in the Heimlich Manouvre" and Andrew nearly wets himself laughing

This week's prop?

The mash-up was Singing In The Rain and Umbrella, in case you couldn't guess.

Graham is on the sofa with the Dorothy's. Sophie says that she does feel like she's had a breakthrough this week, and she'll be really proud of herself whatever happens, but getting to the final would be the icing on the cake. He asks Danielle if the fact that next week is purely down to the public vote fills her with hope or fear, and she says that as her last name is Hope she'd have to say that she's hopeful. Everything happens for a reason though, and whatever will be will be. Steph feels that she did the best she could, and she hopes it's enough. Lauren thinks it would be an amazing idea for Andrew to write a musical for her and Danielle, as suggested by Charlotte.

There's some filler VT of the Over The Rainbow live events across the uk. Apparently everyone had lots of fun.

Next, Sierra Boggess (pronounced bogus) from Love Never Dies comes to watch the girls rehearse and then gives them some words of advice. She then performs the title song in the studio, although I believe it was a pre-record, and she wasn't actually there. It's very operatic, and she has strange enunciation.

Time for the last Toto task now. First they go to a grooming parlour for a makeover, then to the studio to film one of Toto's most famous scenes. They all leap effortlessly from the back of a limo, except Eddie, who is struggling with the concept.

Their task is to recreate the scene where Toto grabs the curtain and pulls it back to reveal the Wizard of Oz - Andrew is playing him for the day.

Dave needs to get an early night, cos he's still yawning. He, Troy and Missy all do well, Eddie and Spider less so, although they're all very entertaining. I'm not sure what the lever was for next to Andrew, but lets just say I think the dogs had some 'help' opening that curtain.

Anyway, time to choose a winner of the task. Andrew picks Troy, and the panel choose Eddie.

It's almost results time, but first each girl says why they think they should make it through to the final. Lauren thinks she should because she's worked her whole life for this opportunity, and this could really be her moment. She also wants to prove to the panel and the public that she could be their Dorothy. Steph has worked harder than she's ever worked in her life, but if she got the part she'd work even harder for Andrew and the show. She also thinks she'd put a new spin on the role and make it her own. Danielle doesn't want this massive experience to end, and she doesn't want her chance of being Dorothy to be over yet. She's been in the bottom two twice and both times Andrew has saved her, so she wants to prove that she was worth saving. Sophie feels that she always comes back with a fighting spirit and she always tries to up her game. She also thinks she's the most improved girl in the competition, and brings that bit extra every week, and that's what she'll do in the final if she's there.

Time for the panel to say who is NOT Dorothy for them this week and it's a full house for Steph - her supporters in the audience are not happy and there is lots of booing as each judge says her name.

Finally, it's results time:

Graham starts by recapping some of the judges comments about each girl, before announcing that the first girl through to the final is

The first girl into the bottom two is

and the next girl into the final is

which means Lauren and Steph are in the sing-off. Steph must know that she's going now? She also had the fewest viewer votes.

They have to sing Another Suitcase In Another Hall. Andrew's advice is to tell them that the song is about vulnerability.

Andrew says he's glad this is his last chance to choose and he feels dreadful, but he has to make the decision on who will ultimately be best for Dorothy, and he decides to save Lauren.

Steph gets a standing ovation, and the audience go nucking futs for her. Andrew explains that he didn't quite get the connection between head and heart in her acting, but she's very talented and will go a long way. Steph says she's had the time of her life, and has made some friends for life. She also thanks the backstage crew for all their hard work.

So Steph says goodbye and hands over her shoes. She keeps smiling and her Over The Rainbow is a pretty good effort.

(Is it really necessary to be wearing a hat indoors?)

Next week - brace yourselves - IT'S THE FINAL!!!

No Ruby Reds for Robinson!

2010-05-09T19:15:00.024+01:00

It's part two of Double Elimination Weekend, and Jenny has already been bumped into the audience.

The five remaining Dorothy's reprise Defying Gravity, but this time they're all singing together rather than taking it in turns, because obviously they're a voice short since 'yesterday'.

There's a recap of last night's show and then Graham asks if Andrew is nervous about tonight. Completely ignoring the question, he says he wants to pick up on the humour aspect, and says whoever wins needs to be able to respond to comedians. Sheila is asked if she was surprised by last night's bottom two, and she says that they've all got something special that she loves so she's glad that it's down to the viewers vote, because she doesn't want to have to decide who has to leave. Graham asks John how important it is that the girls hold their nerve, and he says it's incredibly important; the bottom two is changing week on week, and right now it's anybody's game. Charlotte is asked whether she thinks Jenny was the right girl to leave, and she says she had a tough song and on the night didn't match up to the other girls, so yes.

Next up is a brief Doggy Catwalk where we get to see the girls with the Toto's for the first time - Jessica and Dangerous Dave, Danielle and Troy, Lauren and Eddie, Sophie and Missy, Steph and Spider.

John find it highly amusing.

It's Toto task time now. Jodie and the Dorothy's are at Richmond Theatre to have a bonding session with the dogs. As she points out, there are six of them, and only five Toto's so they're going to call the dogs, and whoever they go to first will be their partner, meaning one Dot will miss out. Dave chooses Sophie, Eddie chooses Danielle, Troy chooses Steph, Spider chooses Jenny, and Missy eventually chooses Jessica. Lauren has to sit this one out; she feels that they may have been able to sense that she has cats at home. As a cat-worshipper myself, this should make me like her more. But it doesn't, really. So the five Dorothy's and Toto's have to perform in front of a special audience made up of little precocious kids in the stalls, and Team Toto up in one of the boxes, but before that, they get a chance to bond. Spider nips Jenny, Eddie ignores Danielle, and Troy makes a noise which causes Steph to look like this:

Apparently, he sneezed. For the scene, Dorothy has to sing Over The Rainbow with Toto next to her on a hay bale. Jessica and Missy are first, and everything goes really well. Same for Danielle and Eddie. Steph struggles with Troy, as he keeps walking away from her.

Apparently he's a rescue dog, and I like to think that he's all "look, I went through some tough times before I was rescued, but now everything's great and my owner adores me and I'm livin' the good life and quite frankly, I don't have time for all this nonsense. There's a big soft bed at home with my name on it, laters!" Sophie looks to be doing really well with Dave, who is perched on her lap, but then he starts yawning so maybe he's not too impressed with her performance.

Spider skids enthusiastically onto the stage and nearly crashes head first into the hay bale that Jenny is sitting on, and when she gets to the last few notes of the song he does a little woof and tries to join in. So cute! The panel's top dog this week is Spider, but the kids all get to vote too and their winner is Dangerous Dave.

Mash-up time now, and Graham asks Andrew if he's ready for some more mash. He replies that he always adds a little olive oil; Graham laughs and says "we inform, we entertain". We also make bad puns.

I wasn't even sure what the songs were in this medley - I think the first one was Matchmaker from Fiddler On The Roof, which would tie in with the next one, Rich Girl by Gwen Stefani. There might have been another one in there too which I couldn't spot and then it finished with I Got A Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas - I'm not sure if that links to Fiddler too. Mazel Tov maybe? John was joining in and doing some chair-dancing.

Next up, some VT of the panel giving their opinions about each Dorothy in turn:
Danielle - Charlotte thinks she's a really strong contender, and there's something about her that just makes her think 'West End'. Sheila thinks she's got to retain her unique quality, but project it more without losing the subtlety. When the show started, John wasn't sure if she had much personality, but she's shown herself to be a consummate actress.
Sophie - Charlotte thinks she's beautiful and has one of the most natural voices in the competition; if they could crack her shell a bit she could be phenomenal. Sheila thinks she's a bit sensible, and longs for her to 'throw her bonnet over the windmills' and be a zany redhead. I've never heard that expression before, but I fully intend to use it at every available opportunity from now on. John thinks that Sophie has it in her to play this role, but he's not sure that she does.
Lauren - Sheila found Lauren to be a bit too glib at first, but after being in the sing-off with Bronte, she was totally transformed and out came some true emotion. John points out that every week she delivers a solid performance; you might not necessarily like it the most, but she's definitely the most professional. Charlotte says her vocals are phenomenal, and her range unbelievable, and she'd love to see her in the final.
Jessica - When the competition first started, John thought that Jess was the obvious choice for a musical theatre performer, but as it's gone on, he's not sure anymore. Sheila says that Jess thinks of herself as kooky and quirky, but she needs to be careful not to be saddled with that image. Charlotte loves her, and thinks that her overt facial expressions set her apart from the other girls.
Steph - Charlotte thinks that Steph has had a really tough journey, but every week she's been blown away by her performances. Sheila says she's never fazed, and will always come up with the goods whatever is thrown at her; her strength is that she's an all-rounder. John thinks she needs to step it up now; she's always brilliant, but she needs to really believe that she can be Dorothy - if she believes it, so will we.

Graham has a quick chat with the girls, pointing out how much room there is on the seats now. He asks Steph where she gets her strength from, and she says that she's had such a rocky ride so far, she needs to stay strong. He reminds Lauren that she had some great comments, so was she shocked to be in the bottom two? She says she was devastated, but they all know that no one is safe, and she was very grateful for the comments and hopes she's done enough to stay out of the bottom two tonight. Graham points out that Jessica is the only one of the remaining Dots not to have been in the sing-off (jinx!), and says that must be a good feeling, and she says it's all down to how fantastic her fanbase is, at home and around the country, so thanks to all the munchkins!

As a treat for all their hard work, the girls (and John) have a night out at the opening of Sweet Charity.

Afterwards they get to meet the star of the show, Tamsin Outhwaite. Lauren gushes that being at the premiere makes her think about what it will be like for ~~her~~ their opening night ~~when she wins~~, whoever is lucky enough to win. Tamsin then comes into the studio to perform If My Friends Could See Me Now.

Graham goes over for a chat and asks her if she's seen an improvement from when she worked with some of the girls right at the beginning. She says they're doing really well, their voices are holding up and she's really proud of them all. He asks her what they can expect from their own opening night, and she says lots of nerves and adrenalin, but they should make the most of it because it's never that exciting again. Hmm, perhaps not quite as positive as she could've been!

Just before the results are revealed, there's some VT of the Dorothy's saying why they think they should be in the semi final. Steph says it's because she's had a rocky ride, and always comes back fighting. Danielle feels like she's got so much more to give, and would be heartbroken to leave at this stage. Lauren says she'd be one step closer to her dream, and winning the role would change her life. Sophie says she's had a lot of knocks but also always comes back fighting. Jessica always pulls something different out of the bag every week.

Results time now. Graham says he'll announce them in no particular order, so I say to myself, "that means Sophie will be last again" and whaddya know? She's the first one to be called!
Sophie is safe. Danielle is in the bottom two. Lauren is safe. Steph is safe.

So Jessica and Danielle are in the sing-off. Graham reveals that the person with the lowest viewer votes was Jessica. Andrew's advice is helpul as ever, as he tells them to think of the words, and that they're both terrific.

They're singing Take That Look Off Your Face, from last week's sing-off show Tell Me On A Sunday. I feel a sense of irony that Jess is singing this song, following remarks about her quirky facial expressions...

Danielle goes first; they both do a really good job, but Danielle has the better voice. Jess makes me nervous, like her voice is going to wobble at any moment. Andrew tells them both that they're terrific, and that there's no question that they will go on to other things. He says he's thinking of the role of Dorothy, not just their talent, and says he has to save Danielle. He says he has a heavy heart, but he thinks Jessica would be better in Sweet Charity or Funny Girl, and she says she loves Funny Girl. He tells her that she's a star in the making. She gives a big speech about what a fantastic time she's had and how much she's learned, and says that she's got the opportunity to go and train in September, which she's definitely going to do, if nothing major comes along before then. She seems genuinely very happy, and again I wonder if she'd resigned herself to the fact that she probably wasn't going to win, and knew it was only a matter of time before she had to leave, so is actually quite relieved now. Whatever, she was very gracious in defeat, and showed a lot of maturity in the way she handled it.

So it's her turn to ride the moon after handing back her shoes. Andrew's getting quite a collection - he wants to be careful, people will talk. When it's her big solo, she starts a bit wobbly but settles in to it, and hits the last note without any problems.

So that's it for now, semi-final next week!

Douglas is Ditched!

2010-05-08T18:47:00.031+01:00

Last week it was the most shocking result so far! (Really? What about Bronte going in the second week? Everyone was pretty shocked about that). Now only 6 remain (*worried faces*)

and this week it's a double elimination!!

Soundbites!

Steph - "It is terrifying knowing that two of us are going home tonight."
Jenny - "I think it's anybody's game."
Lauren - "It is so important that we get this right tonight"
Danielle - "I've got so far now, it would be absolutely heartbreaking to go home now."
Jessica - "I am not gonna surrender without a fight."
Sophie - "I just really wanna be Dorothy."

The Dots are back on the stairs this week, clapping along to the Wizard of Oz as Graham makes his way to the stage, although they're looking a bit sparse now.

The first group number is Defying Gravity from Wicked. Steph has the first line and just has to get on and sing it, even though the audience are still busy applauding. There's more skirt swishing, even though it's not really a skirt swishing type of song.

So have we mentioned that this week it's a double elimination special? Because it is. Oh yes. One girl leaves tonight, one tomorrow. Graham says it's the biggest battle for our votes since Thursday, but our Dorothy's won't be able to hang on and try and form a coalition. Topical! He explains how the voting system will work. You go into a little booth, and put a cross in a box... Just kidding. The lines will open after all the Dorothy's have performed, as per usual, but then they will freeze the lines and reveal which two Dorothy's have the fewest viewer votes. This bottom two will perform again in the first sing-off; Andrew will save one of them, the other will go home (just in case you've forgotten what happens in a sing-off). They will then reopen the lines and carry forward all the votes that have been cast this evening for the five remaining Dorothy's. The girls will then battle it out in a special Wizard of Oz line-up in a bid to stay out of Sunday night's sing-off. Did you get all that?

Tonight is Musical Theatre night - what a shame we haven't been saying that every week. Andrew is asked what the viewers need to be looking for before they vote tonight, and as usual he goes off on a tangent, with a story about the writer of Wicked, who was so convinced that it was going to be a flop, he didn't even turn up on it's opening night. To answer the question though, he tells everyone to think about what they've already seen in previous weeks as well as what they're about to see tonight. Hmm, enlightening.

So on with the show, and Danielle and Jessica are up first. The theme of the VT's this week is each girl talking about what kind of Dorothy they'd be, and what they would bring to the role.

Danielle thinks she'd be great as Dorothy because she's got a raw, fresh, youthful quality, as well as a bit of grit. Dorothy is young and innocent, but also extremely mature, and that's what Danielle feels she is. She wants to show what she can do with the part, and make it her own, and she really hopes that she is given that opportunity.

Jessica can't believe she's in the final six, and feels very lucky. She says that she's not normal (people wouldn't say that about themselves if they used the word abnormal, would they?), she's quirky and has crazy facial expressions. She thinks she'd be a happier Dorothy, a bit crazy and a lot more expressive, and could bring a different side out of the role.

Danielle is singing On My Own from Les Miserables. She's wearing a really nice dress tonight, I think it's the nicest outfit she's had so far. This is another quite serious, emotional song. Her voice is great as always, but on the high notes it does get a little bit shouty.

Jessica is singing Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. I'm not too sure what look they were going for with her outfit.

She has a bit of a quirky dance routine which leaves her very out of breath, so her vocals suffer a bit. I felt a bit sorry for her there; even Julie Andrews didn't sing the song all the way through in the film, as she shared the lyrics with Penis Van Lesbian... I mean, Dick Van Dyke.

Graham has a chat with them both, as he always does, but I wish he wouldn't because the responses usually consist of "I was, like..." "she was, like..." "we were, like..."

Charlotte thought it was a really emotive performance from Danielle, but it was a bit shouty and she could do with some vibrato on those top notes. She thought Jessica's performance was extravagant, fun and frivolous; she could see she was out of breath but that didn't bother her because she really enjoyed it. Sheila thinks both girls could be in the West End. Jessica could've relished the funny word a bit more, as though she was saying it to a child. She tells Danielle that she loves what she does, and then recalls that many years ago she was in a production of Annie, and one of the little girls playing the orphans was quite enigmatic and lovely, and Sheila always thought there was something special about her. She reveals that this same little girl was recently nominated for a Tony award in New York. The girl in question? Catherine Zeta Jones. She tells Danielle that she has the same star quality. Now that's how you tell a story Andrew. Having said that, she thinks her performance this week was less good than usual, but as she's normally absolutely fabulous, it meant that she was still very very good. John tells Danielle that she has a wonderful grace and sensitivity that would be perfect for Dorothy; she's always so present and in the moment. He thinks she might be a better actress than singer, but what she lacks in vocal range, she makes up for in storytelling. Jessica is becoming his Marmite Dorothy, sometimes he loves what she does, sometimes he doesn't. He says tonight's performance was a little bit cheesy for him, but apparently cheese and marmite are the perfect combination, so... *shrug*. Andrew tells Danielle that the song choice was a deliberate one as a contrast to Mambo Italiano. He says she needs to try and disguise the break between her chest voice and her head voice, but that is a technique that she can learn with the help of a vocal coach (as a complete non-singer I don't really know what that means - if anyone wants to explain it in the comments, feel free!). Jessica went from Nazi to Nanny this week, and he tells her that she's a great character actress.

Steph and Jenny are up next. In her VT, Steph says that Dorothy has to be resilient and have courage, and after being in the bottom two twice and having quite a bumpy ride so far, she feels that she could bring that to the role. She also points out that Dorothy is a 12 year old girl, and Steph is the same height as a 12 year old, so she looks the part too!

Jenny talks about the fact that she hasn't had the same level of training as the other girls, but each week she finds the performance in her "it's like a wee flick switches in my head... no wait, a switch flicks..." (*collapses in a fit of giggles*). She says if she was Dorothy she'd be real and natural, it wouldn't be a staged performance - it would just be her, doing it from the heart.

Steph is singing Somewhere from West Side Story.

She should lend Danielle some of her vibrato. Her mic seems to be picking up her 's'es and breath sounds quite a bit to begin with, but maybe that's just because the song starts off quietly. It's maybe a little bit shouty towards the end, but overall a great performance.

Jenny is singing Send In The Clowns from A Little Night Music, and her voice sounds completely different, in a good way - kind of a bit less girly, a bit more grown up. Probably channelling Barbara Streisand...

Sheila thought Steph was absolutely wonderful; there was a point in the middle where she (as the character) had a moment of doubt, but then recovered, and Sheila thought that was pure magic. She tells Jenny that her song is usually performed by an older woman, and it's really quite ironic and even a little bit humorous, but Jenny opted for sad all the way through. Guess what? Yep, it needed more colour! However, it was a good attempt. John tells Jenny that he loves her up-tempo numbers, but when she sings songs like this with emotional context, he thinks the acting becomes a bit half-baked; he wants to pop her back in the oven for another 20 minutes, and then he knows she'd come out beautifully. He's clearly going for food metaphors tonight. This performance didn't move him or touch him. Charlotte attempts to interrupt and say that she disagrees and he waves her off with a "you'll get your chance in a minute"! Ooh, handbags at dawn! He tells Steph that there is a place for her in the semi-final. She's proving to be one of the most versatile performers, who can go from a big song and dance number like Bjork week, to singing Somewhere with such truth and beauty, and he really hopes the public vote for her. Charlotte thought there were moments of real magic in Jenny's performance, it was simple and lovely and her voice sounded quite classic. Steph was special; her song is usually for a soprano but her version was quite big and brash, but Charlotte loved that about it. She tells her she's got quite a lot of vibrato, but that overall it was superb. Andrew tells Steph a little joke about going to a fish and chip shop years ago with a comedian who said "there's a plaice for us", so now he can never take that song seriously, but he tells her she did really well and got the meaning of the words. Jenny did better than he thought she would with her song, which is a difficult one for someone of her young age to sing. He tells them they both did very well.

Sophie and Lauren are the last two to sing. Sophie is living and breathing Dorothy at the moment, and feels that she's got a lot of her traits - she's quite innocent and sweet and she thinks this part is the one that suits her the most.

Lauren thinks that she'd be a good Dorothy because "I have learned so much from this competition, I consistently give my all in all my performances and if I got the role of Dorothy I would consistenly give a really top level performance... I would like to think that Andrew would think I'm the safe girl to pick for Dorothy... I am very professional... I like to take the job in hand, whatever it may be, very seriously." I know that, technically speaking, they are applying for a job via the medium of this show, but I don't think it's necessary to actually sound like you're reading from your CV when asked why you'd make a good Dorothy.

Sophie is singing I Enjoy Being A Girl. It's a fun song with a bit of acting, and it's nice to see her getting the opportunity to smile. She does have a lovely tone of voice, but it's not the strongest out of the ones who are left.

Lauren is singing Being Alive from Company, which is not a song I'm familiar with. I've just watched a couple of versions on YouTube and it sounds like they've changed the lyrics a bit. As usual, great voice, but just doesn't do anything for me.

John tells Sophie that she has an openness and naturalness, and the camera loves her, but that worries him because he feels that her performance is more tv than theatre, it's too small and understated. They saved the best till last with Lauren, who clearly has the best voice in this competition; she's singing songs that no other girls in this show or even in the West End could consider. Charlotte thought Sophie was great; she knows her natural state is a bit inhibited and she thought she really laid it on the line. She thought her vocal was spot on, and then John interrupts and says they're not just looking for a great vocal, they need someone who can fill an auditorium and he didn't think that performance would. Charlotte obviously disagrees with a "yeah yeah, whatever". She says she has to stop fawning over Lauren because it's getting a little embarassing, but her phrasing was brilliant. The only slight criticism was that she doesn't have to hold every note for as long as she does. Sheila tells Lauren that she's terrific and professional (in a kind of 'yeah, we know, it's getting boring now' way) but says she could've done with more 'cherishing' of the lyrics; she'd have liked every idea to have come to her fresh, but overall it was a punchy performance. She tells Sophie that this is a daft song for a modern woman to sing and she could've sent it up more; she was given some good choreography and she should have used it. When she learns that she can make a fool of herself more she'll be terrific. Andrew agrees with Sheila that Sophie could've savoured it more, but he feels that it's because she's not quite happy about movement, and that's something that she really needs to work on. Lauren was fantastic with a difficult song; he thinks she's vocally very strong, but he agrees with Charlotte that she's sometimes a bit shouty, although that can be dealt with.

So that's it, they've all performed. The lines open for 15 minutes to determine the first two girls in the sing-off, and just in case you've forgotten already, there's a recap of the performances so far. I have to be honest, when I listen to the clips without actually watching them, the one that sounds best (to me) is actually Jenny! Who'd have thunk it?

Next there's some VT of the Dorothy's meeting Bobby the Westie, in order to see if they can work with Toto.

They have to perform a scene in front of Andrew, where a heartbroken Dorothy is reunited with Toto, and then decides to run away from home. He thought that Steph started well, but didn't quite have the rapport with the dog. However, as she's such a good actress, it would be worth persevering with her. Danielle controlled the dog and played the scene, and he thinks she has to be a very strong contender. Jessica has flashes of something extraordinary, and she was brilliant at putting everything together and keeping Toto happy. He felt for Jenny because she didn't really have any rapport with the dog (which basically wandered off), and although he thinks she's a lovely singer, he's worried about her being able to control Toto on stage. Lauren has a natural rapport with animals, and what she did was pretty good, as she never let the acting side down. Sophie handled Toto extremely well which was important as she's quite green as an actress, but they have time and she could prove to be a quite interesting contender.

Next there's a group performance of Talk To The Animals from Dr Doolittle. Bobby is watching on the sidelines with a member of Team Toto.

After the performance Andrew says Dorothy has got to be 'totogenic' (ooh, my sides!), and it's of course really important that they can control the dog. He also says that the viewers need to take into account all the previous missions.

There's a quick Toto update, after which Graham says "aww, it is every shade of cute", although when I was watching this on Saturday night I misheard and thought he said "every shade of puce..."

Graham explains that 14p from all the phone calls goes to Performing Arts Fund, and just in case you wondered what that was, there's some filler now to explain it. Briony, who was in final 20 of How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria, explains what it's done for her,

and someone called Fra Fee from Dirty Dancing has also benefited.

OMG, the lines are now frozen!!!

More filler, with Charlotte Church singing The Actors from her new album. It's her first solo performance in four years, and she says she was just as nervous and under pressure as the girls. It's actually quite a nice song!

So, who do the final six think is most in danger of going tonight?

Danielle thinks it could be Steph because she was in the bottom two last week. Jessica says it might be Danielle because she struggled a bit in rehearsals and might not be as confident as she normally is. Lauren says that Sophie has had some difficult comments from the panel, and if the public pay any attention to them, they might not think she's right for the role (yeah, cos we can't form our own opinions!). Sophie thinks Jenny might be in danger, because the public are deserting people and she's got a really tough song this week. Jenny points out that Steph has been in the bottom two twice, so she might be in trouble. Steph thinks the same of Jenny because she's singing a musical theatre number for the first time, and she's more used to pop.

Time to ask the judges who's not Dorothy for them. Sheila thinks she has a great future, but tonight she's going for Sophie. John, because the performance isn't big enough, chooses Sophie. Charlotte goes for Jenny, but doesn't give a reason.

Results, in no particular order:

Steph and Danielle are both safe. Graham says "Jessica, you are...." (long pause) "... still in the running" and when she goes to sit down you can hear her repeatedly saying "that was evil" until her mic is turned down. Jenny is told she's in the bottom two, leaving just Sophie and Lauren. How many times has Sophie been left until one of the last? Anyway, shock horror, Lauren is in the bottom two. The audience cheers, but I think that was Sophie's supporters, rather than any negativity towards Lauren. This isn't the Big Brother audience after all. Graham reveals that Lauren had the lowest viewer votes. It looks like she's trying to say some words of encouragement to Jenny, which just seems a bit patronising to me.

They have to sing Bridge Over Troubled Water, and as always Andrew tells them to believe in the words. They both sound pretty good, Jenny holds her own although I think she slips into her nasal voice a little bit. Lauren's voice probably dominates when they sing together.

Andrew gets straight to the point, and saves Lauren. He tells Jenny that she's very talented, but he was a little bit worried about the acting with Bobby. However she's a very strong performer and she's got a long way to go. He saved Lauren because she has got a rapport with animals, and although her voice is a bit shouty at times, it can be worked on. Jenny is all smiles and seems to be handling the situation quite well. She says the toughest thing is leaving "ma gerrels" and that she's had a brilliant time, and that's when she gets a bit tearful. It's not as emotional as last week though.

She gives a pretty good rendition of Over The Rainbow, and manages to hit the last note. She didn't seem too upset really. I sometimes wonder if some of them are relieved to be out of it, especially if it doesn't look as though they're going to win based on comments from Andrew and the panel.

It seems weird that that isn't the end of the show, but there's a bit more to come.

The lines are reopened, and all votes carried over.

The final five sing a Wizard of Oz medley, starting and finishing together, but taking it in turns in the middle to sing a different song. It shows up their voices quite well - for me, the best were probably Danielle and Lauren.

Andrew says it was an eye opener for him and hopes it was for everyone at home. John says the public should choose who they think is best for the role. Charlotte says she's just not ready to lose Lauren (I don't think she was really supposed to name names at this point). Sheila says the public should choose someone who can do comedy and pathos, and can sing, dance and move. Don't know about you but that sounded like she was describing Danielle to me!

So that's the first part of the Double Elimination over - who will be next?

No Dorothy for Davis...

2010-05-01T19:11:00.047+01:00

Last week was a night of outstanding performances! This week is Big Band Week! Seven lucky Dorothy's remain, and no one wants to go home!

Soundbites!

Sophie - "It's more important than ever, now, to shine..."
Jenny - "There's no room for mistakes this week..."
Jessica - "I'm living the dream..."
Danielle - "I can't let this end..."
Steph - "No one wants this more than me..."
Stephanie - "I'm not ready to be flying on that moon just yet..."
Lauren - "Bring it on!"

Graham enters alone again, tripping merrily down the stairs as everyone claps along with The Wizard of Oz. Everyone except Sheila, that is.

The final seven Dorothy's perform Don't Rain On My Parade.

They change the "Hey, Mr Arnstein" line to "Mr Lloyd Webber", but then, how could they not? He seems to like this.

I love this song, and I was hoping that it would get an airing. I'm not sure if it worked as a group number though; they seemed to alter the arrangement and tempo slightly. I think I would've preferred just one girl to tackle it, but I'm not sure who. The obvious choice might've been Jess, maybe because ALW said he'd cast her in Funny Girl.

Graham reminds us that Emilie handed back her size 5's last week, before introducing the panel and The Lord. He asks Andrew what the biggest challenge the girl's will face tonight on Big Band Night, and Andrew sidesteps the question completely and says "lets raise the big band for Lee and Denise and the birth of Betsy this morning!". Yes, Lee Mead and Denise Van OutenAbout have had a baby - congrats to them! Then Andrew goes very serious and says that the nation is facing a big challenge, and tonight he's got to be frank and answer questions with his conscience. He says one question has been asked of him this week, and he's going to give the answer here and now. I thought he was going to say something like, "yes I agree, Emilie should never have been voted back in as the wildcard" but instead he announces that Dorothy will get as big a dressing room as Toto (*tumbleweed blows past*)

Aaaaanyway, on with the show. First two girls to sing are Steph and Jenny. Steph is on a high after last week's positive comments. She thinks she's shown her versatility and she's hoping that Andrew can see her as Dorothy. Jenny's VT is about the fact that she's never actually seen a West End show, as revealed by Graham last week. She says it's quite funny that the first time she sees one might actually be the first time she's in one. Ooh careful, that nearly sounded a bit arrogant! To make sure that doesn't happen, she's ~~sent off~~ invited to see her very first one, Mamma Mia, and then afterwards gets to meet two of the cast members.

She says she feels like "the luckiest gerrel in the werreld right now" (I love her accent!) and seeing the show has made her more determined than ever.

Steph is performing Diamond's Are A Girl's Best Friend. It's a full on song and dance routine and is very accomplished. The only distraction is that she seems to be picking hair out of her mouth all the way through.

Jenny is singing Feeling Good. It's very pronounced, but as it went on it grew on me and I actually quite liked it. Her dress was a bit unflattering though, around the, um, middle...

John thought it was a cracking opening to the show. He tells Steph that the Scarecrow and Tin Man will be her new best friends. She handled her performance effortlessly and made it look easy. He tells Jenny that she's got her mojo back; she grew with the song and by the end of it she really packed some punch. Sheila says that when the show started, she didn't think she'd be able to picture anyone but Judy Garland playing the role, but now she thinks "it would be wonderful to have a mixed race girl as Dorothy, or it would be equally wonderful to have a lovely blonde girl". She thought that Jenny could've used the lyrics and coloured it a bit more, as for once they were beautiful words instead of vacuous pop song lyrics (nice one, Sheila!) and Steph was terrific but could've gone a little bit more, as she thinks she's still got more in her. Charlotte calls Steph a diminutive diva, and says she blew her away; it was coquettish and flirtatious, and the vocal was spotless. She tells Jenny that she really pulls it out of the bag when the pressure is on, and that it was a brilliant vocal; in places, she almost sounded like a different singer, and she really owned the performance. Andrew congratulates Steph on saving the show last week at the beginning of Oklahoma, when she heard that the band came in too early, but then he says "we won't go into that" so it's not exactly clear what she did. I think he says she did a good job coping with the dancing as well as the singing, but as usual he waffles a bit, bless him! He tells Jenny that the 'bump-and-grind' music in her song is kind of at odds with the lyrics and it's a difficult song to sing, but she did very well. (Is it just me, or is it wrong to hear ALW saying bump and grind??)

Next up, Sophie gets a slot on her own after being in the sing-off last week. She feels like the public has completely lost faith in her; her granddad says "I think Wales have let her down a bit, in fact I think Wales have let her down a lot - and if you can't look after your own, who can you look after?"

Her home town of Tonypandy is supporting her all the way though, and she's determined not to let them down. She's singing What A Wonderful World, and looks really nice tonight.

She's got a really beautiful voice, but she does play the song quite seriously. Charlotte tells her it was a gorgeous vocal, she's got a really pretty voice, but she should've smiled. She thinks she's got a lot more to give though. Sheila thought it was a viable interpretation of the song, but she also wished she'd chosen to smile and be less serious. She announces that she wants to kick Sophie, but only in the metaphorical sense that she wants to try and shake her up a bit. John thought that she was probably too worried about singing the song that she forgot to act it. Andrew generally agrees with the panel, but says that he believes in her.

There's a brief Toto update, but more on that tomorrow.

The next two girls to sing are Danielle and Lauren. It was Danielle's 18th birthday, so the other girls threw her a surprise party. They're all dressed as characters from musicals, and Danielle gets to be Dorothy for the night.

She also receives some recorded birthday messages from:

which leave her surprised, but very happy:

In Lauren's VT she explains that she came into the competition just thinking about the competition, and she's worried that she's coming across as quite mechanical in her attitude, like 'a robot'. So her friend's take her to a fun fair, so that she can "chill out, man".

Danielle is performing Mambo Italiano, which I love, and she's absolutely fantastic!

It made me smile all the way through, and I wasn't the only one:

I thought she did a great job with the dancing, interacting with the male dancers and mastering the Italian accent and words; it was a shame she got a little bit breathless towards the end but I'm not surprised and she covered it well anyway. Follow that Lauren! She's singing The Man That Got Away. Her voice is good as always, and her face is acting to within an inch of it's life. There's no denying she's a very talented performer, but I just can't see her as Dorothy - I think she's kind of 'too mature' - not so much in age but just in her look and the big voice and everything.

Sheila says they were both absolutely knockout performances! The great thing about these two is that they assume a character, and really 'live' the roles. She's really pleased that Danielle had fun and let rip - it's a silly song and she was silly, but lovely. She thought Lauren brought all the anger, desperation and grief of the song into her performance, and said it moved her deeply. John tells Danielle that, considering that three months ago she'd never even been to an audition, to give a performance like this was sensational. He pointed out that her vocal suffered slightly due to the choreography, but most people have weeks of practice to learn the stamina for that, so it was still a fantastic performance. He tells Lauren that she's probably got the most experience out of all the girls, and it's starting to show - her performance was fantastic, committed and measured, and he loves her! Charlotte thinks that out of all the girls, Danielle has probably grown the most, and she thought the performance was absolutely brilliant - she says she was smiling all the way through. She tells Lauren that hers was one of the best performances she's ever seen in her life, it was absolutely brilliant. Andrew says they were two fantastic performances and he's so proud of them both. He thought Danielle showed humour and fun, and he was pleased that she used her eyes and showed what she'd got. He also praised her for doing the whole thing live, whereas a lot of top performers would've had it on track. He tells Lauren that it was a really difficult song to sing, but she made it her own, and then says he could go on all night about them both because they were both fantastic!

There's a brief Sunday mission update - this week it's about making 'the pretties', as Graham calls them, face their fears by sending them for a walk. In a forest. In the dark. It's all a bit Blair-Witch-camera-shots-up-nostrils...

Stephanie and Jessica are the last two to perform. In her VT, Stephanie goes back to Liverpool where everyone has turned out to welcome her back. Well, the whole street, at least.

They couldn't get a yellow brick road, so her neighbour's mum took the wallpaper off her bedroom wall to make one, because "she deserves it".

Jessica reveals in her VT that she started to lose her voice last Sunday, so she went to see a throat specialist and was advised not to sing all week so that she could rest it. She's worried because she hasn't been able to rehearse her song, although she's still been practicing the routine.

Steph is singing Mr Bojangles. I always think this must be a bit of a tough song to sing, as it's one of those 'talky' songs. She does a bit of a soft shoe shuffle in the middle of it.

It's pleasant, but possibly not one of her best performances. I've decided that she reminds me a bit of Stockard Channing in Grease - I think it's the mouth...

Jessica is performing Cabaret, which she says is her favourite song in the whole world. She certainly seems comfortable enough performing it, and her voice sounds fine on the high notes, so you wouldn't know she'd had a problem all week.

John didn't like Stephanie's performance, he didn't understand who Mr Bojangles was or who she was singing to, and he didn't get the dancing either; Charlotte interrupts and says she completely disagrees, she thought it was a different interpretation, and it's a difficult song for a woman to sing (Nina Simone did ok with it). John continues and tells Jessica that her performance was the one he's been waiting for; it was passionate, and showed courage and attack, and those are qualities that Dorothy should have. Charlotte starts off by saying that everyone has really stepped up; she thought they were good before, but tonight they were astounding. She tells Stephanie again that she thought she was good, and that it was Jessica's best vocal performance; she owned the stage and it was brilliant. Sheila thought Jessica was really good; she got the context of the song but it could have had a few more colours in it, although the overall colour was just right. Gawd, if it's not 'wit' it's 'colours'... She thinks Stephanie should've told the story more simply and let the viewers decide who Mr Bojangles was, rather than making it out to be a sad song right from the start, but she admits it was a 'jolly difficult' song to sing. Andrew agrees that they were both tough songs to sing; he thought Jessica did well and got the acting pretty much right, even though it's difficult for a young girl to understand. He tells Steph that maybe she could've told two sides of the story, the narrator and Mr Bojangles, but overall he thought she did well.

So that's all the solo performances. The next bit of VT is of ALW himself sharing his thoughts on each girl, after working with them all individually this week (I don't know if we're going to see more of this on Sunday). He thinks Danielle is one of the most talented girls in the competition, although we might not have seen all that she can do yet - he wants to see sparkle and verve from her. He doesn't think Lauren is arrogant at all, she's actually quite vulnerable but she might not have shown this on the programme. Stephanie is a very interesting talent, she's got lots of personality, but needs to show the acting side now. He thinks Steph has made a huge journey, because when we first saw her she was "riffing everything to pieces" and he didn't think she was a Dorothy, but now she's turning a corner for him, and he feels she's a very strong contender. Jenny surprised everyone at the start, although Andrew wasn't convinced that she was one of the strongest performers, but she's really come forward in leaps and bounds, and now we've got to see how much further she can grow. Jessica has got so much to offer, but he's only seen flashes so far and he needs to make sure they aren't those of a one-trick pony. He thinks the big question with Sophie is has she turned in on herself from the girl they saw at the start; he thinks she's got a lovely open face and he wants her to share it, because she could be a Dorothy who is a bit homespun. Overall, he's very proud of all the girls and what they are achieving every week.

Finally there is a group performance The Trolley Song from Meet Me In St Louis.

Can I just say that I think all the boy dancers are great aswell. I know technically we're not supposed to be watching them, but sometimes they really add to the performances - it would be nice to see them given some recognition on the show at some point.

Andrew's Final Thought is to tell the viewers to think of the girls as Dorothy, but also to vote for the real talent who they like. Erm, yes, that's usually how it works...

So it's Sunday night already, doesn't time fly? I've been avoiding Twitter and all the messageboards so as to not accidentally find out who's gone.

The Dorothy's reprise Don't Rain On My Parade - I'm sure it's "If someone takes a spill it's me and not you" not "If someone makes a spill..." That bothers me...

There's a recap of last night's show - um, see above.

After working with the girls this week, Andrew says it will be really hard to lose one of them. They're all really talented, and he's looking forwards to, but also dreading, the end of the show. Graham asks Sheila if she thinks they're reaching the West End standard, and she says as far as talent goes, yes they are. As for the hard work and stamina though, the test will be for the one who wins, who has to perform 8 shows a week for several months, and make every one seem like the first one - she doesn't know if they're ready for that yet. John is asked if there are any frontrunners emerging, and he thinks that all the girls are developing, but there are three who are consistently strong and turning in worthy West End performances. Charlotte thinks there are no weak links among the ones who are left [now that Emilie has gone].

Mash-up time now and Graham says "to be honest it's a medley, but for argument's sake, we'll call it a mash-up" - at last, they've finally admitted it! They start off sitting at a table singing Well Did You Evah, before merging into Get The Party Started and I think a little bit of Wild Thang by Tone Loc.

Toto time now. The five wannabe Toto's head to the stage of Legally Blonde.

Eddie nearly gets swallowed by a chair:

They will be learning and then performing a routine from the show where they have to run over to a mat and sit down, and then bark on cue. They watch Amy Lennox and Bruiser from the cast do it first, and then it's their turn. Missy does well with the routine. Eddie gets to the mat, but is too excited to bark. Spider comes skidding onto the stage and not only barks on cue, but also rolls over, and then runs to the front of the stage and nearly skids straight off the edge. There's a collective gasp!

Troy is very quiet and reluctant to bark and doesn't really look interested in any of it. Dave gets to the mat and sits, but also doesn't want to bark. This week's top dog is Missy.

Graham chats to the girls. Danielle says she loved having the chance to let go and have fun. Sophie says she's always worried about being in the bottom two, but she hopes she's done enough to prove that she's worth a place in the competition. Lauren can't believe Charlotte's compliment and has to keep pinching herself. Jessica thinks everyone was amazing this week, but her performance really meant something to her, which is all that matters really. Stephanie doesn't know what went wrong to make John not enjoy her performance, but it came from the heart and she doesn't feel ready to go yet.

Time for this week's mission, minus poorly Jessica. Cue X-Files theme music. The girls must walk through a forest, alone, in the dark. It must be quite cold, as they've all got a shawl in their colour and they're wearing long-sleeved jumpers and unflattering white long johns under their dresses.

Danielle goes first, and says she feels sick, but tells herself she's 18 now.

Jenny's mum says she'll be putting on a brave face (or getting hit in it by a branch).

Lauren is acting her little socks off repeating (in a kind of American accent) "there's no place like home, there's no place like home...".

Steph's not happy at all...

... but Sophie says she's not scared, because she likes a challenge...

We don't get a Stephanie Cam for some reason, but she's also petrified

After getting past Graham the Flying Monkey

they have a decision to make. Do they turn left to Oz, or right to go home?

Unbeknownst to them, their mum's are waiting in tents if they go 'home', watching their every move on a monitor, whereas the ones who choose to go to Oz are seen as the bravest ones in this week's task. It is a bit misleading, because obviously Dorothy was trying to get home, so some of them think that's the right answer. Danielle wants to go home, but thinks she needs to choose the long way and go to Oz, Jenny decides to go home, Steph goes home, Stephanie thinks it's a trick at first, but eventually goes to Oz (her mum in the tent says to the monitor "you did the right thing but I WANTED A HUG!"), Lauren goes home and cries her eyes out at the sight of her mum and Sophie goes to Oz. So Danielle, Stephanie and Sophie 'win' this task.

Next is a group performance of The Happening by The Supremes. It's very bouncy.

The panel are asked who stood out for them and all three of them choose Danielle. Andrew says that they're all brilliant and ultimately it's going to come down to who can control the dog, and master dialects (/daleks) and accents...

It's almost results time, and the girls are asked who they think would struggle with the pressure of performing in the West End.

Danielle thinks Jenny as she's not the most natural mover. Jenny thinks Stephanie might struggle because she's always singing, and sometimes she just needs to save her voice. Stephanie says that Jenny has never done a long-running show before, so she might find it hard stamina-wise. Lauren says that Stephanie is very young and it's a big step to live on your own and have all of that pressure, so she might find it hard. Steph thinks Jessica might struggle because she lost her voice this week. Jessica also thinks Jenny struggles with the dancing, and needs to work a bit more than the rest of them. Sophie thinks Stephanie would have to fend for herself, and she's not ready for that yet.

The time has come to ask the panel who is not Dorothy for them. Sheila chooses Stephanie. John can't believe he's saying it, but he bases his decision on the girl who disappointed him the most, and that was Stephanie. Charlotte says it's a tough decision because there were no weak performances, but she has to pick someone and it's her 'little Welsh songbird' Sophie.

Results time:
Steph's name is announced first - she's in the bottom two.
Danielle - safe
Jessica and Lauren - both safe
Jenny - safe

Sophie and Stephanie are left; Stephanie is crying even before her name is announced, but she is in the bottom two, and Sophie is safe.

Graham reveals that the girl with the lowest votes was Stephanie.

They have to sing Tell Me On A Sunday. As Graham is speaking you can hear voices; presumably it's Steph and Stephanie giving each other some words of support. Andrew says he's finding it difficult and this isn't the result he wanted. He tells them to think of the words and wishes them good luck. Graham says "take a deep breath, stay strong," and Stephanie nods as though she thinks he's just talking to her. It seems like she's already resigned herself to the fact that she might be going and is really struggling to keep the tears at bay. She gets it together enough to sing the song. Sophie is also singing along at the side.

They finish the song and go over to Graham - Steph is composed and clearly supporting Stephanie, even though it looks like it's the other way around.

Andrew says the song was about acting through the music, and they're both really talented, but in the end he saves Steph, who looks shocked. I guess in her own way she'd also decided that she was going...

Stephanie is in tears again. She says she's had the most amazing time and didn't want to leave yet as she knew she had a lot more to give. She tells the girls that she loves them all, and that this is just the beginning for her. Andrew says he has no doubt that she will have a big career.

So in a very emotional goodbye, Stephanie rides the moon amongst lots of tears and sniffling. Her voice is cracking a bit and she sounds a little bit out of time; she even stops singing when the others join in until her solo bit at the end, presumably so that she can try and get her voice under control for the big end note, which she manages to hit.

Bye bye Stephanie, I'm sure it won't be the last we see of her!

Next week - a double elimination!!! Shock! Horror!

Fleming Finally Flies!

2010-04-25T16:23:00.041+01:00

Last week the competition was blown wide open! Tonight just eight girls remain in the battle to become Dorothy! What dramatic soundbites have they got in store for us today?

Sophie - "Andrew's looking for a Dorothy, and I think he could find one in me."

Lauren - "I believe in myself, and I believe I can do it."

Emilie - "I would be an amazing Dorothy!"

Steph - "I can imagine myself, on stage, as Dorothy."

Danielle - "I couldn't want it any more."

Jenny - "I want it really really bad."

Jessica - "I was born to play the role."

Stephanie - "I think I could be one of the best Dorothy's there's ever been."

So that's reassuring then, they all still want to be Dorothy, and no one is fed up with it yet.

For a change, Graham enters alone tonight, with no Dorothy's lined up on the steps. He stirs up the audience, the panel and The Lord with the help of more fireworks. Apparently, Andrew is mad with excitement:

The Dorothy’s start by singing a slightly altered version of If I Only Had A Heart, the lyrics changed to If I Only Had The Part.

Graham introduces the panel and Andrew as usual, who attempts another 'political' joke by saying it’s important for everyone to vote as we don’t want to have a ‘hung’ Dorothy. It takes everyone a while to decide whether it's appropriate to laugh at this or not...

The first two Dorothy's to sing are Jenny and Emilie. *SOB STORY ALERT* Jenny's VT reveals that when she was at school she was overweight, even obese, which made her shy away from performing. Someone with a dodgy sense of humour decided it would be a good idea to play Bedshaped by Keane in the background as she was recounting how she was bullied due to her size. She eventually managed to lose the weight (good for her!) and now feels like she can be herself.

Emilie's VT shows that she's still very upset after all her negative comments from last week. This week they've all had a session with Charlotte, and in her one-to-one with her Charlotte gives her some tips about controlling her voice. As always, by the end of it they're all smiles. So we can expect an outstanding performance tonight then?

Jenny is singing Warwick Avenue by Duffy. It's not bad, a bit bland really. She's still looking at the stairs on the way down so John's session last week can't have helped her much. It also seems like they’ve altered the arrangement of it a bit; it doesn't seem as though she's sung the full-length version and the ending is a bit different. They've done her hair like Duffy's though, so that's something...

Emilie sings Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. I hate this song with a passion, so I can't really warm to the performance at all. She does a bit of acting and dancing which isn't great, and she's also wearing an awful dress which she’s nearly popping out of and which is distracting for all the wrong reasons. I thought her voice was better last week, despite the fact that the panel didn't like it. This week, it's not good.

Charlotte thought Jenny did a good job, but it was a bit self-contained. She thought Emilie was fun and frivolous, and says her tone of voice is closest to Judy Garland, so she really wants to see her sing Somewhere Over The Rainbow. Graham says "ooh, hopefully she won't be singing it this week?" Oops, Freudian slip, Charlotte? Sheila didn’t see any anguish from Jenny. She thought Emilie was cute and congratulates her on overcoming criticism. John tells Jenny to push the acting as, although it was a good vocal performance, he thought it was a bit flat from a performance point of view. He commends Emilie for giving it some welly and attack, but he tells both girls to try harder, as they're looking for Dorothy and not her understudy. Andrew warns Emilie that, because she got upset last week, she might not be cut out for this job. He tells Jenny she should’ve had more anguish, and refers to the video where Duffy cries all the way through. Jenny sheepishly says she's never seen it, and he doesn't look too happy about that. Maybe he thinks she should've put in some research?

Next up are Stephanie and Lauren. Stephanie's VT is about her lack of cookery skills, so she has a visit from top chef Aldi Lidl or whatever his name is who teaches her to make pesto (which she thinks is gravy).

*SOB STORY ALERT* Lauren's VT features her mum, who reveals that Lauren had a hearing problem when she was young. She had to wear a hearing aid, which she hated, and she preferred to just 'feel' music, rather than hear it. When she was about 17 or 18 her hearing returned, but she could lose it again at any time, which is why she wants to make the most of what she's got now.

Stephanie sings Nobody Does It Better, and it's a really good performance.

Lauren sings Nobody Knows by Pink. She starts off kneeling on the floor. It's a bit shouty, but it’s probably meant to be like that (I'm not familiar with the original), and I have to admit she's got a great voice. She still does that stupid walk/run across the stage though.

Sheila tells Steph she should’ve acted it more, to explain what 'it' is. She thought the ending of Lauren's song was great, and that overall it was a huge step forward for her. John tells Steph to bring the kind of performance that she gives when she's doing a 'dance number' into her solo ones. He tells Lauren that the best compliment he can give is to say that he didn’t want her to stop singing. Charlotte tells Steph that she could listen to her sing the phone book, and that in the workshop with Lauren, she wanted her to be a bit less slick, and a bit more raw, which she did. Andrew thought they were both great, and would be happy to see either of them as Dorothy.

The next two girls to sing are Sophie and Jessica. Sophie's VT shows her learning to toughen up with the help of some Welsh rugby players. She seems to enjoy it, so I'll be embarassed on her behalf instead. She sings Love Song by Sarah Bareilles. She actually looks quite nice this time. The vocal is ok, but it’s still a bit serious, or not exactly ‘fun’.

In Jessica's VT she says that she's confused by all the comments from last week, and she doesn't really know what to do to get it right. She just wants to be loved by the panel. She's singing There You'll Be by Faith Hill, which is ok, but I think I just don't really like the song.

John says Sophie still has to really work hard, as he felt she was still a bit understated. He tells Jessica that it was her most truthful and honest performance, especially when her lip trembled. Praise, indeed! Charlotte thought Sophie struggled a bit with the song, and it was a bit pitchy in places. She felt that Jessica was pushing her voice a bit too much, but it got better from the last chorus to the end. Sheila thought Sophie was terrific, because she kept it light. She felt that Jessica's performance was a bit 'acted' at first, but the last line was a moment of truth. Andrew thinks Sophie is very talented and he tries to advise the viewers to listen to the girls speak as well as sing; he kind of lost me, to be honest, but I think he was trying to point out the fact that the musical isn't just about singing, there's the 'talking' aspect of it too. Or something. Andrew thinks that Jessica is, at times, world class and not a one-trick pony, although he agrees with what the panel have said about her tonight.

The last two girls to sing are Danielle and Steph. Danielle is still upset about the sing-off, and the fact that her best mate and room-mate Dani left last week. We also meet her gran who has been there for her right from the first auditions. I thought it was going to be another *sob story alert* at first, and they were going to say that she'd died, but thankfully she's still alive and kicking, and supporting her grand-daughter. Danielle sings Cry Me A River by Julie London (not Justin Timberlake!). She descends from the ceiling on a trapeze-type affair, looking very glam and sultry, and the whole thing is, frankly, a bit blimmin' amazing!

Steph’s VT shows her family watching her performances on repeat and being supportive almost to the point of being annoying. She sings Use Somebody by Kings Of Leon, which was never going to go down well with me, cos there's only one man who can sing that!!!

Swoon!

She starts off lying on the floor and the arrangement seems different as it misses out verses. As much as I love the song, I don't really like this rendition.

Charlotte thought they were both exceptional. She thought Steph sang it brilliantly well, and she couldn't take her eyes off her. Danielle was sultry and had a perfect vocal. Sheila thinks that these two are the best actors and interpreters of the lyrics. She says that Danielle will be a big star, whether it's as Dorothy or something else, and she thought she brought a subtlety and gravity to her performance. She thought Steph performed beautifully. John 'snaps it out' and says Steph was fierce, and says Danielle is one of their most consistent performers. He says he's going to click his heels together three times and say that "there's no place like the final for both you girls". He's sounding more like Barrowman every week. Andrew says they were both excellent. He says they also have to work on the acting and getting their dialects right, although the way he says the word it sounds more like daleks.

After all the performances, Danielle is still my favourite!

Next up is a showdown at the hoedown. The Deadwood Dames consist of Jenny, Emilie, Stephanie and Lauren; they're singing The Deadwood Stage from Calamity Jane. I wonder if the other three feel like they drew the short straw having Emilie in their group?

When they finish, Graham introduces the next group, but the music starts and they start singing before he's finished talking, so we kind of miss the first line. I wonder if they started too soon? Then it seems like there's a problem with the mics - basically the first few lines aren't great. Anyway the second group is The Oklahoma Outlaws consisting of Jessica, Steph, Sophie and Danielle, who are singing Oklahoma.

Calamity Jane is one of my favourite musicals, and although I haven't seen Oklahoma, I do love that song - it's great for singing along to in the car! The panel are asked which group they prefer - all three choose the Oklahoma Outlaws, but ALW manages to avoid answering by saying they should just give each girl her own show each week for the next 8 weeks.

Lines open!! Recap of the performances, lest you forget.

Goodbye. Hello!

Sunday night's show begins with a repeat performance of If I Only Had The Part, and a reminder of what happened on Saturday's show. Despite still not getting great comments, Emilie was in a better mood, saying that she could work on the advice she'd been given. This week John says he's got no idea about who will be in the bottom two - presumably he got it wrong last week, so he's keeping his cards close to his chest this time. Sheila says that the scary thing is that she knows someone's going to be voted off, and she knows she's not going to agree with it. Erm, don't be so sure about that... Andrew is asked if there are any front-runners and he says 8. But then he says probably 6, but he doesn't elaborate.

Mash-up time, and it's a monochrome theme this week with the outfits. They start off with A Fine Romance, and then (who didn't see this coming?) burst into Bad Romance/Just Dance/Paparazzi complete with dodgy robotic dancing.

Toto time now, and the final 11 are invited to perform for Andrew at Webber Towers.

Team Toto are there along with Andrew, who admits he's had cats all his life, and who has now gone up even more in my estimation. Basically, the dogs all perform their best tricks and look very cute, and the panel deliberates, before Andrew announces the five finalists. They are:

Next week they will be em'bark'ing on their first Toto Task, as they tread the boards at Legally Blonde. Surely Troy is going to have the advantage there?

This week's mission is a vocal one, with Charlotte and the girls singing in what appears to be a cathedral, because it's got great acoustics. She works one-on-one with them listening to their tone and pitch. They're practicing No More Tears (Enough Is Enough), and she announces that she'll be singing it with them.

She's the one in the trousers...

So, it's nearly results time. Who do the girl's think is the public's favourite?

Emilie thinks Stephanie is the public's favourite; Jenny thinks Emilie; Steph thinks Jessica; Jessica thinks Sophie; Sophie thinks Stephanie; Stephanie thinks Emilie; Danielle thinks Sophie; Lauren thinks Jenny.

Who's not Dorothy for the panel? Sheila = Emilie, John = Emilie, Charlotte = Emilie.

Safe are:

Steph, Jessica, Stephanie, Lauren, Jenny, Danielle

leaving Sophie in the sing-off with Emilie. Graham reveals that the person with the lowest amount of viewer's votes was Emilie. I think it's fair to say that the sing-off is now just a formality. Surely there's no way that Andrew will save Emilie? I know Sophie hasn't always been the strongest performer so far, but when you listen to them singing side by side her voice is so much better than Emilie's.

They perform I Know Him So Well from Chess - Andrew tells them to act it as well as they can; he wants their acting to make up his mind for him. I'm no expert, but I think this is actually a really difficult song to sing; having to concentrate on your own part while someone else sings a totally different melody. They do a really good job, although like I said, Sophie's voice is far superior. Emilie probably 'acts' more with her facial expressions though.

Andrew says they both did a great job, leaves a big pause, then just says "I'm going to save Sophie". I guess he wasn't too swayed by the acting after all. Emilie thanks her mum and dad, and the public for voting her back in as the wildcard originally. She says she's going to train and toughen up, and we will see her on a stage. I think she must have resigned herself to the fact that she'd be leaving, and she was very gracious in defeat, wishing all the other girls good luck.

As the Dorothy's sing the first part of the goodbye song, all you can hear is sniffing! They're all a bit teary as they come down to give her a hug, apart from Jessica - I'm not really sure what emotion she was feeling:

I was really hoping that, like Amy, Bronte and Dani before her, Emilie's last song would be one of her best performances, but I hate to say it, it's still not good. And that's after Charlotte said she was the most like Judy Garland! Unfortunately her voice cracked on the very last note, but we'll blame that on the emotion. Oh well, there she goes!

P.S. Don't know what's going on with the font this week - I've had some computer problems so I'm blaming that...

The End Of The Rayner-bow...

2010-04-17T20:52:00.033+01:00

It's week 3 of the competition, and Graham reminds us of the agonising decision that Andrew faced last week over who to save. There's a brief clip of a tearful Bronte apologising to him about letting him down, and Andrew telling her that she hasn't

before Graham tells us that "tonight, no Dorothy is safe" (as though they have been previously). Cue scary soundbites from the Dorothy's!

Danielle - "anyone could go"
Jenny - "it is really a scary thing"
Stephanie - "it's absolutely terrifying"
Emilie - "you just don't know what's gonna happen"
Dani - "we've all gotta fight to be here"
Sophie - "there cannot be any mistakes"
Steph - "there's no other option but to be the best"
Jessica - "everybody needs to watch their back"
Lauren - "it's really got tough"

Got that?? Good!

Tonight's show begins with the Dorothy's singing Ease On Down The Road from The Wiz. I had to look this up on Wikipedia, as I'd never heard of it before and I assumed they were singing it because of the tenuous link that it, um, mentions a road. But apparently The Wiz is a Broadway musical retelling of The Wizard Of Oz in the context of African-American culture, and later a film starring Diana Ross as The Scarecrow and Michael Jackson as Dorothy. Or was it the other way around? Anyway, it's ok, but it seems as though the individual mics aren't being turned up quickly enough, or they're missing the start of their lines or something. There's also lots of skirt-swishing in this, especially Jessica.

Next Graham informs us that it's dance week, although quite a lot of the performances to come involve a lot of standing around, at which point the panel decide that if there wasn't any dancing, they'll judge it on acting. Or interpretation. Or connection with the lyric and the audience. Or whatever the hell they want, really.

As usual, we're introduced to the panel, with a special mention for Charlotte who is newly engaged to that weird looking rugby player. Graham reminds us that Dorothy won't be Bronte, cos she got booted last week, but then ALW reveals that she's had a couple of auditions, and he thinks she'll probably get one of them (doesn't reveal what they are though), and he also informs us that she got her place in stage school, which he feels is what she really needs right now.

In another piece of topical 'look-we're-liiiiive' news, Andrew also says that the musical director is stranded somewhere due to volcanic ash, so Mike Dixon is standing in this evening *round of applause for him*

Graham tells us about the ruby red button option to singalong, and then Andrew tries to make a joke about having to vote for George, Dave or Nick - Graham is genuinely confused, and says he'll have to watch it back to understand it. Um, I think he meant Gordon, not George!

So on with the show, and first up is Dani singing One Night Only from Dreamgirls.

She really belts it out, and possibly looks the most confident that she's been so far. John thinks it was her strongest performance to date. Charlotte loves that she's not self-conscious, but tells her to listen to her voice as it can sometimes get a bit nasal. Sheila says she would've liked a bit more light and shade in the performance as she thought Dani didn't quite show what it was about, but overall she liked it.

Sophie is singing I'm With You by Avril Lavigne. In her VT we see her having a one-to-one acting lesson with John, who is trying to pull her personality and a performance out of her. He seems happy with her by the time they've finished.

I wonder who chooses the outfits, and if the girls have a say. Her dress is awful, like a tutu, and it actually distracts me from her performance as I sit there wondering whether she feels comfortable showing so much leg. Again, I don't think it was the greatest song choice for her, but I do like her voice (and her) so I hope she stays in. John says that both she and Dani were sensational, and that Sophie won't be going home after this performance. Charlotte loved it, but just warned her about not pushing her voice too much. Sheila thought it was a real breakthrough for her, but would love to see her do a humorous song next time.

Next up is Lauren. In her VT she says that she was devastated last week when Charlotte said she was confident/arrogant and then says, whilst laughing, "why is it so hard to talk when you're upset?" Not a convincing display of the ol' waterworks for me, there. Then she says "I come across as confident, but inside, I'm not as thick-skinned as I let on" - that's very true, because your skin is on the outside. She's singing Sway and being passed around from one male dancer to another...

... including Rachel Stevens new husband, Alex:

I like this song, but I can't say that her performance really did anything for me. I think she was trying to make it 'musical theatre' which seems to me to be just about over-pronunciation of all the words, which I don't mind when they're singing a show tune, but it kind of bothers me when it's a 'pop' song. IYKWIM... Charlotte thought she smouldered her way through the performance. Sheila felt it was an elegant performance, because she came down the stairs without looking at them (except she did). John tells her it's ok to be confident, and that she's the full package because she's just proved that she can dance as well.

It's Emilie's turn next singing Moon River. She's sitting on the floor, and a male dancer is lying next to her with his head in her lap - I think we're supposed to get 'dreamy and romantic' from that. I think.

I have to say this is a much better song choice for her; it seems to suit her and I think her vocal is a lot better than what we've heard previously. However, the panel seem to disagree and basically give her a bit of a slating. Sheila says that she didn't really understand why the chap was there, and it didn't seem to explain what the song was about, but she thought her voice was pretty. John says he just didn't get it, and he thought that Emilie didn't seem to understand it either. He didn't know who she was singing to, and when she had a little waltz with the dancer, she didn't look at him or connect with him. He also didn't think she was supported vocally. Charlotte disagrees saying that she saw her looking at the dancer, and also that she thinks she's found her vocal control and she understood the story of the performance. Emilie looks very relieved to finally get a good comment. Andrew thinks he's going to have to be blunt and says that there was a reason why they didn't put her into the top 10 and that he doesn't think she's vocally secure. He's also worried about her in a 2,500 seater theatre doing 8 shows a week, but he does tell her that she's a good mover and not to give up, to which she replies that she won't. By the end of it she's struggling to fight back tears, and I do actually feel sorry for her - her voice was better, and as for the choreography part of it, that isn't really her fault. Stephanie gives her a supportive arm squeeze but off camera I think she might lose it for a minute, because even Graham starts to fluff his words as though he's distracted.

Stephanie follows Emilie singing Lets Get Loud by J-Lo which is, in my opinion, an absolutely awful song. However it does give her the opportunity to do lots of dancing.

I haven't commented before on the fact that her mouth makes strange shapes when she sings, but it was really distracting me tonight.

I don't know if it's something that she can change or not. Sheila thought it was a wonderful performance, and she's glad that she did Smile last week because it's shown there are two sides to her. She didn't have a clue what the song was about though. John thought it was another solid, sensational performance and Charlotte tells her she's awesome. Andrew tells her she did something extraordinary tonight, and she's a great singer and dancer.

Steph (her mum is Baby D y'know!) sings an emotional version of Out Here On My Own from Fame.

John says that this week she dazzled us with her acting ability, he thought she was absolutely wonderful, sincere and honest. Charlotte calls her a triple threat - she can act, dance and sing - but she tells her to just be careful of the vibrato in her voice, which can get a little bit overpowering. Sheila thought she was beautiful, very deeply felt and simple. Andrew tells her that she's immensely talented, then he mumbles a bit and I didn't quite catch it, but I think the gist of it was that if she isn't Dorothy, it's only about the role, not about her talent. Or something.

Jenny performs Why Do Fools Fall In Love.

In her VT (I love her Scottish accent, by the way) she says it's been great getting good comments, but it's put her under increased pressure to keep it up, and she's worried this week might be when her luck changes, especially as she's not a good dancer. She's right. John tells her that he's starting to feel that she's faking it, and he's looking for a girl that can actually 'do it'. Charlotte tells Jenny that her voice was really nasal whereas it wasn't last week, so she needs to watch that. Sheila says she doesn't care whether she can dance or not, she should've had more fun with it like she did in rehearsal. Andrew agrees but says she did really well with it. I can't believe how different she looks without makeup either...

There's a short interlude while we have a Toto update - Graham warns us "You will cry! You will!" and then it's back to the singing.

Jessica performs Crazy Little Thing Called Love, complete with a motorbike prop and several male dancers.

She pulls lots of funny faces as usual, and even does some jiving, but she's no Lilia Kopylova. She doesn't sound great, but I imagine it's not a great song to show off your voice, it's almost a bit 'talky' in places. Charlotte thought she owned the stage, but wished she'd made it a bit more 'bluesy'. Sheila calls her Steph, and says that as the choreography was so complicated, she didn't think she was right on top of it. Jess just smiles, obviously not wanting to be the one to correct her. John says he wanted to love it but he didn't; he thought the dancing looked laboured. Andrew says if he was casting Funny Girl she'd be high on his list.

Last up is Danielle singing Could It Be Magic.

John's face halfway through is a picture:

I felt it was a bit shouty in places and Charlotte said so too! She tells her to colour her top notes with vibrato, but apart from that it was a complete performance. Sheila tells her to love the camera more and regard it as a friend rather than an intrusion, because what she does is so truthful and wonderful. When she's finished commenting on them both, Graham says "just to confirm, when you were talking earlier, I think you meant Jessica" and Sheila is all "yes. No, Danielle!" and Graham's "when you were talking to Jessica you meant Jessica" and Sheila's "yes, yes I did..." Confusion abounds. John tells Danielle that he liked the performance, but he thinks he's seen it before - she's found what she's good at and she's sticking with it, and he'd like her to take a risk. Andrew tells her that she's a remarkable performer, although she could come out of her shell even more.

After seeing all the performances, I'm going to stick me neck out and say "Danielle Hope For Dorothy!". I know it's already week 3, but to be fair I wouldn't have chosen Amy or Bronte, although I liked them both. I think Danielle is young enough to play Dorothy, and she 'looks the part' (in my mind). She seems intelligent and dedicated enough to understand how much hard work would be required, and she seems to be able to sing, dance and act - everything needed for the role. She's got my vote! (Except, I'm not actually voting, so I mean that in a figurative sense, rather than a literal sense).

Graham reminds us not to call until he says so, because the phone lines aren't open "Them Iz The Rulez". Finally we have the big dance number of the show - all the Dorothy's singing and dancing to America from West Side Story, complete with male dancers and faux-Puerto Rican accents - Sophie's has a slight Welsh twang, but somehow that adds to the charm!

That's it for Saturday, but the-show-that-is-filmed-on-Sunday (nod nod, wink wink) begins with another rendition of Ease On Down The Road, followed by all the highs and lows of ~~earlier tonight~~ yesterday. Emilie is crying buckets backstage:

Her mum is in the audience saying she can't understand why Andrew and the panel are being very harsh on her. As I said earlier, I do think she sang better this week, even if she isn't one of the best, so I did feel a bit sorry for her.

We have another 'Dorothy Mash-Up' and it seems that they've been listening to the comments and complaints on various forums, because this is more of a mash-up than previous ones. It starts with them all in red mini-macs singing Losing My Mind (Liza Minnelli), before they whip them off for a rendition of Crazy In Love (Beyonce), then Crazy (Gnarls Barkley) and then back into Crazy In Love. It's not good.

I don't know - they keep saying that they're 'not casting Girls Aloud' and then they dress them like this! I guess it's about showing their versatility, but aren't there enough 'different' show tunes that could do that just as well?

Now it's Toto time, and Graham was right - I cried! But I'm a sucker for anything with cute animals. I can't watch it again, but basically some were successful, some weren't and Jodie Prenger got very emotional.

As it's Dancing Week this week (or performance. Or interpretation. Or acting. Or whatever you want) the Dorothy Mission is all about learning how to walk in heels. John Partridge struts down a staircase in heels like he's done it thousands of times before, and then challenges the girls to do the same. In fairness though, these were his shoes:

and this is what the girls have to wear:

- he seems to be missing a couple of inches! They also have to skip, run (Jess: "basically, I run like an elephant") and glide down a staircase before dancing with him, all the while being watched over from a balcony by ALW and Arlene Phillips (who we don't hear a peep from, but I imagine if we had it would've sounded something like "you delivered a dizzying, dazzling, dramatic display of daring dancing... and I just want raw SEX"). Anyway, as expected, some did better than others. As Steph came down the stairs she didn't look at John; he felt she could've connected with him more. Jessica made eye contact with him and kept it all the way through their dance. Sophie gets a gold star for being committed to the task, despite being the most uncomfortable in heels. Lauren was tentative at first, but relaxed once he took her hand to dance. Dani did well, but was a bit stiff, and didn't seem to read where he was wanting her to go. Jenny surprised him, but not for the right reasons (he doesn't elaborate on that). Emilie has had previous dance training and wanted to lead, so just to show her who's boss he basically picked her up and spun her around a bit. John was most impressed with Stephanie, because she's physically very aware and extremely confident, and Danielle because she did something that none of the others did - she adopted a character and maintained it throughout her dance, which he thought was really good.

The group number is Buenos Aires from Evita. It's a very up-tempo song, and I can't tell what most of them are saying.

Just before the results, we have some VT of the Dorothy's saying who they'd miss most:

Danielle says Dani
Emilie says Stephanie
Dani says Steph
Jenny says Lauren
Steph says Sophie
Jessica says Dani
Lauren says Jenny
Stephanie says Emilie
Sophie says Steph

So no one would miss Danielle or Jessica then?! Interesting...

Results time, and the panel is asked who is not Dorothy. Sheila = Jessica; John = Emilie; Charlotte = Jenny.

Safe Dorothy's are:

Emilie (can't say I'm surprised, to be honest)
Stephanie
Jenny
Steph
Lauren
Jessica
Sophie

leaving Dani and Danielle (who happen to be room-mates in Dorothy Mansion too) to face the sing-off. Graham reveals that Dani had the lowest number of viewer votes.

They sing Maybe This Time from Cabaret. Andrew is asked what they can do, and says "remember what I said to you earlier... when we were talking last night..." (phew, nearly let it slip that this was filmed on Saturday). Dani really belts it, and looks close to tears all the way through; Danielle is much more calm and composed.

In the end, Andrew saves Danielle. He thinks Dani needs to work on her movement to music a bit more, but as she's only 16, he thinks she's got a great future ahead of her.

So it's time for the Dorothy's to say goodbye in their own special way. Dani puts in a respectable rendition of Over The Rainbow; a bit wobbly in places but she's still a bit tearful, so I think it's amazing that she managed to sing it at all.

Bye Bye Barbe, Barbe Bye Bye...

2010-04-11T15:38:00.035+01:00

It's week 2 of the search for Dorothy, but it seems like no one told Stephanie, because according to her "the competition's started". Jessica wants to go out there and "be the best". Sophie is going to show us what she's made of (I thought that was his job). Lauren would be absolutely devastated if she went out on week 2 (but surely that's not as bad as week 1?). Steph "really wants this". Dani thinks it's got tougher this week, and she needs to fight even harder. Bronte says she's "just got to go out there and smash it" (I wonder if she's referring to the goldfish bowl with the ruby slippers in?). Danielle "can't wait!". Emilie is "gonna be the best" (you'd think they'd have told her to come up with something different to Jess). Jenny wants those ruby slippers (you'd better take that hammer off Bronte then...)

This is Over The Rainbow!!!

Graham starts by mentioning the winner of the Grand National earlier in the day, which is a scary reminder of the way ol' Dentures Forsyth on Strictly Come Dancing would refer to something that had happened that day, seemingly to prove just how 'liiiiiiiive' they really are. He refers to the girls as 'fillies', before introducing the opening group number - Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead.

Incidentally, I looked at the BBC Over The Rainbow website earlier for the first time, and found that each Dorothy has an official dress colour. They are as follows:

Bronte - Bubble Gum Pink (cos lets face it, they couldn't really call it Barbie Pink, could they?)
Dani - Olive Green
Danielle - Red
Emilie - Forest Green (looks black to me)
Jenny - Burgundy (looks red to me)
Jessica - Emerald Green (GASP! Is that favouritism?? Emerald Green = Emerald City??)
Lauren - Cerise (looks red to me)
Sophie - Purple
Steph - Golden
Stephanie - Acid Yellow (is the 'acid' really necessary? Couldn't they just say yellow? Oh but - GASP! - that would be favouritism - Yellow dress = yellow brick road??)

Anyway, conclusion about the colours - I think I need an eye test...

On with the show, and Graham reminds us that Amy left last week, and had to hand back her shoes after losing the sing-off. It appears that ALW didn't like the idea of holding them on his lap and flung them over his shoulder instead, where they got caught up in a chandelier:

This week is 'acting week' - the Lord sent Sheila to work with each of the girls in turn, to help them act out and interpret the lyrics of their songs.

First up are Sophie and Jessica. Sophie is singing That Don't Impress Me Much by Shania Twain, which don't impress me much either. She's got two backing dancers - so that's what H from Steps is up to these days:

Once again, she's singing a song which doesn't seem to suit her, and she doesn't look entirely comfortable with it. I also wonder if it's strange for the younger girls to flirt and be sexy with the dancers, or is that just me being terribly old-fashioned?

Jessica is next singing The Voice Within.

Are they her toes I can see? Is she wearing tights with no toes in them, or black leggings which go all the way into her shoes? Can anyone explain? Her performance didn't do anything for me, although I was distracted by the toes, as you can see.

Graham asks Jess if it was terrifying working with 'acting legend' Sheila. She says it wasn't, and that she went in there with the thought that she's only got this one chance, so she's going to take on board everything Sheila tells her, and then she looks over at Mrs H and thanks her profusely because she's helped her so much. Graham then asks Sheila if the girls took her advice during their performances to which she replies "I'm sorry girls, I was disappointed". She reveals that she only had 15 minutes with each girl and it was at the beginning of the week, but she feels that neither of them picked up on what they'd told her they felt the songs were about. Sophie was supposed to be 'unimpressed' with the guys because she's so self-confident, which didn't come across, and she warns Jessica not to get too carried away when the audience cheers her 'big notes' - she was supposed to be imagining that she was singing to a young girl in tears, trying to calm and reassure her. So no minced words from Sheila there. John's turn next, and he tells Sophie that she frustrates him, because when he looks at her he sees Dorothy, but when she comes out and performs he doesn't feel that she's owning the stage. He says "you had two boy dancers with you in that performance and I found myself looking at them rather than you..." Hmm, he possibly could've phrased that a bit better; the audience titters in the background, while he ignores them and carries on telling her that she needs to be able to keep the attention on her whether she's got two people or thirty people behind her. He tells Jessica that there was no truth or honesty in her performance, and it was completely presentational. Charlotte says she disagrees with the other two, which gets a big cheer, but then kind of deflates the balloon slightly by saying it wasn't the best she's seen either of them perform, but "I think you did pretty well, like".

Bronte is next singing Suddenly I See. Her acting lesson seems to be about showing how mad! quirky! and crazy! she really is.

She's wearing a mad! quirky! crazy! pant suit type thing which does her absolutely no favours at all, and her performance is full of funny faces, flinging her arms out and running across the stage in that awful half-run/half-walk that they seem to be taught to do. I know she's meant to be making the song her own and not just copying KT Tunstall, but it really annoyed me how she pronounced every 't'. And I'm sure she said 'captivative' instead of 'captivated'. I liked her last week, not so much this week.

Dani's turn next, and she's singing Home by Mickey Bubbles. In her Sheila Session, they talk about homesickness and as she is suffering from this quite a bit, she feels that she understands the song and knows where he's coming from.

She has to negotiate the stairs in a pair of heels and she looks a bit wobbly at times, but she gets to sit down half way through. It's a pretty good performance, and she does actually look like she's going to burst into tears at several moments during it.

When they go over to Graham, mad! quirky! crazy! Bronte reveals that she says hello to herself every morning, something to do with making sure she doesn't have a sore throat. Oh you, stop it! John tells her that he could kind of see what she was doing with her song - it was meant to be about having a revelation about the kind of person you could be, but he felt that she had it right at the start instead of building up to it. Charlotte interrupts and says she disagrees. [Producers note to panel this week: Get tough with the girls, and have a few heated debates amongst yourselves]. He tells Dani that she seemed to start off weakly, but got better once she'd had a sit down. Charlotte's turn and she confirms that she did like Bronte's performance, but then deflates the balloon again slightly by saying it wasn't her best vocal, and she could've 'rocked out' a bit more (which I'm going to interpret as 'could've sounded more like KT Tunstall'). She thought Dani was brilliant. Sheila loved Dani's performance and thought she used her own experiences really well. She agreed with John about Bronte and felt that she'd nearly cracked it, but not quite; it didn't help that she'd had to come down the "damn staircase" halfway through which makes it hard to concentrate. Apparently, Bronte was picturing Julie Andrews as the person that she wanted to be, whilst singing her song. When ALW gives his opinion to Bronte, he slips up and calls her Barbie instead which raises a laugh, while Graham says "that is half her name!" What with that and the bubblegum pink dress, she's not doing a great job of shaking that image...

Steph is next, singing It's Oh So Quiet by Bjork. According to her biog on the BBC Dorothy site, her mum is Baby D! Well I never! For those who don't know, she's the blonde woman singing this song:

Like Sophie, Steph has two male backing dancers but unlike Sophie, she knows how to use them. It's probably not a great song for showing off a person's vocal abilities, but she still does a great performance with a bit of a dance routine thrown in too:

Jenny is next, singing Songbird by Eva Cassidy.

Although I'd heard this song on the radio, the first time I really paid any attention was when Siobhan sang it on How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria. So I thought we'd just have a little compare and contrast moment:

Jenny:

Siobhan:

Which is best? There's only one way to find out... FIIIIIGHT!!! (oi, who let Harry Hill in?)

Charlotte thought Steph's performance was fearless, and she thought Jenny sung beautifully. Sheila thought they both did brilliantly. John tells Steph "that is how you front a number", he thought it was fantastic. He thought Jenny could've had a bit more passion, but he's still a fan. Andrew was really pleased that he saved Steph, and he thought that Jenny was completely in tune and her pitching was immaculate.

There's a brief Toto interlude where, amongst other things, Jodie Prenger tries to interview a woman whose dog has other ideas:

Back to the singing, and Danielle is next, performing Just A Little Girl by Amy Studt (Misfit was my favourite song from that album). She gets her own bench to sit on.

At first I wasn't sure that I was going to like this, but she actually acted it really well - it looked like she was thinking about and responding to the lyrics, rather than just pulling a face here, and throwing her arms out there. I felt it was an 'age-appropriate' kind of song too.

Lauren is out next, doing a kind of coy/quirky rendition of I'll Never Fall In Love Again.

It's a bit more jaunty than I'm used to (I like Deacon Blue's version) and I'm not overly keen on it. Or maybe I'm just not overly keen on her. Apparently her mum keeps having a recurring nightmare that she has to sing in the sing-off, and Andrew has to decide whether Lauren stays or not based on her mum's performance.

Sheila tells Danielle that she's got a big career ahead of her regardless of what happens in this show, and that Lauren was witty, charming and light. John says it was Danielle's best performance to date, and he thought Lauren was fabulous. Charlotte loved Danielle's performance, but she warns Lauren that in her VT's she might come across as a bit arrogant, although when she comes out and sings like that "fair do's to you!" When it's Andrew's turn, he says to Danielle "now that's something else isn't it?" and she looks kind of worried, but he continues "I mean you're really fantastic, you are a very very strong contender!" After her performance tonight, I would agree.

Emilie is up next, singing and dancing (if you can call it that) to The Boy Does Nothing by Alesha Dixon.

To be fair, she does sound a bit better than last week, but it's still not a great song choice for her. I think she can sing, but it seems that she's only suited to a certain style, and isn't as versatile as some of the others. The beginning of this song confused me, because she sounded like she was off-time, or singing the wrong words altogether or something. Anyone else notice that?

Last of all, it's Stephanie, singing Smile, originally by Nat King Cole.

It's a bit 'breathy' at times, but I think she sings it beautifully, and it's nice to hear something with a bit of class (ie. not Pixie Lott).

John tells Emilie she's back in the competition, and that she's got a great set of pins. He loved seeing the softer side of Stephanie. Charlotte tells Emilie that she still really needs to control her voice. She thought Stephanie's was the performance of the night. Sheila thought Steph got better as she went along, and that Emilie could've had more fun with her performance. Andrew thought that Stephanie sang beautifully and turned him around because he wasn't sure about her last week, and he agrees with Charlotte that Emilie still hasn't quite got her voice under control.

Andrew's final thought is that he's worried that the girls are losing some of their innocence in the way that their hair is being styled, for example Jessica's has been dyed quite a bit darker than when he first saw her. He says everyone has to remember where they're coming from and where they're going. They're looking for Dorothy, not Girls Aloud. I completely agree. Maybe they should stop giving them pop songs to sing from the likes of Amy Whinehouse and Beyonce, in that case?

The phone lines open, and then there's just time for a group performance of You Can't Stop The Beat from Hairspray. First we see the VT of them rehearsing it. This is the choreographer:

Hmm, highly developed pecs, or gynaecomastia?? At one point he walks in front of them saying "I don't know about you girls, but I'm sweating slightly" in a bit of an Alan Carr voice:

They're all in pastels for this number:

That's the end of the Saturday show, but what's 24 hours? Pah, nothing. It's Sunday already here!

The results show kicks off with another rendition of Ding Dong etc, before a recap of Saturday night. Then there's another 'mash-up'... except it's not really, is it? It's just two songs that are vaguely related, joined together - this time it was Money Makes The World Go Round followed by Material Girl.

Next, we get to meet Team Toto:

Sarah Fisher - an animal behaviour expert who is looking for great confidence and appeal; Gerry Cott - stage and screen dog trainer, who can spot star potential in a dog within 10 seconds; and of course Jodie Prenger, who amongst other things is an 'animal fanatic'. Basically, there are lots of cute dogs, doing tricks.

After a quick chat with the Dorothy's, we see the VT of their acting mission with Sheila. They each have 48 hours to learn a scene from The Wizard Of Oz, where Dot meets The Scarecrow for the first time, and act this out in front of Sheila. Jessica says that she is quite a good actress, and she wants to show that in the session. Steph feels that she's under a bit of extra pressure after being in the bottom two last week. Dani thinks they've all learned their lines.

It's interesting that some of them (Jenny, Lauren, Steph, Stephanie, Jessica) seem to come out with an American(ish) accent, whilst others (Bronte, Danielle) just stay with their normal voice. I preferred the latter; the ones doing the accent seemed a bit too 'try-hard' to me. Unfortunately nerves got to a couple of them, with Sophie and Dani forgetting their lines. Painful to watch! Sheila says that Lauren is good, but almost too good, and that although she has sincerity, it's sometimes hidden by a bit of 'gloss'. She felt that Jessica and Steph were just doing what they thought was expected of them in musical theatre, and that Stephanie wasn't really listening when The Scarecrow was talking. Standout performances for her were Jenny, who stayed in character all the way through; Bronte, because she's got "funny little legs which collapse under her"(!); Emilie, who used her timidity for the character; and most of all, Danielle, because "she found a solemnity and grace in Dorothy... she's a considerable actress in my opinion". High praise, indeed.

There's another group performance, this time singing Get Happy by Judy Garland...

... and some VT of the Dorothy's saying who they think will be the next one to leave.

Finally, it's results time. The panel say who isn't Dorothy for them: Sheila - Sophie; John - Jessica; Charlotte - Emilie.

Safe Dorothy's are: Stephanie; Jessica; Jenny; Dani; Sophie; Steph; Danielle and Emilie (who looks increasingly terrified as each name is called out).

That leaves Lauren and Bronte in the sing-off - Graham reveals that it was Bronte who had the fewest public votes. They sing What I Did For Love from Chorus Line. ALW saves Lauren based on her having more experience, but is genuinely gutted that either of them were in the bottom two, because he says as the producer of this musical, they were both in his top five. He tells Bronte to stay in touch, so I guess that means he's got a job for her somewhere. Bit of a shame, I quite liked Bronte and I don't think it was her turn to go just yet.

So it's time for the cheesy ending again.

There she goes!

I'll be honest though, I think Amy sang Over The Rainbow much better last week...