James Jordan's Strictly Blog: The First Tens Of The Series Came Far Too Early
Welcome to another week of my exclusive column for WhichBingo. We’ve had the first tens of the series, another elimination, and plenty to get into on the scoring, the judges, and why I think everything around the dancing needs sorting out.
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My Scores from Week Five (24th October)
Jaime Winstone and Carlos Gu, Foxtrot. My score: 6. Judges: 6, 6, 6, 7.
Jaime has so much potential and has moments of brilliance, especially when she’s on her own, and her turns are exceptional. However, in my opinion they didn’t do the dance they were asked to do. It was basically an American smooth when it was supposed to be a foxtrot.
The panel mentioned how many times they were in and out of hold, but nobody said they hadn’t actually danced a foxtrot. There are rules about how long you can break hold that have been in place for many years, and as a dancer who knows them I find this very confusing. If the rules have changed, let the public know what they are. Len Goodman would have been very disappointed.
Lawrence Robb and Jowita Przystał, Jive. My score: 5. Judges: 4, 5, 4, 6.
I have mixed opinions on this one. It wasn’t a very good dance for them, but we’re now comparing him to people who are pretty much professional dancers, and ten years ago this would have been a decent standard. That’s what Strictly used to be about.
Having said that, he was totally flat-footed. The first thing you teach in jive is to pitch the weight forward into the balls of the feet, and that wasn’t there. I also felt the choreography was too advanced for his level. A simpler routine with a few highlights would have looked cleaner and let them concentrate on technique, which just wasn’t there.
He’s yet to be in the bottom two despite being one of the lower scorers, and I think that comes down to popularity. People get to know the couples through the VTs, and he comes across well. It isn’t just about the dancing.
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Graeme Hall and Lauren Oakley, Tango. My score: 7. Judges: 7, 8, 7, 9.
This was a really good tango with great content, and the way he moved across the floor was brilliant. His frame and posture were pretty good. He made a big timing mistake at the end of the routine and was a little skippy in places, but I still enjoyed the performance and I’m sure he’s a lovely guy.
I just can’t get it out of my head that he’s competed in ballroom and Latin. In my day you weren’t supposed to have any previous ballroom and Latin training. That’s not taking anything away from the dance, but he’s danced every dance we do, so he has a massive advantage. He already knows the timing of a jive and how to do a foxtrot, where most celebrities are being taught the basics from scratch.
Will Best and Dianne Buswell, Cha-cha-cha. My score: 7. Judges: 7, 8, 8, 8.
I’ll start with the positives, because there were plenty. Dianne has clearly worked hard on his technique. He had some great leg action, knowing when one leg should be straight and the other bent, and he even had rotation through the body, which is unusual to see even in some celebrities with professional training. He hit some nice positions too, even though I still find him slightly awkward in movement. I was shocked at how good his cha-cha action was, so well done, Dianne.
For me, though, the whole dance was overshadowed by the two prams and the babies. When they danced with the babies she was dancing on the two and he was on the one, which is totally off time, and he ended up dancing with a doll off time as well. The song choice was too on the nose too. We all know he’s had a baby, and I don’t think a whole dance needs to be made out of it. It brings nothing to the performance. Just let him dance.
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Bethany Antonia and Nancy Xu, Argentine Tango. My score: 5. Judges: 5, 7, 6, 7.
This one was okay. It had drama and production value, and the darkness in the room created passion and intensity. I think they did a good job, but it felt slow and lacklustre for an Argentine tango. It didn’t really build or go anywhere at any point, and there were no big dramatic lifts.
Overall it was a decent enough performance to keep them out of the bottom two, which is what I put down before the result was announced. It was a bit meh for me.
Shaun Wright-Phillips and Alexis Warr, Jive. My score: 3. Judges: 3, 5, 3, 6.
Unfortunately for Alexis, this is one of those times you get given a celebrity partner where, no matter how good you are as a teacher or a dancer, your job is almost impossible. This is nothing against Shaun as a person, but he wasn’t born to dance. There was no point in me pulling it apart, because it just wasn’t good.
Shaun surprised me when I first saw the line-up. With his football background he’s short, light on his feet, quick and agile, so I could see it. But from the first week you realise that doesn’t necessarily translate to a dance floor. One of the judges gave a six, which I can only put down to sympathy. The right person went home, and at least he had one good dance last week.
Dani Dyer and Nikita Kuzmin, Salsa. My score: 6. Judges: 7, 8, 8, 8.
The judges must have been looking at a different dance to me. It was quite a slow salsa, so at times it looked heavy and lacked the excitement we expect from a salsa. It was jam-packed with lifts and tricks, which saved the routine, and they were executed really well.
The salsa action itself was awkward again, with no rotation in her body, so it looked very one-piece and stiff. She needs a better understanding of her posture, because she collapses her centre, and that’s what gives her the awkwardness when she moves. I still enjoyed it as a performance, but I marked the salsa as well as the lifts, and in my opinion it was way over-marked.
Lacey Turner and Vito Coppola, Tango. My score: 8. Judges: 7, 7, 6, 8.
Before I’d seen the rest of the contestants perform, this was the dance of the night for me by quite some way. I think Vito is one of the strongest male pros on the show, and he proved it with a brilliant, dynamic routine full of light, shade and drama. It was far from perfect, but it was totally entertaining, and I loved the end highlights.
Lacey now needs to work on keeping the intensity going throughout, because sometimes she looks a little lost. Vito is so powerful that it can look like he’s dragging her through the routine rather than her keeping up on her own feet, and she needs to maintain strong posture and centre. I predicted a few weeks ago that they would win the whole thing and I haven’t changed my mind, even though they’re not marked the highest. I just feel they’re going to sneak under the radar.
Cach Mercer and Maddie Ingoldsby, Cha-cha-cha. My score: 4. Judges: 5, 7, 5, 7.
Over-marked. There were moments of brilliance, but the timing was horrendous, he made loads of mistakes and there was hardly any cha-cha technique. The sad thing is I felt it had the potential to be brilliant, but it was far from it, and for me it was a bit of a disaster.
The most important thing when you’re dancing is to be on time, and he was off time through a lot of it. Then you watch him at moments and think he’s amazing, because he does some things far better than I could. He’s a professional dancer, after all. I think Maddie is a brilliant pro, but this dance just wasn’t good.
Delta Goodrem and Kai Widdrington, Rumba. My score: 7. Judges: 7, 9, 8, 10.
It was a great dance, and Kai had clearly worked on the basic fundamentals. Her leg action was lovely, and I can appreciate that technically it was good. But I expected more, and I didn’t feel there was a connection between the two of them.
She’s done much better dances, like her salsa, which was way better. She didn’t get a ten for that, yet she got one for a rumba with no real resistance in her body and no real earthiness. If they’d given her a ten for the salsa I’d have said absolutely. It was definitely too early to give this a ten. I like them, I just didn’t feel it was a ten.
I rate Kai very highly, not just as a dancer but as a teacher. I saw what level of dancer Vicky Pattison was last year and what he achieved with her, and I know how hard he would have worked. He comes from the same world as me, with good fundamental training, and not every pro on the show has that or the same teaching ability. Now he’s been given someone as trained as Delta, I think we’ll see some amazing routines, like the salsa, which I said was one of the best I’ve ever seen on Strictly.
Tabby Stoecker and Mark Karmalita, Couple’s Choice. My score: 9. Judges: 8, 10, 9, 10.
I’ve never been a massive fan of Couple’s Choice and I’ll keep saying that, but I have to appreciate that this was a great dance. It had lovely choreography and was almost like a show dance, and I think they both hit it out of the park. Mark is proving himself a brilliant professional on the show, and Tabby danced beautifully. Her movement, her arms, her turns and the synchronicity were all at a very high level, and Mark did a great job with the routine if it was his choreography.
It was my highest mark of the night, which is very unusual for me, because I normally don’t like Couple’s Choice. I really liked it, but for me it wasn’t a ten. It wasn’t an epic performance that’s going to stick in my mind.
John Nellis and Katya Jones, Quickstep. My score: 7. Judges: 7, 8, 8, 9.
He still needs to work on his frame, especially going in and out of hold, although at times it looked quite good. His left arm sometimes gets away from him, and he almost pushes it away. I loved the way he moved around the floor in the first half of the routine, which looked effortless and cool, and it was a fun routine.
The second half was slightly weaker, and he looked a little lost, as if he’d lost a bit of concentration. Overall I really enjoyed it, and I’m shocked at how well he’s doing.
Looking back over the week, I had Shaun going home and that’s exactly what happened, although I had Bethany and Nancy alongside him in the bottom two rather than Jaime and Carlos. I can’t argue with the result.
My Thoughts on the Show So Far
The first tens came far too early
We saw the first tens of the series this week, and I don’t think they were deserved. In fact, I don’t think anyone should have got a ten. I didn’t see a performance that totally moved me in the way a ten should. If they’d given Delta’s salsa a ten I’d have understood, but not a rumba with no real resistance in her body. It’s only week five, it’s very rare for tens to come out this early, and why they were given out is open to debate.
I’m probably more along the same lines as Craig than the rest of the panel. He gets it wrong sometimes, but most of the time I think he marks the most accurately. If I had to pick who’s most likely to force me to give my first ten this series, it would be one of Kai and Delta, Tabby and Mark, or Lacey and Vito.
Couple’s Choice is a lifeline
Couple’s Choice always seems to be where the most over-marking happens. It isn’t a real genre, it can be anything, so it’s harder to critique. Whenever anyone is given it, I think they’re not going this week. When Shaun got his, I said immediately that he wouldn’t go, and he didn’t, and then he had to do a proper dance again the week after. Four Couple’s Choices have been danced this series, and every one of those couples has gone through the following week. I’d be fascinated to know whether anyone has ever been eliminated on one.
The judges need to be honest
I don’t agree with a lot of what the judges say, so it’s hard to pick out one comment. There are certain judges I just fast forward through, because I don’t want to hear what they have to say and it winds me up.
They don’t need to be mean to people, but they don’t have to finish on a positive every time either. The judges are there because of their experience, and if they hold back their honest opinion they’re not really doing the job. I know not everyone is like me, and people get offended very easily these days, but if you enter a dance competition like Strictly you’re putting yourself up to be judged. If someone tells you you’re not good at something, you take it on the chin. And the rules matter too. If a couple doesn’t dance the dance they’ve been asked to dance, someone should say so.
Too much talking between the dances
I don’t think the dancing is the problem. There’s still a lot of good dancing in the show. It’s everything around it. You watch a minute and a half of dancing and then there’s eight or nine minutes before the next one. It’s a two and a half hour show, and with 15 celebrities it has always been long, but it feels tedious when it doesn’t need to be. A lot of us watch it on catch-up on the tour bus, and the hosting and the judges’ chat are what we skip. I also don’t think we need three hosts. I think everyone agrees on that. The show could be a lot slicker.
Bring back the light and shade
I’ve always wanted actuality. I want to see what’s going on in the training room, the struggles, the arguments and the jeopardy, and people walking out of training like they did in the old days. Not everyone gets on, and that’s a fact. Otherwise it all becomes so produced and everything’s so nice and everyone loves everything. The show needs a bit of light and shade.
I miss the Ed Balls of the show too, someone you love watching because they’re either bad or full of personality and character. I don’t feel we’ve had anyone like that this year. The BBC seems very careful with everything that’s done and said these days, and I think the audience can see through it. There’s been more said negatively about this series than I can remember for some time, and that’s because people who’ve been watching for over 20 years want it to be great and feel it isn’t getting there.
I love the show and I love what it’s given me, but this year I’ve found it more difficult to watch than any other. It’s a shame so many people aren’t watching, because it still has the potential to be a great show if they go backwards a little. Not with the production value, but with the way the format works. They need to make it more like it was before, and listen to the audience a little more.
You can always tell who’s danced before
I can tell within the first session with a celebrity partner whether they’ve danced before and roughly how much, and every year I had a partner I could tell. You can see when someone turns that they’ve danced before. There are certain things we can’t teach people that quickly, and that’s how I know. I can see that Delta, Cach and Tabby have all had a lot of dance training. Lewis Cope last year was sensational, probably one of the best people ever to be on Strictly, but what the show was always about for me was watching someone with little or no training progress week by week.
Jaime and Carlos in the bottom two again
It was the second time Jaime and Carlos have been in the bottom two, and it surprised me. I can’t say why it’s happening. Clearly they’re not as popular as other couples, or people are voting to save the ones below them because they’re always in the middle of the table. I really like them both, so I don’t get it.
It’s hard, because it makes you feel like people aren’t liking what you’re doing. Whether you win the dance-off or not, it knocks your confidence to feel that people aren’t picking up the phone and voting for you, and nothing I say will make them feel any better. All I’d say is keep going and be good enough that if you do end up in the dance-off, you win. Balvinder Sopal was in the dance-off week after week last series and still made it to the semi-final.
Who I’m Backing From Here and Bottom Couples this week
I picked four for the final and I still think that’s spot on. Lacey and Vito to win, with Delta in the final too, then maybe Cach, and Tabby and Mark, who are doing really well. I think the others will be picked off one by one.
As for the bottom two next week, it’s really hard now. Bethany and Nancy are possible, as they’ve already been in the bottom two. Dani and Nikita are not great, but I don’t think it’s their time yet. It could be Graeme and Lauren, or Will and Dianne. If Jaime and Carlos have another average week, it could be them again, perhaps alongside Bethany and Nancy.
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In case you missed it, you can catch up with last week’s Strictly blog..
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