Not sure I like the story telling week much tbh, but here's my take -

Jennifer & Derek - Samba
Costumes - Great! I usually hate those trousers, but they looked good for that routine
Music - Unusual choice, but worked very well
Performance - Fantastic choreography and I thought they were fabulous! I love them as a couple and she's a great performer
Judges - Fair comments and 8 was deserved

Florence & Corky - Waltz
Costumes - As expected given the song!
Music - Okay
Performance - A bit tentative. I wasn't that impressed tbh by the dancing or her performance & this was her best chance to impress. I hate the way she wears her lipstick in real life!
Judges - Fair comments & Bruno was right about her transitions - not worth a 7 given Jennifer got 8

Kurt & Anna - Foxtrot
Costumes - Fabulous - he looked great and her dress was beautiful
Music - Perfect choice
Performance - Loved it! He is SO good and when he smiles WOW!
Judges - Fair comments. They are right about his arms/hands (although they're not terrible, just need some work), but Bruno is so OTT this series. How can he give that a 7, when he gave Florence a 6?

Margaret & Louis - Samba
Costumes - Her dress was a bit unflattering and looked badly fitted to me & Louis looked a bit old fashioned to me
Music - Good choice, but a bit predictable and used so often
Performance - She tried really hard, but she's not very graceful and she lost her timing quite a bit because of her enthusiasm! You could see she's lost quite a bit of weight. Didn't appreciate her campaigning tbh
Judges - Fair comments really

Audrina & Tony - Waltz
Costumes - She looked beautiful & for the first time ever I thought Tony looked so handsome!
Music - Fabulous choice
Performance - Brilliant! Tony is a very good choreographer. Best performance of the night for me
Judges - Fair comments and deserved 9

Bristol & Mark - Foxtrot
Costumes - Loved her dress and though she looked lovely, but Mark's earrings looked truly naff
Music - Didn't like it at all
Performance - Didn't get the story telling, but she did quite well and is very neat. Mark messed up this time. Mark looks daft this year with his hair shaved. I like her, but she is so lacking in confidence.
Judges - Fair comments, but again Bruno was too OTT and I felt quite sorry for her. 6/7 was fair

Brandy & Maks - Samba
Costumes - Hot, hot, hot!
Music - Great choice!
Performance - What a difference this week! Her timing wasn't always spot on though. Good story telling, although I thought she was the tempting the bodyguard, rather than him protecting her!
Judges - Not worth 8s in a million years - 7 at the most. And Len swore! I'm glad that Len & Carrie Ann commented on the training VT - I wonder how representative that training VT was overall?

Kyle & Lacey - Waltz
Costumes - Lacey looked great, but he looked the same as every other week so far
Music - Good choice and suited them better than the Eagles, although the Eagles' song was a good choice for a Waltz
Performance - Didn't like the running around bit in the middle, but otherwise not bad, but not good. Good story telling. Going by this performance, I can't see his technique improving tbh
Judges - Len is right about his foot work - he hasn't got any technique at all! Never worth 8

Mike & Karina - Foxtrot
Costumes - Great
Music - Okay
Performance - Just awful. Not a lot of dancing and I won't be sorry to see him go home
Judges - I think Carrie Ann and Bruno lost the plot judging by their comment. Len was spot on!

Rick & Cheryl - Samba
Costumes - Bright, but great!
Music - Great choice!
Performance - Not at his best. Too much standing still when his hips at least should be moving the whole time - needs to work on his transitions. I think his shirt completely open was a bit of a hindrance for him
Judges - Comments were OTT

For me the contenders are Audrina & Tony, Kurt & Anya and Jennifer & Derek. I loved the Pro's opening dance - great choreography creating fab shapes with the three couples. The dresses were lovely and glad to hear them named this week. The duel between Mark & Val was a meh filler for me and Michael Bolton ruined Hallelujah - Robert & Anya were good though.

I was fine with Margaret being eliminated, but I thought the marking was all over the place this week and the grouping of the couples was was off. It's only week 3 and Carrie Ann only used three paddles and the other two only used 4. The ones in bold below are in the wrong company imho -

Carrie Ann
8 - Audrina, Kurt, Jennifer, Rick, Brandy, Kyle
7 - Florence, Mike
6 - Margaret, Bristol

Len
9 - Audrina
8 - Kurt, Jennifer, Rick, Brandy
7 - Kyle
6 - Margaret, Florence, Mike, Bristol

Bruno
9 - Audrina
8 - Jennifer, Rick, Brandy, Kyle
7 - Kurt, Florence, Mike, Bristol
6 - Margaret

To be fair to Mike he was completely screwed over by the song choice - he's not adept enough to do a futuristic Foxtrot and it's a shame Karina didn't argue their corner more as Lacey seemed to do with the song given to her. I'm glad he's got another chance because he did show progress last week and he did a reasonable job last week.

I didn't think Audrina was that much better than Jennifer, and I'd give them the same mark. I think Jennifer and Derek played out a lot of schoolboy fantasies (). I wish Cheryl and Rick hadn't gone for the ripped shirt - he's a good dancer, play up to that. Kurt seemed a bit wooden and still didn't have the delicay of movement down to a tee for me, so I understood why they marked him how they did. Not sure what planet they were on with Florence's marks though; she didn't deserve to be on a par with anyone; even Margaret.

It's a shame about Margaret. She started really well but then seemed to lose it as the song went on - I think she just got tired.

I don't think the Judges have a leg to stand on in criticising Maks aboiut his training methods because you cannot tell much from breif clips shown on a heavily edited VT. I believe Maks and Brandy spoke out last week about how bad it was then, and it doesn't seem to have improved.

Bristol did well techincally but the fact she's not a performer came to the fore. I'm not sure how she'll cope with the 'in the round' approach next week. Kyle and Lacey are great entertainers but they need to get his technique up to scratch.

Thanks BBTN, does Anna T remind anyone else of Camilla? She has that slightly manic/demented quality about her dancing ( I mean that in a good way)?

Still loving DWTS, interesting that SCD is now practically a rip off of it; more of an entertainment show. Shame in a way I used to enjoy the differences, oh well!

My favourite dance was Audrina and Tony's I just love her, she's so sweet and the dance suited her so well.

Another favourite of mine is Bristol but her dance wasn't that good which is a shame. I agree with Buddy about Mark's shaved head He's such a cute guy, bring back the hair!

Anna does remind me of Camilla, but more with her reactions than when she's dancing - I think she thinks all her Christmases have come at once getting Kurt as her celeb! I like watch Anna much more than I ever like watching Camilla (I do like Camilla, but not when she was dancing).

really enjoying this season, again
my faves are Derek and Jennifer but don't think they'll win this year.
sad Margaret left - thought she had potential
I can't take to Bristol hope she goes soon
loving the great dancing and the fun dancing great stuff

I agree with you about the judges. They should be judging the dancing not the VTs.

My favourite dance was Tony and Audrina's waltz and my least favourite dance was The Situation and Karina's foxtrot (The music was awful for a foxtrot) I don't know why they were given the encore on the results show.

I thought Rick and Cheryl's Samba was overmarked! Cheryl was doing most of the dancing while Rick just stood around with his shirt open shaking his hips.

Sad that Margaret and Louis left the show as she was having so much fun, would rather it had been The situation and Karina.

Hahah yes Cho has been voted out and rightfully so, I think America made their voice heard loud and clear about her rainbow ideals.

That fat black kid with Lacey Schwimmer is all sizzle no steak, man sucks but he's gonna keep going through due to fan vote.

Rick and Cheryl are pretty good.

Anna Trebunskaya... :drool:

Wish someone would punch Bruno in the face already

Audrina gonna win I can see it already.

Buddy, I didn't like this week - in fact I didn't watch it all.

I do hope that Strictly doesn't go down this themed route - there were strong signs last week weren't there?

Jennifer Gray stands out for me, while Rick Fox is my drool factor favourite. Love Jennifer's attitude, humour, intelligence and beautiful lines. She's fabulous and doesn't take herself seriously, which is a lovely trait.

I actually loathe the 'story week' stuff and am never keen on silly props. Just dance dammit!

Not surprised Margaret has gone. Love her as a comedy actress but watching her dance - and talk in class is a strain. She's a bit of a pain

Time The Situation went. No ability at all and not bright enough to learn either. I'd hate to have to teach him. I used to get good results as a teacher, but that one is unteachable! He must have a lot of fans out there

Audrina is good but lacks heart. It could be the Botox though: she can't act because her face doesn't move, so she really lacks soul and that certain quality that makes you want to watch forever. I can see that she will learn though.

If Maks was teaching me he'd be in deep doo doo by now. I never had to bully my pupils. It's all big macho Russian Tarzan act. Grow up Maks!

Corky still gives me the creeps

I've got mixed feelings about the use of props tbh.

On DWTS I've just accepted that they are part and parcel of the show, although normally I associate props with a lack of dancing skills, but the story telling themed week seems to blow that out of the water. It was probably my least favourite show since I started watching.

Last week on SCD if it wasn't for Matt and Aliona, I would still have linked props with weaker dancers e.g. Paul Daniels.

In the end I've just decided to accept them and hope that SCD continues to be more restrained than DWTS!

I don't mind themed weeks - I loved the themed week when Derek and Joanna did the futuristic Paso - but that week was done with themed costumes rather than props.

What does everybody else think?

I really don't like props. Some of the themes have worked though. Apparently the producers have got a few more gimmicks up their sleeves this season.

What really annoys me is when the celebs are put into a team; in that case they are only ever going to be as good as their worst dancer. Very unfair IMO.

I certainly agree with you about this.

Xio's got the word there - gimmicks.

Yuck.

Oh and the teams dances are SO unfair.

I am finding the show dissapointing so far this season. There are no couples who are really standing out.

Thought the music choice was really terrible this week. I know they have to appeal to a younger audience but when you are doing the foxtrot you have to use the traditional big band music or it looks a complete mess. At least SCD got it right on the music front with their foxtrots.

I didn't get to see the result show at all, so only just found out who went out.

Not overly sorry to see Margaret go, but I would have preferred that "Situation" guy to have gone. He seems to think he has talent - he hasn't!

The other one I'm not sure about is Kyle - he's a great entertainer, but this is a dance competition and he needs to concentrate on at least something resembling dance technique. However, I think part of his problem is down to Lacey, who dances to her own agenda - and what on earth has she done to her hair? It's even worse than before.

Bristol not only suffers from a lack of performance experience, but a complete lack of personality. Rabbit caught in the headlights...... and that's even before she starts to dance.