Patrick has an interesting bag left. I think he's the best dancer and could win with a late flurry.

So it looks like after Saturday we'll finally be able to settle the Which Charleston was the Bestest Evah! debate. Don't let us down Ben.

I'm in two minds about which dance I want to see Natalie do next. On the one hand I'm itching to see her be all fabulously dramatic, on the other I want the less exciting dances out of the way.

Agreed.....all the progress and momentum at the moment appears to be with the boys and Suzanna. Ashley could be awesome if he put the hours in, Patrick is peaking and Suzannah has the journey factor. Sophie and Abbey seem to have plateaued and Natalie is too controversial. I really think the winner will be either Patrick, Ashely or Suzanna.

Does anyone give theirs away in the Goodbye Fiona video? http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01lqctt

My Internet won't cooperate so I can't load it.

Not that I saw!

American Smooth - Abbey, Natalie, Sophie
Argentine Tango - Abbey, Ashley, Ben, Mark, Natalie, Patrick, Susanna
Cha-Cha-Cha - Susanna
Charleston - Ashley, Ben, Mark, Patrick
Foxtrot - Ashley, Ben, Mark, Natalie, Susanna
Jive - Natalie
Paso Doble - Abbey, Natalie, Patrick, Sophie
Quickstep - Mark, Susanna
Rumba - Ashley, Patrick, Sophie, Susanna
Salsa - Abbey, Ashley, Natalie, Sophie, Susanna
Samba - Abbey, Ben, Mark
Tango - Ben, Natalie, Sophie
Waltz - Ashley, Patrick
Viennese Waltz - Abbey, Ben, Mark, Patrick, Sophie

There aren't many upbeat latins left so we're probably going to start seeing a lot of salsas soon given that most haven't done it yet and we're unlikely to see the Natalie jive or a Susanna cha-cha-cha any time soon.

Yes, her problem was with the party latin dances.

As she proved with her AT, she does dramatic pretty decently. And that is the only part she really needs to improve, as her technique and her lines (very important in the dramatic dances) have been praised by judges.

Most of the dances left are great for posing (instead of speed).

And just like I said at the start of the series, would love to see her do a ballroom tango (hopefully her next ballroom dance this week or the next).





Charleston is a dance where you can pick easy points and remember that he already scored 4x8 yesterday with his AS. Between that and Mark's probable ballroom dance, the scores might be very interesting next week.

Highlighted these 4 as ones that both Ashley AND Patrick have yet to tackle.

Am thinking that one of these will be completed by both men next weekend to make a direct comparison and as they've both just completed a Latin my guess is the Waltz.

Any thoughts?

That is a very nice guess, I would say.

Charleston is pretty much ruled out, as Ben is already doing that.

Also can't help thinking that the Salsa list will still have a few names on it at the end of the series (unless they suddenly throw in multiple salsas).

The direct comparison between Abbey and Sophie has been had in Blackpool, but they still have a lot of the same dances left. So, it wouldn't surprise me if they went their separate ways in terms of dance styles very soon.

Last, but not least, the producers probably have all the dances drawn out for the whole series at the start. Probably with the pro dancers selecting one or two dances to skip (totally or have has their final dance; for instance James and his Samba). Which might explain the many salsas left (still think that we might not see one next week, though really we should).

wonder if Kristina can pole dance a charleston with Ben

You can rest assured that she'll have a damn good try.

Yep I wouldn't like a direct comparison between Ben and either Patrick or Ashley. Ben may do better against Patrick in a Charleston but either against Ashley will likely lose. Ola clearly does really well in this discipline (that dance with Chris Hollins is amazing) and it's not exactly the best dance for you if you're tall (and your name isn't Natalie Gumede or Abbey Clancy)

I hope we're not Salsa loaded towards the end of the show. I hate that dance and would much prefer one a week to light up proceedings after a bad dance.

Interesting. Apparently Ashley & Ola didn't choose the cowboy theme for their Paso..... seriously TPTB, why do you keep interfering?! Let the pros decide on how to do the routine and what they want for it.


*Rant over*


What I would like everyone to be doing (excluding Ben as we know his routine):

Abbey: Salsa
Ashley: Foxtrot
Mark: Viennese Waltz
Natalie: Tango
Patrick: Rumba
Sophie: Paso Doble
Susanna: Quickstep

Think Ben is improving really well and actually think, despite the snide remarks of some, that he and Kristina will dance a great Charleston
Last edited by strictlylicious : 17-11-2013 at 23:04

[quote=TheAuburnEnigma;69830820]Interesting. Apparently Ashley & Ola didn't choose the cowboy theme for their Paso..... seriously TPTB, why do you keep interfering?! Let the pros decide on how to do the routine and what they want for it.

Hi what's TPTB lol?

[quote=strictlylicious;69831033]
The Powers That Be.

That's really, really bizarre scheduling of dances for Ben. If he makes it through this week he's just got the samba (which he therefore must be doing in the semi-final) and a bunch of ballrooms.

Don't think he'll be good at the charleston, though - depending on what dance Mark gets he may even be bottom of the leaderboard.

Its clever manipulation from producers I think. If he just does Ballroom which is what Ben can only do etc. He gets the Darren Gough improvement award and makes another male contender for this series, something which we have been lacking.

They might also include a dire fusion too so that might count as another latin.

Maybe not pole dance but I'm pretty sure it will be a lift-a-thon

Maybe he will perform in his pants this week too.

Oh sorry that's on the schedule to survive Week 10's show.

Great as in objectively great, or great for him?


I don't think he's even that good at Ballroom, really*. I think the remainder of his Ballroom dances are likely to be fairly dull... and getting maybe slightly higher scores won't matter much when everyone else is outscoring him.

* or, more, I don't think he does much in any of the dances to be that good or bad.

Darren Gough's paso is one of my favourite Strictly dances ever (especially Lilia's great choreography), so Ben does not even come close to him.

Ridiculous that Ben is doing Charleston when he has so many ballrooms still to do.

Surely the producers won't give Mark a 4th latin in a row, but I wouldn't put it past them!

It's been done before...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qt8wUI1BCKI

An excess of lifts spoils professional dancing for me Ben should just kick and flap on the spot whilst Kristina cartwheels and generally hurls herself at him (in tempo lol) and gets flipped (lifted) every which way! Surely a minimum of 4 9s.