I think more significant than the running order potentially, is the order in which couples are allocated dances and the music thereto.

I am worried about Patrick this week; doing the rumba at this stage and to a song he clearly is "meh" about.

I don't think lying down on top of your partner and rubbing your face on their neck would work to any music IMO. It's meant to be a rumba, not a love scene in a movie. It was extremely tacky.

OK, so he lay partly across her and they sort of touched faces. An unusual inclusion, I'll admit. And you're entitled to think it tacky. But some of the descriptions of things on here do tickle me.
I've told you all a thousand times not to exaggerate

Yes, I was commenting more on the choreography. Derek knew that Maria Mooselooseabootthishoose wasn't very good, so he decided to go for cheap tactics.

Ashley and Ola are going to Salsa to Gloria Estefan’s party tune ‘Conga’.
Good song, but will ALWAYS be compared to Kara & Artem's brilliant Salsa


Patrick and Anya will Rumba to ‘When I Was Your Man’ by Bruno Mars.
Sorry Patrick, can't see you doing a Rumba, it will be a kiss of death


Abbey and Aljaz are going to perform a Viennese Waltz to the Tom Jones classic ‘Delilha’.
I really don't understand why the song choice .... Terrible, Stoke City FC Offical Song


Sophie and Brendan will Tango to Madonna’s ‘Material Girl’.
Nooooooooooooooo


Susanna and Kevin will perform the Argentine Tango to Michael Jackson’s ‘Smooth Criminal’.
Love Michael Jackson, but ......... *shakes her head*


Natalie and Artem will perform the Paso Doble to ‘El Gato Montes’ by Ramon Cortez Pasodoble Orchestra.
Traditional Music, I'm hoping it will be a traditional Paso Doble. I know Ali & Brian used the same music, but pretty sure they have nothing to worry about, as Ali's routine was dire

I realise the producers impose some of the music (possibly most) but the couples definitely choose it sometimes. Natalie requested the music for her VW (and I suspect, but don't know, she may have picked the song for the AS). Another poster (sorry, forget who) who knows one of the pros socially, has said that it's a mixture of the producer and pro choices. I'm sure if the producers think it fits with the plan (and their rights/access), they're happy to oblige and if not, they veto it.

I think like here it's a mixture, but some of the choices are so bizarre, you know they didn't come from the dancers. (They are really chasing a younger demographic and I think the music often reflects that).

I wonder if some of the celebrities get to choose the music and others do not. Ola (sort of) complained on ITT with "we were given ... and make the best of ... "

Artem is basically the anti-Kevin so I doubt it. He's used traditional for all of his paso's except with Kara and that was during a theme week.


It's maybe Brendan making a cack handed reference to the fact that she likes fashion? Then again she recently said that the two things that got her interested in music were Julie Andrews and Madonna so maybe it was Sophie's choice (not to be confused with the novel or the Meryl Streep film).

Either way, I was starting to get my hopes up for this tango after seeing her training footage was OK but now I'm in "fear the worst" mode.

... I don't see where the exaggeration was to be honest. The man is literally lying on top of her and their faces are literally touching in a way that suggests they are starting to kiss. The latter can be ok on its own, but when combined with the former, it didn't look to me like two people depicting romance within the context of a dance; it looked like something from a movie where it would be acceptable to see that. I get that you don't agree that it's a bad decision in terms of choreography, and that is just a case of agreeing to disagree. But I don't get why you think my description was an exaggeration. I mean if I had said they were dry humping and he had his tongue down her throat, sure. But I think 'lying on top of' and 'face rubbing her neck' are fairly neutral and accurate descriptors.

Much as I love a conspiracy theory, I don't think that the producers set out to deliberately shaft any particular couple (over anyone else, I mean). Ola was definitely disgruntled about the cowboy paso nonsense (and who can blame her), but perhaps she didn't request anything and just got lumbered. There's much too much of an '80s theme running through Brendan's music, for it not to come from him, but perhaps when they have an '80s song in mind they give it to Brendan - because they know he loves that stuff - and other times he requests it. No dancer would have chosen the Bond rumba and theme, but I guess the producers sat in their little huddle and imagined if anyone could make it work, Iveta and Mark could. You could even view it as a bit of a backhanded compliment. If you really tried..... I reckon Natalie has a penchant for a particular style of music, but doubt she (or Artem) would have picked the Rihanna track for the Tango. I'm guessing the producers wanted to use it, and thought, 'This is very Natalie'. Maybe some of the pros push a bit more and others just go with the flow. I'd love to really know.

"Material Girl" should be set in a dress-maker's or haberdashery ... and then the dress-maker makes her own dress (as well as for the ugly backing dancer sisters) and goes to the ball ... maybe losing a shoe at the end to further mix things up ...

Jason Gilkison is on ITT so maybe we will find out the answer to some of those questions as he's the head choreographer?

I wonder if it might be more that when the celeb requests a particular song, the producers agree, but the pros aren't given a choice, so if there's no celeb request, then the couple has to make do with what music they're given?

I thought he was there to oversee the pro dances, not the pro-celeb ones. Has he had a hand in those, too, do you think?!! (Or do you just mean it might lead to some insights generally? ). I really haven't enjoyed the pro dances this year. Be interesting to see what he has to say.

Given some of the stuff Ashley has been shafted with this series I don't think this week's decision is too bad at all, even if everyone here is going to hate the routine because the song is copyright Team Kartem *sigh*. I predict Ashley will he this week's dark horse, break his 35 ceiling and be second only to Natalie's perfect-scoring paso.

Poor Abbey has the same problem as Ashley (though to a lesser extent as loads of people forget about Kelly) with Delilah, but God knows I like AA more than I ever did Team Smug Chops, so I for one am looking forward to it. I think she might even tie with Ashley on this week's leaderboard.

Of all the new pros I like Anya's choreography the best so am looking forward to the rumba. Although if their cheesy VW is any proof of Patrick's ability to emote it could be a dinner-losing dance.

I am actually really, really looking forward to Susanna's AT but only because I think it'll be an absolutely epic car crash of horrible music and terrible dancing on her part. (I feel so horrible hating Susanna ATM because of lovely Kevin, but after that cha cha and that quickstep, I jsut can't help it.)

Couldn't be more meh about Sophie. When I think about it, apart from the Charleston I haven't enjoyed watching her at all, and I don't believe she can cut it with the rest now either.

Fingers crossed for a Sophie/Susanna dance off to keep things interesting.

Well if we did have Sophie & Susanna in the dance off (which I can't see happening but you never know) then Natalie next week we could have a final where every one of them has been in the dance off😱

I can't personally see a scenario where one of the boys isn't in the dance off myself. The 4 girls are either good enough dancers to be in a safer position on the board or popular with the public.

He only does choreography for the pro dances

I have that same dilemma. I don't want Susanna to win but I want Kevin to.

Threre was a laugh smiley at tbe end, it was just an observation about the language used on here sometimes. I acknowledged you were within your rights to think it was tacky. I think there would be some who would use the language you've used above in your reply

I have read somewhere (cant remember where .... but it might have been this year's annual) that Jason is overseeing the choreography for the pro dances predominantly but also is there as a sounding board for the pros if they need choreography advice for their celeb dances.

LOL - totally agree with this. I don't HATE Susanna: I just hate that her sloppy footwork is being totally ignored by the judges. And I do ♥ Kevin, even though he over-dances Susanna in virtually every dance. Has he ever done AT before? I know nothing about the AT other than what I've learned watching Strictly and about a million YouTube clips, but he didn't look terribly proficient to my inexperienced eyes...

Given Ashley's experience of ending up in the dance-off after a rumba, I think Patrick could suffer the same fate, particularly as he didn't seem too keen on his performance.

don't know even an expert that can judge the dance this week from the limited selected bit we saw - Susanna's footwork is not as bad as some say in some dances it has been off but not all dances and judges only pick on feet of some of the celebs not all - but that is their way they have pulled several on gaping for instance yet given others high scores despite noticeable gaping

I know very little indeed about dancing (I wish I did!) but even I thought the gapping on Abbey's QS was horrendous.

is this video working for anybody?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01mwkqj

Nope, not yet.