Thank you It is al-right AK the Crow I recognised

The crow looked good - not sure about Rita Ora

I'm usually appreciative of all things Strictly but can I just say that I am DEEPLY unappreciating the lack of ballroom so far. Two cha chas among the judges picks and not a ballroom to be seen? MEH.

Two cha chas complete with Week 1 filler & a samba with skirt-wafting. Simon's Charleston was ok as a dance, but a final dance for me. None of the judges' choice were.

Taking the couples' choice and style of showdances, I would have probably picked:
Simon: paso. Showed signs of it being very good, Hallowe'en makeup not really necessary. I would have picked tango as his first ballroom if he'd been doing something else for showdance.

Frankie: to be honest, many of her ballroom blend into a twee mess. Picking one of her Latins was easier to score as being vastly improved (even though tonight's wasn't). Would have picked her tango though but between the makeup and the faff with the flying, it wasn't feasible. Too alike in feeling to her paso, same problem as picking tango for Simon.

Caroline: either QS or AS - both great routines marred by problems.

Pixie: OH WAIT.

Same for me.

Also Joanne was introduced as a ballroom showdance champion but have we seen her do a proper ballroom showdance this series? And no, I'm not counting the few bars the singers allow the pro dances to come on for in the results show. I'm talking about a proper pro dance spotlighting the dances. Come on show, one more chance. She's a champion, I want to see her do what she does best! Ballroom number featuring the ballroom specialists in the second half of the final please! Joanne, Natalie, Anton and Brendan, I believe, unless I've missed someone. Is Trent a ballroom or Latin specialist, does anyone know? I'm pretty sure all the others are Latin or 10 dance. If Trent is either ballroom or 10 dance, he and Iveta can join in as well please.

I had my hopes up when it was rumoured that Caroline was reprising her AS... Would've liked to see her do it without her costume trying to murder her. That said, I did enjoy her cha cha. It wasn't perfect (although, after scoring Frankie a 39 for a mainly bent legged samba, they had nowhere to go scoring wise), but it was the first dance that I really enjoyed tonight.

So, Karen and Mark have redefined the Showdance as running around to music with a bit of ill conceived parkour?

Is she a champion because no one else turned up on competition day or is she actually a good ballroom dancer?

Oh god, we're about to have Take That as the special musical guests, aren't we? Or did they pre-record them for the Christmas show? I would so much rather we had a pro demonstration every week instead of the musical guest plugging their greatest hits album.

I would like to see Joanne dancing properly in a proper (Anton and Erin style) ballroom pro dance... and not doing the "famous" back bend thing, which might be impressive from a fitness/core strength perspective, but looks shite in a dancing perspective.

Not sure why reading "parkour" suddenly made me think of Kenny McCormick in South Park. Maybe it's just the crap costumes this series

Would love it if MDF was forced to wear a Kenny style parka as it would at least muffle his bloody speechifying

I want to see her tap dance while holding her Disney tea set.

[Her holding the teaset, I mean. Not me holding it ]

No idea, what with us never having seen her dance properly!

More seriously, I think it is a genuinely competitive field, though I've no idea how many dancers enter. I watched something a while back that was on BBC online about fathers and daughters and Joanne was on it with her father. Something about he just missed out on winning the competition she eventually came first in so after she won, she wrapped up the medal and gave it to him for Christmas/ birthday/ something like that. It was sweet and I thought she came across well. The thing she won is obviously the thing that she spent years training for.

From the BBC website: Specialising in Latin, Trent is a two time British Championships Latin Finalist and Australian professional Ten Dance Champion. His favourite dance is the Samba as he loves Brazilian music and the fun party atmosphere of the dance. (plus loving to dance Rumba with Gordana.)

I think that's close enough. Tristan is also listed as Latin & Ballroom (favourite dances rumba and foxtrot).

But yes - show us what she can do, it's the least you can do after giving her Scott!


Totally agree.

Strictly Come Running!

Back to front.

Oh yes

Well here we go folks - fingers crossed

Adopts the brace position ...

We´re back! *mwah*

Well, I got my votes in. I'm just bracing myself now.

Thought Ally might have been there?

Yes Mark, it was just like you were a kid in a playground. Unfortunately it was supposed to be a dance.

Right result.