Well, I've watched that half a dozen times, as you do - and I agree that Helen looks older than she is and dated. I think she always does and it's that awful platinum hair dye - looks so harsh! I also hate Carol's ridiculous A-line 1950's hoop skirt thing. Nobody could look good in that ughhh.
In that snippet, Daniel looks frightened and Peter looks frightenING, like a serial killer. Iwan looks 20 years older than he is, which I also noticed in the rehearsal pix. Natural blonds just do not age well! Jay on the other hand, with his freshly washed and dried curls, looks like he's auditioning to be a new Dorothy in Wizard of Oz (I'd hire him!)
I think I learned that Kellie Bright looks a lot better without makeup than with - Anita looks fabulous and so did Katie (who looked younger than Helen in their picture imo - well all of this is my own stupid opinion of course...)
And Ainsley was impressive! And Jeremy's shirt was most unfortunate - is that lilac or lavender or maybe puce? I got no real impression about anybody else but was pleased to see Brendan and Jamelia dancing together in the candid rehearsal pix - it will be a shame if he doesn't draw her as his partner, though I'd be happy with him and Carol - she's following all the male pros on Twitter 'except' Brendan which makes me suspicious that that's because he's her partner.