Sorry if there's a thread on this already BUT-what a mess that Salsa was. Apart from it not being a natural dance for her, there was also a royal screw up on a couple of the lifts, she had a lift about 2/3 of the way through that she clearly didn't enter properly. Anton covered it up well, but it was pretty obvious the lift didn't go as planned. And at the end the whole routine just fell apart leaving a very messy end.
The judges were exceptionally polite to not mention the dance just falling apart in the last seconds

Darcy actually alluded to it -just not a bluntly as you would have liked!

Craig complained it lacked the basic salsa movement. Now Katie clearly has the ability to rapidly pick up the basic dance movements if she is taught it and if it forms a main part in the choreography.

I honestly thought it was one of Anton's better Latin dances.

How can she do a decent Salsa when Anton was dreadful . He just stood there for most of the dance .

Messy lifts but some fun parts as well and much better than the last party latin so surprised it was so poorly marked - I think 25 would be fairer.

What is more shocking is that he was worse than her

Katie wasn't great, but I thought Anton was embarrassing.

It just looked awkward IMO. It didn't have any 'flow' to it.

Agree OP and said this to myself (I've been abandoned tonight) while I was watching the dance. The Latin dances May be the downfall for Katie unless Anton gets more help with the choreography & also dances better himself.

Feeling sorry for Katie. Anton, IMO, could have stuck with proper salsa timing and choreographed a smooth salsa (salsa suave) or even a Son that could emphasised Katie's strengths.

I don't think they choose the music.

Do the pros get help with things like the Salsa and Charleston and AT? I thought they did.

I think it's up to the pros if they choose to have help or not . From that mess looks like he didn't bother .

I spotted Anton cover up/support Katie when she got way off balance a couple of times tonight, so the bad wasnt all down to him.
(And no, I'm NOT an Anton fan, wish he'd retired years ago)

Each to their own of course

I thought it was a mess but I also think the music didn't help. I found it hard to hear the beat to the music therefore their dancing seemed out of time.
It's such an awful shame. She is good but Anton's latin routines are letting her down.

I thought they looked like a drunk couple....

Oh, yep. I keep forgetting that they don't choose the music.

I just hope she isn't blamed because I think she's got it in her to be a good Salsa (and Cha Cha) dancer - with the right teacher.

I don't know a massive amount about Salsa, but I've heard it said that it was full of perfectly good Salsa content.

As a Strictly Salsa I don't expect classic perfection, but I'm not at all sure that Katie's Latin disasters are wholly down to Anton. She seems generally to have no understanding or aptitude for Latin, that's not rare.

Was wondering where this inevitable thread was, running a bit late, aren't we?!
Thing is, Tony Beak can't win..if he outdances Katie, like in the jive and cha cha, he gets flak. If he gives her much more to do, showcasing her, he gets flak. Their salsa was messy yes, but I've seen worse. I did think Take your jacket off Tony! Plus him being swept off his feet by her was a bit comedyanton101, nonetheless it was undermarked compared with Jamelia and Jeremy. Craig has already made his view known on Anton's ability to extract sleb's potential in a recent interview and if he cannot do the tour, they won't be that arsed for keeping him in. It is a shame outside choreo did not choreo their routine (only Janette cannot access outside help?) Would have loved Anton to have Jake Wood stormed it as a sod you to everybody. Sophie's Charleston was outside choreo and they claimed it was the best Brendan had ever danced.
However this was their last party latin. If they avoid samba even though she was looking forward to it and they survive tonight then they could go the distance. Whereas Peter still has loads of ballroom left and so does Jeremy. Thought the vt with Katie saying she had seen lots of Strictly then dragging Tony to a salsa club was droll though (for the haters, I've seen lots of your Latin Tony, off to salsa school with you)

So did I , he clearly doesn't enjoy them, but it was good, better than the last one.




The version I saw he was dancing and definitely not standing still. Perhaps as one of the judges said Latin is not her best area of dance.

He was. Why does he always have to do stupid comedy stuff in his Latin? Well I know, actually it's because he's really bad at it, but he should get some help for himself and Katie for Latin because it's unfair for her to have this yoyoing up and down the leaderboard because he's not up to it.

I really enjoyed it!

Oh yes a lovely classy Son would have been great. I am not sure the judges would have your knowledge of the genre to recognise it as such though.

I did too, made me laugh, not always for the right reasons, but they threw themselves in, had a blast and it was fun.