I was happy to hear Ian comment on their AT again, saying it should have got a 10. I have come to prefer Ian to Karen on ITT (and not just because she repeated all the Darcy rubbish re their "chemistry" or lack thereof ).

The salsa looked very good. As others have said, good hip action. They also appeared to have a nice uptempo rhythm going as well. Not sure about the roll but I'll reserve judgement until I've seen the full set of choreography. Exciting!

I know it was a dig at Louise who was struggling with getting dizzy. Claudia has an advantage there because she of her bars training and her great tumbling.
Claudia has not used her tricky in her dance routines, the way that Louis Smith did.
Maybe the odd split leap or a front walkover. I wonder if she would get a higher score if she did add more. It seems she gets marked down purely because of her height.

It will be interesting if she can take what she has learnt and use it in her floor routines. Improve the artistic side of her choreography.

No I wasn't having a dig at Louise or anyone else in particular. My comment was merely a joke that in general celebs can sometimes find the VW a dizzying dance. Never expecting this to actually be a problem for Claudia as I said.
Louis Smith did some gymnastic type moves in the charleston, the tango and the jive as I recall.
I just worry about Claudia putting too many gymnastic type moves into dances that aren't allowed them as the judges have already commented on this point after the cha cha.
The salsa this week is the last dance where Claudia and AJ can do lifts anyway.

ETA The lifts in the AT were excellent.

Training footage is up. They look like they're having so much fun with the salsa, hope they can bring some of that joy to the dance floor Saturday - it could just be the spark the fudges are looking for ✨

Oh they did look like they were having so much fun. I'm sure the judges must see the connection they have with the music, the dance and each other.

I'm hoping darceys comment is gearing it up for them to come out and smash it out of the park tomorrow night and show them that connection they say they are not getting! I expect comments such as 'finally that is what we've been waiting for' etc They may not be able to beat Louise or danny on the leaderboard (though it would be nice for one week) but they need to be above Ore I think! Their salsa is the best training footage I've seen from them for a while - hopefully it will be a proper crowd pleaser ! Who doesn't love the lion king

It will be tough this week as Danny, Louise and Ore are all very strong in ballroom and unless they go wrong they will all score very highly - in fact I expect to see some 10's for all of them. I think Claudia's public vote is going to have to be a strong one this week if she's going to stay out of the bottom two. Hopefully the Lion King theme will get the kiddies voting too!

Agree about the training footage btw. They're looking great

If the public feel like they are undermarked again it could work in their favour I guess!

Going to be so nervous tomorrow!

Tweet from Gethin Jones after his interviews in the studios for ITT.

He obviously saw the routine in the rehearsals.

https://mobile.twitter.com/GethincJo...5323273216?p=v

Very good point! It worked last week


The lift did sound spectacular when they were describing it on ITT!

Looking forward to this evenings performance - really hope they get through and avoidthe DO

Sorry I have to slightly disagree that the celebs doing ballroom tonight are that good in ballroom. (Doti's quickstep may be the exception). They all seem to be losing the dance technique (they have hunched shoulders toes and heels in the wrong places etc) to the storytelling.
I am really surprised at Len's marking and comments in particular. He is after all supposed to be the ballroom expert.
To that end how many of the ballroom dances tonight are going to be more like American Smooths sans lifts (with the exception perhaps of the tango). Out of hold for far too much of the dance. And when is Craig going to make his comments of old, about illegal lifts and gapping you could drive a bus through.

But I reckon Claudia and AJ are thoroughly enjoying the salsa.💃

Oh dear. Face paint and cute lion ears by the look of the photo on the Strictly Come Dancing BBC Web page.

Who was it that said TPTB will only let them have one grown up routine. You were right. The AT.

Come on Claudia & AJ. Show them a fantastic amazing salsa.

Yes, come on Claudia and AJ, knock their socks off.

Feel so nervous for them tonight! Really hope they smash this salsa and get some long awaited 10s, hope everyone votes for them

I thought it was fantastic and they got a 10!!!!

Definitely the performance of the eve IMO

I haven't watched the show as at work but been keeping check on the scores! So glad they got a 10 at long last! I'm still nervous for them though so I'm voting away! Really hope they make it!

I am worried for one of my other favourites Louise and kevin as well! I remember last year Georgia and Gio being joint 2nd on the leaderboard this week and ending up in the dance off for the first time! Saving all my votes for Claudia and Aj though of course!

What a salsa! Thought Claudia did brilliantly with all the choreography jam packed in. She did very well to finish joint second. Just hope she gets the votes! It was a shame AJ had to adjust during the final lift but I doubt that would have changed the score much. Considering he'd never done lifts before Strictly I think he's coped amazingly well with them on the whole.

Yes loved that salsa! Think the marking was unfair in comparison to some of the others but still so pleased they got a 10 finally! Really hope they make it through.

What a great Salsa. Well done Claudia and AJ. I'm sure you'll be through to next week or I'll be very upset.

Wow what a salsa, thought that was a jam packed routine! I dont understand the people who are saying it was a gymnastic routine with a little dancing....?? have these people actually ever watched a gymnastics routine The ones I've watched are most certainly NOTHING like that lol. They had more salsa content in their dance than Danny had Tango or Louise had QS come to that.

Someone said she is trending on twitter!!!! And she has the most likes on FB and views on YT so fingers crossed they will sail through to next week

Dance of the night for me and they looked to be having a ball. Boo hiss to the judges for being so pernickety compared to some of the others.

Loved their make-up and hair and Claudia's little dress was flattering this week.

Well I'm an avid gymnastics fan and I dance salsa and I have to say I'm in complete agreement with you Plenty of salsa. We nearly always get lift and tricks centred salsas on Strictly. Nothing strange there. And on a completely non-dance note - I thought they both looked adorable as lions

Loved that dance. I've never really bought into the 'AJ showcases himself' argument, but Claudia really was front and centre throughout that whole dance. The choreography also really cleverly used their height difference to its advantage as well. Brilliant! The only dance with any sparkle on a bit of a lacklustre night IMO...

Glad they didn't drag out the 'when will she get a 10' storyline, but I still think it should have come last week 😜

Loved this dance. They lifted the whole night. No pun intended there
They were bound to include lifts, as do all pros in SCD and DWTS salsas. They were just always going to be better at them than general salsas. And well done AJ who isn't used to that type and number of lifts. Certainly not in his competition dances!

I have decided to ignore the few and far between comments that are anti Claudia and AJ. They are obviously made by people who are worried about their favourites.