You're welcome as always Glad you're on the mend.

As anyone who knows me will know, I'm always a believer in being fair. And I did indeed base my decision on the dance off. I'm not a fan of Ore, but I've never ever said he is the worst dancer. But this weekend I genuinely think he was bad. Robert Rinder was too but personally he wasn't as bad.

Sorry, I wasn't meaning they weren't basing it on dancing, I was just saying what I'd have done, I am very sorry that it came across in a bad way, it wasn't meant to.

hope you feel better soon Izzie, Ash did great but I hope you're back next time

sad about Oksana I voted her top too unless I got it all the wrong way round

Ah, no worries in that case.


Thank you. You did indeed have Oksana (and her celebrity partner!) top, but there were a lot of voters what with the vote being open for an extra day.

Maybe it was the I used, I should have used !

Still waiting on a set of marks, but the show is mostly completed. Hoping to have it up by early afternoon.

Wally has kindly stepped in to judge, so I'll have a show for you by 4pm.

Hello and welcome to round ten of Our Way!

This week we had the exciting heights of the Cha Cha Cha-llenge to pour over. Previous years have seen absolute OUTRAGE over Patrick Robinson being rigged into second place, will this year prove to be equally controversial? There were also some individual dances with Danny and Oti grabbing their second perfect score of the series and Ed continuing his not-so-high-scoring trajectory. Nothing much too much in the way of surprise here.

Opening the show were Danny and Oti…

Danny Mac and Oti Mabuse dancing the Samba to ‘Magalenha’ (Sérgio Mendes feat. Carinhos Brown)

Craig – 10
Darcey – 10
Len – 10
Bruno – 10
Total: 40

First ever perfect score for the Samba. Only the Rumba remains untouched by a perfect score. (In the main series.)

Andrew – 10
Nicolas – 9
Ryan – 8
Wally – 10
Total: 37

Wally: Dangg, this dance was pretty much slayage! I loved the variety of speed as this had slow moments, fast moments and everything in between. I loved the tribal inspired feel of the dance and Oti’s choreography was wonderful here. Danny, you certainly did your part as you nailed the execution, performance, hip action, partnering and technique of the Samba. It was just so fast, furious and ferocious and I absolutely loved this. You had great and brought natural rhythm, performing skills, good floor traveling and did fantastic with the Samba rolls. This was seriously just such another wow moment for you! This very well could be the best Strictly Samba and I think this will be a dance that will be remembered for years!

It seems two of our judges weren’t quite as swept up in perfect-score fever as the Strictly panel…

THREE MARKS FEWER

The task of following a perfect-scoring dance fell to Ore and Joanne…

Ore Oduba and Joanne Clifton dancing the Paso Doble to ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’ (Lorde)

Craig – 8
Darcey – 9
Len – 9
Bruno – 10
Total: 36

He may want to rule the world, but are we about to see Ore rule the leaderboard?

Andrew – 9
Nicolas – 8
Ryan – 10
Wally – 9
Total: 36

Nicolas: Ore, I'll box you in the face if you cry this tome, ok? Got it? Got it. Look, Ore, you're a great dancer and all, but I don't get why YOU were getting compliments for JOANNE'S choreo. Bizarrre. Anyway, you danced pretty well, but it didn't exactly fill the stage. It felt like something was missing.

This is something of a first for Ore to not be in a position where he’s losing marks…

MATCH THEIR SCORE

The next couple to perform was Louise and Kevin…

Louise Redknapp and Kevin Clifton dancing the Waltz to ‘At this Moment’ (Michael Bublé)

Craig – 9
Darcey – 10
Len – 10
Bruno – 10
Total: 39

Never in a million years should that have received tens, and I’ll tell you for why…

Andrew – 9
Nicolas – 8
Ryan – 9
Wally – 10
Total: 36

Ryan: You just waltzed into my life with that wonderful dance keeping up with Kevin and making everything look so easy.

They may have made everything look easy, but that score looks somewhat diminished…

THREE MARKS FEWER

Out next were Robert and Oksana…

Robert Rinder and Oksana Platero dancing the Rumba to ‘Lean on Me’ (Bill Withers)

Craig – 6
Darcey – 8
Len – 8
Bruno – 7
Total: 29

There was a part of me that hoped Bruno would continue chucking 10s at everything, including this and Ed, just because it’s Bruno and DS would have had a collective fit.

Andrew – 8
Nicolas – 6
Ryan – 5
Wally – 7
Total: 26

Wally: Awww I feel bad for you Judge Rinder as the Rumba didn’t really suit you and I dunno… something just seemed off with this dance. Like your usual joy wasn’t here. You did an okay/respectable job but it was a step-down from your last 4, 5 or so dances after you’ve made soo much progress. You seemed stiff throughout and lacking elegance and hip action in a lot of spots of the dance. You did have some fluid arm placements at times so props there but it was inconsistent as there was more rough around the edges moments. Not your best but I hope you get another chance next week to redeem yourself.

I think Rindy probably peaked with the Grandparent Foxtrot, in all honesty…

THREE MARKS FEWER

With a unique take on the Tango, Ed and Katya…

Ed Balls and Katya Jones dancing the Tango to ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ (The Rolling Stones)

Craig – 4
Darcey – 6
Len – 7
Bruno – 6
Total: 23

There is a part of me that wonders if they are now picking songs just to give Len a hand in thinking up commentaries based on them.

Andrew – 5
Nicolas – 6
Ryan – 3
Wally – 5
Total: 19

Andrew: Well at least you...tried very hard. It really wasn't good at all Ed for Week 10. You don't seem to be improving which is disappointing.

By comparison, last year’s lowest Our Way score for the top six was 29…

FOUR MARKS FEWER

With the final individual routine of the round, Claudia and AJ…

Claudia Fragapane and AJ Pritchard dancing the Argentine Tango to ‘Cry Me a River’ (Justin Timberlake)

Craig – 9
Darcey – 9
Len – 9
Bruno – 9
Total: 36

Given how low the threshold is this year to get a 10, I’m still somewhat surprised this couple haven’t managed one…

Andrew – 10
Nicolas – 10
Ryan – 10
Wally – 10
Total: 40

Nicolas: Look, Claudia, I don't know WHAT you have to do to get a 10 from those so called judges, but I thought that was amazing. It was sharp, precise and clean, and I loved every single step of it.

Well and truly rectified… Only the sixth perfect score in Our Way history!

FOUR MARKS MORE

Now, time for the scintillating Cha Cha Cha-llenge…

Yes, and well deserved, they should have got it in the real show.

#yayforOurWayjudges

I can't ever recall getting an Our Way 40 when the real life judges gave NO 10s before!

People on Twitter were suggesting a "Fix" against Claudia.

Sorry for the lack of ‘spruce’ on the presentation of this. I just had an inkling you wouldn’t want to have to click spoiler tags to reveal the placing of each couple. Every judge had Ed, Robert and Danny in the same position (which obviously correlates to their position in here) with a Ore, Louise and Claudia a little more interchangeable.

Yeah, I agree, for me, as well as the Argentine Tango, they could and possibly SHOULD have got tens for their Charleston and American Smooth and why they got the same score as their Jive, it just boggles me. *sigh*

That is more like it.

#ThankGoodnessForOurWayJudges

I am looking forward to judging this coming week.