BIB AJ is about 5' 7'' - on the short side for a male. Claudia is 4'7'' - on the tiny side for a woman. I doubt they could have found a shorter pro if they had tried. Kevin may be shorter than AJ or even Gorka but I doubt it. To get a dancer to work height wise with Claudia they would need to be about 5' 1'' or 5' 2'' - very difficult.

Claudia's height is a difficult fit for Strictly to get a partner smaller than AJ you would have to go to the junior ranks. Kevin is not smaller than AJ

And the lifts were sticky and she made mistakes and the technique wasn't great...

I thought as well as struggling to get around the floor in time, probably because of her tiny legs, her dance was quite lethargic last night. I hope it was just a one week thing and that starting gymnastics training hasn't and isn't going to impact the rest of her dances if that was the reason, because she has a lot of potential just hasn't had that one breakthrough yet.

i appreciate she is shorter so it might be harder for her to get height on her kicks and flicks but I think it was probably second worst of the night.

I didn't think Kevin was shorter but wasn't 100% sure. Was Vincent shorter? He may have worked with Claudia!!

I got the impression they were totally expecting to be slaughtered and surprised and relieved by the marks. They looked like they couldn't believe it as much as everyone else... Would be interested to hear their honest comments on the marks and how the dance went. Claudia looked horror struck for a brief moment at the end but covered up well.

Even to my untrained eye I could see she was struggling with last nights dance, for all the reasons already mentioned.

So was a bit whaaaaat? when I heard the judges comments and scores.

She isn't a favorite of mine, but in fairness she has had some good weeks, last night wasn't one of them and it makes a mockery of the whole thing when the judges who are supposed to be the experts blatantly over mark and over praise.

Very weak dance looked like she was struggling to lift her feet all through. Her heels were too high too, for a jive. Would have been better in faux gym shoes, would have gone with the outfit and may have made her perform better.

Not many of them these days

This show is "micro managed" by the producers.

I'd put money on the choice of shoes not being hers. In flat shoes as worn by cheerleader dance teams (not those standing on the side of NFL games) it would have accentuated the height difference between her and AJ.

In the first show, it was irresponsible to encourage her (as I'm sure she was) to execute a back somersault in heels.


This is true, but Louise Rainbow, is searching for any way they can increase the ratings.

If they can gain a few from those younger viewers who watch X-Factor, then bringing in AJ will be considered a success.

I like Claudia and thought she would be superb with a jive, sadly she wasnt it was awful but her first really bad one. She will be back.

This was exactly my thought. They looked higher than the ones she was training in.

Watching the dance last night, I found the amount of time she spent bouncing on two feet a little weird - not graceful at all. She was totally off-balance at times. I've just watched it back in slo-mo and it's even worse.

And that outfit was downright unflattering - cheap and the neckline and waistline were horrendous. I agree with whoever said it made her look like a barrel.

She's not really been on my radar before, but I feel sorry for her now. Seems like she's been done up like a kipper.

Claudia was overmarked (her kicks and flicks were quite good though, which was surprising given her short legs) but I think the judges felt a bit sorry for her and AJ having to dance in those ghastly costumes and to that awful music.

If Claudia and AJ had been able to jive to "The Killer" with proper "rock "n" roll" outfits like "you know who" the whole performance would have looked MUCH better.

I thought it was one of her poorer dances, which (yet again with Claudia) I'm blaming on the themeing and portraying her as a little girl YET AGAIN!

She's four foot 6 - other than scouring the junior ranks I think any of the male pros are going to be verging on a foot plus taller than her.

Cheerleaders are mostly adults.

I think Claudia has had some crummy song choices, most likely more than anyone else, but people are really stacking it on if they're claiming it's every week that she's being given kiddy songs to perform to. Hey Mickey is a pop song from over 30 years ago. It's positively Radio 2 at this point.

NFL cheerleaders are all adults, more like "page three girls."
Check out the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.

Cheerleader dance groups are usually all young teenagers.

"Hey Micky" was an excellent choice as it is the most popular pop tune for these groups.
No end of different teen cheerleader groups dancing to it on YouTube.

What ruined it was being around 10bpms faster than the original by Toni Basil, the crap costume and the stupidity of making her wear heels.

30 years ago it didnt sound too bad. But now I am not so sure.

It looked to me as though she'd forgotten her steps or couldn't fit them in on time (the music was so fast!) and the strange bouncing on two feet was to keep moving until she could pick up the proper moves again. I think the high heels were partly responsible - she would have been so much better dancing this particular dance in sneakers imho.

I see where you are coming from. But then people might have said she looked too short.

You can put money on the choice being not hers, but the producer's. Flats would have been more suitable but would have accentuated the big difference in their heights.

I thought with her gymnastic qualities and bouncy floor it would be spectacular. Very disappointing, but the heels didn't help or the music.

I've since conducted a more "scientific check" on the speed of her jive, matching it, using the rhythm facility on my leccy piano which has a variable speed.
It's at around 172bpms. Doing the same with Toni Basil's recording I found that was about 20bpm fewer. So Claudia's was far too fast.

I thought it seemed a fair bit quicker than the original, so thanks for confirming that. Why did the band play it so fast I wonder?