Midweek Update
A Noble Gesture
When Robbie appeared on It Takes Two yesterday, he commented on what a difficult week it had been for him this week, with the death of his great mate Gary Speed, who had been in the audience watching Robbie & Ola do the jive back in Week 4. Pro that he is, Robbie is getting on with it to prepare for this week and the quickstep, when we probably would have understood if he’d decided not to dance this week. But he’s decided to dedicate his performance this week to his mate:
On the football pitch you can wear black armbands, you can have a minute’s silence but fortunately I can show my respects to 13 million people on Saturday night. I’m just going to go and dance for him.
That’s a noble gesture if ever there was one, and again shows that there’s more to footballers than people might think.
“Robbie Savage to dedicate Strictly dance to Gary Speed”
Let’s not have any more boobs
I’m assuming everyone remembers Chelsee’s “wardrobe malfunction” on the Halloween show? Well, now it seems that she has devised a “boob test” to ensure that her somewhat ample décolletage remains firmly clamped inside whatever dress she’s been fitted for:
My main priority is that they don’t fall out, so whenever I try on a new costume we do the boob test. I do a little shake in front of my dance partner Pasha just to make sure everything stays in place. Obviously after what happened last time I’m a lot more nervous, and all I ever say to the wardrobe girls is, “Please just make sure they don’t fall out.”
It does make one wonder though why the wardrobe department didn’t take into account the size of Chelsee’s bosoms in the first place. After all, it isn’t as if they didn’t have any warning about it. Further, it isn’t as if there haven’t been ladies of the buxom kind on Strictly in the past. Lisa Snowdon and Kelly Brook are both what might be called “ample”, and yet there were no wardrobe malfunctions when they competed. Even when Lisa did her jive with Brendan in a very small dress with no “support” (if you catch my drift). One therefore also wonders if there is nothing in the way of collective memory and discussion when it comes to the dressmaking.
“Now Strictly star Chelsee invents a ‘boob test’ to spare her blushes after wardrobe malfunction”
Kelly Brook and Lisa Snowdon are both "ample", and yet they didn't need a "boob test" to ensure their bosoms stayed in their outfits
Calm down dear
And who said Italians held grudges? It seems that during the preparation for the Christmas show, Judge Alesha and Nancy had to be kept physically apart because Nancy still “disagrees” with some of the comments Alesha gave while she and Anton were still in the competition. Which has led to threats of legal action, and full up nose to nose confrontation. I guess Alesha is a little squeamish at the prospect of this, as, according to the report, she told the bosses at Strictly, who revised the schedule so that they were never in the same place at the same time:
The plan read like an army timetable: Alesha in wardrobe at 17.00hrs, Nancy 17.40hrs, Alesha in make-up 17.40hrs, Nancy 18.10hrs, and so on. At one stage, Nancy swept down the corridor just seconds after Alesha had been whisked into the green room. Everyone was very tense.
Clearly Nancy is still of the opinion that she has some skill on the dancefloor. Much in the same way that Craig Kelly was in Series 7. What also seems to be clear is that no one has the bottle to stand up to her and say “Nancy, really, you were crap. Accept it and move on”. Notice that Nancy hasn’t said anything about Judge Craig’s comments, or even Judge Bruno’s. Pouncing on the weakest member of the herd perhaps? Knowing full well that Bruno, being just as Italian, would take her on on her own terms, and Craig will always stand by his comments and stand up to anyone that challenges them, evidently she’s going for the youngest and least experienced judge. Alesha should just go up to her and say “I stand by my comments. You’re not very good. You did look unfeminine at times. Now fuck off.”
“Nancy and Alesha separated at Strictly Xmas special”
To quote Shatner…”Get A Life!!”
It seems that James is determined to take over Brendan’s role as the bad boy professional who looks to get up the noses of the judges (and us). Following his disagreements in Week 4, he’s now returned his attention to Judge Craig and the criticism over his and Alex’s charleston. As he always does, Craig was on It Takes Two on the Monday looking at the weekend’s action and also explaining his scores and comments:
The competition is getting tougher and I’m getting tougher. I’m judging a lot more detail. “The dance wasn’t going to enough extreme for me. It’s supposed to be bizarre and extraordinary.
He then proceeded to tell James, who had stormed off in something of a huff after the scores were dished out, to “get a life”. Unfortunately, James doesn’t seem to be big enough to let it go and concentrate on getting Alex ready for the next routine, and so just had to snipe back:
I heard on Twitter that Craig told me to ‘get a life’! Harsh! Shame he seems to be taking it out on Alex who is lovely! Unprofessional!
I didn’t want to get so angry about the scores, but [Alex] means so much to me now!
Does [Craig] have the balls to say it on Sat night? I don’t think so! I’d like to see him try… I’m banter king. I’ll destroy him!
James seems to be missing the point – he’s there to come up with choreography to make the judges sit up and take notice, and prepare Alex to dance on a Saturday night as best she can. Rather than trying to “destroy” Craig in a banter war, oughtn’t he be focusing his energies on what he’s there to do?
“‘Strictly’ Craig Revel Horwood, James Jordan continue Charleston spat”
Weekly Odds
Harry Judd – 4/7
Jason Donovan – 7/2
Chelsee Healey – 7/2
Alex Jones – 33/1
Robbie Savage – 33/1
Holly Valance – 40/1
Classic Strictly
As we’re coming into the last few weeks, I shall throw some perfect routines at you – these are the ones that saw the judges get out the magic “10″ paddle (yes, even Craig). First of all, and going back to the lovely Lisa Snowdon, I’ll give you not one, but two routines (yes, alright, I’ll admit to having a soft spot for her). Even though Lisa and Brendan finished third in series 6, on the night of the final they finished top of the judges leaderboard with a score of 80/80, getting maximums for both their foxtrot and cha cha. Having two dances in a single week is a rarity left for the very final stages. Having both dances get a perfect score has happened only once. So, from the series 6 final, here’s Lisa Snowdon and Brendan Cole dancing first a sumptuous foxtrot, and then a magical cha cha.
It is nice for Robbie Savage to dedicate his dance to Gary Speed. Like you say, it must be hard for him to dance if he’s grieving.
Has anyone ever before taken it as seriously as Nancy? Most of those who haven’t been so good have taken the comments in good humour. And, yes, why single out Alesha? I bet Craig had worse things to say.
Speaking of which, although I didn’t see Alex and James’s charleston or hear the comments, I can understand how James probably feels because, like I’ve said, Craig would just rub me up the wrong way (oo-er) but, yeah, I agree his job is about dance rather than banter. TBH, though, I think a lot of this is said and done just to get people talking but it’s also nice to see a professional really stick up for their dance partner. It was like that with Brendan when he stuck up for Jo Wood a couple of series ago.