Strictly Come Dancing – Week 1 review

At last, the wait is over, and the 6th series of Strictly Come Dancing is underway. When I start writing this blog, I intended to make it a daily affair, but I quickly realised that I would struggle to compete with the stream of news and articles being generated by a combination of tabloid newspapers and the blogosphere…

So, I’ve decided that whilst I’ll try to keep writing,  I’ll probably limit myself to weekly reports of the weekend shows. Obviously if something else catches my eye, I may still post, but if you’re looking for a daily fix, I suggest you go elsewhere…

However, if it’s an intelligent weekly report that you’re after, you’re in the right place, so read on…

This weekend was men’s night, with only the 8 male professionals doing a full dance, and eligible for eviction. The girls were limited to a group dance, which only gave us a fleeting view of their abilities.

If you want to see what the judges said, you can find the comments (and scores) on the BBC’s official website. Here’s my view in order of performance:

• Tom Chambers & Camilla Dallerup - an excellent effort from Tom… given that he was the first out, I thought he was impressively calm. For me, he was by far the best dancer technically, and I thought that the judges marked him down slightly at 28/40. I can’t help feeling that they realise that he has more experience (and talent) than most, and therefore don’t want him to run away with the show. Great hip movement – already proving to be one of Arlene’s favourites… who would have thought it?!
• Phil Daniels & Flavia Cacace - I wasn’t disappointed to see him go to be honest. I thought he was a distinctly average dancer, despite Flavia creating a pretty easy waltz routine for him. He looked awkward on the dancefloor, and didn’t seem too disappointed by having to leave. Tough for Flavia though, after making it all the way to the final last time around.
• Don Warrington & Lillia Kopylova - I thought Don’s performance was passable, and he did show at least some semblance of rhythm in a challenging latin dance. I can’t see him going much further in the competition though, despite Lilia’s brilliant chorepraphy. Unless Gary Rhodes keeps getting the sympathy vote, I suspect he’ll be out in week 3…
• Austin Healey & Erin Boag - a fantastic opening performance from Austin Healey. Judging by this performance, he could turn out to be as good as Matt Dawson at the ballroom dances… 32 in week 1 is no mean feat. However, it’s worth remembering that Dawson struggled a lot more with the latin numbers, and I can’t imagine Healey will be any different. Let’s wait until the end of week 3 before passing judgement on whether he’s a serious contender for the title.
• Mark Foster & Hayley Holt - a competent, but uninspiring performance, he already reminds me of Mark Ramprakash 2 seasons ago. Ramps was very nervous in week 1 and didn’t demonstrate any significant level of charisma. I guess that’s always going to be a challenge for a sportsman who is not used to perfoming… On the plus side, he appears to have some ability and certainly didn’t embaress himself. With a few more weeks’ work, I’d expect him to make decent progress. He looks like he’ll be much better than Kenny Logan, but lacking in the same passion. I predict he’ll make it half-way.
• Gary Rhodes & Karen Hardy - a dreadful performance from the chef, I’m sure that he only managed to stay in the competition because of his score of just 1from judge Craig Revel Horwood. Craig should know by now that the viewers are sympathetic people, and don’t like it when terrible dancers get criticised excessively. If we wants to get him out of the show, he should display a little more indifference, and he might get his wish. Personaly I wanted Rhodes to leave this week – his only saving grace was his partner Karen, and even that wasn’t enough to make up for his over-exhuberance. His score of 17 was even a little generous - I’m not really sure how Len managed a 6 for him
• John Sergeant & Kristina Rihanoff - a delightful performance, John looked thoroughly at ease during the waltz. Unfortunately, judging by his efforts in the group number, he could really struggle during the latin numbers. A little like Willie Thorne, he seems to have already endeared himself to his fellow competitors and the public alike, and I’m sure he’ll be relieved to have made it through to week 3. Unfortunately, I’m that confident that he’ll be going much further.
• Andrew Castle & Ola Jordan - a far from embaressing effort from Castle, which defintiely exceeded my expectations. Obviously he did better than previous GMTV entrants, but that’s not really saying a great deal. I think he’ll last another few weeks, although he’s unlikely to be there towards the end of the series, especially when looking at his awkward performance in the full group number on Sunday.

 

Based on that, I think there are really only men who have a shot at making it through to the semi-finals – Austin Healey and Tom Chambers, with Mark Foster the dark horse if he can taken a lesson from Mark Ramprakash.

But what about the women? It’s hard to say much given that we only saw them in 2 group numbers so I’ll limit myself to some very brief observations… 

• Cherie Lunghi & James Jordan - Looked like she might be reasonable. She won’t win, but she could last a while
• Christine Bleakley & Matthew Cutler - Looked very nervous, and I guess it’s not easy following Alesha as Matthew’s partner. If she grows in confidence, looks like she could be good, but unclear…
• Gillian Taylforth & Anton Du Beke - hmm, not a brilliant first effort. As much as I love Anton though, it still seems like he is the only professional who is not equally comfortable at both Latin and Ballroom, which will always make it tough for him to compete
• Heather Small & Brian Fortuna - Didn’t see enough to make a judgement, but she looks like she might be ok. Again, not a world-beater.
• Jessie Wallace & Darren Bennett - Less impressive than I expected given that she has almost certainly danced on stage in the past. I can see her being popular with the viewers though so she should have time to grow into it
• Jodie Kidd & Ian Waite - Very awkward indeed – they might be a very matched couple from looks and height perspective, but I don’t think she is going to prove to be a success on the dancing front
• Lisa Snowdon & Brendan Cole - A good start, Lisa looks very confident and definitely a match for Brendon. I’d expect to see her get to at least the semi-finals
• Rachel Stevens & Vincent Simone - Another very good start, it seems like Rachel deserves to be one of the favourites. Craig seems to have taken a shine to her, and I’m sure plenty of viewers have done too…

 

Based on those comments, it looks like it’s Lisa and Rachel who are the strongest girls, although it will be easier to tell once they’ve done a solo dance next week…

So, week 1 is out the way and if I had to pick now, I’d suggest that the 4 finalists will be Tom Chambers, Austin Healey, Lisa Snowdon and Rachel Stevens… let’s see what happens!

Have a good week…