It Takes Two - Monday 4th October

 

So the new series of Strictly Come Dancing is in full swing and we have our first episode of It Takes Two with Claudia Winkleman.

A funny video clip of Kara before the show saying "I just don't want to fall over" and then Erin Boag trying to sabotage Gavin Henson.  Finishing with Kara falling over in her now infamous dominatrix outfit.

First up is Paul Daniels & Ola Jordan.  Paul said on his blog recently that he'd never seen Strictly before going on and thought that the show was about learning to dance Ballroom and Latin American, rather than learning to "Showdance".  That's why he was so surprised with the backlash of critiques from the judges.

Add to that the controversy surrounding Paul's 'sausage-gate' comment (those who follow the judges/pro's/celebs on twitter will have known in advance that Craig is King of the Sizzle for British Sausage Week); and Paul didn't exactly have a great weekend.

I think Paul will cope much better with the Foxtrot than his Cha Cha Cha and I'll let you know my thoughts once I've seen some training videos.

Next up is Craig Revel-Horwood, the archetypal panto judge.  Craig agrees that this year is a a great year for potential, and is looking forward to a lot more 'armography'.  For me Pamela Stephenson's Waltz was better than Matt Baker's Cha Cha Cha but both definitely deserved to be at the top.

Goldie's dance lacked a lot in the Cha Cha Cha department but there should be room for improvement, Ann's biggest downfall is going to be Salsa this weekend...but seeing as they're on the show later I'll talk more about them then.

Craig then analyses Michelle Williams, someone for me who looks far too thin, and coupled with her (as Craig puts it) 'stick insect' look she really underperformed at the weekend with a lack of hip action and control.  I would have expected something a lot sexier and rythmical from her.

Peter Shilton gave a good performance, that did seem a bit timid, but overall Erin did a really good job with him.

Craig thought that Kara Tointon was a little bit 'tame'...was he expecting whips and a paddle???  He's desperate to see Ann's Salsa, as we all are I'm sure.

Last year's winner Chris Hollins comes on and gives us a football style analysis of this year's competitors...which mainly consists of a brief intro and a few VT's that we didn't see on the live show...other than that it seems a fairly pointless section of the show.

Now for Ann Widdecombe and Anton Du Beke, Ann describing herself as 'Dumbo the elephant' raises a titter.  Anton is his usual on-screen charming self, pointing out that they had to remove the gymnastics from their routine so that they didn't appear to be copying Matt Baker.

It's Ann's birthday today and she gets some special birthday messages from Kenneth Clarke MP, a few other MP's who I've never heard off, Edwina Currie and David Blunkett.  Sweet but surely BBC could've have stretched to a cake and a rendition of Happy Birthday from Anton & Craig...

Salsa from Ann is apparently going to feature things that shouldn't even be in a salsa; "Waltz" quips Anton.

Now that I've got my daily dose of It Takes Two out of the way, and the trailer for So You Think You Can Dance has not inspired me to apply, I best go get ready for our classes tonight...Viennese Waltz and Salsa (ironic really) coming up.

See you tomorrow!