Strictly: Week Eleven - Saturday

On with day two, and an unexpected bonus in the shape of a certain Mr Ramprakash in the audience. Rampants everywhere were extremely happy for all of three seconds, although my main concern was that, given the recent history of standing up to applaud if Bruno so much as sneezes, his dodgy knee may not take it! I spent most of the evening angrily shouting at the screen for the audience to sit down, much to my dad’s bemusement!

And now to the dance that I mentioned in the first paragraph of my previous report: the one whose style my dad couldn’t place. Scott and Natalie’s Charleston was novel, dressed as he was like Popeye the sailor man in a white outfit that looked as if it had come straight from ‘South Pacific’. It was a good attempt to break away from the traditional Charleston mould, but in losing the 1920s Speakeasy feel some of the character of the dance was lost, and to be honest I thought most of the judges would like it less than they did. Additionally, there were sections where Scott just seemed to stand there and let Natalie do all the work. I think these two have run out of steam, just about. It’s a real shame because they were so good at the start of the show, but I guess Scott’s acting schedules have caught up with him and it’s left him looking alarmingly drained and fatigued. Overall it didn’t impress me, but nor did it offend me either. A solid 8 would be my score for Scott.

Oh, here we go again. Footgate, round two! This time the Kara fans are mumping because it didn’t get four tens, when yet again Kara’s foot came off the floor, and yet again Craig decided it fell a gnat’s crotchet short of perfection. Did the others spot it? If they didn’t then you could forgive them but wonder why they didn’t when Craig did. And if they did and they overlooked it, you have to start questioning their collective wisdom (such as it is).

The fact is that Kara and Artem produced a stunning rumba, a dance that usually reminds me of watching Dr Who behind the sofa as a child because it can be that scary. It wasn’t quite as good as Rachel and Vincent’s rumba, in my opinion, but there was a lot of quality, beautiful shaping and fantastic line yet again. Kara does almost look professional, and she is extremely good to watch whatever she does. She really suited the outfit as well, although the hair was a tad weird! Ah, if only that foot hadn’t come off the floor again! And considering how much Kara hated doing the rumba, it’s to her credit that she completed it with such panache. It’s an almost 10 from me, and that’s saying something considering I usually find rubbing my forehead with sandpaper preferable to watching a rumba...

I was a bit dismissive of Matt’s tango last night so I went back and had another look at it, because the general consensus was that it improved on repeat viewing. And indeed it does. It was a very strong, masculine turn from Matt, as if to back up my previous assertion that when he ‘gets’ a character or a technical dance he knows how to tackle it. There was the necessary aggression, power and passion and even the choreography seemed much better second time round than I had initially remembered. I’d thought him over marked at first, but I think in fairness the judges awarded him the scores he deserved for the dance. Credit to him for coming back and dancing so well given the verbal mauling of the night before, which must have still been ringing in his ears. I still don’t think he always sells a dance as well as he could performance-wise, but this was better than I had given him credit for. A 9 or and 8.5 for me. I must have been bored last night.

Ah, here’s the reason for the boredom. Now, with my minimal knowledge of ballroom dancing – and it is minimal, so bear with me – I thought that going ‘up and down’ in a Viennese Waltz was considered a bad thing? Was I the only one who thought that the first section of Gavin’s routine had more rise and fall than the Roman Empire? Or did I imagine that? I’m not re-watching it to find out: I felt mind- numbed enough by it the first time round. There was a small timing issue with one section (or if you are Craig, a large issue) which caused Katya to bristle in defence of her partner. Oh dear, Katya. Rule number one: never argue back against the pantomime villain judges. The viewers don’t like it and it will cost you votes. Still, Gavin is much more watchable in ballroom than Latin. And tomorrow I hope to be watching him Viennese Waltz off into the sunset, because he’s stayed a few weeks too many in my opinion.

I watched Pamela’s dance back too and I have to say that I’m split on this. It was probably a tad heavy, and this being the case it probably wasn’t worth a 10. Mind you, I thought the same thing when I saw it initially. There was a lot to like about it: I’m not one for aimless faffing about but at least I thought the faffing with the canes and hats was in context of the performance, so I’m just tempted to let James away with it. And the actual performance, as ever, was fantastic. In terms of performance she’s the best of the five left. In terms of dancing I’d maybe only put her third or fourth, depending on if Scott’s having a good day or not. But she must be charming the judges with what she’s done because out came the four 10s again! And for that matter, out came the conspiracy theorists as well, arguing that the judges wanted to make sure their precious Pamela was safe. Well, there is a precedent I suppose. Emma Bunton, anyone?

I didn’t mind the 40 for the Viennese Waltz because it was beautiful and because Erin said it was flawless – and as Erin is queen of ballroom its good enough for me. This one...I can’t really defend it. I don’t think it was full house material. But it was the dance I enjoyed most over the two nights, so perhaps perfection isn’t that important after all?