Strictly Come Dancing live: Sarah Hadland’s Rumba divides judges before couples take on Samba-thon
The competition is heating up as dancers return after tense Blackpool week
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Your support makes all the difference.Only seven contestants remain in the Strictly Come Dancing competition, after a tense Blackpool week that saw Wynne Evans and his partner Katya Jones eliminated.
The remaining couples have returned to the Elstree Studios ballroom this week, where standards are steadily rising, and the competition is heating up.
Last week, Sarah Hadland, Tasha Ghouri and Chris McCausland took the top three spots on the leaderboard, with scores of 39, 39 and 37, respectively.
This week, Ghouri and Aljaž Škorjanec are dancing an American Smooth to “Someone You Loved” by Lewis Capaldi, while Montell Douglas and her pro partner Johannes Radebe are performing a Quickstep to Ella Fitzgerald’s “Get Happy”.
In the Tango corner is Pete Wicks and Jowita Przystał, dancing to “Easy Lover” by Philip Bailey and Phil Collins, and JB Gill and Lauren Oakley – who has stepped in as Amy Dowden’s replacement – are doing a Charleston to “Yes Sir! That’s My Baby” by Firehouse Five Plus Two.
Follow along with our live coverage of tonight’s show.
JB and Lauren win the Samba-thon
Tess and Claudia are now announcing the full scores, and the winner is... JB Gill!
They were fabulous from the start, to be honest and the top score of 7 puts JB and Lauren joint top of the leaderboard with Tasha and Aljaz.
Not as chaotic as it could have been
All in all, this isn’t too bad! And the method of the judges calling the names out and ousting each couple one by one has certainly helped make it less chaotic.
Sarah and Vito have missed out on being top three, with Montell and Johannes going next to leave us two celebs (JB and Tasha).
Chris first out of the Samba-thon
JB and Lauren wasted not time in going strsight down the middle of the floor. Sarah and Vito are shimmying along the side right in front of the judges.
Chris and Dianne are first out! He’ll probably be glad to be honest. Jamie and Michelle have gone out next, followed by Pete and Jowita.
Time for the Samba-thon
The judges are giving the celebs some last minute tips and they all look completely terrifed. I’m so excited for this.
“You want to stand out in the crowd,” Craig told them. “You’ve got to do anything and everything you can. You don’t want to be crashing into another couple.”
Tasha lands the first 40 of the series
So well-deserved!
Here was their reaction as Craig finally found that 10 paddle:
Judges speechless at Tasha’s Foxtrot
“Stunning... wow,” said Motsi. “I have only one word to say. Perfection.”
“There we see the Rolls Royce of the American Foxtrot,” said Shirley, before revealing Anton had become emotional and shed a tear. He explained: “This is why we dance. It’s about how it makes us feel.”
“Unfortunately, now for the truth darling... your little right finger,” Craig began, before adding: “Fab-u-lous.”
Can Tasha land a 40?
As Tess pointed out, the Love Island star has been scored 39 on three occasions so far but Craig has been holding out with that 10.
They’ve gone all out with the lifts tonight and the dance, an American Smooth to Lewis Capaldi’s “Someone You Loved”, is dedicated to Aljaz and Janette’s adorable daughter Lyra.
The routine is... well, just absolutely stunning. Wonderfully smooth, and they made the lifts look easy. How it possible to be spun at such speed and not have a hair out of place?
Montell’s scores are in...
She’s got two 10s!
Craig awarded Montell an 8 and Shirley went for a 9, while their fellow judges reached for their 10 paddles.
She has a total of 37, which is very well-deserved.
The judges are loving Montell
She’s been labelled “quite delightful” by Shirey, while Anton has praised Montell for improving every week. “This is as good as your Couple’s Choice,” he added. “I think this was absolutely brilliant.”
Craig said: “The dynamics in that dance were out of this world. Great, great, great... Amazing.”
“What you never lose is that shine, that sparkle,” Motsi told the Gladiators star. I think she could be in for a high score here.
Montell bounces back from the dance-off
Montell and Johannes are bouncing back from being in the dance-off last week with a Quickstep to Ella Fitzgerald’s “Get Happy”.
Montell is such a wonderful performer. This is a beautiful, joyous routine (as a Quickstep should be). And they both look so happy to be performing it! I know we have a few couples still to dance, and the Samba-thon, but Montell really doesn’t deserve the dance-off again.
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