BBC Strictly Come Dancing 2008 - Week 9, Shock: Cherie Lunghi Out !!!

Cherie Lunghi had a serious chance of winning Strictly Come Dancing this year, but now shockingly, after landing in the bottom two with Lisa Snowdon, is out of the running.

When Cherie danced Ballroom she was outstanding, maybe the best in contest. Unfortunately, the latin side let her down slightly and this sadly was her eventual undoing. Still... she probably deserved to progress further than John Sergeant, but this is what we have come to expect of these types of public vote orientated TV competitions.

Lisa Snowdon was a tad better in the dance off and based on that alone, deserved to stay in with professional dance partner, Brendan Cole. The decision was not unaninmous however,

This would have been a scare for Lisa & Brendan who have before finished top of the Leaderboard. Stictly Come Dancing is now wide open.

Can John Sergeant now get to the final? I can see him avoiding the bottom two for a few more weeks, which would see him pick off Christine Bleakley, Jodie Kidd and Lisa Snowdon. Sometimes you don't know whether to laugh or cry... maybe a bit of both is appropriate.

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BBC Strictly Come Dancing - Week 8, Cherie Lunghi, Ballroom Queen

On Ballroom Dancing alone, Cherie Lunghi has a great chance of winning this years Strictly Come Dancing. Last week she performed a fantastic Waltz which scored 36 with the Judges.

36 was an impressive score to finish joint top of the leaderboard with Tom Chambers and Lisa Snowdon. After 2 very mediocre weeks, Cherie was back on form delivering the kind of performances we had previously come to expect.

Latin dances are Cherie's Achilles heal. One feels she needs to improve on them. When there are not many competitors left in the competition later on, a bad performance could spell curtains.

Week 8 would have been a big confidence boost for Cherie. It was looking as if things were starting to come apart after such an impressive first half to the contest. It is rumoured that most of the Home vote is going to herself and John Sergeant. Although, maybe not much of a serious debate, Cherie is a lot better.

Lets face it, a Dung Heap is probably better than John Sergeant. Len Goodman would probably score a Dung Heap 4 points just for turning up and that's exactly how he scored John also.

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BBC Strictly Come Dancing - Week 8 - Lastest Odds to win

Wow! Austin Healey is such a strong favourite now he is almost unbackable. 6/5 is an extremely short price and the Bookmakers obviously fear that there is nobody who can beat him. Hmmmm, I'm not so sure it's as clear-cut as they think. Anything can happen in a single dance. Here are the latest market odds.

Austin Healey 6/5
Tom Chambers 3/1
Rachel Stevens 5/1
Cherie Lunghi 5/1
Lisa Snowdon 10/1
Christine Bleakley 16/1
Jodie Kidd 25/1
John Sergeant 66/1
Heather Small 66/1

A good outside bet would probably be to cover both Cherie Lunghi and Lisa Snowdon at 5/1 and 10/1 respectively.

Cherie has had two bad weeks with dances that haven't suited her, but now these obstacles are history and she will be back to full power. If she nails a dance, Cherie scores big, making her very tough to beat. 5/1 seems value.

Lisa Snowdon is not without a chance and at 10/1 looks attractive.

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BBC Strictly Come Dancing 2008 - Week 7 - After the Judges Scores

Here is the Strictly Come Dancing Leaderboard after the Judges scores in Week 7,

Austin Healey & Erin 36
Lisa Snowdon & Brendan 35
Tom Chambers & Camilla 34
Rachel Stevens & Vincent 32
Jodie Kidd & Ian 31
Christine Bleakley & Matt 29
Cherie Lunghi & James 26
Heather Small & Brian 23
Andrew Castle & Ola 21
John Sergeant & Kristina 20

Austin tops the leaderboard again at the half-way stage. Lisa Snowdon come back with a vengeance. An impressed Judge Craig said, "Welcome back to the Competition!"

Jodie Kidd seemed a little undermarked to me and perhaps deserved to score a bit nearer the leaders.

Cherie Lunghi is well down on where you would normally expect her and is in that traditional danger zone where you can end up in the bottom two after the Viewers vote. Surely this can't happen this time though can it? The Latin style dances are not Cherie's best. If she can survive this week, Cherie remains a significant threat in the contest.

Predictably bottom was John Sergeant, but I would be surprised if he is not saved again. The Judges seem to be quickly losing patience.

Andrew Castle's Samba was described by Judge Bruno as a Brazilian Flop and he looks destined for the bottom two dance-off. It was a brave performance by him despite dancing with an injured knee.

The elimination results are revealed Sunday night.

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BBC Strictly Come Dancing 2008 - Austin Healey, the one to beat

Austin Healey certainly looks the one they have to catch this year. After a dip in performance last week, week 6 saw him bounce back with the Viennese Waltz performed with professional dance partner, Erin Boag.

A great dance which saw Austin top the leaderboard with 34 points, 2 points clear of nearest rivals Tom Chambers and Rachel Stevens.

In was never in doubt that he would qualify into Week 7 and frankly, it will be a major shock if he does not reach the final. Although, in this competition, you can ill afford to be complacent.

The big four strongest supported in the market are, Austin Healey, Tom Chambers, Cherie Lunghi and Rachel Stevens. I wouldn't completely rule out Lisa Snowdon either as she continues to improve.

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BBC Strictly Come Dancing - Week 7 - Support for Cherie

Cherie Lunghi has suddenly overtaken singer, Rachel Stevens in the betting market and now is favourite of the Ladies to win.

This is somewhat of a surprise. It follows a week where her Paso Doble didn't go entirely to plan. A slip-up at the beginning of the dance seemed to destabilize her, and from there on, she was just going through the moves and not really living this passionate dance. Her natural grace of movement perhaps made up for some of the earlier problems.

Judge Bruno commented, "You are naturally gifted. The performance just wasn't up to the standard of the actress you can be."

Despite everything, Cherie still scored a credible 31, 1 point shy of Rachel Stevens total. There is obviously money going on Lunghi to win and that is why her odds are shortening in the market.

Head Judge Len said, "you gave a good performance but not quite as good as you have been."

It was of course no surprise at this stage, Cherie swept through to the next round without any problems and it is likely she will bounce back to give a good performance this Saturday.

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BBC Strictly Come Dancing - Week 7 - Currents odds to Win !!!

With the elimination of Mark Foster last week, we gracefully move into week 7 of the Strictly Come Dancing contest. Things are gently starting to rise in temperature as the contest now lightly simmers. As each person is voted off, the more costly any errors become for the following weeks survival... unless your name is John Sergeant of course.

Here is how the market currently fairs each remaining celebrities chances of winning the competition.

Austin Healey 7/4
Tom Chambers 3/1
Cherie Lunghi 7/2
Rachel Stevens 9/2
Lisa Snowdon 12/1
Christine Bleakley 16/1
Jodie Kidd 33/1
John Sergeant 66/1
Heather Small 100/1
Andrew Castle 100/1

Very little change at the top. Austin Healey remains 7/4 favourite to win and Cherie Lunghi, for the first time, becomes the most likely woman. Rachel Stevens odds go out a point to 9/2, but one guesses we are yet to see the best from her.

Heather Small escaped the bottom-two dance off this week, but that doesn't stop her dropping to become the 100/1 outsider, a position she shares with Andrew Castle.

The bottom two this week is likely to be any combination of Kidd, Small or Castle.

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BBC Strictly - Week 5 - Lisa Snowdon Top of the Shop

Last Saturday Night, Lisa Snowdon made yet another massive improvement to top the leaderboard after the Judges scores with a whopping 35 points. You could tell that Professional dance partner, Brendan Cole, was extremely pleased. This year, you can now sense, he has an outside chance of winning it which is not looking so far outside as each week goes by.

Courtesy of the BBC Strictly Come Dancing programme and YouTube here is Lisa Snowdon and Brendan Cole's well performed American Smooth.

She shared the top spot with actor Tom Chambers. Lisa Snowdon has emerged from nowhere and is definitely the one to watch as she threatens the established favourites, Austin Healey, Tom Chambers, Rachel Stevens and Cherie Lunghi.

Lisa Snowdon is quoted at 10-1 to win this year.

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BBC Strictly Come Dancing - Week 6, Latest Odds to Win

Week 6 into the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing Competition, here are the latest odds on each celebrity to be declared the winner!

Austin Healey 7/4
Tom Chambers 7/2
Rachel Stevens 4/1
Cherie Lunghi 4/1
Lisa Snowdon 10/1
Christine Bleakley 10/1
Jodie Kidd 25/1
Mark Foster 33/1
John Sergeant 50/1
Heather Small 66/1
Andrew Castle 66/1

In terms of movement, the market seems quite stubborn this week. Austin Healey failed for the first time to top the leaderboard, but despite this strengthens from 2-1 into 7/4. The Bookies can't seem to shake of the thought that Austin will win.

Cherie Lunghi is finally adjusted to her proper odds, level with Rachel Stevens at 4-1. Rachel so far, has looked good without being spectacular and hopefully there is more to come.

Lisa Snowdon looks value at 10-1. After topping the leaderboard this week, she is definitely the dark horse.

Predictably chasing the pack are Andrew Castle, Heather Small, John Sergeant and Mark Foster. Ignoring John Sergeant as he is immune to the bottom two, such is his public support, the dance-offs in the next few weeks should be combinations of Castle, Small and Foster. After this time, the contest is going to get really tight indeed.

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BBC Strictly Come Dancing - Week 4 - Rachel Stevens

Even before the competition commenced, Rachel Stevens was the favourite of the female competitors to win this years BBC Strictly Come Dancing competition. Again, she performed almost flawlessly, but was outscored by actress Cherie Lunghi for a second time. Here is her Quickstep routine courtesey of the BBC and YouTube.

Rachel, who is a joy to watch still remains favourite of the women at 7-2 and Lunghi has gradually closed to gap and now stands at 9-2. Despite scoring higher each time, the view is that Rachel has the most scope for improvement with dance partner Vincent. In these competitions it always best not to peak too early as the viewing public always seem more supportive of people coming through or underdogs.

If Rachel is to win the sixth series however, she would need to topple both Austin Healey and Holby City Start, Tom Chambers. May she can. This years competition definitely looks between Healey, Chambers, Lunghi and Stevens.

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BBC Strictly - Week 5 - Latest Odds to Win !

After the culmination of Week 4, here are how the odds have changed to win BBC Strictly Come Dancing.

Austin Healey 2/1
Tom Chambers 7/2
Rachel Stevens 7/2
Cherie Lunghi 9/2
Christine Bleakley 10/1
Lisa Snowdon 12/1
Heather Small 33/1
Mark Foster 50/1
John Sergeant 50/1
Don Warrington 50/1
Andrew Castle 50/1
Jodie Kidd 66/1

Austin remains strong at 2-1 with Tom Chambers and Rachel Stevens unchanged.

The significant market movers are Cherie Lunghi into 9/2 after two great performances, Heather small dropping to 33/1 after finishing in last weeks dance off and Jodie Kidd dropping to become the new outsider at 66/1.

Should be close this week with Mark Foster, John Sergeant, Don Warrington and Andrew Castle all sharing odds at 50/1.

Week 5 sees the women and men compete together for the same time.

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BBC Strictly - Week 4 - Cherie serious contender

She wasn't favoured before in the competition, but Cherie Lunghi's first two performances in BBC's Strictly Come Dancing Series 6, have been very impressive. Saturday she again performed almost flawlessly to top the Leaderboard after the Judges Votes.

Significantly, she has outscored favoured Rachel Stevens in both performances and seems more than a match for the two favoured men, Austin Healey and Tom Chambers. It seems very likely that the viewers votes are going to end up playing a major part on who the eventual winner will be.

If the competition continues in this vein, the final four left in will be Austin Healey, Tom Chambers, Rachel Stevens and Cherie Lunghi. John Sergeant is the enigma. Clearly no where near as good as these four, his popularity with the voting public is close to awesome. John could possibly spring a similar shock to Julian Clary did a few years back by reaching the final despite not technically being the best dancer.

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BBC Strictly - Week 4 - Scores from the Judges

Week 4 in the BBC's competition saw the women compete for the second time. After the Judges votes we can see that Cherie Lunghi has done it again. That's two performances running she has scored higher than hot female favourite, Rachel Stevens to top the leaderboard. It will be very interesting come Monday to see how Bookmakers alter the odds. It now appears that either one of four people could win the contest on what could well become the tightest series ever.

Tonight the two dances were the Quickstep and the Rumba. Here are the scores before the viewers vote is added on Sunday.

Cherie Lunghi & James 35
Rachel Stevens & Vincent 33
Lisa Snowdon & Brendan 32
Christine Bleakley & Matthew 26
Heather Small & Brian 23
Jodie Kidd & Ian 22
Jessie Wallace & Darren 19

Jessie Wallace places last again, but was saved from the bottom two in week 1 and the same could very well happen again such is her popularity. The bottom two in the dance-off could well be Jodie Kidd for a second time and Heather Small. Tune in Sunday to find out!

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