BBC Strictly Come Dancing 2008 - Week 11, Christine Dances out

The Public alas failed to save her from the bottom two and after performing two dances and the subsequent dance off, Christine becomes the 11th person to be voted out of Strictly Come Dancing.

The One Show Presenter landed in the bottom two against the impressive Rachel Stevens, who had already scored a maximum. With Lisa Snowdon finishing top of the Leaderboard, Christine must have known that the end was inevitable.



Rachel danced brilliantly once again in the dance-off to survive to the last 4 and Semi-finals. This is the Second time Rachel Stevens has landed in the bottom two despite brilliant scores. It may show that she does not have much Public voting support. This could be crucial if she makes the final.



Christine Bleakley's happy personality will be missed from the show, but it was the right decision for her to go. The Judges votes were unanimous in keeping Rachel in.

There are just four people left in who can win now. They are Austin Healey, Tom Chmabers, Rachel Stevens and Lisa Snowdon. Austin is still the favourite to win, but this year it looks very close and unpredictable to call. If Lisa Snowdon takes it from where she started in Week 1, it would be an amazing achievement.

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BBC Strictly Come Dancing 2008 - Week 8, Rachel Stevens 35 points = Bottom Two Dance Off

So... these days in Strictly Come Dancing, 35 points from the Judges can leave you ending up in the bottom two dance off. What a joke this is and not a very funny one.

Professional dance partner, Vincent Simone, choreographed a brilliant American Smooth routine and wouldn't have believed what happened with the voting public. This was Rachel's best performance week so far and she was rewarded with this travesty of events. It appears she must have very little support with the viewers at home which is a bit of a mystery. Has something gone wrong with the vote counting system?

One thinks that maybe it has.

Thankfully Rachel survived the dance off this week, but it was to the detriment of Heather Small, who also danced well. Truth be told, neither of the women should have been there.

Head Judge Len Goodman said of Rachel's original routine, "Diamonds come in small packages and that was a gem of a performance."

Bruno added, "it was Fred and Ginger for me tonight, so elaborate and demanding... you did that effortlessly."

It is perhaps impossible to fathom. Bruno said he felt as if he were in the Twilight Zone. In a week where a score of 35 out of 40 can land you in the bottom two, the dance part of this competition is becoming less and less relevant.

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BBC Strictly Come Dancing - Week 8, Can Heather Escape the Dance Off?

Heather Small must be feeling she's in a bit of a war zone at the moment. She has faced three bottom two dance-offs and survived each time. The Bookmaker considers her a strong favourite again to be in a similar situation, but she is not without a chance of escaping the drama.

This week will see Heather Small perform the Tango and in practice she has looked pretty good. Clearly it is a style of dance she is more comfortable with and she has even confessed to liking the routine. This must be a first!

If Heather converts her good work in training to Saturday night then it could spell trouble for Jodie Kidd and Christine Bleakley. John Sergeant is the unknown quantity here. This deep into the contest, it is going to be interesting to see if he continues to have such massive support with the voting public. I'm suspecting that he will.

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BBC Strictly Come Dancing - Andrew Verses Heather

After the completion of this weeks Strictly Come Dancing performances, we are down to just nine remaining couples.

In the bottom two dance off this week were former Tennis star, Andrew Castle and singer, Heather Small. Here's how the four Judges presided.

A unanimous decision and Heather Small survives the dance off for a third time. Small and professional dance partner, Brian Fortuna, are starting to become dance off specialists. Heather's Cha Cha Cha was deemed to be better than Castle's latin Samba. It was the right decision.

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BBC Strictly Come Dancing - Week 7 - Andrew Castle Out

Andrew Castle has been voted out in Week 7 of BBC Strictly Come Dancing. Performing with an injured knee it was probably not that surprising. Andrew will not leave embarrassed. He performed well and lasted a good length of time in the contest.

After the viewers votes were taken into account, the bottom two were Andrew Castle and Heather Small. This was the third visit to the dreaded dance-off for Heather and professional dance partner, Brian Fortuna. And once again, they significantly improved to survive.

As predicted, John Sergeant escaped yet again.

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BBC Strictly Come Dancing - Week 6, Mark Foster Out

Swimmer, Mark Foster, has become the sixth celebrity to be voted out of Strictly Come Dancing 2008.

He and professional dance partner, Hayley Holt, finished bottom after the Judges initial votes and this time the added Public vote was not enough to save them from the dance off. Here they faced former tennis star, Andrew Castle and dance partner, Ola Jordan. Andrew was a little unlucky to be in the dance off as he perhaps gave his best performance of the contest so far.

When the dance off was complete, Craig, Arlene, Bruno and Len all agreed, Mark should be the one to go.

Mark Foster is the most successful swimmer Britain has ever produced. Six times a World Champion, with 10 European Champion medals and two Commonwealth Champion medals, he has also broken eight world records in his career. This accounts for nothing on the dance floor however and when all is said and done, I think he had a pretty good run.

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BBC Strictly - Week 5 - Heather verses Don

The sixth series of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, Week 5, saw Don Warrington be voted out of the competition after finding himself for the second time in the dance-off. Here's how the Judges saw it,

Heather Small survives her second dance off in as many weeks. Arguably neither of the two should have been in the bottom two, but that's just the way the cookie crumbles. Mark Foster and Andrew Foster perhaps should have been competing instead, but it goes to show, they both must have some support with the viewers. Heather could well be in the bottom two next week also.

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BBC Strictly - Week 5 - Don Warrington Eliminated

Bit of a shocker this time. Don Warrington becomes the fifth celebrity to be voted out of this years Strictly Come Dancing Competition.

After the Judges scores, he was ahead of Heather Small, Andrew Castle, Mark Foster, and John Sergeant, so perhaps was a bit unlucky to find himself in the bottom two dance-off again. He scored a quite respectable 25 points.

In fact, all bottom three scorers with the Judges escaped having to dance again to leave Don Warrington Battling Heather Small for survival. Heather won, but there was not a great deal in it.

Heather has now survived two dance offs, and I suspect there are a few more to come.

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BBC Strictly - Week 3 - Rhodes verses Foster

It was Gary Rhodes and Mark Foster facing the Dance-Off this week. Rhodes scored just 18 points with the Judges on his first performance and his Dance-Off performance was even worse. Here's how the four Judges saw it...

Mark Foster deserved to stay in by a very wide margin.

Related Story
Gary Rhodes Out

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BBC Strictly - Week 3 - Rhodes Out

Gary Rhodes becomes the third celebrity to be eliminated from the BBC's Strictly come dancing contest.

After finishing last with the Judges, this week, the viewing public failed to save him. Rhodes faced a dance-off with swimmer, Mark Foster. Although Mark's performance was nothing special, it was better than the celebrity chef's by a measure of light years.

In the end it was a unanimous final decision with the judges to keep Mark Foster in and it was an obvious decision. Judge Craig even went so far as to described it as "a no brainer."

Len Goodman said of Gary's dance-off, "It was a brave performance." and we all know that this is really secret code for rubbish.

Respect has to be given to Gary Rhodes for entering the contest as dancing is obviously not his strong suit, but now we can move up another notch as the competition starts to intensify.

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BBC Strictly - Week 3: Changing Odds

Some minor moves this week in the Strictly Come Dancing betting market.

Joint Favourites to win now are Austin Healey and Tom Chambers at 3-1. Some money has been going on Chambers to win to edge him into joint favoritism. Rachel Stevens holds steady at 7-2.

Not much movement has happened during the week. Celebrity Chef, Gary Rhodes, goes out to a more realistic 66-1 as does John Sergeant. It is predicted that either one of those two will end up in the bottom two dance-off along with Don Warrington.

Related Stories
Week 3 - Latest Odds

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BBC Strictly - Week 2: Jody Kidd v Gillian Taylforth

Here's how the final vote panned out with the judges yesterday between Jody Kidd and Gillian Taylforth. Both had to compete this week in the dance-off for survival.

In the end the decision was unanimous. Jody's improvement over her first dance was remarkable.

Related Stories
Gillian Second out

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BBC Strictly - Gillian Taylforth Second out

Gillian Taylforth becomes the second celebrity to be voted out of BBC Strictly come dancing.

After the initial judges vote, she found herself in the bottom two with Jessie Wallace. Wallace escaped after the viewers vote was added, as often happens with the competitor who finishes initially last. The phenomena also happened to Gary Rhodes the previous week.

Taylforth and partner, Anton Du Beke, faced Jodie Kidd & Ian Waite in the bottom-two dance off. Jody improved massively over her first performance and arguably shouldn't have featured in the dance off anyway. The Judges decided unanimously to save Jody.

Gillian wasn't bad in the competition, but I think it was the right decision. The skill level of the Celebrities seems to go up every year, and Gillian probably wouldn't have gone out as early other years.

So here we are... two down, who will be next?

Cherie Lunghi was the revelation of the first dance and it will be interesting to see what her odds are to win on Monday. Before her first appearance, the Bookies didn't fancy her at all, but I strongly suspect they will be changing their minds pretty sharpish.

Related Stories
Phil Daniels First Out

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BBC Strictly - Phil vs Don

Following on from my latest Strictly Blog, here is a recording of how the final vote panned out.

Phil Daniels was perhaps a little unlucky, but that's the nature of the competition. There wasn't much to choose between Don and Phil in the end and really, Gary Rhodes should have been in the bottom two instead of Phil. That's just my opinion of course, and the voting public strongly disagrees!

This Saturday see the female celebrities strut their stuff for the first time.

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BBC Strictly - Phil Daniels First Out

Phil Daniels has become the first celebrity to be knocked out of this years Come Dancing Competition.

After the Judges votes yesterday, Daniels lay third from bottom and temporarily safe. Alas, when added to the votes of the British public, he slipped into the bottom two and was paired against Don Warrington in the dreaded dance off.

Gary Rhodes had originally placed last after the Judges vote, but found popularity with the voters (as often is the case with last placers) and leaped clear of the danger zone. This placed Eastend star, Daniels in an unenviable position.

After dancing again, Don Warrington was thought to be the better of the two, and survives to face week three where the men and women mix into the one competition. It was a close vote though, evens with the judges at 2-2, but Head Judge, Len Goodman had the final decision and halted Daniels progress.

Just how far can Gary Rhodes go? If he doesn't improve at all.. probably a long way. The public liked to be entertained and will often continually back an underdog.

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BBC Strictly Come Dancing is underway !

And so, the competition has finally begun! Saturday night saw the opener of the sixth series of Strictly Come Dancing on the BBC with the male contestants performing their first dance in front of the cameras.

Understandably some looked pretty awkward, but this is only week 1 after all and the name of the game surely must be survival in order to get more time to train and feel at ease with the whole process.

John Sargeant, the 80-1 shot and perhaps favourite to go out first before the start pulled out an accomplished performance to defy the bookies odds. Judge Craig Revel Horwood commented, "Very warm and Honest performance."

Maybe most shocking, later, Judge Craig scored celebrity chef, Gary Rhodes, a measly 1 out of 10. This is the lowest score it is possible to give. If Mr Rhodes had stormed out without his dance partner, set Bruce Forsyth on fire, rolled across the dance floor then spurted out Nazi propaganda, he still would have had to get a 1. 1, I felt, a little harsh... but then again, here is the footage,

This score, puts Gary at the bottom of the table as we look to add the viewers votes announced later today. If he gets through, he can only improve.

The scores after the Judges vote are,

Austin & Erin 32
Tom & Camilla 28
Andrew & Ola 23
Mark & Hayley 22
John & Kristina 22
Phil & Flavia 20
Don & Lilia 19
Gary & Karen 17

The bottom two in the table after the viewers vote is added will face the dreaded dance off and be at the Judges mercy for competition survival. With his popularity with the public, surely John Sargeant is safe this opening week. Don Warrington of Rising Damp fame looks vulnerable. In the past, viewers have tended to vote big for the celebrity in last place so it could make it awkward for Quadromphenia and Eastenders star, Phil Daniels.

Be sure to watch the results show on BBC1 this Sunday.

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