BBC Strictly Come Dancing - Week 8/9, Could Tom Chambers snatch it?

Tom Chambers may be behind favourite Austin Healey to Win 2008's Strictly Come Dancing, but he is definitely the more consistent of the two. Austin has had the odd bad week, but Tom is yet to put a dancing foot wrong.

His Quickstep this week was fantastic. An inventive and impressive start, the dance held energy and excitement right until the final beat.

Tom Chambers's performance here score 36 points to claim joint top of the leaderboard with the comeback queen, Cherie Lunghi and, the vastly improving, Lisa Snowden. All three of these could threaten Healey's chances of victory.

The Bookmakers all have Austin Healey as the strong favourite to win, but I think Tom Chambers could just beat him by a short head at the line. It maybe a photo-finish with both Cherie Lunghi and Lisa Snowden also in the picture.

This promises to be one of the closest finishes ever... unless John Sergeant makes it to the final of course, then it won't be worth watching. Hopefully his run soon ends and Strictly Come Dancing turns into a proper dance competition again as it was originally intended.

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BBC Strictly Come Dancing 2008 - Jodie through with Entertaining Samba

A very fun entertaining Samba from Jodie Kidd I thought, but a bit underscored from the Judges who deemed it to be worth just 23 points. Judge Craig awarded the performance a measly 3 out of 10.

None of the Judges were very complimentary, but as usual, good old Len Goodman came to the rescue.

Bruno said, "Jodie you're like the stock markets, up and down, but here we crash again... you were never quite on it. You really have to focus on those latins.. get into the rhythm."

Craig said, "You crucified that Samba, no real bounce action... limp.. very sticky rolls."

Arlene commented, "it wasn't good, but it wasn't that bad. You have an easy bounce, you just lost it, it wasn't a carnival in Rio, it was more like a birthday party in Bournemouth."

I think Arlene had been working on that comment for quite some time before the show even started. For comedy value, I will score her a 2.

Len Goodman finished on a much needed positive, "it had a fun element, you moved nicely, but it doesn't suit you, its a small person's dance...but that doesn't mean your not a good dancer... it doesn't matter."

Jodie Kidd thankfully escaped the bottom two this week and lives to dance again. Congratulations to Jodie. She and Lisa Snowdon are the Strictly Come Dancing's strongest improvers from where they started.

3 out of 10? Ridiculous! This week Jodie Kidd and Ian Waite are training for the Quickstep.

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BBC Strictly Come Dacing - Week 9, The Latest Odds to Win

Week 8 in Strictly come dancing was a bit of a bad week for Austin Healey. He escaped the bottom two however and his odds in the betting market to win are virtually unchanged.

Austin Healey 5/4
Tom Chambers 5/2
Cherie Lunghi 5/1
Lisa Snowdon 8/1
Rachel Stevens 10/1
Christine Bleakley 16/1
John Sergeant 33/1
Jodie Kidd 33/1

It was a great week for Tom Chambers. He finished joint top of the leaderboad with 36 for his Quickstep. His odds now shorten to 5/2.

The odds of Rachel Stevens winning Strictly Come Dancing continue to drift outwards and she is now looking a bit of an outsider. This is quite surprising. She has taken quite a few weeks to hit her true potential, but this week Rachel really nailed it with the American Smooth. 35 points however was not enough with inadequate votes from the viewers at home.

It is rumoured that a great percentage of the viewers votes are either going to Cherie Lunghi or the hapless John Sergeant.

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BBC Strictly Come Dancing 2008 - Week 8, Money for Austin Healey

Money continues to pour in for Austin Healey to win Strictly Come Dancing 2008. His odds of victory have now shortened to 11/10. If it continues in this manner, he could soon be odds on!

His Quickstep with Erin Boag last week topped the Leaderboard with 36 points.

Rachel Stevens is gradually losing favour and her odds have now edged out to 6/1. At this moment in time, she is not fancied to win.

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BBC Strictly Come Dancing - Week 7, Every one to perform a different Dance

Week 7 of Strictly Come Dancing is a bit of a mixed affair. Why mixed? Well, it should still be great fun to watch, but each celebrity is going to be performing a different dance.

How judges, Craig, Arlene, Len and Bruno are going to be able to score and compare everyone together is going to be a bit random. It's a bit like trying to decide if a Cartwheel is better than a Forward Roll or a Ham Sandwich better than a Cheese Sandwich. I would personally go for Ham, but as you can possibly see, the playing field this week could be a little uneven.

10 different dances to view this week. Here is how the battlefield lies,

Rachel Stevens & Vincent - Jive
Andrew Castle & Ola - Samba
Tom Chambers & Camilla - Paso Doble
Christine Bleakley & Matt - Amercian Smooth
Cherie Lunghi & James - Salsa
John Sergeant & Kristina - Foxtrot
Heather Small & Brian - Cha Cha Cha
Austin Healey & Erin - Quickstep
Jodie Kidd & Ian - Waltz
Lisa Snowdon & Brendan - Tango

Tom Chambers has looked good in practice all week and has a great chance to top the leaderboard with his Paso Doble. The Jive of Rachel Stevens should also be worth watching as it could be her best so far.

One feels that Andrew Castle is going to have to come up with something pretty special this week to avoid being in the bottom two and then voted out.

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BBC Strictly - Week 4 - Heather verses Jessie

Following my previous blog, here is how the result played out between Heather and Jessie in the Strictly Come Dancing Dance off,

Both struggled, but the decision was unanimous for Heather, I think as she struggled the least.

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BBC Strictly - Week 4 - Jessie Wallace out

Jessie Wallace has become the second female Celebrity to be eliminated out of The BBC's Strictly Come Dancing.

She had finished bottom after the Judges vote, but this time the public failed to save her from facing the Dance-off. Jessie found herself competing against Heather Small for survival and it seemed pretty clear-cut she should go. The Judges agreed, voting unanimously to keep Heather in.

Heather had a bit of a bad week with the Quickstep dance and is sure to improve next week.

The men and women now mix into the same competition and dance directly against each other. This is when the contest starts for real. Celebrities eliminated to date are, Phil Daniels, Gillian Taylforth, Gary Rhodes and Jessie Wallace.

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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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