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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www.jenkin7.co.uk

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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www.jenkin7.co.uk

BBC Strictly Come Dancing - Week 7 - John Sergeant, Captain Invincible?

What can one say about Mr John Sergeant in Strictly Come Dancing?

By dance ability alone, he should have been voted out the competition long ago. But, this competition oddly isn't just about dance ability, it's about entertaining the viewing public. And he does this in great big bucketfuls.

Was John Sergeant's Paso Doble with dance partner, Kristina Rihanoff, the fiercest and most energetic Paso Doble of all time?

Well.... quite clearly not. However, it was immensely watchable. John's unique dance style is an entertaining as they come and if the competition were based on viewers votes alone, he surely would be one of the main contenders to win.

This week, his performance scored 21. This was second from bottom, but yet again the voting public saved him. I wouldn't be surprised if John was top of the leaderboard just counting the home vote.

One suspects John will be in the contest for quite a few weeks to come yet and Strictly Come Dancing is richer for it. A wry grin, a witty one liner, Captain Invincible advances safely to Week 7.

Keeping voting for John Sergeant!

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www.jenkin7.co.uk

BBC Strictly Come Dancing - Week 6, Scores after the Judges vote

Week 6 tonight of BBC Strictly come dancing saw the celebrities dance either the Paso Doble or the Viennese Waltz.

Here are the scores from Len Goodman and his band of Judges.

Austin Healey & Erin 34
Tom Chambers & Camilla 32
Rachel Stevens & Vincent 32
Cherie Lunghi & James 31
Lisa Snowdon & Brendon 29
Heather Small & Brian 27
Jodie Kidd & Ian 26
Andrew Castle & Ola 24
Christina Bleakley & Matthew 22
John Sergeant & Kristina 21
Mark Foster & Hayley 16

Austin was back on top after a bit of a dip last week confirming his favouritism. Rachel Stevens also bounced back to score 32 which Tom Chambers equalled despite a week which saw him get married, have a honeymoon and only put in 9 and half hours practice!

Last week, Heather Small ended up in the bottom two dance off despite finishing mid-way in the table at this stage. The same thing could happen again as people at home vote in their droves for John Sergeant and Christina Bleakley.

Be sure to watch this Sunday when the 6th Eliminee from Strictly Come Dancing 2008 will be revealed.

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www.jenkin7.co.uk

BBC Strictly - Week 5 - Scores after the Judges Vote

The BBC's Strictly Come Dancing competition completes its fifth week. Here are the provisional scores as the men and women compete for the first time in the same competition for survival.

Lisa Snowdon & Brendon 35
Tom Chambers & Camilla 35
Cherie Lunghi & James 34
Austin Healey & Erin 32
Rachel Stevens & Vincent 30
Jodie Kidd & Ian 30
Christina Bleakley & Matthew 30
Don Warrington & Lelia 25
Heather Small & Brian 23
Mark Foster & Hayley 17
Andrew Castle & Ola 17
John Sergeant & Kristina 16

As I expected, Lisa Snowdon improved yet again. This time she finished with an impressive 35 points and shared top place in the table with Tom Chambers. Rachel Stevens was a bit down on other weeks and shares 30 points with both Jodie and Christina from The One Show. All should be safe come Sunday.

Despite by far being the most entertaining, John Sergeant, finishes last for the first time. Quite cheekily afterwards, he quipped, the Public would keep him in, they know what they have to do. Head Judge, Len Goodman, said if he was a member of the public, John would get his vote. That is good enough for me.

The voting fan bases of both Mark Foster and Andrew Castle are probably not that great, so it looks as if they will find themselves in the dance-off when the Viewers vote is added.

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www.jenkin7.co.uk

ITV: The X-Factor

Whilst the BBC have their yearly contest of "Strictly Come Dancing", the ITV have "The X-Factor". Both shows are always on at the same time of year and involve the viewing public to vote for their favourites to stay in the respective competitions each week.

The main fun for X-Factor, for me, is the earlier shows where you get to see the acts that are just plain dreadful. Thousands of people audition each year and while most will be "just average", a small percentage will be "extremely poor". Very very extremely poor in fact. Maybe a word has yet to be invented to adequately convey how bad they actually are. Oddly, each one of them believes they are the best singer in the world ever.

Delusion must be quite a strong influence, because one suspects, if you have reached such a high level of awfulness, you must surely be vaguely aware of it. Mustn't you?

Here is a video I found on Youtube from a few years back. The producers of the show gave all the worst auditioners a chance to perform a Michael Jackson song together. Pay particular attention to the women that misses her queue completely.

Yes... it started off poorly and ended at the depths where no human was ever meant to journey. Abandon ship! Abandon ship! Get out while you can !!!

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www.jenkin7.co.uk

BBC Strictly - Week 2, Lunghi leads

7-2 to go out first, before the show, now seems such ridiculous odds for Cherie Lunghi. Cherie and dance partner, James Jordan, made an impressive first performance to lead the table after the Judges vote. They scored 33, two points more than one of the hot favourites, Rachel Stevens. It was the best thing that could have happened and now the competition is well and truly set!

The scores after the Judges vote are,

Cherie Lunghi & James Jordan 33

Rachel Stevens & Vincent Simone 31
Chistine Bleakley & Matthew Cutler 27
Heather Small & Brian Fortuna 26
Jody Kidd & Ian Waite 25
Lisa Snowdon & Brendan Cole 22
Gillian Taylforth & Anton Du Beke 22
Jessie Wallace & Darren Bennett 20

As predicted, Gillian Taylforth and Jessie Wallace find themselves in the bottom two after the Judges vote. It is close. After the viewers vote is added, I believe any of the bottom four could find themselves in the dance-off this evening. It will be hard for Jessie to escape it, but Gillian and ever-popular Anton Du Beke may steal enough votes to be safe. This could leave Lisa Snowdon or Jody Kidd vulnerable.

Jessie Wallace looks favourite to go, but this week could be a very close one.

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www.jenkin7.co.uk

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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