'The wrong couple were sent home from Strictly Come Dancing'

Another week and other wonderful night of dancing in the Strictly Ballroom. Now Blackpool has been and gone, there’s only one thing on the celebrities’ minds, the final, writes Nikki Woodfine, Principle of local Ballroom and Latin dance school FineSteps.

With 10s flying out left right and the centre, the couples are going have to put in a real fight to make it all the way. Let’s start with JB and Lauren’s Charleston, it was a fabulous watch.

What I loved most was that the routine kept moving throughout, there was no standing around and that really showed off JB’s stamina. It wasn’t quite worth a 10 for me as there were a few little hiccups, but JB did a great job of covering them up.

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Sarah’s power ballad Rumba was so nearly perfect too but needed a bit more movement through the body. However, her leg action was one of the best I’ve seen in a long time. She’s a force to be reckoned with!

The dance of the night was Tasha and Aljaž’s American Smooth. It looked completely effortless, something which lifts like that are not. If Tasha’s not in the final, I’ll be truly shocked.

I really enjoyed Chris and Dianne’s Paso Doble, it showed off the strength of their partnership and how well they work together through every aspect of the dance. What I would love to see now is Chris give a technically focused performance. At this stage in the competition, it’s all about the details.

Pete’s Tango was pretty decent, you can see how hard he’s trying to improve. His technique was quite good, but the dance was missing the sharp and staccato action it needed. At the point Pete is undoubtably the weakest dancer, and if it was up to me, it would have been him heading home.

I thought the samba-thon was a fantastic edition to the show this week, emulating what it’s really like to dance in a Ballroom and Latin competition. Keeping focused with everyone else dancing around them was definitely a challenge for the celebs and there were a few finding it hard to contend with.

Chris was at a slight disadvantage, but Dianne helped guide him well, keeping to the edge of floor and dancing anti-clockwise. I generally agreed with the judges ordering but Pete should have been sent off before Jamie. JB was the right dancer to take top spot, with a wonderful samba action and great floor craft.

The Dance Off

I’m surprised that Montell found herself in the bottom two again, especially when her Quickstep was so flowing and full of style. I particularly liked the basic steps in the routine but maybe it wasn’t exciting enough for the public. I thought Jamie’s Foxtrot was beautiful, and to be honest I don’t think he should have been sent home. Jamie had some pretty harsh comments and scores over the past few weeks, and as strange as it sounds, I think that’s a result of his consistency. The judges were waiting for that ‘wow’ moment, and that just didn’t come in time. It’s a real shame we won’t get to see him dance next week.