Richard Dunwoody & Lilia Kopylova - Waltz

What was that face for Bruno?  Don't agree with Alesha's marks?  Wouldn't be surprised if that's not discussed in the papers this week.

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Predicted 5-6, but didn't know that existing injuries prevented him having a proper frame, will be interesting to see if the judges take that into account.

Must, must, must go forward on a heel on the first step Richard, haven't seen one yet and I guarantee that Len will pick up on that.

Shame about the frame as it's difficult to judge when the shoulder line ruins the look.  With all those toe leads I think it'll be 5's.

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Craig Kelly & Flavia Cacace - Tango

Always good to insult the judges before they give their marks James!  Doesn't look like it affected Len's mark though.

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So I predicted a 6 for these guys earlier, let's see what happens.  I hope he's worked on his upper line.

So a slight Paso opening  followed by a bit of stomping, needs to be a little bit softer in the feet and unfortunately the top line is a little hunched over Flavia.

I would say a 5-6.

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Good question

After receiving the following comment on one of my previous posts, I felt it deserved a post of its own:

Hi Antony. One question after Saturday. Why did Len criticise Chris Hollins' hand movement for the New York in the rumba?

He said that for men, spreading the fingers and pointing the middle one down is "not a good look" and that they should keep the outer 3 digits bandaged together.

But that is how you teach and obviously Ola as well, since she took the blame for this on the show, so I'd be interested in your reaction ...

Thanks, Maggie



Personally I learnt the middle finger down, I teach guys to hold the middle two down – I don’t like the look of the three fingers together.

The Walter Laird technique book shows the middle finger down in the pictures, but there is no guidance other than that.

I would say that Chris' hands were really good myself, and like with most judging it really does come down to personal preference once you get past technique.

However if you watch any of the male professionals from Saturday night they all have one or two fingers down (not at right angles but say around 20 degrees) so I think Len is wrong to criticise this - especially as it's effectively criticising Ola as Chris' teacher.

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The result

So Bruno and Len vote Rav and that sends Martina home (with Martina being two-love up at that point courtesy of Craig and Alisha).

Think both couples were unfortunate to be in the bottom two and thought Martina had more promise than Rav, but that's life I suppose.

Wish I could lip-read what Matt and Martina are saying to each other during their last dance!

Oh well, here's to next week and the remaining 8 celebrities.

Although I'll mention now that this blog won't be running live next Friday night due to our practice session on 25th September, but i'll blog per dance after we finish.

Hope people have found this interesting to read and i'll try and update during the week if anything interesting catches my eye!

By the way, if you want to apply for the ballot to get tickets for a special Strictly recording at Blackpool Tower on Saturday 7th November then please visit http://shows.external.bbc.co.uk/help/shows/Strictlycomedancing to apply before Sunday 27th September 10pm.  Only one application per household though!

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