Strictlywatch 2008: Week 8

...in bizarro colour, due to funny picture on my computer screen. So spent an entertaining amount of the programme trying to figure out whether the dresses really were that ugly or I was having picture-balance based hallucinations.

Competition hotting up now, as almost all the duff dancers are out of the race. This is when I really start enjoying things, when you can actually start being amazed by how well the celebrities are dancing. Unlike other years when someone has really captured my heart, there are lots of dancers I am enjoying but none I am truly loving - although my nearest to a favourite would have to be -

Tom and Camilla, who danced first. Absolutely loved this quickstep, especially all the bonkers leaping around stuff that Tom did at the beginning and the end. He looked like some kind of brilliantly possessed penguin. He must get into the final and dance this dance again. Maybe wearing a fake beak. Also, they were dancing to 'A Town Called Malice', and there's a special place in my heart for song choices which make the singers have to put on terrible fake cockernee accents. If I went on Strictly I would dance to an exclusive melange of Blur, Ian Drury, and The Streets, for this very reason.

Next up Jodie and Ian, dancing a samba. I love Jodie and Ian but this was pretty bad. In fact it so bad that I fear this may be their last dance. Of course, it wasn't the worst - John was the worst - but I'm not sure the public's love affair with John has ended yet, so if Ian and Jodie end up in the bottom two with anyone else (and really they should) I fear that they are gone. It does make me sad that my last memory of Jodie will be playing fake maracas.

Then came Heather and Brian, dancing a tango. I am biased because the tango is one of my favourite dances (though I don't love it as much as the Argentine Tango) and also because I think I could watch alien-faced Brian take the bins out with joy in my heart, but this was a big step up for Heather - probably the best she will manage all season - and it should be good enough for her to avoid yet another dance off. Also they played the wild card of having her mother turn up to training in a Hurricane Heather t-shirt, and surely you can't go out the week your mother turns up to training in a Hurricane Heather t-shirt.

After that was Austin and Erin, getting down and slightly disgusting in a rumba. I have every sympathy for Austin when he said in training that the rumba is a stupid dance, because it is. He looked very stupid dancing it. Moving swiftly on.

Cherie and James followed them with a lovely waltz. Of course, if they hadn't managed a lovely waltz I'd have pickled Len's walnuts for him. It was beautiful, but an easy choice for Cherie, and not quite enough for me to banish memories of the horror of her terrible salsa which gets worse the more I think about it (I actually didn't think her paso was that bad.) Despite the fact that I picked her (maybe rashly) for a finalist, Cherie needs another good week to convince me, preferably in a Latin dance. I think she would do and incredible Argentine Tango so I hope she stays in long enough to perform one of those.

Then Christine and Matthew, with a jive, the only thing about which I can remember is that much was made of Christine's newfound ability to point her toes. Vote for Christine! She can point her toes! I wonder if she could be a surprise addition to the bottom two this week.

Then Rachel and Vincent. If Rachel and Vincent ever danced at the start of the show the world would end. I think they have friends on the production staff, because Rachel tends to get the best dresses as well. Rachel and Vincent were dancing the American Smooth, which confused everyone by being unlike any other American Smooth we have ever seen - ie based on a quickstep rather than a foxtrot. Given that I, like everyone else who is not a judge on Strictly Come Dancing, thought I knew what an American Smooth should look like and this wasn't it, I spent the whole dance thinking "this isn't an American Smooth" only to be told that it was, and then I couldn't remember if I liked it or not. As an Aside, in training, Rachel went to the set of Dirty Dancing the Musical, and I can't help but think that the announcement of her joining the cast as Baby is only weeks away.

John and Kristina danced a Cha Cha Cha next. They were as bad as you'd expect, and my personal tide has turned against John at this precise moment because I have realised that if he doesn't go out, Jodie and Ian will. Kristina's choreography continues to be excellent and I hope they give her a good dancer next year because I want to see what she can really do.

Lastly, Lisa and Brendan with a Viennese Waltz. As with all Viennese Waltzes, I was distracted by trying to figure out what a Viennese Waltz is and why it is different from a bog standard waltz. As with all Viennese Waltzes, I got to the end none the wiser. Another one that I forgot to check whether I liked it or not, but the judges certainly got all excited.

And there we have it. Dances can all be seen here. And as a special treat, the boogie penguin: