Strictlywatch 2009: week 11

Oh Strictly, Strictly, what have you done to me? I liked the Rock'n'Rolls - basically like the Jive, but fun; and the Charlestons were brilliantly bonkers; but thanks to this week's special guests, now what I want, what I REALLY REALLY want, is to see the Strictly Come Dancers doing Riverdance. Imagine it... And now! Would David Tennant and his partner Flavia Caccace please take to the floor, dancing Riverdance, to the sounds of Are You Gonna Be My Girl by Jet! You know I'm right.

I did enjoy this week. The two new dances provided a much-needed burst of novelty, and my most yawn-inducing dance, the Viennese Waltz, was much perked up by making everyone do it at the same time, with excellent rehearsal footage of them all elbowing each other in the face. I'm also hoping this marks the disappearance of the Viennese Waltz from the final, in which it is always the most tedious element.

All the Charlestons were nuts, and I am overlooking any twinges of irritating because nuts is better than dull. Chris's dancing faces were perhaps too much even for me, but he and Ola made up for it by that weird rolling on the floor move that they did at the end; meanwhile both Laila (whingey) and Ali (wet) were able to display a sense of fun for a change.

Natalie and Vincent were massively short-changed by being the only Rock'n'Rolling couple aside from Ricky & Natalie, and were always going to look seriously rubbish in comparison, given that Vincent can hardly lift Natalie C, whereas Ricky can toss his Natalie with one hand. Ahem. Even so, if I'd been watching in real time, they'd have got my vote, simply because their training VT of Vincent refusing to do a roly-poly had me in tears of laughter. Then when they got knocked out I was in tears of tears, especially when Vincent cried. They do seem to have had a really beautiful, proper friendship, which is always my favourite thing about Strictly, far more than the romances. Friendship in narrative is seriously underrated. Natalie and Vincent were one of my all-time favourite Strictly Couples, and judging by the ovation at the end, I am not alone.

However, despite the appearance of Darcey Bussell and the semi-final where we finally get to see my favourite dance (Argentine Tango) notwithstanding, it's shaping up to be a very boring end of season for Strictly. Ricky Whittle hasn't done his popularity much good by getting himself arrested (though file under the Anton Racism school of IT NEVER HAPPENED as far as the BBC are concerned) and Laila surely can't be a real contender, so Ali and Pepe le Piu must be a shoe-in for the title - with perhaps a shock result of the Sylvanian Family Dancers in second place, as they will probably gather up all of Natalie and Vincent's votes.

So maybe it's Vote Team Cola! Never thought I'd say that. What can I tell you; I'm still not well.

See it all here.