Strictly Part 2

This weekend, it was time for Strictly in Manchester, this time accompanied by V, J and K, veterans of our ‘two years running’ Strictly Final party.

We set off in good time so that we had time to eat* before the show. I’d already betrayed my addiction level by dropping comments into the in car conversations about the results on the tour so far, and the fact that some people had missed a couple of shows this weekend with a bug.

I’d also managed to forget my mobile phone, so was reliant on borrowing K’s so that I could vote. As he’d indicated that the price would rise depending on how desperate I was, I was trying to hold it in, but failing pretty miserably. When the woman at the next table to us in Pizza Express said that she’d been at the afternoon show, and that Gethin and Flavia had won, I gave out a ‘YES!’

‘The cost of my phone just went up again!’

We took our seats. This time end on to the performance area, but further away. Whilst it was a much better overall view, it also made me appreciate how good it was to see the ‘whites of the eyes’ last week. Having told K and V that you could take photos, their camera wasn’t allowed in as it was classed as ‘professional’!

I was expecting it to be very similar to last week, and was actually surprised how different it was. The dances were the same, of course, and many of the ‘funny’ comments were scripted, but there was a lot of spontaneous stuff too. The performances have also developed over the week. Some have improved dramatically, and others, Julian in particular, are playing it totally for laughs. I was pleased to see that the judges did actually seem to be marking what they saw on the night, rather than their expectations of the dance.

At least we had a full complement of dancers (it must have been a considerably shorter show on Sat evening with two couples missing).

I’m not going blow by blow through the dances this time. Suffice to say, I was sitting next to a Tom fan, and she was thrilled by his performance, whilst I was impressed by Cherie and James’s rumba (which scored 40, and Len judged as better than R&V on the night), Jill and Darren’s foxtrot and jive, and, of course, Gethin and Flavia’s waltz.

It seemed to me that they were more comfortable as a partnership this time, and of course, it must have helped to have a couple of wins under their belt. The waltz was beautiful, even smoother than before, and they had changed the ending slightly. On a technical note, I felt he used his arms better this time. They got 39, and it would probably have been 40 if Craig hadn’t got a bit picky about an oversway!

In the interval, I started texting, whilst trying to show V how to do it. Looking at the audience, I did wonder how many of them were actually voting.

In the Latin section there was unintentional hilarity when Jodie kicked Ian somewhere uncomfortable in the jive, and when commenting first, Arlene launched into ‘wooden, stiff…’ and when she realised what she was saying, started to laugh.

R&V’s rumba got 38 this time, beaten by Cherie and James’s. As for Gethin and Flavia, I loved it, but again it wasn’t quite as exciting as it could be – I was very shocked, however to hear Craig and Arlene give them an 8!! It did get 10 from Len and Bruno though, but that left them on 36, and down the leader board. I could see my hopes of a repeat of the afternoon’s win vanishing. Julian and Lilia were hilarious in their samba, where he has stopped making any pretence of following the steps. They probably got the loudest cheers of the night.

The group dance was fabulous again, as were Matt and Kristina. And then it was time for the results. This time, Gethin and Flavia were the first ones announced as out of the running. I was then hoping for a Jill and Darren, or even a Julian and Lilia win, but it came down to R&V and J&L, with R&V winning (again!).

We did have a fabulous time, and the others loved it. K came out with lots of ideas for our next ‘Strictly’ party.

‘Next time, we need sparklers’ ‘And we need to all have costume changes so we can have a ballroom and Latin round’.

Looking at the queues out of the car park, we decided to look for somewhere to have a drink. We failed, but in our search came across the artist’s entrance. Peering through, we saw two huge tour buses, and Ian Waite, who came over to the gate and signed programmes, and was utterly lovely. He’s always been my favourite professional!

*Clearly I haven’t hit the ‘chips and wine’ stage, as I can still eat pre-show, which, lets face it, is more than I could do in the latter stages of Strictly 2007!