Episode 14 Strictly - It Takes Two

Good evening. It's boys' day on the show. I'll discuss Halloween, trick

or treat with Fern and Artem. Hollywood, Halloween! Also we

discuss, is the tango truly terrifying, if so, is it for Nick

and Karen? He's all on his lonesome tonight, but we don't care cos

Sid's here! We'll have a peek at the fabulously fiendish costumes

our couples will be wearing this weekend and we have a look in the

training rooms. Let's get on with Live from Television Centre, this

is Strictly It Takes Two. Please welcome your host, Zoe Ball!

Hello and welcome to It Takes Two. Today's Halloween extravaganza is

days away and the fear is creeping in. I'll be talking scare tactics

with Fern and Artem in a moment but first a look at how some of the

girls are getting on in training. Looking good, ladies.

This week, we are dancing the cha- cha-cha. The fun and games are over

so I think she's going to see the tough, scary James this week.

say to turn? No. So what does that mean? Don't turn. She cracks jokes

and it make mess smile but I'm not reacting. Crack a smile. We are

half way through and still haven't finished the routine. Really trying

to create a great dance and I'm struggling. You have to help me

with using your feet. All right. I get frustrated. I want to know the

routine so I can work on the technique. I'm stressing about the

choreography and what it's going to look like. I'm freaked about

Saturday. The Strictly does Halloween, Brendan and I will be

dancing the tango. The great thing about tangos is it allows you to do

dramatic, powerful stuff. I want you attacking it and in it! I'm not

confident with the steps. I find it hard to stamp them out with any

kind of authority. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven....

Powerful, Dance It And Get On Your Feet! Focus On The Attack Of This

Dance. Blow The Others Out Of The Water! Brendan want mess really

just to go for it and commit. We'll get there. Still a couple more

days' training to go. It will be plain sailing and lots of fun from

here on in. This week is American Smooth.

quick, slow. Good. There is these driving steps. It's very technical.

A heel turn. I think that's what it's called! And they're quite hard

to get right. One, two, three, bend You are counting and dancing

something different. The simple steps will only done good when they

are done technically correct. Slow, quick, queck... Artem is drilling

me on a lot of steps. Bend your right leg to go into the next step.

With a bit of luck, I shall get them right for him. We are doing

quite OK actually. Because they are practically perfect in every way.

Please welcome Fern and Artem. Pch-APPLAUSE

It's tough watching that, it's tough watching it. We have had a

difficult week. One of those weeks?! We have had that kind of

week, yes. Your charleston last week. Did you enjoy being Mary

Poppins? Loved it all. The routine and the costumes. We enjoyed it,

didn't we? We did. Did your kids enjoy it? They were watching

something else! You are joking! they are very laid back about this.

They are not watching the other side? I think they were watching a

DVD. Perfectly acceptable. Slipped a bit in the lead eboard and

despite that, do you feel like you are improving? Can you feel the

change? Yes! Yes. Thank you. Nice prompting Artem, brilliant. Just in

case any of the judges are watching! You are the first to

Charlton here. Does that make it more daunting if no-one's done the

dance before or does it make it easier to do with no-one else to

follow? Actually, I enjoyed it and we had fun doing it. If someone

else had gone before, maybe it would have been more daunting. It

was more daunting to go out first again! You are a show opener!

said to me beforehand, first out, first off! Encouraging! Yes,

exactly. Talking of the judgeser Artem, Craig said it was laboured,

Len said he wanted more charleston. Your thoughts, please? My thoughts.

I think Fern is improving and it's a shame that we have slipped down

the leaderboard because I thought she did better. I was sad for Fern

that she didn't get the praise that I thought she deserved. But hey,

the judges are there to judge us so fair comment I guess. Do you think

there's anything in different ages of contestants that perhaps, like

engulf and take all these things like handicaps into consideration.

If you are a bit older, do you think so, no?Er No. They don't, do

they? I try and be as physically fit as possible. You did say to me

a few weeks ago "Fitness is not a problem". Well, it's not. I think

we should have different expectations from different people,

isn't it? The expectation for Fern, I thought she was right for it. I

don't think you could have done any better than we did. I agree.

whole week when we rehearsed, always the parts that didn't go

quite the way they were supposed to and on the night everything went

fine. Perfectly, yes. We did the best we could, Well I did the best

I could. Is it an American smooth quickstep or foxtrot? Foxtrot. I

didn't know that till yesterday. How is it going? Let us have a

listen to your music. Halloween week remember. Nice! Nice tune.

Fabulous. It's a fantastic routine and we have been working hard on it

and we haven't, you know, let's say we've had a couple of tense moments.

Yeah, we did. Has the terminator made a return to the training room?

I think he may have had a couple of terminator pills, but then, you

know that's fine because we talk about it. That's OK. Never quite

goes away, he never does, put it that way. He's always in there.

Always brooding. Are you doing any lifts? You are allowed three lifts

in the American smooth? We are doing lifts. I'm lifting him and

spinning him round. You were giving Lisa and Robin a run for their

money in the training room. Let's have a look at this. You are skinny.

Am I? Yes, I can get my arms all around you. Skinny. Oh, my God. You

just did a lift to me. Of course I can lift you. Strong. I am strong.

He needs to know that I'm still in charge!

Have you got any props? We have had skird og ra fi, brolly og ra fi,

anything else? Mir rog-ography. Good luck on Saturday, it's going

to be beautiful and keep that terminator friend locked in the

cupboard. He's a good boy. There's a lot of love between you. He's so

gorgeous. Gorgeous. Thank you. week we show youd some fantastic

moments that were recreated by some of you at home. We are loving this!

Some more brilliant ones have come in. These with - are two of our

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 75 seconds

Back to the training rooms to see how some of the boys are shaping up,

oh yes! This week, we are doing the

quickstep and the challenges with those are that they are quick steps

and anything cha's challenging, it can go wrong. There's loads of

content. Lots of things to remember. You can not step one foot out of

place in quickstep. Very, very hard to pick it back up. A fraction

late... We have worked incredibly hard, our feet need ice buckets.

Five exsix, seven eight, good... It's all about hard graft. We are

not going to leave a stone unturn and I won't let him go out there

until he knows the routine like the back of his hand. Desperate not to

be in the bottom two, desperate to improve and get better marks.

week, Richard and I are doing the paso doble. Richard will be the

matador and there'll be no mincing. I don't mince. And I am his cape.

Usually up for more of a caper than a cape. He's got to be angry and

I've been making him angry. trying to... What, what? Argh...

She's winding me up deliberately to get me into character and it's

working! There is a lot of acting involved. He's got to become the

matador and remember the steps. I know he can do it. The simplest of

steps as well. This are you teen from the beginning hinges on me

rising to the occasion and if I droop, the whole thing will fall

apart. I'm training with Sid because Ola

is away and we'll be doing cha-cha. Cha-cha is good, difficult, a lot

to remember. Sid has a difficult job this week. He'll have to please

two teachers, me and Ola. Good job. We've done a lot. She's been really

good. Fatigue's kicked in really today I think. I learn steps quite

easily but it's doing it in time which is the tricky part. I think

he can handle pretty much anything I have ready for him and I'm

confident he'll do really well. He showed us his inner rock God

last week - I quite enjoyed it. Sid Owen!

Hello, Sid. How are you? Before we start, we must say you are sat here

on your own because Ola's not here. Are you missing her? I do in a

strange way yes. Even though she tortures you week after week.

She'll be back hopefully for next Saturday. Last Saturday, have you

watched it back? How was the whole experience grour? -- for you?

haven't watched it. I watched the first couple. I was so upset after

this, I didn't feel like watching it. You could see how visibly upset

you were. In training, Ola said last week she felt you might have

been a bit embarrassed of the character you had to play? No, it

was just the song. Not that I know that much about music and dance,

but I didn't put tango to that song and it was such a transition from

going rock and into a tango. If you feel it doesn't really work - I had

a similar thing with the paso doble. Yes, I wasn't feeling it. Difficult

to do wit conviction, although you looked like you were playing proper

chordz on the guitar. Yes, I did my homework. The three boys gave you a

hard time?: yes, it was a bit of a shock because you've done it before,

you know, all that's important is not to mess up the steps, do it in

time which I thought I did. So I thought, well, it could have been,

I could have got a few better remarks. You looked visibly upset.

I thought all the women would run on to the floor to kiss you because

you looked upset. Did you go away and get upset? On the Thursday and

Friday I kept getting it wrong and I didn't want to let Ola down. She

had a tough week and we weren't feeling it, so I was more worried

about getting my steps right because I kept getting it wrong on

the Friday and in the Saturday dress so I was overjoyed that I

didn't mess the steps up. And you still got negative comments. Leslie

from Crawley said: Great per more fans, sue peesh effort, didn't feel

the judges' comments were totally fair and not at all constructive.

Boo to the Junes this time. Leslie's 100% right, ain't she.

Leslie is his mum! Cheers, Les! Does it give you a boost to have

the public behind you? Yes, it's incredible. I want to do well, it's

disappointing when we try to get a bit of a boost from the judges

because it does help. It does knock you down a bit. Monday, Tuesday, I

thought, I'm not feeling it. Tough to pick yourself up? With a new

partner as well. But she's lovely, so patient, completely different

from Ola. It's like being on holiday! It's an Ola-day! Yes.

are doing the cha-cha-cha this week. How is it going? It's going. It's

all right, yeah. I'm not a lover of this song. The song yet again, here

we go, listen to this... Something strange in the

neighbourhood # Who you gonna call

# Ghostbusters... # They are making you dress up again

for Halloween? I don't know. I've got a gimmick but not for too long.

I've got a gun to throw away. week a guitar, this week a gun. You

are not being the marshmallow man? No. Ola is coming back to dance

with you on Saturday. How much practise time will you have? A few

hours tomorrow and the dress run and that's it. It will be brilliant,

Sid, keep the faith. You are brilliant. Fingers crossed. Leslie

liked it. She loved it. Time to check up on the rest of the

girls to see how they are handling the Halloween choreography.

This week we are dancing the charleston. It's insanely quick.

Who needs aerobics when you do this dance. The sweat is flowing. You

are like a swimming pool. It's grost. My legs are caning me now. -

- gross. Any part of it you can do sitting down here? Did youds miss a

step? Yes. It's the first time I've got a sector of the routine where

I'm dancing all by myself. mostly worried that if she gets

that wrong, it will freak her out for the rest of the number and it

will all fall the pieces. So sorry. Stop crossing, Lisa! If I don't get

that right, we are in trouble because that sets it all up. I

can't move. Can't move. Ff This we can we are going the cha-

cha-cha, it's so fast, my feet won't keep up with it. Unsure how

I'll make this look half decent. decided to raise the bar. The

choreography is complicated and Dani's panicking. It's too fast, I

can't do it. It's not. It is. beautiful. I'm petrified. If I can

take the speed up by 50%, it will be perfect. I want to show

everybody what she can do on the dance floor. You can do this.

I know, I can. Vincent is dragging me around because I've got no idea

what I'm doing. Hopefully he can drag me through on Saturday.

We are dancing a paso doble. I'm getting on well with the dance this

week. Don't look at me. The paso is all about the character. I'm trying

to get Kim into the character. It's scary, dramatic. Scared yet? It's

not working out so far. Look at me. Every time I try and go for it and

be Red Riding Hood, I catch a glimpse of myself and start

laughing. Then, when I catch a glimpse of Pasha trying to be the

big bad wolf, that makes me laugh even more. If we really can portray

the character, it will be a good It's me! The gravestone. Vicky is

here from wardrobe. Can I say first of all before we even start,

Hollywood week wardrobe, absolute triumph. Thank you. So good.

Another week, another theme, Halloween. How much do you love

that theme? I quite like it actually although there is a lot of

work. To put it into perspective, how many costumes do you have to

make? 60 on Friday we are going to fit, so quite a lot. We won't keep

you long! Fourth week, you must be getting to know the celebrities

quite well now on the their individual styles and what they

like to wear and stuff? Yes. they getting more daring? Hopefully

and hopefully they trust us more and relaxed when they come into

fittings instead of think, oh, my goodness. I think we are gelling

quite nicely. Getting there. Let us have a look at what Lisa is wearing.

Halloween, the charleston equals? She's a witch. She's teaching Robin

how to be a witch or witchcraft, I suppose. Lots of green, an unusual

design for the witch. She's doing charleston so from a dance

perspective and choreography, she has lots of splits so it's easy for

her to move and gives her an opportunity to reveal her lovely

legs. Great legs and they move so fast. Fluorescent green there?

it's called apple blossom, which I find unusual. Very exciting for

Halloween. Loads of gems there as well? Yes, emerald gems. Stuck on

individually, let's not forget. Victoria's doing the tango. What

Victoria's doing the tango. What about her design? A typical

ballroom dress it started off as. It's been slashed, ripped, twisted,

chains and studs. And it's white because she's dancing to white

wedding? Yes. It must lend itself to lots of props this week too.

What is going on? Nicky, the scientist will start off in the lab

coat and geeky glasses, however he'll reveal a nicer outfit.

imagine this might be a prop for somebody? Yes, don't know who that

is for? Little Red Riding Hood's basket. Gosh don't look in there!?

Ooh, it's beautiful. What can you tell us about who is going to wear

this? Gorgeous, beautiful young lady. We have a signature hip

detail going on which she's had on a couple of her frock this is

series, so you might know who it is. I wore a crop top in 1983, it was a

big mistake, but she is look beautiful. Thank you very much

Vicky, you are wonderful, we love you.

Time now to see how the rest of the boys are getting on in training.

Seriously, have you seen what's in here?!

Strictly does Halloween, we are doing a tango. It will be

zombiifyed. Tango is serious and angry. Punchy. I'm going to keep it

traditional. Lots of head movements, body actions. It's a bit like

having a fight on the dance floor. So we should be quite good at that.

Having a fight? Yes yes. I've always tried to work a lot on the

performance for Louis because he's not an actor and doesn't come from

that world. It's alien to him. hope I give a terrifying

performance in the right way. performance is very, very, very

important and I think he's actually going to be quite good at it.

This week I'm dancing the salsa. Soulful, swinging, sexy. Seems like

Colin understands the rhythm quite well, he can pick up steps OK. A

few problems with lifts. Oh, baby... For Colin, it's still a new

territory. He's learning to do lifts and tricks with me, how to

support my body weight. I'm feeling the impact of last week if I'm

honest. Going to Vancouver and back has taken its toll. Good to be back.

Incredibly fast number, salsa, flying and smoothing along quickly

so no real time to think. This one needs to come very quickly. One

wrong step and it all goes woop! This week it's the tango. Lots of

character. Again quite a bit of acting in there. I'm up for that

challenge. Nick is more driven which is what we need. Focus.

romantic and aggressive. Posture... He needs to have magnificent

posture. It's the passion that we are going to have together that

will have to come through in the tango. If I can learn the steps, I

can put some character into it, it will work well. It's coming

together. We are not out of the woods just yet. It was good. I know.

On Saturday night, they scored the highest marks of the competition so

far and left the others green with envy. Welcome Nicky and Karen.

Well done. After two dances, joint bottom and then Saturday zing bat

bing, you must have been thrilled? Yes, I think we needed it. My

confidence needed something. The first few weeks I was strgling. I

struggled at the start of this and I didn't get the steps until

probably Wednesday. Until wnz I was thinking, God, I don't know, I'm so

far down -- until Wednesday. Mentally it was challenging. But

yes, it came together. It came yes, it came together. It came

yes, it came together. It came together. Is this the Nicky you

were desperate to show off, you knew what he could be? Definitely.

We have been working so hard. The first few weeks were really, really

tough. Last week, he just really gave it and I was really surprised

because during rehearsals he was like crazy and we were both under

pressure. Then all of a sudden, he just comes out on stage and it was

just like wow, where's this Nicky been, I love this Nicky?! Bruno

said you should wear a mask every week. Have you got one this week?

do have one in I need one, yes. you feel the pressure on Saturday?

Did you have sweaty dreams on Friday night in anticipation?

morning on that Saturday morning within you wake up - sorry, what

was that?! - you wake up knowing you are doing something massive

that evening. Bruno was right, he was probably saying it it tongue-

in-cheek but it helped, I felt like I was playing a character and I had

extra confidence that jumped into me. I thought, I have nothing to

lose and nobody knows it was me and it worked. Was it hard to keep his

spirits up because Nicky said until Wednesday he didn't think he could

get the hang of it. How did you keep his spirits up? I became a

therapist overnight. It's part of your role isn't it? Yes. I needed

to keep him confident and, you know, it's a lot of pressure, but he's

pulling through and he pulled through, definitely. We noticed

that you got rather strict with him in training. Check in out, mum!

Karen's been more strict this week. Something's switched in her mind

that it's a bit more like we've a job to do here so let's get our

game head on. Posture. You look like a soldier. I had to really

push him. One, two, three, four... She's driven, competitive, wants to

do well. No, you want heel. Do not give them an inch. One, two, three,

four, five, six, seven eight... Yes, sergeant. Drill it. I give up.

That's how we role. Good. This is our ticket. This is what we need

this week and I'm not picking at you, you know, to be mean, I'm just

picking at it because this is what we need as a team. Sounds like I

just gave a speech from Braveheart! Rousing stuff from hot lips there!

Last week, Craig said the quickstep was like a tango, this week you are

doing a tango. What is the tango like? A waltz. He said my knees

were bent and it was driving him insane. So that is good because the

tango is all about knees bent. If I can do that again, I'll think I'm

doing the quickstep again and it will work. You came on the Friday

panel with Westlife last year and Shane said you were a tango man.

Was he referring to your dancing or was it a skin colour thing? I think

he probably didn't know what a tango was! Are the boys voting for

you and supporting you? Yes, they all want to come down, they are

trying to organise to come down at some point if I stay in and Shane

said that he was a better dancer than me on Twitter at some point.

There should be a challenge. dance-off. Good luck. Brilliant

last week and will be this week. Nicky and Karen skhral --!