Episode 22 Strictly - It Takes Two

Hello and welcome to Tuesday's It Takes Two. What a show tonight,

fresh from celebrating his first 8 since 1972, Anton and Fiona are

here. They waltzed their way to their best score yet on Saturday.

Mark and Iveta join us. Karen is here to cast her eye on the

weekend's chory and she won't -- the weekend's choreography and she won't

hold back. This is It Takes Two! From London, this is Strictly: It

Takes Two. Please welcome your host, Zoe Ball.

Hello. Welcome to It Takes Two. So with a score breaking into the 30s,

Saturday was a momentous day for Anton Du Beke. And he was finally

able to lay the ghosts of scores to rest. Here is a reminder of their

brilliant quickstep. Fiona finally putting on the glitz. High spirit in

High Society. Finally, Fabulous Fiona! You are light on your feet.

Keep your focus, your best dance. More confidence, plus more focus,

plus more content equals more points. Well done.

Oh my gosh! We have gone through 30. 30. Wow. Best marks. Best dance. And

a standing ovation. Absolutely thrilled. Please welcome Fiona and

Anton. Thank you. He hasn't come down yet. Please let it be Saturday

again! You want to relive the whole thing. Universal praise from the

judges on Saturday. You must have been delighted. More than delighted.

I was so relieved. I really felt like I had my three-minute warning

the week before. I was really, really delighted. Not as delighted

as Anton. You can't wipe the smile off your face. Darcey said Fiona was

finally fabulous. Why do you think the quickstep played to her

strengths or is it all in the teaching? Of course it's the

teaching! What we found - use a word Craig likes to use, a narrative. It

wasn't just A equals B through the steps. We needed more, to hook it on

something. We found a story. We had something running through the dance.

I think that was a winner for Fiona and the way Fiona thinks and

performs perhaps. Sometimes you fumble upon these things. We found

this on Saturday. I thought it worked well. They mentioned the lack

of connection. I was desperate to introduce that connection. We had

the humour in there. Which was lovely. It gives you a point and you

think we do this bit and that bit and it flows. Great trick. We know

there has been the odd fluff here and there in your performances.

Bruno said there might have been one on Saturday, we didn't notice. Do

you think you are conquering those nerves? You must be relieved to have

a good one under your belt? It's not just about conquering nerves, it was

about focussing and learning if I did make a mistake not to let it

worry me, which is to push through, which is Anton's phrase. Don't let

them notice. That's what I have been learning We will adopt that mantra

for life, I think. Push through! Push through. You did joke it was

your first 8 since 1972. We dug in the archives and have gone back. It

obviously wasn't that far back. Leila in 2009. Remember it well.

2009! That's a lifetime ago. Is this shaping up to be a vintage year for

you? It's lovely that you should ask, it's becoming - it's already a

vintage year. It's been remarkable. Fiona is a gem. And wonderful to

work with in the studio. With Saturday night gone we found a

little something and we can build on that. You never know. We could crack

on a bit further. I know. Fingers crossed. It was a vintage year.

Anton may be receiving his highest scores for years but it seems the

hard graft is getting to him a little! Can we bring in the crash

mat, please. I feel a funny turn coming on. It's Anton's 11th series.

There's an element of the stir crazy. I feel quite calm, I feel

quite calm, I feel quite calm. Lemon tart! Top line, top line, top

line. Top line! Oh! Tingle, tingle. Pigeon. Duck.

Lovely. Just remind me again, who am I? Barmy du Beke. I might take that

home if I am feeling sad. She understands every word. I am with

you, pigeon and duck. This week it's Hallowe'en. What dance are you

doing? The Charleston. I am loving it. What are you loving about it?

It's so fun. It's fast and it's furious. It's whacky and mad and we

can have humour, so it's a bit like last week. I can get into the role.

I am loving it. It's really fun. Music to your ears. Sophie set the

bar high, sort of flipping over the top. That was spectacular. Will you

be attempting any stunts? There are hundreds in it. Oh, many, many.

Dozens. I am doing all sorts of flips. Trampolines involved.

Backward flip. Just you wait, Zoe. It's going to be awesome. I can't

wait. Good luck with the Charleston on Saturday. Fiona and Anton! With

five weeks of competition under their belts are celebrities now

taking their performance to the next level? Here to offer her expert

opinion is Karen Hardy. Welcome back, Karen Hardy! We love

doing that. We need to do a routine to that. Everyone can join in at

home. Let's crack on within the Latin number -- on with the Latin

numbers. Patrick and Anya, due to the injury they had to

rechoreograph. How difficult would it have been for him to face changes

and cope with his injured arm? I think really hard. This is down to

absolute teamwork. First of all, trying to make it work but what we

saw here is the stress for our new professional wanting to prove

herself with a celebrity. Once you have one hand leading and new

choreography, if anything goes wrong which we do see, there is nothing

she can do. She's at a loss there. What I absolutely love is the

teamwork between these two. I must say the fight that came back in that

dance-off. He fought harder in the dance-off. Fabulous. Sophie and

Brendan and the cha-cha-cha divided judges. Darcey and Bruno were saying

it's difficult to do a cha-cha when you have long legs. Is this true?

For the record, what a load of rubbish. If you have long legs and

you put a mini skirt on, maybe your legs are exposed. She has gorgeous

legs. She had a perfectly cut dress. Absolutely stunning. What she's got

to do, she's got to start using them. I talked about her needing to

be more assertive and look here, it's a little bit casual again. She

needs to make those actions with almost aggression. Making a

statement. Every movement she makes a statement must be applied with it.

A little bit more energy required in the Latin. She can do that, I think.

Natalie and Artem and the samba. Craig got a little picky, she needs

to heighten her double bounce action, what does that mean? That

means I have to get up again! Like the skirt. Double bounce action is

really hard. If we look at a step Natalie does. It's three steps that

go one, two, three. But when we dance it we have to go up, down, up,

down. We have to get a double bounce.

The thing is for me things like a double bounce, the professionals

have not time to teach that. I am looking for chory on the show that -

choreography that we have never seen before on Strictly and I want to see

judges demanding more exciting choreography from this girl. I think

she can bring a lot more. That's a big statement. She will get it.

Ashley and Ola and the jive. Len loved the speed and energy. He did

feel Ashley lost technique a bit. Where do you think this was? There

was a timing error I have here. It might have put off the technique a

little bit. What's brilliant is Ola has put chassises everywhere. That's

clever. To the audience and judges, wow, big marks. Technical steps.

Three steps that go side, together, side. Very, very simple. But you put

them everywhere in a jive it will look fast, snappy, and great. You

cannot put outdoor shoes in a top-class dance competition. Must be

dance shoes. As you can see, it affected the movement. Because of

the pointy toes. Rachel and Pasha and the paso Doble. We need to see

her vision coming out through her body. She's working really hard. The

body doesn't move at all. It's left rigid. When we dance our voice or

the story we are trying to depict is portrayed through our body movement.

Can I borrow you for a second? Borrow away. If we kept our bodies

rigid and I put my hand out. The message we are portraying here is

formal. But what we want in a paso is warmth and... Hello! Exactly.

There's got to be movement within the body. If you say the word

aggression, that comes through the body, so it goes rigid. We need

passion, movement, all those yummy words. She can be amazing. She can

turn this around. Very simple changes. Dave and Karen and the

salsa. A bit of a battering from the judges. Bruno said it was an

achievement to be out of time all the way through which seemed harsh.

What is Dave getting wrong, if anything? He is going to be out of

time because he is not dancing. We are not even getting basic steps.

Look, slow-mo. How can you... Even my grandmother can do this! Who

cannot do the da-da-ha! We get that with some celebrities, in the

training rooms it's fine but put them on a live performance night

with all the costume and make-up it could go wrong. What we are seeing

here is they're doing homework but when it comes to delivering on the

night the nerves potentially are kicking in. Timing is going wrong.

Steps not being delivered. We love him, though. We do. And we love you.

Will you talk about ballroom in a minute? Absolutely. So, week after

week Mark and Iveta have had the audience on their feet. On Saturday

the waltz wowed the judges, too, receiving their highest scores to

date. Here is what happened. What I love, you come out with this lovely

naturalness about you which is terrific. Everything you do is

always effective because it's so deeply felt. It's extremely well

played. I thought you danced it simply, effectively, and with

feeling and emotion. That was just beautiful to see.

Yeah! He was nice to me. They gave us a 7, can you believe that? We

finally like Craig. Yes. Craig's on side. It can only get better. Please

welcome Mark and Iveta. Congratulations on a stunning

performance on Saturday. It was so tender. Ismay from Belfast has said:

I was in tears, never in all the years of watching have I found a

routine so touching. No way, that's lovely. That's the effect your

dancing is having on people. How special did it feel for you? It was

brilliant. Obviously after the week before I was nervous because we just

stripped everything back and were going to just dance. We were

nervous. It was lovely. I really enjoyed doing it. I am reliving it

now. After the bashing from Craig the week before was it important to

you to impress him and could you ever have imagined that he would

come out with the term "just beautiful"? It was amazing. A real

shock. I was hoping because I had been working and worked on things he

was talking about. It was a - it's so rewarding when you get comments

like that and you think he noticed the work. How important was it after

the MC Hammer fun-fest of the week before to strip it back and do

something beautiful like that? I wanted to show versatility of Mark,

and his ability is not just to be funny, he can be serious, he can

dance. He can show technique. He doesn't need props. I wanted people

to see that he can just dance and look beautiful and be good. On the

Friday panel on Friday one of our guests mentioned that it wasn't the

band playing MC Hammer, it was the proper track. But it was our band

playing. They are that good. Well done Dave Arch and Tommy singing and

Trevor and the gang. See they're that good. Back to the waltz now.

High phrase from -- praise from Len who said you have a naturalness to

your dancing. Has it surprised you how well you are performing? It

really has. In your mind you think I am going to do that and actually

when you are dancing, when you get up there it's really difficult

sometimes to be emotional because you think I am going to get

embarrassed and can't do this. When you jump in and do it it's brilliant

because you think I have done it. At the end I was like, I did it! It's

brilliant. The other thing is you are not just a natural dancer. Oh

no! But also a natural singer. So much so that we think you are giving

Iveta a run for her money. From the people who brought you Iveta's

Greatest Hits comes a highly anticipated album from Mark,

featuring your favourite songs... # I am going to smile... That's a nice

voice! # To rule my kingdom, you must use fire # I don't know the

rest. # You didn't know I could sing Lithuanian. Including a new duet

with Iveta herself. # It's too late to apologise

# It's too late Thankfully this album is not

available to buy anywhere. It's too funny! I apologise if your dog is

barking right now. Back to the Latin and it's a paso for you. How are you

feeling about being that? Great, we are enjoying it. Is this going to be

good for him? Well, he is feeling it. Now we have to make sure he is

doing it. OK. We are not worried about technique at the moment. As

long as you are feeling it. We have seen both comedy performances from

you and heartfelt performances. Where will this in Hallowe'en walk

fall -- week fall in those categories? I am curious myself.

Probably more on the comedic. As usual, Iveta will do the steps all

proper and I will try and squeeze something in there if she let's me.

Will you let him squeeze in one of his own moves? We will see. I love

it when she does that. If it's not one of those! We will see! Good luck

this weekend. Last week saw Lisa Riley complete her work experience

placement in Strictly's lighting department. As she didn't plunge the

entire studio into darkness she was invited back again at the weekend.

Here's how she got on as Strictly's new floor manager. I am back doing

my work experience bit which means that I am the floor management

team's newest recruit. I can shake my booty on the dance floor, but can

I run one? The floor manager on Strictly is Alan. He has been

running the floor for seven years but he is about to face his biggest

challenge yet. Me! I found him. Yes, I really have. The head floor

manager here on Strictly, explain what you do, Alan. I look after

everything that happens here. The director will tell me what to do.

It's a busy day. A lot to get through. We need to make sure we are

on schedule. I have three FMs who will be showing you the ropes,

they're like Charlie's Angels. You are going to need these. Pop those

on. They're for you. Love it. A Madonna mic! Rachel and Pasha to the

floor, please. I feel like I am working on a plane! We need to marks

on the floor. They need a starting mark. There we go. There you go,

Rachel. Enjoy. Good job. In the rehearsal they use cut-outs. I am

going to leave Patrick there, lie down. He is in Casualty after all.

This may seem crazy, but it's important for getting the lighting

right. Right, don't fall over. The boys must be across everything at

all times to try and avoid any delays. After all, the live show

will wait for no one. Everyone to the stairs. Shout it Top of the

stairs, please, quick as you can, no pressure! Get your frock on and

lipstick! They're still shouting at me. I am going to get in bother. How

are you getting on with Len? I am on it. I am outside his room. Hi, Len,

please, we are ready for you. Ready for the live show? Come on. Off you

go. The show is starting. Kristina, come on, please. Otherwise I am

going to have to dance! It's the boys. Get in. On the stairs! Right

time. He has the wrong stairs everybody. Just letting Dave know...

Don't tell them it was me. I did take him up the wrong stairs. Right,

I swear, that was like being on Challenge Anneka! I hope the boys

are going to be proud of me. She's been efficient, on the ball. The

lads better watch their back because we have a new heir. She might be

stealing hur work. -- our work. And she's prettier than all three of us.

Hang on, I am being called. We better do something. It's been great

seeing how this massive show comes together and seeing everyone. Back

to the studio. Five, four, three, two, one!

She's good that Riley. Thank you very much. Earlier we looked at the

Latin. Now it's about the ballroom in part two of Choreography Corner.

Hello again, Karen Hardy! They love you.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING Abbey and Aljaz did a foxtrot, it

was magnificent. Craig was extra picky and said that Abbey's foot

sickle on the back step, what did he mean? In ballroom we are after

control from the top of your head to the bottom of your toes. I thought

here she was OK with her footwork but I picked up on something which I

am concerned why the judges are not mentioning it yet. Can you see this

big gap? Gapping is something that we want to pick up on early days. A

sickle foot, that takes hours and hours of training, the Patting of

the feet -- passing of the feet. Something like gapping we need to

get mastered early. I am concerned it's not being brought up. I want

them to hear about it, do something about it so later when they're still

in the show... She has to push herself in. She's tiny, show. So

slim. Partnering, ballroom dance something about the perfect harmony

of the two bodies moving together. Beautiful. Poetry it is. Ben and

Kristina and the quickstep. Len felt the business at the top with the

couch, he felt it had gone on too long, would you agree? This is a

dancing show. We want to see them dance. Look, if it takes a smack

around the head with a pill low to get live -- pillow to get live into

Ben, brilliant. It worked. He came alive. We saw that smile and him

moving. The other thing that was interesting was the repetition of

chassis. He is light, he is crisp. He can move across that floor.

Potentially I would like to see more complex and complicated. I think he

can do it. He is used to working as a team with a lot of difficult

movements. He can do more than he is doing out there. Susanna and Kevin

and the American smooth. Darcey commented that Susanna lacked a

little confidence with her lifts. With a successful lift how much is

confidence and how much is technique? 98% is all technique. You

need to get timing together right as we see here and if you get it

slightly wrong it will all go a disaster. Sometimes I - she has the

opposite problem, she will throw herself into something 110% and hope

it will come out the other side. You need that on the show, you need to

believe in your professional and commit to the choreography.

Sometimes it can look rough around the edges because she's thinking

what's coming ahead rather than living the moment. If you do a lift

get the timing right, get the delivery and exit the movement

together before you start thinking about the next action. Fiona and

Anton. The judges pleased to see an improvement. Bruno said there were a

couple of mistakes in the footwork she covered well. Did you notice?

There were little mistakes in there. I think it came about due to the

acting. We see this several times. We have the hanky coming out and you

have to stop the movement of the dance, get into this acting mode and

pick the steps back up. Even there, a little error. That would catch the

eye of the judges because there wouldn't be that natural progress

together. There would be a hiccup. Mark and Iveta. A few comments about

posture and frame. Bruno said it's hard to deliver a perfect topline

with a waltz. Why is this? The waltz - what we had here a lot of simple

steps, basic steps of the waltz. You are always exposing your celebrity.

That said, the way that the audience are warming to him is so beautiful

because he is delivering it so simple. There's no gadgets, he is

literally coming out and doing that. What we saw here is something that

we need to introduce to him, it's CBM, contrabody movement. What tends

to happen if we are moving in a straight line it's fine. But as soon

as we need to step outside partner or make a move around our partner we

can't move the arm to move the partner, which is what we are seeing

in encouragement of his arm movement. He has to learn contrabody

movement that allows the body to turn and the feet continue in one

direction. The body stays connected with the partner and the frame is

not disturbed. It's just something else that we will hope to start

introducing otherwise it will start looking stiff and again the arm will

try to make the movement. A beautiful, graceful dance. Well

done. And well done you, we will see you next week. Thank you. Thank you

to all my guests. Tomorrow I will be talking to Dave and Karen and Sophie

and Brendan and looking forward to Saturday's Hallowe'en spectacular

with Ian Waite. See you tomorrow, good knight.