Episode 23 Strictly - It Takes Two

Welcome to Wednesday's It Takes Two. On the show tonight, they charmed us

with their cha-cha-cha, it's pretty young thing, Sophie and Brendan! And

their fruity salsa had so much cuckaboom. Here to give us a preview

of the Halloween dances, it's only Ian Waite. This is Strictly It Takes

Two! Live from London, this is Strictly

It Takes Two. Please welcome your host, Zoe Ball.

Hello. Welcome to Wednesday's It Takes Two. The theme this weekend,

in case you hadn't realised is, it's Halloween, which means things are

about to get scarier for the remaining 11 couples. If you can't

possibly wait until Saturday to see what is in store, fear not, Ian is

here with an exclusive look at the dances!

Please welcome everyone's favourite pumpkin, Ian Waite!

Baby, you look so, so cute. Is that your own? Have you brought it from

home? What do you think? No. Doesn't he look delightful, I think you will

agree. Did you enjoy the show on Saturday? I had a fantastic time. I

Haddiner at my house, a few friends round, Damian and Julie and a few

poodles, it was lovely. Sounds like an interesting night. Did you have

any favourites on Saturday? Well, I liked, I must say, Fiona and Anton.

Don't laugh at me! Take me seriously. How can I? I loved their

dance. Let's have a look in the training rooms then. First of all,

we are going to look at Susannah and Kevin doing a charleston this week.

Bruno said Susannah Richard Judies happiness, so surely that'll be

perfect for her. This is for you, your microphone's got lost. Two

things to hold now! It got lost in your innards

somewhere. She's Miss Consistency. Four eights last week and I think

they are going to do it again this week. I'm loving her charleston.

Lots of good work in the feet, particularly. Craig keeps on about

that, swivelling of the feet. Off he goes. I like the way you bounce up

top when you do that! Lovely! It's the only thing attached to me. I

think she's going to do a good dance. A little ray of sunshine.

Great dance for Mark this week, the paso doble. And he's got the real

dramatic flare, hasn't he, so is this going to be good? He has and he

has that drama which he does really, really well. Do you want me to hold

your wand as you talk into the mic? Yes, you hold my wand. He's lost two

stone over the last five weeks. Amazing! Everybody take up dancing.

I wanted to talk about his shaping. I'm going to draw that in there. Do

you want me to hold your cards? Yes. I want him to shape his arms more,

like he's got my pumpkin outfit on. Do you want me to hold your mic

while you do the other arm? You could just talk like that? No, no.

We could give him some spiders, think about the arms and the legs.

OK, Pasha and Rachel. We reckon Rachel might be relieved because

this week she's doing an American smooth based on a Viennese waltz

which is unusual? Yes, normally we see foxtrot, yes. Those sorts of

dances, we did a waltz, do you remember? Vague lift was it before

the blitz? She's already done a waltz so it should help. There is a

few points that I want to point out. There is an arrow there pointing to

the hand, the head and the bottom. Those three things she needs to get

that wrist flat, nice and flat and she needs to keep the head to the

left and also she needs to keep her bottom under. Tuck her bottom under?

Yes, very, very important. She'll have taken that on board. Your

favourites from last week, Fiona and Anton. 30 last week, her highest

score. It will have given her a lot of confidence for the charleston.

Sorry, I can't take you seriously, you look hilarious? She's really

getting into the spirit of it. Lots of fabulous charleston steps, really

fun and I love the way they're absolutely matching each other,

look. Perfect. That is good. Perfectly matching with the legs.

Nice leg work. They look like black cats, don't they, look at that. Very

nice! - You are going to be sick of the Halloween theme in about ten

minutes. Patrick did so well with Anya last week with his injury. This

week he's doing a quickstep. Still suffering, but he's fighting on,

he's a soldier. How are they looking? The thing is, like I said

last week and the week before, he's great when he's on his own. All of

this, he's actually dancing the whole thing on his own. We have only

seen that ever once before when Colin Jackson did it. Colin with the

dolls, remember that, my favourite one. Yes, we like to reminisce. I

think they'll probably be dancing together here. Is she just marking

it out? Yes. But he's doing a really good job on his own, let's hope he

can do it in hold. Ben and Kristina also doing a paso doble, a very

masculine dance, very good for Big Ben? You would think so. At the

moment, he's lacking the shaping in the arms and needs to get the elbows

up. I'm going to pause it here. She goes across the other side. Look at

him. Arms down too much. He needs to, if I can show you, be shaping

his arms on every moment. LAUGHTER

Just like that! You look a little bit like Ben. Extra round of

applause for coping with a broken microphone and a pumpkin costume.

Don't be deplated. We'll talk to you again later on, Ian Waite. Dave and

Karen went crackers on Saturday night. They'll join us next to talk

about their performance. You should have considered the possibility of

remaining on the fruit trolley... Strictly presents crackers with that

rack coos two -- maraccas. Out of sync all the way through. It's never

luckily a boring performance. It's not top quality dancing. It's top

quality fun. And entertainment. The judges could have done it

better. It may not have been the greatest dance in the world but it

was all there. We are all right, bottom of the leader board. But top

of the world. I love that. Please welcome Dave and

Karen. Hello, you gorgeous twosome. Well

done, I don't know what was wrong with the judges on Saturday night,

you had parrots, conga and even your five a day on top of Karen's head.

What more could you possibly have given them? She even said there was

a banana for supper, everything from catering to mobility issues, getting

on there with the trolley, it was ambitious. Very! Karen, six weeks

in, do you ever get frustrated with the judges when they are just, you

know, a little bit negative? No, actually they are just doing their

job and it's constructive criticism so it makes us work even harder when

we get back into the studio. Keep going!

Lynn says not top quality dancing but top quality entertainment. --

Len says. I took that as a great compliment. I'm never going to be

the best dancer because there are some wonderful, wonderful dancers in

this series so I've just got to go for it and enjoy it. I have to work

as hard as I can. And you are working really hard, aren't you? Oh,

yes. You did so many training hours last week, it's ridiculous. Driving

her mad, yes. You looked visibly shocked when the judges gave you

your scores, were you a bit disappointed? Yes. We came out with

the waltz the week before and that seemed to be going very, very well.

The salsa, I didn't find it the easiest of dances to learn, with all

the paraphernalia, the fruits and trolley and everything, but we

wanted to try and equal what we did in the waltz, if not a bit better.

There's always this week. Before we go on to this week, can we remind

ourselves of the faces you pulled when you got through on the results

show. Let's relive that moment. It was brilliant. Have a look.

Returning next week will be... Dave and Karen.

I'm going to play that every time I feel sad. We kept our dignity. I

think so, definitely! How much does it mean to you, Karen, when the

public save you like that? It means a lot to us because we are working

really hard and this guy right here wants to be in this competition and

is trying really, really hard. We go out there and we love every second.

You can tell! Thanks to everybody at home. Judges keep bringing up this

point of music ality and whether you have it or not. Is there anything

you have been able to work on and have you been automobile to bring in

any tricks, Karen? I'm trying everything, you know. Making sure

he's looking at me. Every single little thing, but we are working on

it. It's a work in progress. It's when the count is going at a

different speed to the music. That will confuse anyone. I know. That's

what I had trouble with in the salsa. I didn't notice at all. I

didn't either. It was great! We do love your relationship though

and we have noticed that you have found a mutual love of something

which is quite handy perhaps. Karen's still using all the foot

analogies. Is Juicy knees and glaceed sugary hips. I think

secretly, she's more food obsessed than me. Baloney. Ham and cheese.

Chicken breast up. Baked potato. Bodies will be aching for your

spice. Beans on toast, cha-cha-cha, steak and eggs cha-cha-cha, Strictly

bacon. Strictly. With a cherry on top. Ping. You are food obsessed.

You want to see kingy. I'm hungry, my teeth are going to come out for

your ankles. It was like my auntie Pat's Yorkshire terrier. I think I

ate too much. I love it. It's kind of like

madness. The madness starts seeping out. This week it's the jive. Tough

to make the jive scary being Halloween week and all that? I try,

but every time I do it, I do this big entry where I shock her and she

bursts out laughing and goes, "your cheeky face". Working on that scary

face. Thises the music. You have one of the best Halloween tracks ever.

# The monster mash... # I like it! Apparently you write

notes to yourself on your hand so that as you are going out... In the

salsa, because on the rehearsals on Friday I hit a brick wall and it's

like, what happens next, so to jog my memory, like I had time to look

at my hand! - I look at like, head, four bits, cart wheel and that was

the order it went in. They were all in a mess. I do love watching you.

I'm squeezing his hand going like "don't look". Just do that and you

will be able to read it. Good luck with the jive this week, Dave and

Karen! Don't go anywhere, it's time for a

special announcement. Carb and Dave are going to stick with us -- Karen

and Dave. We wanted all of you this year to be part of it by joining us

in a special Halloween-inspired dance routine from the rocky horror

picture show. Here are Kevin and our Karen here to show you how to do the

time warp. # Let's do the time warp again

# It's just a jump to the left # And then a step to the right

# Slip your hands on your hips # Bend your nighs in time

# And it's the pelvic thrust # That really drives you insane

# Let's do the time warp again # Let's do the time warp again... #

Simple. Got it? Got it? Ready. Take it away Karen. Go! Five, six, seven

eight # Let's do the time warp again

# It's just a jump to the left # And then a step to the right

# With your hands on your hips # And bend your knees in time

# With the pelvic thrust # Really drives you insane

# Let's do the time warp again # Let's do the time warp again... #

APPLAUSE Come on! There you go. Telly gold,

Dave doing the time warp backed by a pumpkin. Two days to perfect the

dance at home. Kevin was there too! APPLAUSE

Step by step moves can be found on the Strictly website. A couple of

weeks ago, we introduced you you to Melanie and Gordon, the lucky bride

and groom being taught a routine for their wedding in December. They have

had their second rehearsal, so it's time to check in with them and see

where they are up to. Today it's about showing them the choreography.

I want them to feel comfortable, I want them to love it and not feel

like it's a lot of pressure on their wedding day. I'm going to teach you

a Cuban break. Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum. Stay there. I'm going to be

here. So it goes ba, ba, ba, ba, right, left, right, left, right...

Gordon hated me for putting us in for this show. I never thought we'd

be doing this type of move. I've just started with the choreography,

they picked the steps up quickly. Good. Straighten again. Yes! He's

got amazing leg action, he's like snapping it. She's a fantastic

teacher and she's got a lot of energy and that really helps us

because it's a lot of work and it's not something we are used to. To

have someone like her who's so bubbly and energetic is a real help.

I'm just basically standing at the bus stop, yeah. We love her

transport analogies, we have been on a boat and a bus. Steering wheel.

Like a choo choo train. You know, like a voom, voom. Follow my body.

I'm going to lead you without touching you. You can see Brendan's

bum when you stick it out, I'm hoping that we'll look like the

professionals at some point. Good, kids!

I've never had two people learn so much choreography in one session -

ever. My legs are absolutely killing me. I'm exhausted. I like that

feeling because it means we have worked hard and it's good for the

wedding diet as well! You could maybe take off your jacket, have a

moernlingts you can reveal something. Get your veil off,

whatever. Next week we'll practise and we'll make sure we haven't

forgotten everything for the next session.

I love it. Melanie and Gordon showing a lot of promise. Time to

separate the good from the Gouldish with part two of Waite's Wednesday.

Welcome back, my little pumpkin. -- ghoul. You should wear that every

week. Ashley is doing the tango this week. He's not afraid to take risks

which we saw in his jive last week. How is the tango looking? There are

parts of it that are really good. He's nice and low in the legs which

you have got to be, you have to be down. He has great action, great

heel leads. I've stopped it here because I don't like the straight

arm. It's too straight. It needs to be more compact because tango is

more compact. There is a little graphic to put in there to show you.

OK. Like that. A bit grisly that arm so I've put it in. Carry on further,

look at his head. He turns his head in towards Ola. Now, that is his

nemesis. Every time he does pivots, he tends to lean towards the girl.

Where should he lean? Straight. If anything, pull away from the girl.

Maybe if Ola eats a lot of garlic. Good idea. Happy birthday to Ellice

by the way, nine on Saturday and she loves you. Darcey was commenting on

Sophie's soft knees in her cha-cha-cha. Doing a jive this week

which could be handy? You have to have soft knees but you also have to

be able to straighten your leg. It's about straitning and bending the

knees -- straightening. I'll stop it here. I'm going to zoom in on this

area here. She's got bent legs there. If you are staying too bent

in jive, it can be too much. We get the idea. I try and straighten at

the end of the move. Have you ever seen a pumpkin move like that,

ladies and gentlemen? Never, never in your life and probably never

again. That was beautiful. He's getting carried away now. He's

loving these tights. He'll take them home. When abbey did her rumba, I

was thinking it would be amazing. She's doing some lovely rumba walks

and there is a lot of fluidity between them. She has love Loye long

legs, just like mine, but not at the moment obviously. But I wanted to

highlight was this area here. Sometimes she does that, points her

feet lovely, then she'll go with the club foot. She needs to maintain all

the way through. She needs to be pointy. Because I like them so much,

I'm going to give them some pumpkins, look. Beautiful. Like mini

mes. Natalie and Artem are going a Viennese waltz. They got 34 for her

walks. Surely by now, do you think Natalie is going to be getting into

it? She misses out the second. So I wouldn't give them a ten. I point

that out. The Viennese waltz is brilliant for her. What I wanted to

do was to say to improve it and to get that ten, she should come out

here a bit more in his arm to create more shape and then she'll be more

over the right hand side to Artem. Is that Brendan in the background? !

Dave and Karen are doing the jive. Lynn was saying on Saturday that he

has the ability of never letting his left leg know what his right is

doing that. Could be a problem with the jive. How is his training? Well,

yes, it would be a problem, wouldn't it? But there are great moments in

here. There's some bounce in there, I noticed, that needs to be

developed a bit more. A lovely toe hill swivel. Try that, Zoe. Dressed

like this? ! Here? ! We did this side by side last week. Toe, heel,

across. Toe, heel, across. Finding it hard. Stay on the balls of his

feet to make this work. Just keep doing that. I love this. It could be

a scary dance so it's going to be the scariest dance of all. Some

lovely ghouls. Give it up for my little orange flesh pumpkin boy, Ian

Waite! Trick or treating in that?

In a moment, Bill chatting to Sophie and Brendan, but first a recap of

their cha-cha-cha. Amazing. The cha-cha-cha has to be

sleek and cheeky with attitude. I don't think you got into that dance

at all, it was all staged and put up.

I thought there was a saucy vixen bit of style there.

I thought it was very nice. Make sure you keep dancing when you are

inging and also spot when you're turning because you almost lost your

balance. I'm a happy. Can't really complain.

I still love dancing to that song. Last on for cha-cha-cha, first on

for foxtrot, how hideous was the wait?

Slightly preferred going last than first. First really scared me, this

just scared me a lot. Just a tiny bit? Yes. You were saying last week

that you found the speed of the cha-cha-cha a little tricky. The

charleston was really fast as well. Was it trickier? Was it different

and harder for you? Yes, there's a lot more technique. Charleston, you

could own it a bit more. Cha-cha-cha I'm supposed to look like a dancer

and still don't feel like I do. I don't know. We'll talk to Brendan

about that. Len said he felt she didn't quite get into it, but what

was your take on the whole that bang? -- chaba? There was a

reluctant to perform. She was a bit back and reserved like it was almost

like am I doing it right, you know, nobody knows at home. I felt like

she was thinking rather than just doing, but the good thing is, not

every dance is going to suit every person. I feel that Sophie is a

great dancer and takes on board what's going to happen. Every week

is different. I hope this week is good. You were talk and joking about

hearing the judges' voices in your head, what were they saying to you?

Not very much that's nice! They are not very supportive.

I am struggling with the confidence I think because it's very hard when

something's new and you don't feel it in your bones intrinsically to

then go, oh, I'm just going to throw all that away and perform. That's my

main criticism. One of my teachers once told me when you can fake

sincerity, you have made it. That's the absolute statement. You have got

to pretend that you know what you are doing and sell it. I'm just

writing that down. Why didn't somebody tell me that 25 years ago?

! You have been a front runner as well, up there with the scores. Is

it good to get criticism because then it can take the pressure off a

bit? Feels a lot more familiar, that position in life. I understand that

role a lot better. When people say nice things, I feel my cheeks going

pink remembering after the foxtrot where people were so lovely and I

find that very overwhelming so this feels more comfy. Took to it the

running track last week. Did you let her win? No, she was very fast. He's

so competitive. Bless him. You are doing the jive this week. Nice and

fast. A flick of kicks. You had your incidents, any knocks or falls this

time? Pulled muscles in my legs doing cart wheel that we are not

even doing in the routine. I said "I can do this" and we are not using it

now. Because it's Halloween week, it gives you the scope to do things

differently, so I wouldn't probably normally put a cart wheel or hand

stand in a jive but it's a bit different and we are going for the

whole performance. A whole performance.

You have got music as well obviously. Difficult mime dancing!

This is your music, Hall and Oates. You two have the best music every

week. What is scary for you, doing jive in Halloween week, anything

tricky for you? It's so frenetic, lots going on all the time and if

you miss a part of a beat and you are just off, all the wheels fall

off. No time to think. It's like OK, next step, next step, next step! And

what did you say about sincerity? If you can fake it, you have made it.

If you can fake sincerity you have made it. By the way, what are you

wearing? I'll be having oh? A catsuit and Brendan will look fab.

She will look phenomenal. Sophie and Brendan!

That is it for today. Thanks to all my guests. Join me tomorrow at 6.

30, tomorrow. I'll have the latest training room updates from the

couples. Vicky will be showing me what she has planned for Halloween.

Might