Episode 25 Strictly - It Takes Two

Hello peeps and welcome to Friday's fiendish edition of It Takes Two.

They survived the dance-off with their salsa. Let's hope there's no

nightmares tomorrow. Patrick and Anya join us tonight. Saturday's

samba led to a fractured nose, will there be blood on the dance floor

with the Viennese waltz? Let's hope not. Natalie and Artem. I will brave

a trip to Elstree to join Rachel and Pasha in rehearsals and a scary

Friday panel of actress and presenter, Donna Air, West End

legend, Michael Ball, and don't tell Ian Waite that my original telly

husband from 45 years ago, Jamie Theakston is here. I'm excited. This

is Strictly: It Takes Two. APPLAUSE

Hello and welcome to It Takes Two. Just 23 hours, 58 minutes and 13

seconds to go until we discover what Goolish surprises our couples have

in store this weekend, hoping their quickstep is a thriller onned not a

shocker -- thriller and not a shocker, Patrick and Anya are here.

First let's remind ourselves of last week's dance-off with the al-- with

the salsa. I thought you did a wonderful job with changing that

round and giving Patrick a routine for just one hand. You gave me a

terrible fright. I thought you were reck tricuted for a -- ereck

tricuted for a moment. It was stoppy and starty, there should be a flow

to it. For me, I think you directed Anya

brilliantly. I loved to -- love to see a man in control of the dance

and for me, you gave me that. The salsa went quite well, I would

say. Amazingly, one hand salsa, you're making history, seriously.

Thank you. Brilliant stuff. We will find out which of you will be back

to dance again next week. Patrick and Anya. Patrick and Anya. Patrick

and Anya. Making history, please welcome

Patrick and Anya! APPLAUSE

You haven't been in here for ages. TwoTwo weeks. We must say, are you

all right there, love? Looking at Deborah there! Let's be happy,

happy, joy, joy, though. It's customary for the couple who are

safe to come in on a Tuesday, but your schedule is crackers. It's a

bit full. They have a laugh about the fact that you're on Casualty.

Everyone's had a good laugh - haven't you all? How are you

juggling the two, with learning the scripts, learning a dance? Kind of,

well, you know, going for it, really. Keep going. Yeah, not

worrying about it too much. OK, what's the next thing? One minute at

a time. One game at a time. Dance at a time. Congratulations because you

put in an incredible performance last week. It really was considering

last minute you had to change the routine completely and do a salsa

with one arm. How difficult was it for you? Well, in the end, it kind

of just came. I said OK, we'll try that. We'll see if we can do

everything that you put in front of me. He was very open minded. I

didn't know how it was going to work out. Somehow, some way it did. You

were amazing too. You had to do jumps with leaping blind onto a

man's shoulder. It was so brave. I don't know how I did it. The other

thing is, when you're dancing something like that, was the salsa a

bad dance to have a hurt hand? None of them were good, but is there a

worse case scenario. That was the worse case scenario. Well done,

then. The judges didn't cut you any slack. You have a big bandage and

Bruno said it was on and off. Craig was saying that despite the injury

that he wanted you to give it a bit more flow. Were you surprised? Well,

I just was happy to get through it. Those comments in the end, I went

OK, fine. Really just to get through it was huge for me. Amazing. To do

all of that with an injury, really difficult dance, bottom two, how

devastated were you? I suppose, when we weren't in the first batch, I

kind of knew. I felt it in my waters. I said, "We'll' be dr we'll

-- we'll be in the dance-off. How was that for you? I said, "Are you

ready? How are you feeling? He goes, "I just love dancing." That was the

best answer. That is all I need to hear. A tough couple of weeks,

no-one is surprised that it might have been getting on top of you a

little bit. Hold on a minute.. When Patrick gets overwhelmed with steps,

he gets frustrated. Just getting into control tower. Why am I messing

up there. Slow. Don't get frustrated, stay with me. The brain

goes no, we can't get through to the legs or the arms. That was the

completely wrong step. It was going on up here. Don't panic, Pat! They

forget to -- forgot to plug in the legs. I don't know what I'm doing

there. No, no, don't give up. I'm confused. Think like this. Yeah. All

the lights went out, what happened. It crashed. Oh, my gosh. Overload.

Bless you. I know exactly how you must feel.

Let's move on. This week it's Hallowe'en. It's a quickstep for

you. You're dancing to this: Atomic Fire ball, Man with a Hem. -- Hex.

The quickstep is quick! It is so quick, the clue is in the title. How

is he doing? I'm very pleased. I didn't hold back. I just closed my

eyes and said I'm going to go for it. What's your theme? Everyone has

a theme and a story. What's your story? Not giving too much away, we

have, he is what is it? A fortune teller from 16-feet under. He's

going to tell me my fortune and what awaits me in the future. And

hopefully that's high scores and straight through to next week.

You're scaring me now. Good luck tomorrow, Patrick and Anya!

APPLAUSE It might be the Hallowe'en special

tomorrow, last week, was almost a house of horrors for my next couple,

as those beautifully extended lines of Natalie resulted in a fractured

nose for Artem. Here's a reminder of their samba - ouch! Could have had a

tad more bounce here and there, but overall, I'm telling you, Natalie,

that was great. Flamenco style really suits you. I think Spain is

your place. You have to do more of that, it's very, very nice.

Hypnotic, exotic, with a touch of the erotic. I thought your hips were

fantastic. Timing, as always, brilliant.

Amazing music, the crowd were electric tonight. They were

screaming through the whole dance. That was so good. I am so proud of

you. Thank you, lovely. Welcome Natalie and Artem!

APPLAUSE Well done, you two, another

leaderboard topping performance. How did you make the samba look so easy?

Oh, I was whipped into shape by this one, here. I can't take any credit

for that. It wasn't an easy dance. But I really enjoyed it. I think

that's the key to any dance is to enjoy it. It carries you through so

much and so many things that go wrong. I just... I can't imagine

anything goes wrong for you? Yeah, it does. I shimmy my way through it.

If in doubt stick a shimmy in. Let's talk about the nose. I was imagining

it to look more boxer like. You fractured his nose in rehearsal.

What happened? In the dress run, it's the first time we get to wear

our costumes. I had a kind of tail to my dress, which was really heavy.

It threw me out of a turn. Although I didn't fall, Artem was in my line

of fire, shall we say. Are you sure what's -- that's what happened?

Should we re-enact. How painful was it? It wasn't

painful because I was in the middle of the dance. I was like, keep

going, it's not bleeding, it's great. I was looking down, oh, no.

It was all right. That beautiful face, but it's not damaged. It's

fine and healing up. It's make up. He's trying to get the sympathy. Len

loved it and he gave you a nine. Lots of nines you've been getting.

He wanted a bit more bounce. Is that something that you tried to tackle

in training? It's such a difficult technique, samba. There are so many

things that Artem's feeding me through the week. It's an

information overload. Yes, we had worked on bounce. That was one of

the things that went out of the window. There's always something

that goes by the end of the week. You can't fit it all in. All the

nines, we want a ten. Craig said - is there anything that you can't do?

When you're working with someone that talented, does it make it

tricky for you and choreography or do you think, right, I'm giving her

this move to do because she can take it? Well, it's easy and hard. It's

easy because a lot of things you can choose from, the difficult part to

choose the right moves that look the best. It's tricky, but I hope we

make it work. Does it make you at all scared? He's really scared.

Viennese waltz this week, are you enjoying it as much? You look

glorious in the ballroom. Every dance we come to each week is my

favourite because Artem's choreography is incredible. I really

enjoy dancing with him. Yeah, don't look at that. You still look

amazing. His face! S His face is hurting. Bless you. You are dancing

to Devil in Me. Very romantic, lovely. Imagine your spinning

around. You go from sexy senorita, what's your character? I'm the Lady

of the Lake. I broke his nose last week. This week I'm drowning him.

Drowning me. Hold him down. You danced with Kara and Holly on the

show, Natalie is your third actress. Is it great to get the character

out. Character out! I'm scared. She comes out. I think you had it

coming. It does make it easier. As soon as they hear the songs, you

have an idea what it should be. Just put steps together and performance

living up to them. Good luck tomorrow night, maybe wear some

padding. Natalie and Artem! APPLAUSE

So far this series when picking which couple should top the

leaderboard, our chihuahua hasn't been too lucky. Let's hope all the

spiritual energy of Hallowe'en has rubbed off on the pup and he'll get

it right this week. Here he is our predictive pup.

So Lucky thinks Mark and Iveta will top the leader boards. You will have

to tune in tomorrow to see if he's right. Earlier today, I took the

ghost train to Elstree for a catch up with Rachel and Pasha as they

cram in last-minute rehearsals. Here's what happened.

It's me, I'm up here. How brilliant does the studio look? ! Cobwebs,

spiders, pumpkins. It's going to be a brilliant show tomorrow night. And

hoping to cast a spell over the judges, it's Rachel and Pasha.

APPLAUSE Hello my darlings, very, very

excited about the show tomorrow night. Loved the drama of your dance

on Saturday. Loved Pasha being in a cage. Judges didn't love it quite so

much. Did you enJo I it? I real -- Did you enjoy it? I really enjoyed

it. I was scowling at everybody all week. You were scared a few times. I

wasn't scared, but I believed you. Tell her you're scared. I was! What

did you make about the comments, were they fair? They were a little

bit harsh. To me, Rachel really got into character. She really delivered

a great performance. I was happy because it was the best one. That's

all we need. He's happy. That's a good thing. It's all about you, the

other thing is that you're a presenter not an actress. How

difficult is it to get into these characters? I didn't realise before

how much it was about the performance. I was quite sporty, I

thought I could use that and do the dancing. But it's more about selling

it than I realised. That's something I have to try to do this week.

Taking it on board each week. I'm loving it! Len was saying that he

didn't think you were suited to the paso doble and you're smiley Riley.

How hard is that to take when you've worked hard in training? You do 30

hours of training for 90 seconds on telly. It is hard to take when you

get a bad comment after that. It's a live show. I enjoyed it. I thought I

was scary. You were a bit scared at times, maybe not because of the

face, because of the dancing - but either way! Have you kept the cage?

Never mind. The American smooth this week, you score great in your

ballroom. Are you happy to be doing ballroom? I'm happy to do a ballroom

dance. The shoes aren't as good. But I love the American smooth Viennese

waltz. We have some lifts. This is the thing. It's unusual to have a

Viennese waltz-based American smooth. I think Viennese waltz can

be too repetitive, when you put lifts from the American smooth it

brightens it up. You are going spiny roundy. Jumpy, jumpy, lifty, lifty.

I'm a ghost, so I'm flying. Oh, wow, that's exciting. Is it difficult

this week? Spinning and lifts? No, simple. Easy. Really easy. What a

liar. How intense has it been? Everything comes together last

minute for me. Yesterday it was coming together and you have to hope

it solidifies overnight. I love that, you've been hanging out with

Dave, culinary terms! Bruno wants you to fight. He wants to -- you to

fight harder. Will he be pleased with what you do tomorrow? I hope

so. The character of the ghost, I have to be light and airy and

spooky. You're not having a sheet with two holes cut in? No, I have

lots of cystals. Is there a story? They're not listening? It's simple:

Hallowe'en, once in 100 years ghosts are awakened and they go for a

little dance. A trot. Fantastic. It sounds wonderful. Will you give us a

sneaky look, obviously not in the outfits, that would ruin it. As long

as you're not going to show anybody. No-one's watching. Psst... Come over

here. This is Rachel and Pasha, a little sneak of their American

smooth. Well done. Rachel and Pasha! That

looks brilliant. Can I try that spiny lift on the shoulder? Yeah,

OK. You on my shoulder, Pasha. Now back to me in the studio.

Thanks, me. Almost Friday panel time. This week we are joined by one

of the West End's greats to get us in the mood, here's a snippet from

his new concert DVD. # Because I'm ready

# If you're ready # It's a beautiful night

# I'm looking for something dumb to do

# Hey, baby, I think I want to marry you

# Is it the look in your eyes # Or is this -- is it this dancy

tune # Who cares baby, I think I want to

marry you # Michael Ball is here to look over

the trickeds and -- tricks and treats tomorrow. Please welcome,

Michael Ball, Donna Air and my mate, Theakston neeck.

-- Jamie Theakston. APPLAUSE

Hey, mate. # Reunited and it feels so good... #

The leprechauns and Mr Blobby and we could do the whole show.

Welcome. Lovely to have you all here. Donna, you're a super fan.

What do you make of the dancers this year? It's fabulous. I'm very

excited about tomorrow, because I think you do the Hallowe'en shows so

well. I love the way you say "you", it's all my own planning. It's been

a great line up. They've been really strong performances as well. The

girls are really good. Any favourites? Well, I think Sophie

started off really strong. I think I love her style. She looks

effortless. Natalie's great. It's a good... There's so many of them. I'm

sad to see Deborah go to. I know, everybody cried their eyes out. Get

a grip, I say. Michael, you're no stranger to our Friday panel. I love

it. I'm liking the facial hair. Do you like this? Yeah. You grew that

quick for Movember. Would you be tempted onto the dance floor, and

if, so who would you like as your partner? If there weren't cameras, I

would do it like a shot. I think I would be at a disadvantage. I think

people assume because I do musicals that I can dance. But I invented a

heart condition and a back injury. I've seen you dance. It nearly

killed me. And hair spray. But people assume. That's different. I

would love to dance with Ola. I'll see if we can arrange that. Hey,

Jamie, you never ring! You're doing something close to your heart. I've

helping -- been helping Disney launch the Winnie The Pooh Laureate,

encouraging parents to tell stories to their kids. We're looking for the

best story teller across the country. You can enter the -- via

the Winnie The Pooh Facebook page. It's a lot of fun. We'll have little

stories. Let's look into the training rooms and see what we

reckon of our celebrities this week. First Dave and Karen. They're doing

the jive. It's to Monster Mash. That's surely a win-win situation.

He's bottom of the leaderboard last week. Can this see him creep up a

bit? For Dave this is probably a good dance for him. Good music. If

he can get past Craig, he might be, he might you are prize a few people.

-- surprise a few people. Everyone loves him. The nation are behind

him. It looks funny. Do you i it's better if he plays to the funny side

or straight? I really like the fun factor on the show. I like it when

Mark did that too with the Austin Powers one. Yeah, I think so. And

who needs a sense of rhythm. It's entertaining and it's about the

performance. Gives it his all. Fiona and Anton are doing the charleston

this week to Jeepers Creepers. It's a classic. Bless her. She's kind of

in full swing. She got her confidence back last week. You sigh.

I think she falls a - apart when it comes to the live show. I don't

blame her. It's overwhelming. It's that thing of staying focussed in

the moment and enjoying it. She clearly, she's like me, she's an

uber fan of the show. She probably still can't believe she's in it.

It's lovely to see Anton this long in the show. I know! He keeps

pinching himself. He can't believe it. They've promised lots of tricks.

Do you i that could be as good -- do you think it could be as good a

Sophie and Brendan's? They set the bar. That's just before for --

perfect for Anton. I can see him do that all day. They will do really

well. I'll send him round. Not as good as Brendan's. That was the

dance of the series for a lot of people. It's tango faces time for

Ashley and Ola. Last three weeks they've been on 31 points. Dancing

to Neo. Is this all looking good, Donna? I don't know. They just look

like such a sexy couple. A lot of looks. Yoo who cares about the

moves? Get her round the judging panel, we love it. This is what he

needs to do. He needs to man up, to give e get -- to get a bit more

sexy. He needs to do that hardness. I should be onle panel myself. Ball

says man up. Get a grip, man. Brendan are doing the jive. We've

talked about how good the charleston was. Could this match it? I'm

delightly worried about those trousers. Brendan's? I find them

stracting. -- Distracting. They're dancing to Man eater.

What a song! They've had great songs every week. I'm doing mum dancing on

telly. Stop it. Len says he would like to see more interplay. Will he

be happy? There will be lots of bounce on this one for Len. He'll be

happy there. I think this will be a strong week for Sophie. It's

unfortunate she started so high, last week was a dip. I think they're

going to come back strong this week. Straight back up the top. It's fun.

It will suit her like the charleston did. Exciting. Two paso dobles this

week, and that meets two matta doors. -- matadors. The first is

Ben. The judges want him to push further now. Is there going to

impress them? Yeah, as he's gone on, he's loosened up. He's a big, big

mash zblment huge. -- -- man. He needs the Suppleness. He's not

afraid to have a go. He's brilliant. They're dancing to Muse. Feel that

matador. I could do that. Michael and I are similar builds. It's like

looking in a mirror. Uncanny. That's that -- it's that rugby thing. Does

he do it for you? He's very good looking, but has he got the moves?

He's a little rigid. If he loosens up... It's very hard being spoiled.

A rose between two thorns. Mark and Iveta also doing a paso doble. He's

always a massive hit in the studio. They're not getting as high marks as

everybody else. Can he change it this week. He's a spaceman and a

helmet and everything. Your face says it all. I just think that I

have a horrible feeling this might be it for them. Really? No. For that

dance, you know, the whole drama and the sexiness and the bull... It's

going to be a fight. Now think about it. Hang on a minute! That changes

everything. Sarah Brightman. Craig needs to liten up -- lighten up on

the humour. His dancing is really good. He's a big guy, I know the

feeling. But he's got all the moves in there. You've both been Edna.

Yeah, yeah. That last song you do... 15 minutes full on. A fantastic

performer. And Craig needs to give him, cut him a bit of slack. That

told Jamie. He's brilliant. You've got issues, it's fine. Abbey and

Aljaz are doing the rumba this week. She prefers the ballroom numbers.

How comfortable is she in this? This is Shakespeare Sister. What do you

think? The song is slightly irritating me already. Block your

ears and look at the dancing. Erm... Yeah, there's definite chemistry

going on. It's a very intimate dance. It was good and Abbey was

brilliant last week. Gorgeous. They're sex on legs. They are

fabulous. She's surprised me more than anyone. I didn't think she

would be as extraordinary as she's been. She's graceful, beautiful. She

has wonderful lines. And the first time I've seen him dance. He's

amazing. They are quite formidable. I think they will be right up there

all the way through. She has great posture. Susanna and Kevin are doing

a charleston. What do you reckon? Yes? Good. Thumbs up for Suzanne

gentleman. -- Susanna. Who would you like to see lift the trophy? I like

Abbey. Susanna or Sophie. Difficult to see beyond Natalie. So much. A

dream panel, Ball, Air and Theakston. Lovely to see you. That's

it from us. Watch the big show tomorrow, 6. 30pm on BBC One. We'll

see the couple who leave on Monday. Bye!