Episode 42 Strictly - It Takes Two

tonight? They survive a dance-off for

tonight? They survive a dance-off tell all, Mark and Iveta join us.

tonight? They survive a dance-off They're superhuman! Kevin and Karen

will They're superhuman! Kevin and Karen

in Step By Step. Here to give us her opinion on the weekend's

choreography opinion on the weekend's

Hollyoaks, Ola is here to talk us through their weekend.

From London, this is Strictly: It Takes Two. Please welcome your host,

Zoe Ball. APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Hello! Welcome to It Takes Two. On Sunday night Mark and if found them

-- if found themselves in the dance-off, but once again they

survived. Let's remind ourselves of what happened.

You bring the sun on Strictly, really. Side-to-side it was

wonderfully theatrical. It was beautiful and your top line has

improved so much. I would have loved to have seen more travel across the

dance floor. But I loved that performance. You have been trained,

but never tamed. There's always little cheeky moments that I like,

little touches that makes me smile. Always fun to watch. We did it. I

think Mark is becoming a dancer. I am a dancer! Judges, it's time to

decide. I would like to save Ben and Kristina. Mark and Iveta. Mark and

Iveta. They've done it again. Will you please welcome Mark and Iveta.

You two have so much luck it's amazing. Credit to the two of you

because you have survived and you do that because you give it your all.

Well done. Third time in the dance-off. Did you think I am going

home tonight on Saturday? Yeah, I kind of, every time we have done the

dance-off I thought I was going home. When we go into the dance-off

I just go for it. If it's going to be your last one you want to go out

on a high. That's always been in our heads, to give it our best. Was

there a bit of you thinking please don't let us be in the dance-off

this week, give us a break? There was a big bit of me, yes. It's not

nice. And especially, I have been up against three lovely people, it adds

to the pain of it all. Yeah, it would be nice to not be in the

dance-off. You get saved and then there is sadness because you are

losing a friend. Craig listed a few things he thought were missing,

Iveta. Did you agree with any of his comments? I thought he said, Mark,

you are the best male dancer in the show. You just swinging your way

straight to the final. Isn't that what he said? Maybe I heard what I

wanted to hear. I love you, Iveta. You are brilliant. Did you agree

with him? He voted to save Ben at the end. What did you make of it

all? It's really difficult. I try not to think about going against

someone else, especially not someone like Ben who's the most amazing man.

All I tried to think about is going out with Iveta and dancing my best.

If you dance the best you can, then you are never left thinking what if?

Then it's down to the judges. They could have got rid of us three weeks

on the trot but they've saved us. They keep saving you, that's good.

The judges weren't taking any prisoners this weekend. They're

getting tough now. Is the atmosphere changing back stage, can you feel it

getting more tense? It feels lonier because there's -- lonelier because

there's less people. It's sad to see people go every week. Yes, it feels

like a competition is coming to its peak. We kind of do our own thing

and try to enjoy ourselves. Every week we are determine to just, no

matter how hard it is or the sort of mountain that you are faced with, we

try to enjoy the time together and do the dance the best we can and

hopefully people enjoy it. That really comes across. You are a joy

to watch. You are obsessed with your fruits and fancies, especially

grapes. Imagine our excitement when we found this little clip while

looking through the archives. Kick. When is this? Before the grapevine.

The what? The grape. What did you say there? We are going to do the

grape before the grapevine! Oh, I was supposed to say...

Say it again. Grape... Grapevine! Vine. Grapewine, no? Grapewine.

Don't change it. Wine. No, V. Grapevine. That's it, but I like the

way you say it better. Oh, you make us laugh. It's wonderful. This week

for you two, musicals week, samba. How is it going at this early stage?

I really enjoyed today, it was great fun. We have sort of done the steps

today and got most of the routine which was great. We are going to

start working on the bounce. The famous samba bounce. I will have to

work on that. The hips. I can't wait to see it. It's notoriously one of

the hardest dances for everybody to learn, have you worried or have you

complete confidence? I have confidence in Mark from day one, so

I think he can nail any dance and it didn't feel that difficult. Did you

hear that? She never says things like that in the rehearsal room. I

think he will be fine. He is enjoying it. You know, you got to

enjoy every second because it's going to be gone soon. You want to

enjoy every minute because it's such a wonderful experience. I know. I

will never get to do it again! You did threaten to go shirtless and

bottomless, I can't remember which way it was, is there any chance of

that happening with the samba? I have a cunning plan, I will dress in

like a tiger suit and I will disappear around the back and Pasha

comes out. He does the dance, and I come out and then it's me. It's

fantastic. Straight 10s. Listen, good luck with musicals week. You

are always such a joy. Thank you so much, Mark and Iveta!

Last week we taught you the cha-cha-cha basics with a little bit

of help from Janette and Pasha. It's time for our second helping of Step

By Step, the Viennese waltz and the waltz.

Who better to teach us but the lovely Kevin and the gorgeous Karen

Hauer. Take it away! APPLAUSE

It's so romantic! Come and join us you lovely little puppies. That was

- I have gone all gooey now. That's beautiful. Kevin, what can you tell

me about the history of the dance? Well, it all started out with the

folk dancers in Austria and south Germany and what happened was the

richer folk, the upper classes decided they were a bit bored with

the mundane dances they were doing and wanted to get in on the act.

They started stealing to their servants' dances and took that dance

that they were seeing into their aristocratic ballrooms and it became

from a one-two hop dancing to what we know as the Viennese waltz today.

Did it take society by storm this dance? Actually it didn't. Nowadays

we feel the waltz as an elegant and sophisticated, but back then it was

a bit scandalous. The close contact was a big no-no. The fact that the

ladies had to raise their skirts and their ankles will be showing, it was

naughty. Actually it was banned. Louis banned it from the courts

because it was so risque. What about the waltz? What happened was the

Viennese waltz being a fast dance, it was a bit fast for us Brits over

here. We are a slow nation, yes! Also composers who wanted to write

music for it, they found it difficult to write in lyrics to any

of the songs because it was so fast. It all slowed down to what we now

know and love on Strictly as a normal waltz. The main difference is

the speed? Correct. The basic stays the same in both dances. In the

competitive Viennese waltz the basic is used repetitively around the

dance floor. In the waltz it's used as a box step and you can also use

some nice little steps like a whisk or a basic weave. I love that

history lesson. Shall we take to the floor? Everybody at home push the

furniture back, make a space. You are going to get your own personal

step by step class. First of all, where do we start? So, the first

step, the basic step of the waltz is a normal box step. You want to take

a step forward. On the heel. Then to the side up on the toe and then

close your feet. Then step back. Then to the side and close. All the

steps are based around this basic movement of step, side, close. Step,

side, close. You can turn on it or do whatever you want.

Love that. How do you make it romantic and turn it into a couples'

dance? The man will stretch out his left hand and the lady will put her

right hand in that hand. The man's right side to the lady's side. I

will put my right hand on the lady's left shoulder blade. At which point

the lady puts her hand on his beautiful muscular arm. She said

muscular! She becomes a flower going over the vase. Looking for sunlight.

What you want is the lady's head out there to the left looking over my

right shoulder. My head to the left looking over the lady's right

shoulder. We put it all to music, it would look like this. Off you go.

Are you doing that at home? Norm, we are doing this when I get home

tonight. I love the fact it's such a natural

position to have your head as a lady. If you wanted to turn that

into a Viennese waltz. Cue the music and speed it up. This is how it

would look. Oh, look at that, I love it!

It's a beautiful thing. Thank you very much.

Kevin and Karen! On Saturday night Ashley and Ola's waltz landed them

second on the leader board, the top-scoring man has headed back to

Liverpool to deal with the day job. In a minute I will be talking to

Ola. Before that let's check out the weekend. I want to join in, room for

one more?! I love it. It was so slick, Ashley. You glided

across that dance floor. Well done. Your head is driving me absolutely

mad, darling. It keeps inclining to the right. I thought you did a

terrific job. The waltz is not an easy dance. It's a big flowing

movement. I thought it was a wonderful, wonderful waltz. 35! It's

brilliant. It's a great score. At least we are there. We are not going

down. No, if I went backwards I would be fuming. You did well. I am

very proud. A tender moment. Please welcome Ola!

APPLAUSE This is so weird, Ashley is not

here. I know, to be without him! Can I say well done to the both of you

on Saturday. Considering all that chat last week about not being able

to be romantic, it was so romantic, your waltz. And he was so good.

Bless him, but can I just say I am sorry Ashley is not here but he is

working long hours so he can't be. He is doing Hollyoaks. He is sad he

couldn't be here but he did send a message. Hello everyone at It Takes

Two. Hello Zoe and hello my little angel-star. Please don't say

anything nasty about me because I am not there! I can't be there because

I am busy at Hollyoaks with fantastic storilines but I am

wishing everyone a big hello, lots of love, and hopefully I will be

there soon. Thank you to everyone who has voted for me, I really

appreciate. -- I can appreciate it. I can say what I want now! Did he do

anything wrong? He did a really good job. He has tilted once or twice to

the right a bit too much but the thing is we work on that head so

much in a week. I think he was upset with himself that he did it. He

knows he did it and he worked on it really hard. The judges are really

picking up little bits. A bit of the head to the right and... Everyone is

so good. Len was really impressed with your choreography. Are you

making it more difficult quietly? You try to make it more technical,

more difficult every week but you also have to make it good for your

celebrity partner, as well. I am trying to avoid things which he is

not good at. Clever! It's very clever. You have to see how you get

on in a week and pray for the best. I love the way you all choreograph

for the talents of your partners. Ashley, highest scoring male on

Saturday. Is that a boost taking you into the next week? There is a

pressure because obviously we were second on the leader board. There's

definitely pressure to keep that. We can't afford to go down. You don't

want to go out of the competition and anyone can be in that bottom two

and you don't know what's going to happen. We will have to work hard,

really hard. You are working incredibly hard. We do love a lot

about you, MrsJordan. There's one thing in particular which is when

the phonelines open it's your little face. Have a look. It's time to

decide. The vote is now open. Voting is open. Voting is open.

And please get the bill payer's permission before you call. Why

wait, because voting is now open. It's like you have won a prize! You

are going for it. Everyone is going crazy on the show. Is it like a good

luck thing at this point? You are like, we have done that, now it's up

to the public at home, hopefully they save us. Which they are doing.

You and Ashley have the rumba this week. Obviously the judges said they

wanted a raunchier rumba than Brendan and Sophie this weekend.

What is your rumba going to be like? Our rumba is going to be romantic.

It's not going to be raunchy. We are doing Aladin and Princess Jasmin.

Brilliant. It's going to be beautiful. Craig has still not given

you guys a 9. What will it take? I really don't know what we are going

to do with Craig. Let's tickle him or something. I need a plan. You had

31 for three weeks and now 35 for three weeks. At least it's not going

down. How are you going to break the scores even higher up? We work

really hard and again rumba is going to be very hard for Ashley. It's a

difficult dance. We are going to try to push it for the scores to be even

higher. Ola Jordan, often when do you a rumba, whepgs with your

husband -- especially with your husband, you have worn a catsuit,

will you be wearing one this week? Please say yes. I don't know yet.

You are such a tease! You will have to watch and see. How is the

travelling between London and Liverpool and you are up and down

like a bride's nighty? It's tiring. Four Saturdays. We look forward to

seeing your rumba at the weekend. You are brilliant as ever. Thank you

so much. It's Ola everybody! I love her. Saturday night brought us

another batch of dancing delights. Here to take a closer look, it's

Karen Hardy and her Choreography Corner.

Welcome Karen Hardy! APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

You look positively vampish tonight. I love your outfit. Judges were so

tough this weekend. It's quite exciting. Are they right to be at

this stage in the competition? Yes, we went from a plethora of 10 last

week to now it's all about the technique. I think for a simple

reason, to create effect, to get the wow factor, you can do that easy.

But actually to master the technical skills that's really what this

competition is about. That's what we have been talking about here every

Tuesday. Now those techniques, and that's what has come up this week.

What should we be expecting from our celebrities at this stage? We want

to see is all those technical efforts they applied back all those

weeks ago, mastering hip actions, rise and fall, swings and sways,

that go across the dances, we really want to see that coming into play

now. Body contact, top lines, heads up. Eye contact. All those difficult

challenging things, we logical want to see who has mastered them and

who's gone for the wow factor with gimmicks. The judges picked up on a

lot of that stuff this weekend. Much to discuss. Ashley and Ola and their

waltz which was brilliant. A great score. But Craig was so cross, he is

driving him mad with his head. Here we go. Look how picky these judges

are getting. We are talking milimetres out with his head. He got

it right two weeks running. The third week it's going wrong again.

We don't want to see that. It goes to show when you are upping your

game and trying to improve other things those demons come back and

haunt you. He has got to stay focussed. That top line and his head

position is pivotal to what the judges are looking for, for him to

maintain throughout this competition. Susanna and Kevin and

the cha-cha-cha, a huge difference to their Blackpool performance and

harsh comments here. Did it disappoint you? I think when we have

our frontrunners there is always a dance that's going to be their

nemesis and I think this was Susanna's. Not my cup of tea. This

is meant to be a lock step. We didn't get the lock-in. Knees are

bent throughout. There is one thing that took over it all, and I should

really - I am probably the worst person to point this out, especially

as you go by my opening clips on this show, the facial expressions

are slightly taking over. Dare I say that? However, but what's happening

over-enthusiasm, where you know you are not secure down below with

technical strengths is being taken overby facial expressions now.

Natalie and Artem and the tango. Craig wasn't impressed with her left

hand. What was wrong with it? Really simple. When that hand goes under

the man's hand there's two changes. One for the man in the top line and

one for the lady. The hand of the lady goes from above in that indent

that we talked about previously, it goes under the armpit area. What we

don't want, which was actually immediately apparent and again I am

thinking, I am sounding like Craig here, but her dancing is so good

that the little errors now are being highlighted. From that, to that

stuck out like a sore thumb. Looking at this what was also picked up on

was her head position. These are things we don't want to see. You see

how the head drops down. Again they're picking but these are things

they should be doing every day. These are your basic training

elements you should be mastering. You wouldn't want to see someone

like Natalie turning in and landing there. When you do a strong flick,

sorry, readdressing the hair. Should finish with the chin up. Abbey and

Aljaz and their paso doble. A lower score for them this week. What did

you make of their paso doble? I turned it off completely, the music

off, and it looked more like an American smooth. The overall content

- look here, it's gentle, it's soft. It's graceful. Elegant. What we have

to be careful with now, you know, we have sensational professionals on

this show, their excellence of artistry is incredible. They have to

remember they have to appeal to everybody. You need to be putting

across the obvious elements. Paso doble, strength, dynamics, you want

the woman - she should have a strong opinion, to the man in the paso

doble. In a waltz she's more submissive. Strong characters,

strong technical elements. With this dance, as Bute. As it was -- as

beautiful as it was, it missed the general overall look of a paso

doble. Patrick and Anya and the Viennese waltz. Len and Bruno

criticised the ending. What did you make of that? This is bizarre. We

are getting our professionals taking gambles and I love that. Artem, if

we look back at his Viennese waltz, they took a gamble. This was packed

with natural turns, reverse turns, it was full. At the end as the music

built up, rightly so, the piece of choreography she put in there was a

dynamic turn and a pull and a drag. The problem was Patrick wasn't

actually involved at all. It looked drama tiestiset. I think the gamble

was correct but you needed much more input. You needed to see Patrick

really involved with the movement rather than Anya looking like she

was trying to do it herself. I think that disjoined the -- disjointed the

end of it. Brendan and Sophie and the rumba. Wasn't happy on Saturday,

how would you have judged his rumba, was it cold to you or did you love

it? Gosh, you know what, I actually loved it. I really want to get

across here how skilful our professionals are. But again if we

look at something like that where Sophie has gone into the lunge, I

understand where Brendan is coming from, he wanted that more

sophisticated beautiful rumba, let's say. But you have got to try to

appeal to the masses. Now if you listen to Bruno he loves those

undulating hip actions and drama. You would have wanted a little bit

of spice in for Bruno, for Len. And something like that, lunge, you

needed that wow into that. She needed to go right down on to that

floor, come back up and then get back into that lovely intimacy that

they had. I think it was intelligence versus, let's just

deliver a beautiful rumba and I think there was a mix-up of styling

really. This is a good point. They need to appeal to all the judges

because they'll make marks higher, everyone will be happy. Mark and

Iveta and foxtrot. Craig thought it needed more flow, there was no

movement knocks swing -- there was no movement, no swing. Did it work

for you? When it came to the bottom two it's really - the choreography,

you get it right and it might just win you ahead of the game.

Technically, no. Mark is not strong out there. In the long run probably

Ben will be stronger in his improvement, but the skill of the

choreography, very effective here. Running around and arm extensions.

Movement across the dance floor you can see the technique is not in

there. Craig was right to pick up on all the technical elements but at

the end of the day it was interesting how something, the

little wow effect, getting choreography just right really just

Pipped them at the post. The difference between the two was not a

lot. What else was interesting, they both made mistakes. And what the

judges have often said, well, I think the one who has potential and

I think it could have gone completely a different way. They

choose to judge on the day what they saw. A warning to everybody, get the

mistakes easterned out, be -- ironed out, be clear, do not deliver any

mistakes or you could be in a situation like that. I love that, it

was intense. Karen Hardy! Thank you to all my guests tonight. Tomorrow

Abbey and Aljaz will be on the sofa and Natalie Lowe will be popping by

with our wedding couple. Plus, we will check out next week's dances

with Ian Waite in Wednesday's Warm-up. Good night!