Episode 43 Strictly - It Takes Two

Helen, I absolutely loved your routine at the weekend.

Especially that bit with all those Helens on stage with you.

But don't bring it up with Aljaz. I think he was a bit jealous.

Live from London, this is Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two. Please

welcome your host, Zoe Ball! Tonight, Len Goodman is right here

to talk about the show We will also have a good old

chinwag with Helen and Aljaz. And I'll even squeeze in some

Ian Waite for you. Now, sadly Blackpool is nothing but

a distant memory but our couples have well and truly

moved on. So let's see how Anita and Georgia

are getting on in training. The rumba is really tough. The first

step that I do where I have to roll down his arm... The pressure on my

arm. He looked at me and said, yes, it's super difficult. The challenge

this week is to pick up the rumba technique. That's a lot of content.

Don't bend! He can shout and scream... None of it affects me.

Just teach me to dance the rumba. I love it. I'm excited about the paso

doble. Similar to the tango, where it's got to be quite sharp. Every

move has to be really strong. Chasse. The training's going really,

really well so far, but we need to focus. I'm slightly intimidated that

the pasos on Strictly so far have been so good, but I love a

challenge. Looking good, ladies. There's been a lot of chatter online

about this weekend's shows, and lots of you have contacted the

BBC about the Blackpool dance-off and the way the judging works

on the show. So, I'm pleased to say

Head Judge Len Goodman is here Now before we chat, Len,

let's remind ourselves of the two dances Jamelia and Peter performed

in the weekend's dance-off. Quite a few of our viewers really

didn't agree with the outcome of the dance-off this week. And have raised

some important questions. Let's remind ourselves of the scores for

Jamelia and Peter on Saturday night. 31 there, and Peter and Janette with

29. I have a election of comment from our viewers. Jamelia was voted

off despite a very good quickstep performance and receiving higher

marks than Peter in the first round, says one viewer. Another said, on

the night of the dance-off, Jamelia and tryston danced a good quickstep

which was significantly better than Peter and Janette's jive and yet

they were eliminated from the competition Firstly, I didn't think

it was significantly better. And you can tell from the marks, there was

two point in it, so Bruno and I gave them both 8s. Darcey was one point

different and so was Craig, so it wasn't a clear-cut thing. It was

close. When it comes to the dance-off, we are told before we

good on by the producers, just mark on what you see with this dance. It

is nothing to do with expectations of what's going to happen or how

they've been in the past. It is just about the dance-off. And that's what

we all do. But to say it was clear-cut, it wasn't. I, because I

was coming here, I video it. I don't often watch it, but I thought, I'll

have a look just to get my head around it. I thought Peter in the

dance-off did dance a little bit better. I thought his kicks and

flicks were a little bit sharper, so I can well understand that the other

judges went for Peter and I still felt Jamelia was on that dance-off a

little better, but that doesn't make me right and it doesn't make them

wrong. Another viewer said it was clear that Peter Andre did a peer

dance with the jive. Even the judges said he didn't do the flicks and

kicks and they criticised his dancing, and in the dance-off he

didn't improve. There you go, I thought he did improve, and I

watched it back specific lip to see if I was wrong or right. I've got to

be honest with you, I'm passionate about Strictly Come Dancing and I'm

passionate about the judging and the marks. And there has been times over

the 10 or 11 years we've been doing it and I've looked back and given

someone a 7 and thought, I could have given him an 8. You haven't got

loads of time to react and think... It's an instant thing and you have

to go with a gut feeling. All of us, if you take Craig, from the world of

theatre. Darcey from the world of ballet. Bruno's from the world of

pop videos and choreography. And I'm from the world of ballroom, so you

are going to get different opinions, but it doesn't make me right. Many

times on the show we argue. Craig, what are you on about?! Because we

all look at dance from the eyes of our experiences. OK. Another

Strictly viewer said, in this situation there's been no offered

explanation by the BBC tore judging panel as to why the decision was

made to Dave Peter there. Had been no comments by the judges to suggest

Jamelia's dance standard had dropped. Even after being instructed

by Bruno that Peter's had improved. Well, I can only reiterate what I

said. In the dance-off I did think Peter's dance did come up a bit, and

so... It is not as though one had 36 and one had 26. There was

so... It is not as though one had 36 in it. It was very, very close. OK.

so... It is not as though one had 36 So no, I can't accept that. It was

so... It is not as though one had 36 close, and I totally

other three judges for their opinions, and I hope they respect me

for mine Will the judges opinions, and I hope they respect me

their reasons from now? opinions, and I hope they respect me

from negatives you get positives, so opinions, and I hope they respect me

henceforth when it comes to the dance-off and they say, Craig,

henceforth when it comes to the because I thought blah, blah, blah,

this and that, because I thought blah, blah, blah,

down the line and we will explain ourselves as to why we are going to

save the dancer. OK. One final viewer comment. Darcey looked

embarrassed and I wonder if the judges were instructed to vote the

way they did by the producers. I realise the producers are trying to

provide us with an entertaining show but the British public like fair

play and this was anything but. 11 years I have done this so, never has

a producer, I promise you, has ever come up to us and say, mark so and

so a bit higher, we would love them to say in. Never. They never

interfere with our integrity. They never tell us what to say. We are

not scripted to say this or say that, we just come out, say what we

see and give a score. I totally understand sometimes I will give

somebody a seven, and there'll be millions of people watching at home

saying seven?! That was worth a nine. We've all got opinions. It is

about taste. I love Brussels sprouts, you don't. It is not right

or wrong. Thank you Len. The other thing that's caused a bit of

confusion and hit the press this week is about the standing ovation.

It's been claimed in some papers that Peter didn't get a standing

ovation in his dance. It Takes Two has asked the production team what

happened. If you want to know the details, go to their block, where

Strictly's director explains what happens. In short, the production

team have confirmed that Peter DID get a span townous standing ovation,

as did Jamelia, as soon as he finished his dance.

I hope that helps answer our viewers' concerns. Len, what can we

look forward to this weekend? I do hope that we can draw a line under

this now, because it is such a fantastic series. Any one of them

can win it. fantastic series. Any one of them

Yes! I love the way you say that, quickstep-a-thon. Seven of them all

on the floor at the same time. All dancing the quickstep, trying to

duck and dive and from that we'll get a different result maybe,

because whoever is the winner gets seven points, the second six, five

and so on. Those points are added to their score, so it could all change

around. It could create utter havoc. Thank you Len for coming to see us.

Len Goodman. Thank you. This week three of our professional

dancers have ditched the dancefloor for the kitchen, as they take it

in turns to whip up a tasty treat. Yesterday, Oti dodged a rice

disaster with her chakalaka starter and, tonight, it's Natalie Lowe's

turn, hoping to win the coveted Welcome back to Strictly Come

Dining. After everyone survived Oti's South African starter it is on

to Natalie's main. An Australian seafood arabiata served with

linguine. I've never had it. What is linguine? And Natalie has brought

another special ingredient. The gorgeous Ainsley Harriott. I've

never been called that before. What's that? Quiet in the kitchen.

The girls don't know you are here. You can't help me with my cooking

but you can help me looping the way. I used to fish with my dad, go

pounding together, shine a torch into the water to see if the prawns

are out. Would you still do that at home? I absolutely would. Time to

get that seafood sizzling. Are you missing they? Of course I am,

Natalie. You were quite firm at times but I like that. The nail

marks are still in the shoulders. With things getting steamy in the

kitchen it is on with the sauce. Wow! Nice combination Natalie. Let's

see what they're up to. You've been rumbled. It's Ainsley. That smells

delicious. With the secret out and linguine in his mouth it is the

moment of truth for Natalie. Bingo! I don't know what the girls served

previously but this is going to be top of the leaderboard. We didn't do

it at Strictly but you are going to do it in your dining room. Love you.

See you soon. Thank you! With Ainsley's seal of approval Natalie

serves her seafood spectacular. Over my God, look at this! Amazing.

Amazing indeed. From far you could smell it. Here's your linguine. Well

done Oti. You've got it. It is a really nice taste, not too spicy,

not too salty. Is it nice? I get so nervous when other people eat my

food. I loved what she did with it. I was quite surprised at how well my

dish went. Sometimes my dishes are hit or miss but I'm really happy

with the way it turned out. Success! While everyone tucks in, talk turns

to dance. I started when I was 3, and my neighbours got me into it. I

represented Australia at 8 in Taiwan. Danced with my brother for

five years. And you won Strictly in Australia? Yes, once. Don't forget

Ola. Anyway, on with the scores. For Natalie's dish I would give it a

nine, because it was the best dish and Select she brought Ainsley, the

best gift ever. I give a 10 from Ola. I loved it. I loved it, I could

had more of it. Amazing. Natalie is top of the scoreboard with a

sensational 19. Tomorrow, suspicions as Ola makes her dish elsewhere. The

girls open up about Strictly. Yes, I do get nervous.

OK, it's time to talk to a man who loves nothing more than a

cheeky nibble on a seafood platter to give him energy for his warm-up.

Hello, sailor. Ian Waite's here. CHEERING.

Dressing like that! My goodness me. As Len says, all a matter of taste!

I saw Jay's salsa on Saturday. I thought, I've that in my wardrobe.

I'll bring it out on a cold November night. You've cheered us all up.

Thank you very much Stay back, madam! Let's go into the training

rooms. Katie and Anton first. Doing an Argentine tango. This is his

first on the show. Very exciting indeed. How's it looking? It is. It

is normally later on in the competition. He never quite made it.

Bless him. I'm so pleased for him. She needs to keep these steps a

little smaller. Argentine tango is all done a sixpence. Here, as you

can see... Hold on one sec. Here it comes. Book 'em Danno! She's too

wide a base there. The lovely Flavia, small steps. Needs to keep

it more compact. Georgia and Giovanni have been top of the

judge's leaderboard for the past two weeks. With their paso doble, could

they make it a hat-trick? Beautiful American smooth last week. A very

different type of dance this week. More dramatic, intense a powerful.

They've got that. What it doesn't have, let me show you here, she's

going up in the shoulders in a lot of places. She's taken her arms up

but her shoulders up too. She needs to keep those down. Long neck.

Create the positions but let's see that neck. Otherwise it disappears.

Such a pretty neck. She has to be careful with her footwork. Sometimes

she doesn't articulate her feet. What does that mean? Stretchy toes.

When they're loose or when she's dancing through, stretch them. Kelly

and Kevin are doing a salsa this week. I think this could be rather

good? Another amazing performance last week. She never fails to give

you 100% commitment and 100% attack and energy. This is no exception.

She's giving it all the energy, even in this early stage. What I did

notice is here. Sometimes the legs go a little bit apart from each

other. You can't be in this situation where your legs go open.

No bandy legs. In-legs. Try thinking about using the inside edges of your

feet and the knees will come in themselves. You won't look at though

you're... Anyway! Riding a horse? Good work other than that. Peter and

Jeanette survived the dance-off at the weekend. Now, for them, an

American smooth foxtrot. Am I right? Yes. How is this looking? Is he back

on form? Its a foxtrot. It needs a nice smooth action. Unfortunately,

some of the transitions are a little lumpy. I think that's because of the

footwork. Sometimes, here, if I just emphasise that, you can see he is

really trying to do it. He's releasing his toe. But he's sort of

doing it like that instead of releasing it like that. Stick the

toes up in the air as you go releasing it like that. Stick the

backwards. Lady over there's very imhe is wered. You're released the

toes. If you can get the footwork right, the whole action of the

foxtrot will be better. I'm finding it hard to concentrate because of

your outfit. I was going to wear Helen's outfit but couldn't get my

toe in it. Your fashion hero. He's doing a tango. And he's wearing

another lovely high Wye an shirt. What can I say? Yes, he was so great

last week. I have to mention that. You loved the salsa? He was relaxed,

rhythmic cal and professional. Here, a lot of partnering. Holding her in

a lot of places. He does a lot of partnering. Holding her in

brilliantly well. I don't see a lot of tango in there. Interesting to

see how his hold is. It's more compact. The back foot there, he

needs to stretch that. If he's going in there, let's get the stretching

fully. His weight moreover the front foot to give him that lovely

stretched back leg. Good work Jay. Anita and Gleb got their first 10

this weekend. CHEERING

Well deserved paso doble. Extraordinary. This week, they've a

rumba. Is it oozing with romance? Is there undulation aplenty? I was

really looking forward to her paso doble last week. She did not fail to

please me. She had the lovely arm Spanish and flamenco fingers. Here,

her hands are lovely. Nice hip undulations there. What I will say,

it has to stay smooth and continue yewous. It is a rumba. Now, I just

wanted to zoom in here. As you can see, the foot, she has a slightly

turned in foot there. Never should you turn your feet in. Especially in

a rumba. They should always be slightly turned out at all times.

When she puts her feet together, make sure you Bev he will. Make sure

you Bev he will at all times. Bev he will like a devil! A bit of a tip

there. will like a devil! A bit of a tip

weekend, brilliant performance from them. Their charleston was, wow!

Viennese waltz for these two this week. How's it looking? As you said,

an amazing charleston last week. This is flowing nicely. I saw some

nice heel leads in there. Go girl! What I feel is they are getting

round each other but it could improve if her position gets better.

As you can see here, she's not really over to her left-hand side.

Aljaz's right side. This dress really over to her left-hand side.

very tight. I can't raise my arms. It could be indecent. When we do a

natural turn, she needs to stretch her head as she does it. I never

knew my neck went like this. E.T. . She's dancing her head away from

him. Beautiful. I cannot wait to see what you're wearing next week, Ian

Waite. A favourite. Ian Waite everybody.

CHEERING. Could you knock me up a virgin Mo

heat owe. Tomorrow, the director of choreography will be here. If you

want to ask him something, tweet us. All right, I ran out

of words beginning with V! Len I heard a little yelp then. So

cute. Hello you gorgeous two some. Well done, did the Tower Ballroom

live up to all expectations, Helen? Amazing. Such an incredible space to

perform in. Look at us. So theatrical. With the theme of our

dance, it felt right for the sense of occasion and the hall it was in

We've been going mad singing Anything Goes. If I hear that song

one more time... I thought it was like a festival of delights. So many

things in there. Anyone who ever wanted to be a dancer when they were

little will have wanted to do that. Tap dancing. Upside down splits.

Whose idea was it to put those in? Look at that. Amazing. That looks

dangerous. Not that flattering. The tap bits, yeah, it was just

something that happened naturally. There was a tap break in the song.

It felt natural to do a bit of that. I have to say, it came more

naturally to you than it came to me! Aljaz swore he'd never do tap on

Strictly. I made him. You're a dancer But tap dancing is tricky? It

is such a specific. You need to have your feet really loose in order to

do the correct tap. In ballroom and Latin, it is about keeping your feet

in control. You never have loose feet in Latin or ballroom. New

talents for you as well, Aljaz. Great. At one point, you were

dancing on the stage with 27 Helens. Is that how many? 27? Was it a

little scary? It was an absolute dream. In that massive ballroom,

that was the perfect place to mutt in 26 Helens next to beautiful

Helen. So scary. I found it really weird. If I'd seen it, it would have

put me off the dance. They were all perfectly sinked. You had them

trained so brilliantly. Of course, it was a true spectacle. We all

loved it. Craig did say, of course, he had to ruin it, he wanted to to

be let controlled. Len said he wanted more in-hold. What do you say

to that? Control, it is a little difficult for me as a teacher. You

want to go into rehearsals and perfect every single move. You spend

so much time to make everything look clean. Side by side choreography,

especially in the charleston, it is one of the hardest things to do. You

need to match two people. One is professional and you know, you need

to try to make it look the same standing next to each other. Our

charleston was all that. So, for Helen to be able to go from

beginning to the end, in the side by side, looking the way she did,

Craig's comment was more of a compliment. It was too clean. Yeah,

I can't tell Helen on the Thursday, now, all you've learned we're going

to roughen that up. Make mistakes. So, I'm happy. If you're a happy

boy, we're all happy. On the Sunday results show, we saw you were a

little upset, Helen. I'm not surprised. I really wanted them to

enjoy the dance in the way I was hoping they would. I can't dance any

harder or do anything else. Come here. Big hug. I really do

sympathise. I went through that. You're trying to hard and you're

working all these hours. It is not what you do normally. When you do an

incredible performance, everyone's shattered, it is no surprising you

get emotional. It is embarrassing. I'm not a pretty crier. Yes, it's

such, people don't realise the studio days, when we start working

on a Saturday we start so early. We do the dance so many times. By the

end, I didn't have the energy to sprint up the stairs. I had a slight

trip which Bruno picked up on. Fair dues. I was just tired. I was really

tired, a bit teary. Embarrassed I did that on national TV. I think it

shows at that point in the competition how hard you're working.

How it starts to get to you. You get annoyed for the smallest of things.

You just care because you want to do your partner proud. Above anything,

you want them to do well in the competition. Because, it's their...

And you do that every single week. You are just incredible. Both of

you. Also, you always say every week you're worried about being in the

dance-off? I was really worried this week. This week, you were down the

bottom of the judge's leaderboard. You've never really been there. Were

you terrified? I was. But the positive I took from it, although I

was down the bottom end of the leaderboard we got the same score,

34, as we have for some of the dances which have been the judges'

favourites. It was still a positive. It just goes to show, there are lots

of higher Martian, of course, that's only natural that will happen. I was

very nervous. I'd convinced myself I was going to be in the dance-off. I

think everybody thought we might be in the dance-off. No, not everybody.

You weren't you're saved and you're here. The public love you. Now, it's

Viennese waltz. Can you tell me in 30 seconds... 30 seconds? Yeah, how

good is it going to be? Well, I'm going to need one second.

Incredible! Yeah! It's a ballroom dance. I love Austria. I love

Viennese waltz. I'm a massive fan of Viennese waltz. It is not that hard

when it gets to steps. A natural turn, a reverse turn. A fleckerl. I

can see the fleckerl. It will be incredible. Keep the faith, Helen.

You're brilliant. Helen and Aljaz. CHEERING.

A big thank you to all of our guests.

Tune in tomorrow when I'll be chatting to Anita and Gleb.

Plus Strictly's director of choreography, Jason Gilkinson,

And Vicky Gill will be giving us an exclusive look

This week, everybody's been loving The Great Pottery Throw Down...

a little bit too much. But who isn't potty for clay?

You were so nervous, and you've just excelled yourself.

This is a good sign, by the way, when he reacts like this.