Episode 17 Strictly - It Takes Two

Please welcome your host, Zoe Ball...

It might be gloomy outside, but we've got plenty of Strictly

Well, take a look at the stars we have brightening up

It's the radiant Anastacia and Brendan!

Plus, they're back for a second round of Choreography Corner,

our newest Strictly pros - the illuminating Chloe and Neil!

But first, their foxtrot saw them graduate Strictly College

at the weekend, with headmaster Len calling their footwork "terrific".

In the words of Bruno, they're our "teenage dream team" -

I was not expecting you to be able to travel and create that glide, and

what's also stunning is your top line. It lacked for me grace and

elegance, it wasn't for me I'm afraid. I thought your footwork was

terrific. Overall first rate, well done. It is our high school

sweetheart! Welcome, Claudia and AJ. Was your foxtrot fun? Yes, I really

enjoyed it. I was stressed at the beginning of the week because of the

footwork and I got confused with it but I was so pleased to nail it. I

know, the footwork for the foxtrot is so... The rise and fall, the heel

turns, the three stab, the finishes. And you didn't hold back with that,

AJ. She's learning so fast so I thought we can get more and more.

The thing is, the judges really liked it, but Craig said it

misrepresented the foxtrot and he was grumpy. What did you make of

those comments? I loved Len's, Darcey's and Bruno's comments. Nice

for the charleston to get a six from Craig, do you take it on the chin?

How do you cope with it? I obviously focus on the negative is more than

the positives! I did think I tried my absolute best. Obviously I only

had three or four days to learn the whole dance. For him to give me

that, I was like, it's all right. Concentrate on the positives, he

says. It is difficult when people say negative things, it doesn't

matter what positive things people say, but anyway we loved it. You had

a lot of love online, you are so popular, you two.

"You're a power-house at gymnastics but such a graceful performer

Thank you, that's so nice. Have you found the transition from gymnast

the ballroom dance are an easy one? When I started off and I did the

walls I found it so hard, but doing the foxtrot is so much easier now

and I'm starting to get the move of everything now. As soon as AJ says

he'll turn, I know what that is. -- heel turn. I'm looking forward to

seeing your gymnastics incorporated and a further finish. For me I can

start to talk to her in my dance language. She says it is like alien

but she starting to understand my alien language now. Have you taught

him any gymnastics? When he came to my gym, he learnt the free

cartwheel, which is a cart wheel with no hands. He can do a

butterfly. What is that? You are basically in this position, in

struggle, and you go around like a butterfly. It looks very pretty

doing it. She looks pretty, I attempt it. Next week we will get a

crash mat in and you can show us. In the routine on Saturday, AJ,

admiring yourself, I'm wondering is he that vein off the dance floor?

Yes! I said to you, you look in the mirror more than me. He said, my

hair is all over the place! So he gets his hair band and ties it up in

a man bun. Look at him now, squirming! You have very strong sofa

skills, so we did some digging on your social media and it seems you

mastered your pose. Here he is! It is the head tilt and the lovely

grin. Amazing! Look, you are doing it now. We are all adopting the AJ.

Huge scores at the weekend for Ore and Danny, are you feeling like the

competition is hotting up? I felt it was fierce from the beginning, the

standard is so high. You come in, and at the beginning of the week it

is so hard and when it comes to the live show you are like, where did

that come from? Everyone is so competitive. Of course you love it

because that's what you do. She says I will take it all in and attack it

on the night. It looks like you are pretty tough on her in training. AJ,

have a look at this. It is a fine line to getting it right or going

very wrong. Yes! No. I'm always wrong! I just want to get it right.

No, I'm wrong, so it is all good. Apology accepted! I'm just taking a

picture of myself! Samba for you this week, what does she need to

master? She will have to be very quick on her feet. It is quite

extreme, we are travelling around the room quite a lot. Some

surprising props. Surprising props? Yes, an interesting start. I cannot

say too much but she's all on her own, but she's going to smash it,

she will go crazy. She always does. Good luck. Claudia and AJ!

Well, from one dream team to another.

They did such a good job critiquing our couples' dances

yesterday that we thought it was only right to invite them

It's time for Choreography Corner, with Chloe and Neil.

We did half the couples yesterday, it's only fair we do the other half

now. Last week they found themselves

in the bottom two with their salsa - do you think their quickstep

was an improvement? For me, I don't believe they should

have been in the bottom two. They came back fighting, a lovely

quickstep. I want to bring up her top line, it is out of this world.

How she gets into this position, and she just days... Is this nice? It is

getting their! She gets into this top line and she stays there, she

doesn't move and that is very difficult. You will see in a minute,

she comes out of that top line and go straight back into it again. He's

training her well. It is hard for a girl to stay in that position for a

long time, just the neck ache. Try it at home and hold it until the end

of this chat! You are biased because your lovely wife is dancing with Ed.

The paso doble, lots of fun. Their medieval-themed paso doble,

Craig said it was "riddled with mistake after mistake",

but for Darcey, it was "the armography that

was most upsetting" - I think maybe him trying to be manly

and take control got to him a little which is a shame because in

rehearsal it went so well. Darcey's comment about the arms, I would have

to agree. If I demonstrate for you... Here we go. What we talk

about is the roundness through the arms, like you are holding a beach

ball. Very nice. What happened for me is it got very straight. No

beachball, the beach ball was nonexistent. So I just wanted that

curve, it was a little straight for me. But we still love Ed.

Daisy and Aljaz had a rumba this week, and Len said he loved

I think we are going to have a little picture, see how it looks.

Daisy has got the most amazing legs that go from here to Blackpool. This

is the moment he's talking about. Her action is outstanding, it is

good. That is the figure of eight we have been talking about. Whenever

you start talking about these things, I find myself writhing! It

is so off-putting! The judges awarded them

their highest score yet I would agree with the judges.

Louise is such a lovely person to watch, when she performs she has a

warm smile on her face and it makes people want to watch her from start

to finish. One thing I would have loved to have seen, the usage of

their heels and toes. But an amazing performance, and as you can see from

the clip that I picked, her arms were so grateful and fluid. I love

her. I love her footwork, I think it is beautiful. That's fine, we can

have a scrap and everything. Greg and Natalie opened

the show with their salsa. Craig said it "needed a lot more

figure eight rotation in the hip department" -

what do you think? I kind of agree and also disagreed

with Craig. When people are dancing salsa, it depends what area you are

from how you might dance it, so you might dance it with a rotation or up

ulceration. Up ulceration! -- pulsation. Can you put them all

together? I don't think I can take that! I just think, maybe where Greg

comes from, that's how they dance salsa. The one thing they missed

out, great leading. So in control of her body. There he goes, even with

the painful wrist. I think only redheads could do that! As soon as

he got her up there he was like, yes, I have done it!

Finally, let's talk about Judge Rinder and Oksana

There were mixed reactions from the judges about getting

the right balance between comedy and dance technique,

I think slightly, he's coming across as the comical one but he's taking

this competition so seriously and this is no comedy act for him so

he's likely being misjudged... Did you get that? So slightly he's just

being underrated for that little. Just one tip I would like to have

seen more of, just more of a finish from the hands. The clip I picked

here, there it is beautiful, then it goes to what I call spatula hands,

and he just needs to finish it off a little bit more. But he is a

contender. And with the competition heating up like this, the score is

getting better, how excited are you for next Saturday? I am super

excited. I feel like we will see more turn is coming up. I want to

see 20 ten is! I think that could happen. You two are an absolute joy.

And as a further treat for you all, former Strictly star

Camilla Dallerup will be taking on Choreography Corner next week!

It's safe to say, it is going to be a real Caulker.

Now we've only got 68 sleeps until the Strictly final,

but from the way the series has played out so far, it's safe to say

Here's your last chance to win tickets to TV's hottest

We are giving you the opportunity to win two tickets for the biggest

night of the year, the 2016 Grand Final. All you need to do is answer

the following question correctly... In week three last year, J and

Aliona did a pulp fiction themed jibe, but what was the total score

they received from the judges? To enter, please head to our

website. Now, the Strictly jukebox really

is the gift that keeps on giving. We've had all the greats -

Barbra Streisand, George Michael, But what bangers will our couples be

dancing to this week? There's only one way to find out -

it's time for Tunes on Tuesday! Load's of amazing tunes this week -

let's see what's up first. Is This The Way To Amarillo,

by Tony Christie! This song is the third best-selling

single of the noughties, and geography fans might

like to now that Amarillo It was chosen because it was

the only place that songwriter, Neil Sedaka, could

think of that rhymed So let's find out

who's dancing to it. They'll be taking on the American

smooth, but will they find their way Right, what's next

on the jukebox tonight? Oh, my god! Yes, it's a Ginger

Elvis! Always On My Mind, by The King

himself, Elvis Presley! Elvis has sold over 1 billion albums

and it's estimated there are over 85,000 Elvis impersonators around

the world - that's roughly the same A lot of people, right,

Elvis? But which of our couples will be

hoping to deliver a memorable We Found Love by Bajan

pop goddess Rihanna! The music video for this song

was meant to be shot However, the owner had a change

of heart at the last minute after seeing her raunchy outfits,

and told her and the crew Right, everyone, can

we stop with all this I'm on tenterhooks here -

who could it be? They'll be performing

a cha-cha-cha to this! If you want to find out what songs

the rest of our couples are dancing Here's what happened when we sent

Pasha, Oti and Giovanni to It Takes Two's photo booth

of truth - keep it snappy! Who is the best looking pro? I mean,

seriously, are we even going to ask the question? I'm surprised.

Ridiculous! I mean, the Italian stallion. Definitely Aljaz, come on

now. That mouth, the teeth, and when you speak civilian! He's really...

Which Rowell has the most shoes? Me. I think every week I order a new

pair of shoes. I think it's Giovanni, every single time he comes

in, it's a new pair of shoes. Mate, I've got new shoes! Just everywhere!

When was the last time I told white lie? It was just the other day. Yes,

it's a beautiful colour! If it works for you...! The last time was

yesterday and I told him he was amazing.

Time now to catch up with our final couple.

They were "outta points" at the weekend, when their rumba

But thankfully they weren't "outta love", as the judges

It was like watching a series of movie stars. I felt it became

somewhat stilted choice I would have liked at had more rumba content in

there. I liked the speed of the privet - stop... And then move on.

Lovely jobless. Lovely jubbly indeed -

it's Anastacia and Brendan ! A second time for you two in the

bottom ready. Did you feel it was coming or not? I thought it was

coming the week before. So I was like... And then it didn't. And I

guess you just, when you're that low, and there's a few of you there,

you're just, get me out of here! Brendan, how are you feeling, by the

way, because you have not been very well this week? I have got a little

chest infection going on. I was actually hold in my microphone and

coughing. That's very thoughtful of you! Thank you! You should be

wearing a vest! Give the man a scarf! Obviously, you went home,

were you sent to see them go? I think it's very difficult to be in

the bottom, for the artist, and also for the pro as well. For me as an

artist, being next to another person who is trying to stay in this

competition, you don't want to dance better than them for them to go. But

you have to. So it's really ridiculously like two separate

world's. The shame for Naga and Pasha is that she found her mojo,

she did a really good dance on Saturday. I like the dance-off, in a

weird way. Once you get voted into it, its fight or flight mode. You

either want to stay all you want to go. I like the feeling you get, once

you're in bed. Not getting into it, it's horrible. You can really feel

the fight. All the judges say to you in the dance-off, and Bruno was

saying, it was cleaner, it was slicker, great words to hear from

them. What words of encouragement did you give to Anastasia, before

the dance-off? For me, it's just about making sure that everything is

how it should be. I did not want anything to be different to what we

had done in training and what we had fun on Saturday. I wanted her to do

herself proud. You don't want to leave knowing that you could have

done more. And she did it. And also last time, you did not get to do the

dance-off, so did you feel you had something to show? I think I may

have been a bit excited to be at the bottom at first! They are like, OK,

slow down, girl, this means you could be leaving! But it was because

I did not get to do the dance-off and I felt guilty about that for

weeks. I did not love being at the bottom but at the same time, I was

like, I can dance! OK, API should be a little...

Afterwards, you were speaking to Claud in the Clauditorium, and she

was like, are you happy? I felt like I had done more dancing arms than I

had ever done. I really concentrated, because that is where

my injury was. I was really trying to be giving it to everybody, with

my arms. I was trying to make it happen. But they are going

technical, I hit it. It's very difficult, there are obviously a lot

of high scores this year and you want to be in the mix. Adding that

low score, it does not fill you with, come on, let's do this next

week. It would be nice for us to get a slightly higher score, so we feel

we are going in the right direction. For all your hard work to be

rewarded as well? But if the technical stuff was not in there, I

get it and I understand that. We will bring it, we will bring it! So

excited! Jonathan from Northumberland

wrote online, saying... "I enjoyed that rumba from Brendan

and Anastacia - Probably her most confident

and assured routine to date." Thank you, Jonathan, that's very

nice. Onto the quickstep, you're not very well, Brendan, how is this

affecting your training? I will let you into a little secret - we have

someone stepping in for me for a few days whilst I try to recover. I

don't know how happy I am about it. He's Spanish, he's got a body that's

pretty much the best on the show. I hadn't noticed that! It was awful

today, I had an awful rehearsal. I kind of get the feeling it's going

to be going downhill for me. She is like, he did not do that! When will

you know if you're well enough to dance? I will see the doctor again,

he said take off until Thursday, Friday at least. He did the

choreography, it's his whole routine. We should have a link to

the hospital! For the record, I was not rushed to hospital, I just took

myself there. That's no story! You took yourself! I know, that's so

much more dramatic, right? I did not know that! What does she need to

focus on for the quickstep, Brendan? What does she need to focus on? I'm

one of these dancers, I really like somebody who moves around the floor.

I do not like this... I want her to really dance it with real passion

and drive. If we get that, great. I'm not sure, his legs are a bit

short, but... I love it! He's never got lower than 30 on a quickstep,

Brendan. Full marks in the final in 2008, with Lisa Snowdon. But that's

a good omen, surely? Well, if he's not dancing with me, it'll be great!

Listen, good luck. Enjoy dancing this weekend with your other

partner. We love you both. Anastacia and Brendan!

But don't worry, we'll back tomorrow at 6.30 getting all the gossip

from the weekend's highest-scoring couples,

Plus, Ian Waite is back for another Wednesday Warm-Up!