Episode 54 Strictly - It Takes Two

Live from London, this is Strictly It Takes Two. Please welcome your

host, Zoe Ball. You can really smell the competitive

spirit in the air tonight. If Latin and Ballroom

was an Olympic sport, these two would be dancing

for a spot on the podium, And from one pair of

contenders to another, Strictly Power Couple Neil

and Katya Jones go head-to-head Plus, when it comes to designing

fabulous costumes, this lady's got no competition -

it's Vicky Gill! And there's no time

like the present, love. We love Vicky Gill.ly start the

chant. Very excitingly we found a jewel on the floor. She is recycling

it. She is putting it in her pocket. Huge success musicals week, well

done to everybody. Let us talk about Danny's jacket. It got a lot of

love. There it is in action, tell us, it has a back story to this. It

was touch-and-go whether this jacket would make the show. Because I think

that we nearly went from a toned down version, it was musical's week

so it was happening. Originally, the jacket was Artems, blue sell wet.

Have to invest money into tailoring for the dancers because there is a

special cut. It went on the a Hallowe'en number and it didn't come

up clean. There is a thing called dirty dance spray? It was

embellished a small amount. This came out on Friday and we put

probably about 8,000 more crystals the on it. On Friday someone had to

sit... Between Friday and Saturday. It could have been a plain jacket.

We would have been putting 15,000 crystals on it. That is 2340 sleep.

What will happen to it now. It might have to go away for a little white

because it is recognisable. Retired. The jacket is retired. Any offers

acceptable. They have two dances each, we will talk about an outfit

for one dance. Louise is doing a samba to Brazil. Here is a sketch

what can you tell us? The dress this week has all of the elements she

will need for samba, lots of movement round the hem, over the

Basque there is fringe and we have bugle #3w5eds on the bust. It is

usual because it is a blank canvas, we are using white and then we will

have an additional section of colour, depending on what head dress

she uses and what accessories. Will the head dress be edible? Stranger

things have happened. Bite of an apple or banana or pineapple.

Please. Carmen Miranda. Ore and Joanne this week moving on from

Willy Wonka, Argentine tango is one of their dances and this dress looks

simple. It S we had obviously lots of production last week, their

Argentine tango is about their performance and their dance, so we

are taking a step back in terms of how much detail. Simple shape and

line, it will be in a silver smooth velvet. So contrast on the floor, we

will see it in the studio, but there is not too much detail. We have

hematite stones round the neckline and a pop of pink in the lining, so

we again get the light and shade. You will see that, let us go over to

Claudia's dress. This is for her quickstep. Audience is keen. Tell us

about the inspiration here. It is all about Claudia, really to be

fair, all the way through the series she such fun, she has entered into

everything. We have given her girlie colours, so I felt that we couldn't

do that going into this, you know, serious semifinal stage, so we have

navy mesh over a champagne base, which you can see underneath. Look

that the. There will be... No. No crin in the second layer. We love

this. Other people may not understand my joy but... I think

there are a lot of people, don't be surprise you really understand this

joy. We have three more lairs where the Crin is sown in the hem. Without

that woe wouldn't have such fabulous skirts. Is This is Ash's work. This

is a cobalt stone, that will be higher and tighter. She is so, her

little waist. This is Oti's dress for her and Danny's American smooth.

What can you tell us? We have to be careful, because generally they will

do lots of difficults -- lifts. I haven't seen too much of the

director's take, I have to be careful we don't embellish it too

much, if she is going round the neck or coming down, they hurt. After

their rehearsals they are feeling a bit... All for the love of dance

people. They have to get on with it. So again our stones have been placed

in a brickwork pattern. There is blue, we have used the right and

wrong side of the fabric. So we have shine and a matt. We have godets. We

love a godet. Running round the hem, a long split. She will need... Her

for just legs will come flying there the air. A bit of detail on the

back. I am going to turn this. Look at the detail there. Just, thank you

very much audience. Isn't that beautiful? Look at the work in there

-of-. Yes, hopefully I think it will stay pretty much as it is. Yet again

Vicky Gill you have outdone yourself, can you believe only one

more week to go. Two more shows. Everyone has been. Amazing, we have

had a good series and worked incredibly hard. Don't say goodbye

yet! Can't bear it. Vicky Gill. CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Now, the costumes are almost ready but what about the steps?

With two dances to learn our couples have got their work cut out.

Here's how Danny and Oti and Ore and Joanne have been

The American smooth is a ballroom dance and I feel like some of my

greatest achievements have been with ballroom dances. I don't just want

to get it technically correct, I want to make people feel something

with it. We can show a lot of emotion and use his acting skills

because he is a brilliant actor, I think not to use that would be a

shame. I want it to be one beautiful, clean show, from the

minute we start to the minute we finish. Quick, quick, slow. Quick,

quick, slow. I would say the quickstep is like the Formula One of

the dance world. You cover so much ground, and at serious speed.

I think this dance was made for me. Quickstep being my favourite dance I

am so keen for it to go perfectly. This is the baste to show we have

got real bounce back about and we mean real business.

Now, in the far reaches of the ballroom and latin universe,

there's a cube-shaped place where dancers go to face

the ultimate test of physical and mental strength.

The strictly Pro Challenge is back and bigger than ever. This year our

pros are going toy a ept the to set a Guinness World Record for the most

jive kicks and flicks in 30 seconds. We will be looking for strong

pointed kicks and then the feet returning to the floor after the

flick. If they don't bring the foot back to the resting position, then

the step will be disqualified. There can only be one champion, so they

need to make every step count. This is the Strictly Pro Challenge 2016.

Together they are battling for the title of Strictly's

Separately, they are battling to be crowned Pro Challenge Champion.

APPLAUSE APPLAUSE

I love it. I love it. Welcome, it is so lovely to have you both on the

sofa together. Before we continue, I must ask a serious question, how is

Ed Katya, have you seen him, we miss him? We have, on Sunday he cooked us

roast dinner. Which one beef? Beef. Really good and pavlova for dessert.

It was wonderful. He baby sat your dog. He did. Neil have you managed

to fill the Ed shaped hole that has been left in cad -- Katya's life. He

has been tell manager ewhat to do. Somebody, by the way Neil, I must

say good Cossack skills. Loved that. Now, how much did you prepare for

this challenge the two of you? You know, for 20 years really for that

moment. I have been doing my squats. I am doing the squat challenge at

the moment. It is working. Did you practise together or did you keep it

secret? Separate. I am in one bedroom, he is in the bathroom,

locked up. We should leave you like that all the time. How to make a

marriage work. We have seen big names step in the cube, very tight

at the top of the leaderboard. Oksana and Janette up there, neck

and neck. The two little ones. The two lit lest ones. She is always

sleeping. Do you think you have got what it takes to take down those

two? I really hope so. Firstly I cannot wait just to hear between us,

what happens. Never mind the competition. I was waiting for this

moment to come. Neil looks nervous. OK. We should go ladies first. OK.

Let us find out how you get on. Here is your Pro Challenge.

This is my first ever Pro Challenge, but it is not about experience, it

is about going and giving it all. That is what I am going to do. Hi.

Welcome to the Strictly Pro Challenge. How you feeling? Very

excited. I am ready to win it. It is going to be competitive in the Jones

household? Neil will be doing the challenge, do you want to beat him?

I do. Neil is very good at jive so kicks and flicks is his forte but I

have Russian discipline, so I am going to give it 30 seconds. Take to

the floor, please. Katya, good luck, I am going to count you in for the

record. Three, two, one. Go. Five, four, three, two, one. Stop.

That was so tough! I am so glad you young guys find it difficult to do.

It is harder than you think. What did you think? It went a bit

rockabilly with the rock and roll bop, you night not have got the

knees up, but you have got top marks for determination on this one. Thank

you so much. I went for the speed, for the quantity, and if there is

something that didn't qualify, that's OK, let us see what the end

product is. Ooh! What do we think? Very seedy

indeedy. She is good. Neil was impressed. He looks very afraid. You

talk about Russian discipline, could that give you the edge over? I

really hope, so you end product is. Ooh! What do we think? Very seedy

indeedy. She is good. Neil was impressed. He looks very afraid. You

talk about Russian discipline, could that give you the edge over? I

really hope, so you could see me going "Come on Katya". I count feel

my leg at the end. I love Ian relishing the fact you were

struggling a bit there. It is really hard. We tried this afternoon and we

were rubbish. I want to see that. After each of the professionals made

their attempt the footage was watched back in slow motion to

verify every step was accurate. So that is the science bit out of the

way, time for the moment of truth. Ready Katya, OK, in 30 seconds you

were able to complete... 67!

66 disqualified. However, there were a few slip-ups. Oh, no. Of your 67,

50 were disqualified. Giving you a grand total of 17. You

are joking me! I love the fact you get great support from your husband

there. I'm so sorry. Yes, it was just the technique. I'm so sorry,

honey. Fix, fix. Neil, you think you've done better, yeah? How do you

feel your chances are now? This is embarrassing. Mortified, mortified.

I actually think I was faster than Katya. But, I think I've got more

disqualified probably. Shall we see? Yes, let's do it. Enjoy this

everyone. Let's see how Neil's attempt went down. I'm feeling

pumpedes, excited. I'm not sure if I'm going to win it. But I want to

and that's all that counts. Did I say I want to win it? Because I'm

going to win it. Hello Neil. Hello. Welcome to the Strictly Pro

Challenge. How are you feeling? Nervous, but ready. In the ballroom

competitive world, you are known for having a fast, energetic jive, do

you think that will help you, today? I'm hoping it will, but normally I

have the partner on my hand. I make her do all the work, and at the

moment she's not there. Did you prepare for today? I've been

preparing for years I can't wait to see T please take your position on

the dance floor. -- to see it. Good luck. I'll count you in for the

record. Three, two, one, go. Stop. Wow, that was interesting.

Now, it looked hard work. Was it hard work? How did it feel? No, that

was really easy. How do you think that went, Richard? Um, strong,

fast. We'll have to watch it back in slow motion, though, because

remember with the jive flick we have to get the knee up before it goes

down and back up again. So maybe you were just so fast we couldn't see

that... I think it was, yeah. Don't worry about the slow-mo. You are the

Karate Kid of this competition. Thank you so much. Thank you very

much. Thank you for joining us. I felt my family was there with me,

pushing me, giving me a bit more energy as I was going through. I

didn't want to give up. I was even thinking I could do another 30

seconds. Maybe that was them. Neil Jones.

Karate Kid of the compo tichlingts an honour in itself. I Talk to me

about the gold headband? It was power from my family. Passed down,

we are like jive kickers. I felt I put a little bit of cossack dancing

into that as well. I think there was interesting technique. Do you think

you might have sacrificed a little bit of the technique for speed

there, Neil? The tiniest amount. Just a little bit. A little tinny

bit. OK. Well, here we G time to find out how Mr Jones has done. I

can reveal that in 30 seconds, you completed... -- here we go.

104. Yes! OK. Those numbers are unheard of. 104. We'll leave it at

that, thank you very much. But, but... Four were disqualified. The

misses, there were a few misses. And of your 104 steps, you had... force

104 steps disqualified! LAUGHTER Leaving you with a grand total of 0

points. I beat him. I beat him. You beat him. Great enthusiasm. Where

you went wrong, your knee had to come up and go down. You had kicks

but no flicks. Let's look at the leaderboard. Here it is, and where

are you? No, sorry if we scroll down a little bit we will see you are

there n 10th place. It is safe to say that join is going to have

trouble keeping up with the Jones es. Total spaghetti LOLOonese, love

it. Style it out. Disqualified, so amazing.

My final guests this evening made the cutest pair

of lion cubs on Saturday, and after making it

through to the semi-finals they were just bursting with pride!

Tonight you let your hair down. It was like a little Spice Girl out

there. The body isolation. Compact, clean. The lifts were extraordinary.

You are precise, a terrific dancer and you are just a bundle of joy.

Well done. Claudia and AJ everyone. Welcome. Lots and lots of wonderful

fans. We are still laughing at Neil's attempt there. You definitely

had a call of the wild on Saturday night. How much fun was it to

release your inner beast? It was so much fun. Especially this part. It

was like a bit of a party dance. A Beyonce, I loved that song. It was

easy to get into character, I had the hair and make-up, it was wild.

The hair, I was wondering how much was your mane and how the rest was

gifted to you? Aid wig object. They did a plait and they shoved this wig

on with blonde bits coming through. To take it out I was like - ah, it

hurts. And the most exciting thing about your weekend, your first 10,

at last! Come on. Yes. I think the whole nation.

Everyone went crazy. Everyone was jumping. Adrenaline was like - so

worth it. You o -- you so deserved that. Was it worth the late? Yes, I

performed to my best, it was like a 9, a 9 and I was like - is it going

to be and then the paddle. I nearly lost my voice I was screaming that

much. The whole place erupted T had been a long time coming. -- the

whole place erupted. It had been a long time going The judges loved it,

was the isolation. Yes we went for T Claudia was throwing her head

around. She loved that in training. Again and again. And even in

training, 100%, sometimes you can just go for it and then just do it.

Every time I loved that. If you don't crack that out in a gymnastics

routine we'll all be disappointed. There was a little mistake, Bruno

mentioned. Was it slippage with the grippage. I stepped forward and

repositioned my feet so I didn't fall off the back of the stairs.

There is a slight eight foot drop, I didn't want to place Claudia on the

floor, I stepped forward, repositioned, Claudia is so

professional. She went with it. Still flipped her. Flipped her back,

flipped it back, stood still. Amazing and you still got it ten.

Yes, loved it. We thought you both looked so cute. We thought you would

actually be very sweet as a little toy. We could put it out in time for

Christmas and make a fortune. In a little box. We've knocked that up.

I'm willing to split the profits, by the way. Darcey wanted a bit more

grrr. Have you got more to give? I think so. Ever every week I've got

more confident as the week has gone. AJ told me to roar. Crazy. I roared

about four times. Every single time, I was trying to get it out there.

Obviously she wanted me to see more of it. Fear lion club. We loved it.

We are on to semifinals week. I know, it is so good. Two dances.

Let's talk first, quickstep, you are dancing to this.

# When you're smilin # When you're smilin

# The whole world smiles with you...#

It is just classic happy. All ladges love that. I know you have a lot of

ground to cover when you are doing a quickstep. His legs are longer than

yours, are you keeping up with each other? The room is too small. Corner

to corner, Claudia is going crazy, I'm not going to lie. A fast

routine, I find it difficult, the jumping bits plus staying with my

head out and being all ballroomy. She has got her position, her window

and mineful And you chuck me around the floor. It is bonkers, Len says

it is being a swan or a duck and underneath your legs are going

bonkers like that but do you it so beautifully, your top line is

amazing. Also, rule boo. To this little number. -- rumba.

# I keep bleeding # I keep bleeding...#

Love this song. I I love this. You were telling Claude last week that

you needed to find your inner emotion this is with dance. Have you

found them? I think I have. I have fallen in love with this song. It is

so incredible to, obviously starting right at the start I wasn't - if I

did rumba, I don't think I would be as confident doing it. Now I feel

more confident. It is nus to get that inner emotion out. I've really

enjoyed it and obviously the leg extension are really good. I think

it is going to be your best dance. I think so. Confidence. So confident.

It is amazing, I love the song, you love it and it is coming together so

nicely. Look at the leg, tensions. Iain loved what you did there and

your hips settling in there. Do you like your dress, by the way, did you

see your dress for the quickstep that Vicky was showing? Stunning. I

love T the work that goes on behind scenes is amazing, how they sort

everything out, the fitting and all the diamonds and even the hair and

make-up, they put so much work into that and it is nice going out with

that finishing touch. It all just comes together. Kevin did say on the

results show last week that his advice was - get in the studio,

learn the two dances quickly. Did you heed old Kevin's word? We took

that advice, nailed it, day 1, both routines, a bit brain dead but

physically, we got around the roo. It is much more polished now, the

main thing, ready for studio rehearsal tomorrow. The energy in

the dances is completely different. Is that a good thing? It is great.

Do you ever get to a point and confuse the two? Well, actually the

rumba, I said, I feel like I want to go into the cha-cha-cha. ! It was

really weird. Straight leg. She gave me a heart attack when she said

that. He was like - do not think of that. I was like "sorry." It is

completely different dances and that helps as well. It is not a tango and

like, a quickstep as well, because... One of the others. It is

complete delifrn, Latin and ball R hopefully it'll work on the night.

-- it is completely different. If you get through this weekend, you

will be in the final of structly come dancing, 2017 -- 2016. Yes I'm

rushing ahead. Positive energy there. It is. You know, always. How

do you feel about that prospect? I would be really, really excited if I

got to the final. A show dance would be amazing. Endless possibilities.

And the journey. Obviously coming in, being a gymnast and being very

stiff in my work and going into dancing, it is completely different.

I have had to change all my technique. I started off really not

a dancer and now coming in and AJ has helped me so much with that and

I appreciate everything that goes into it. Well, good luck this

weekend. You are wonderful. Give it up for Claudia and AJ.

That's all we've got time for tonight.

I'm back tomorrow at 6.00pm for an hour-long It Takes Two!

Plus on my Friday panel, Ellie Simmonds, Gaby Roslin