Episode 28 Strictly - It Takes Two

VOICEOVER: From London, this is

Strictly, It Takes Two. Please

welcome your host, Zoe Ball.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Hello and welcome to It Takes Two!

And can you believe it,

it's not Halloween any more!

But fear not, we've got

plenty more up our sleeve.

Let's see who's in the

green room, shall we?

They reached Strictly Nirvana

on Saturday, it's Aston and Janette!

Their rumba was simply heavenly,

it's Davood and Nadiya!

And somewhat disappointingly,

he's not dressed as Elphaba

from Wicked, it's Ian Waite!

But now, speaking of dressing up,

my first guest made a fabulous Joker

on Saturday, but it's no

laughing matter, darling.

It's Craig Revel Horwood!

A complete dance disaster, darling.

Craig Revel-Horwood, everyone!

MUSIC: Toxic by Britney Spears.

The spin in is our favourite.

How we've missed you.

We're six weeks in now.

Have our celebs reached

the standard you'd expect?

There is a lot of surprises, a lot

of high markers out there. But also

a lot of improvement, which is

great. And early non-improvement as

well. We noticed from the third week

that people were really developing

proper skills, which is an absolute

joy and delight to watch.

Simon and Karen fell victim

to Halloween weekend,

but they were joined by Mollie

and AJ in the dance off.

Were you surprised to see

them in the bottom two?

Yeah, I really was. Because she's

been doing really well. I was

surprised because it was quite a

good routine. She looks amazing,

great costume, and she did rather

well in the whole thing. It's really

difficult. Certainly from the judge

in perspective, when you have

somebody who is fantastic, who you

think is really motoring on in the

competition, and they end up in the

bottom two. Like Dartford, that was

a shocker. But you have to have the

audience votes. -- like Davood.

People have to vote for their

favourites.

Mollie danced the cha-cha-cha,

as did Jonnie, ho matched his lowest

score of the series.

More than any other dance,

it's proved the most

unpopular with our celebs.

Why do you think that is?

It's because it's difficult, there

is a straight leg and the hip action

is really difficult, especially for

the men, because they are not used

to moving their hips that way. They

are used to side to side and side

and forward and back, but never in a

circle. With proper hip action. It

is difficult. And if you do too much

hip action, it will look too girly.

You have to be aware of that, you

have to make it look butch but

correct. It's a tough one. And it's

fast as well. If you think of the

rumba and then double the tempo,

that's what you are expected to do.

It's so complicated.

Susan also felt the burn this

week in terms of scores.

You fanned the flames with a three.

You are mean. Tell me more about

this.

Kevin said they weren't really

going for a graceful

Foxtrot because of the Game

of Thrones theme.

Can you appreciate how

he was trying to marry the two?

I can, if he does that at the

beginning of the dance and the end,

and maybe ten seconds, in between,

you can go mad and tell the story

and do something out of character.

But it's our job to recognise that

particular dance for what it is and

uphold the characteristics of that

dance. I appreciate it, and I love

him for trying to take it over the

edge a little bit, but unfortunately

for me it did not work. I loved the

routine and what he was trying to

do, but I have to market on the

specific bands they are trying to

do. That's why it was difficult for

me. -- I have to mark it on the

specific dance. Sometimes it works

well, like in Aston's case. But

continue to be brave.

At the other end of the leaderboard,

you loved Aston's Paso,

even though it contained some moves

more commonly found in street dance.

Is that why you couldn't

give it a ten?

I thought there was a bit too much

of the popping and locking. He is

amazing. You would love to give him

ten, I would love to. And if he

makes the final, maybe takes two of

those sections out and replaces it

with something else then maybe...

You little tease!

Let's talk about Davood's rumba now.

Despite the lack of rumba content

you said you could sit and watch

it at home every day.

You did however give it a five.

I thought it was a really lovely

strong routine. It didn't fall into

the rumba category for me. There

weren't enough basic rumba steps

which we need to see. If he had left

today few more of the basics, like

Shirley said, having your legs go

out to the side and show you are

manoeuvring your hips in the correct

way. We never really saw that. We

saw a wonderful performance, but as

a judge I can't just base it on

entertainment. That's for the folk

at home who can say, I really loved

it.

Or me!

I did love it, I could

watch it again and again but it

wasn't a solid rumba.

Here's a fact for you.

The rumba is the only main

Strictly dance that hasn't

received full marks.

Rachel Stevens, Kara Tointon,

Chelsee Healey and Jay McGuiness

only ever managed 39 points!

Can the rumba ever reach

the 40 mark milestone?

Could it be this series?

If they started learning it in week

one and get to keep going and doing

it for ten weeks then yes, probably.

It is the hardest.

No chance, then!

I think Debbie McGee has the chance

to get a really high score.

Didn't

she do a rumba yet?

Yes, she has. If

she gets to do it again, then maybe

it will improve. She was doing some

lovely work in that and was

wonderful to watch. Incredible,

really.

She is. Let's talk about

Flexi McGee. She impressed again.

I do believe your exact words were,

"Absolutely incredible".

Her Charleston contained

a cross swivel pop which

you said we never see.

I can demonstrate that.

Is it...?

Demo time!

The floor is all yours.

The difficult thing with this dance

is you have to do this with your

feet the whole time, the swivel. The

cross element is when the toe

crosses in front and behind the

foot. Debbie put a hop in it as

well. She ended up doing that,

hopping and swivelling and popping.

Cross, swivel and pop. That's how

it's done.

It was, of course, Debbie McGee

who caused you to channel Bruno

and fall off your chair a couple

of weeks back.

It was joyous!

It was a moment of

temporary insanity, it really was! I

did miss the chair. I was thinking

of Bruno, I had worked with him for

13 years. It has annoyed me for 13

years! Stands up and sits down,

stands up and sits down. I know he's

very short and likes to show off his

height, but it was really funny. I

had no clue that was going to

happen. I don't know what possessed

me, but I did miss the chair. I

thought I would go with it because

Bruno has done it for the whole

thing. It was a bit of a sendoff.

Please come back to see us soon. We

adore you, Craig Revel Horwood.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.

Now, Craig has to look away for this

next bit as it would be unfair

for him to cast his critical eye

over a work in progress.

Here's how Debbie and Giovanni,

Joe and Katya, and Alexandra

and Gorka have been getting

on in training.

I think I'm really going to enjoy

the tango. Giovanni is really good

at it.

Tango is a really interesting

dance because you have a lot of

passion, but at the same time you

have to do a lot of technique. There

is no rise and fall in the tango.

You have to be sharp, staccato all

the time.

Already one of my

criticisms is to keep my fingers

closed.

Why are your fingers like

this?

At the moment I'm like Edward

Scissorhands!

The charleston is hard, very

energetic. Lots of steps.

Craig is

going to be looking for the swivel

action.

It helps to speak the steps

in time to the music.

I'm going to

have to do drill this routine into

his brain so much. Five years on,

you will still remember it.

It's a

high energy dance. I will need to

eat lots of carbs over the next few

days.

This week we are doing the

cha-cha-cha and to be very honest,

I'm very scared. The speed is very

quick and the technique is

difficult. But in the two together,

my brain goes... That was out of

time!

It's one of the difficult

dances, especially for the girls

wearing heels. It's very fast and

they have to be very precise.

You

have to keep your legs straight when

they are meant to be, and bend when

they are meant to be. If you forget,

surely will say something!

Time to welcome our

first couple now.

Their angelic rumba wasn't

to all the judges' tastes,

but to us it was a little

slice of heaven.

It's Davood and Nadiya!

MUSIC: Wicked Game.

As a dance, I loved it, but as a

rumba, I didn't. There wasn't enough

basic steps.

There was no flow from

movement to movement. You have a

beautiful feeling, but that isn't

enough in this dance.

The overall

performance was very nice.

Davood and Nadiya are here. Never

mind what the judges say, we got

lost in your performance and your

character.

I really gave myself over

to it. I had issues in the week, but

when we performed I loved every

minute. It was a haunting

performance. As a performance it's

up there with some of the best of

the others I had done. Which I

didn't expect because I knew how

hard the rumba was going to be.

Nadiya had warned me.

Why is it so

hard for the men?

He has to do all

the leading. He has to use his body

as much as he can. On the footwork

and everything. So many details. You

can see every small mistake. But he

didn't have any.

No mistakes, good

boy. That's the thing, sometimes

people go like that with the rumba,

but a lot of people enjoyed it.

Not

everybody.

We will get on to the

judges.

Well, the judges thought the routine

was lacking in basic rumba.

What was the thinking

behind the choreography?

The first four bars, it was him

doing the cooker rapture. He was

trying to move into the swivel and

the overturn and into the pivot and

the fanning...

There is a list!

Were you hoping for better scores?

A couple of sevens but also a five.

Craig said some lovely things but to

get a five after that was

disappointing. It was fulfilling to

do that dance after a tough week of

trying to learn it. Everybody has

their own opinion, but to know he

liked it as a performance was good,

because we certainly enjoyed it.

He

said he would like to watch you all

day. Slightly concerning. It was

really lovely to see your TV mum

Bonnie Langford in the audience. She

was really enjoying the performance.

She looked quite concerned and a bit

cross when the judges gave their

critique. Did she go over like any

good mum and have a stern word?

I

had to restrain her. She was looking

after her boy. Beforehand she

brought me all the stuff she knows I

like, like protein bars and energy

drinks, telling me to look after

myself. She was brilliant, and it

was great to have her in the

audience and she loved the

performance.

You have so many mums

come you are so lucky! Onwards and

upwards, quite literally. It's

American Smooth and you get to do

the lifting!

Will they be fun?

We have done two

illegal list already! We just want

to make them as spectacular as we

can and use the opportunity to do

something like that and show a

different side to the performance.

I'm loving it. Mix it in and making

it work, were working on it but I

think it will look great.

You've got

some great music.

MUSIC: This Will Be (An Everlasting

Love) by Natalie Cole.

I will be storming onto the floor!

Now, as you know we've got eyes

and ears everywhere,

which means we've picked up some

very interesting sounds in training.

DAVOOD TRAINING NOISES.

APPLAUSE

I love it! And Darren Burnett was

on, he said he loves you too and he

feels you need your rake out dance

so could this be the one?

I think

so. He is enjoying this dance.

I am

loving it, more than any other so

far so I hope I can do it justice

and the choreography is great.

Make

loads of noises! Good luck.

Davood and Nadiya everyone!

Now, as the night draws

in and the temperature drops,

there's no better way to warm up

than with Mr Toasty Toes

himself, Ian Waite!

Ian Waite, everyone!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

You have brought your fans with you!

Get it out for the people.

Can I

say, happy birthday to my dad, Alan.

Happy birthday. He is 70 today. He

is quite a move as well. Debbie and

Giovanni were top of the leaderboard

with their gravity defying

Charlie-ston. They are doing a

tango, have you got a feeling about

this?

She's in a fantastic position

and he gets her in the right place,

lovely head position and could yield

leads which is what we are looking

for. But I noticed this position.

What is so great about this is that

he always manages to find these

wonderful positions for her where

she looks brilliant.

Gorgeous.

I

thought we could try that. I will do

Giovanni.

I'm Giovanni.

I'll be

Debbie. OK.

APPLAUSE

Oh my God!

He is definitely not

Debbie McGee! He's getting on!

These

trousers are so tight.

On to Mollie

and AJ, they wanted to impress this

week having been in the bottom two

but they are doing the foxtrot and

this could be glorious.

As you can

see, she is releasing her toes

lovely which is what we want in the

foxtrot. I would like to see her

reaching back with the toes so they

get, this lovely Rolls-Royce action,

she needs to be stretching back.

Stretch back.

Lyrical!

And the other

thing I noticed, with her

physicality, she said about

slouching a bit, what she needs to

do is open that area, the sternum,

and push in from there and she will

get that lovely...

Yes.

They are

very knowledgeable! And she needs to

look over the seam of his shirt and

not so far to the left.

Gemma and

Aljaz, following on from a couple of

strong weeks, they are doing a

salsa. How is it looking?

There is a

nice bit of salsa, very basic which

is good and you have to make sure

you did a lot of body rhythm. There

is a bit of arms there. Because she

is slightly taller, probably the

same height as Aljaz, she has to

keep it nice and light and it

doesn't look happy because sometimes

salsa can look heavy and she needs

to make it light across the floor

and rhythmical. I can see a lot of

rhythm but she has to keep it light.

And onto Jonnie, he is quite pleased

that the cha-cha-cha is the hind

him, this week it is a salsa.

It is

looking quite rhythmical, he is more

at home in this dance than he was

with the cha-cha-cha because the leg

action is not as important. It is

more about the rhythm in the body

and all that lovely arms. I thought

we would show it back. This is not

easy. I was thinking about us trying

to do this to demonstrate that are

the first two moves I decided not

to!

You can't do it!

Because I have

never done the other before.

And now

is your first time!

No! But very

good and clever armography and if

they do that slick it will look

amazing.

And finally Joe and Katya,

I loved the spider routine but the

Charleston for them this week and it

could be groovy.

I am exhausted just

watching them loads of effort and

energy in all of the moves and that

is what you want, all of those very

light on the feet and matching

moves.

I like that one.

Reverse it!

But my favourite thing about him is

facial expressions. If there was

ever a dance where you need a lot of

facial expressions, this is it. He

is an actor and he should be able

to.

You don't want to finish on

another Debbie impression?

No!

Ian

Waite, everyone!

Now, like the song says,

"Here we are now, entertain us".

And in the spirit of Strictly

Halloween they most certainly did.

It's the im-paso-bly

brilliant Aston and Janette!

Come on, people!

That was a paso doble that brought

the dead back to life.

That solo,

how you beat out the rhythm, it was

crisp and exact and you owned it.

It

was amazing!

It was brilliant, all her work. That

was incredible, what a closing to

the show, just amazing. We were

screaming for tens. Did you love it?

That is an understatement, that is

the highlight of my Strictly journey

so far.

You could tell how much you

loved it. Darcy said you owned it.

What was it about the dance that got

you?

Janette's voice in my air! All

week! Shaping! Shaping! Hips! Again!

You heard Nirvana and I heard

Janette!

Look at her gorgeous phase

them you would never think she would

be like that but it paid off with

your highest score of the series.

Two tens. Did it feel good to join

the prestigious club?

It felt good,

I felt like a glass of champagne!

Spoil yourself! Shirley said it was

not traditional enough but she still

Daegu nine and I think she loved it

-- she still gave you.

She is tough

to crack but she knows what she is

talking about and she is very

knowledgeable so I take everything

she says on board and fingers

crossed, hopefully she will like the

Viennese waltz more, that is more

traditional.

We must imagine how

Bruno compared YouTube Joaquin

Cortez. Have you heard of him? --

compared you to.

I had seen the

video, she said, this is what you're

going to be like!

Can we just admire

this magnificent leap. In slow

motion.

Yes!

And the arms and the

chest!

And the heels!

And he had

Cuban heels, that is so hard. Mail

pros sometimes try to avoid them

because you are literally wearing

heels to dance.

On Monday you would

have been laughing!

He said, I've

got a new-found respect for women!

YouTube alt-right it.

It's so good. -- you should all try

it. And we have an interesting stat,

we have added up the scores so far

for the top five cup doubles --

couples. This is how you measure up.

Who is at the top? CHEERING

Go on!

That's a bit more pressure!

It could change easily.

You train

next to Alexandra and Gorka.

We are

team 45, that is the studio we

rehearse in.

And know you are all

great friends, someone is bringing

me, I'm sorry! It's my son! I'll

just turn it off. You train in the

studio... Where am I?! I know you

get on great but when it is that

close, do you get a bit...

It might

be now. But honestly, Gorka comes

next door and Janette is like, can

you show him this step.

We are

supportive of each other and we

literally rehearse right next to

each other so that we are constantly

going backwards and forwards and we

show each other's routines and it's

really nice.

That's lovely, until

the final! The Viennese waltz this

week and you have an amazing record

to dance to. It is the Jacksons. You

love Michael Jackson, don't you?

Super fan.

How does it feel to dance

to this?

It's an honour obviously

but you worry a bit, you had to do

it justice because this is one of my

favourite songs. OK, let's take a

deep breath and go into this routine

as with any other and try to

concentrate and not get lost.

Looking good in the giant lemon de!

Here's been fighting a really bad

cold -- the lemon hoody.

I think you

should wear it on Saturday! And

possibly sideburns?

Are you growing

them? I'm going to try!

Are you

happy with how it has gone in

training?

Very happy, I think it

will be a nice routine.

Well done,

Aston and Janette! APPLAUSE

That's all we have time for tonight.

Join me again tomorrow at 6.30pm

when I'll be chatting to Mollie

and AJ and Debbie and Giovanni.

Plus It Takes Two heavyweights

Vicky Gill and Ian Waite will be

here to lend us their expertise.

Goodnight!

Today's the day.

The final day.