Episode 53 Strictly - It Takes Two

From London, this is Strictly: It

Takes Two. Please welcome your host,

Zoe Ball.

APPLAUSE

Hello and welcome to It Takes Two!

If you're missing the

Razmataz of Strictly's

musical special, don't worry -

we've got your back.

Just take a look at the all-singing,

all-dancing line-up

in our Green Room.

Here to tell me more,

tell me more about

their rumba - it's Mollie and AJ!

Little sandy and Danny.

He may not know how

to sing but he sure

can wave a wand about

theatrically - it's

Ian Waite.

He's not bad at singing actually.

And look who we've

got in the house -

Hayley, Jamie, Andrea and Tommy -

the Strictly Singers!

At last, they are here.

Plus, hoping to put last year's Pro

Challenge humiliation behind him -

it's Neil Jones!

Warming up. Backstage, come on, you

can do it.

But first up tonight,

with the semifinal

fast approaching,

never has a warm-up

held so much importance.

It's time for Ian Waite!

It's Ian Waite, everyone!

He is here, panic over. Do you know

him? Not bad, not bad. Our couples

have two dances this weekend and

new, young man, have tend to get

through so we must hasten on. So

much to discuss. Alexandra and

Gorka's first dance will be a salsa.

She's dancing fantastic are great at

the Latin dances, this is going to

be hot.

I think it is looking really

good, it is really going to suit

her, it's going to be a fantastic

dance for her, it has lots of

rhythm, she has lots of speed in

there. As you saw, the zigzags she

did beautifully, and I have slowed

this down and I love the armography,

over the arms twice and again onto a

different arm hold, very complicated

some of the armography but she's

doing it brilliantly already. And is

so smooth, that's the thing, at this

stage on Tuesday, you would expect

it to become a no, today's footage,

sorry, you'd expect it to be a

little rusty before Saturday but

it's looking good.

Good work. Jail

and Katya are dancing and American

smooth. How is our gorgeous boy,

looking smooth enough for you? --

joke and Katya.

Yes, some very nice

moves at the beginning, the way he

rocks and sways, very Fred and

Gingeresque and I like the win takes

hold of her. I talked about him a

few weeks ago of getting the chicken

drumsticks underneath her armpit and

got it under their nicely. The only

thing is, hold on a second.

I

wondered where it was.

The only

thing is he has a lovely shoulder

line, lovely long neck might like to

see him get this arm up a little bit

so it is on a bit more of a right

angle, not a proper right angle but

a bit more, get his arm a little bit

straight.

Just a simple tiny detail.

Gemma and Aljaz are doing a tango.

Has her girl got enough attack?

She

looks very good, her hand looks a

bit like a spider on the back. She

should get that underneath the

armpit again, I know it's a bit

smelly but don't worry about it. And

also she's doing heel leads, which

is good, but I'd like to see her

work on this area at the bottom.

Lovely bottom.

What I'd like her to

do is when she moves off to

promenade there is a push from

there, push drive, which would give

her a more staccato feeling to the

dance.

I could watch you do that for

hours.

It will give that will be

extra oomph she needs.

Mollie and

AJ, samba, how are Mollie's hips

looking? I saw this early on.

CHEERING

Lovely body action. Very loose.

Like

a pro.

Promenade runs, if you look,

it is a different timing. What I'd

like to see her do is on the

promenade run, if I can just circled

the back leg, if we do that for you

we will show you how it is done.

One, two, three. In that position,

make sure you lunch into the front

foot enough so that you can stretch

out that tow.

These trousers don't

give much! Don't show these muffin

tops. Don't be caught between the

two legs. Just like that, I've got

it! Debbie and Giovanni doing a jive

to I'm so excited, by the Pointer

Sisters, excited?

I'm excited, upon

the balls of her feet, like to do

her about stepping action down into

the ground rather than flicks out on

the beginning peace. But if you

notice here she does chicken walks

and I think she's doing it too much

with her legs apart. If from here...

Keep them together, girls.

If you

see here I'd like her to get the top

of her legs together almost like she

has a tight skirt.

How would you

know that!?

Legs to wide apart.

Onto

the second dances, halfway, are you

OK? Alexandra and Gorka back for a

Viennese waltz. Do you like what you

see?

The flow is really good, nice

natural tones, her footwork is very

good. They are not actually in hold

-- natural Terence. Lovely running

around, keeping it fluid, there was

note trotting. When you run around

there can be a little bit of

bouncing -- natural turns.

You don't

hear that wide enough anymore, Nath.

I love the fact she has this lovely

the arm and details in the feet.

Beautiful, Joe and Katya next in

line the Argentine tango I'm excited

about Halys Joe -- how is Joe

looking?

When they flip the foot and

it goes right up the back, right up

the codpiece, it's amazing. These

interlinking steps when they

ricocheted off each other. It looks

really good. He just goes run a

little bit there. I slowed it down.

He's supposed to step through

backwards instead of forwards and

she's ordered held him and said, no,

it's forwards, not backwards, deer,

or the other way around. It is a

nice dance, difficult to tell from

just that short bit of footage but

hopefully by Saturday it will be

fantastic. Gemma and Aljaz also

dancing a rumba, what do you make of

it? She has a very nice hip action

and very good straight leg. That is

what you want from a rumba. And

also, if you notice when she goes

into this she has a lovely arched

foot and lovely shape of foot. If I

just spotlight this, OK, now, if you

just watch this, she is going to do

a close. As she closes her feet in

the fan position, she is keeping

that foot flat as she goes in. I

would say articulate it before so

you get a little bit of

articulation.

These are the details.

You get the shape of the foot before

you go there.

These could make the

extra points and make all the

difference. Mollie and AJ and their

waltz, but this see them pivot their

way into the final?

This is only

Monday footage. So, I think it's

probably much better by today,

right, guys? Because it looks a

little bid dropped in the body. But

I would say, maybe because she

hasn't got normal shoes on, give her

a couple more inches.

That's the

problem!

It will get you a little

higher in the rib cage and get you a

little bit more, do you know what I

mean? That's when you should come

through so you are a little bit late

and also leaving your bum behind

here.

Take your bum with you, love.

That's terrible!

Debbie and Giovanni

dancing a foxtrot, Kvist top the

American smooth from last week,

which was marvellous?

Yes, it was

and she is glued to her man, as you

can see here, not a gap insight.

Lovely position as well. She is

clinging onto him a little bit that

hand. You would! She needs to go on

the top, not cling around and a bit

too much rotation in the body to the

left. If she keeps her body up to

him a little more shapes at the

back. Other than that, beautiful

dancing, forward to it.

How good was

he? Ten dances!

Right now it's time

to once again push our

Strictly pros to

their absolute limits

and then some.

Charleston swivels

really don't come any

tougher than this.

And he does feature. Lovely. This

year's Strictly Pro Challenge is

heading back in time to the Roaring

20s where our pros will attempt to

set a Guinness World Record title

for the most Charlton swivel steps

in 30 seconds. In order for the

swivel step to qualify our pros will

have to complete one forward and one

backwards step. If there is no

swivel in the feet and ankles the

step will be disqualified. This

year's challenge will be the hardest

our pros have ever faced, but only

one person can claim the title. It's

the Strictly Pro Challenge 2017.

It's time to welcome

our next contender.

He was born in Germany and speaks

fluent Dutch and splits his time

between the UK and Hong Kong. What a

jet setter. Go wild for our very own

Ginger Rogers, Neil Jones!

APPLAUSE

What an entrance! And what they owe

tie.

Firstly, I just wanted

to say thank you for

being here with us today.

It can't have been easy

after last year's incident.

Why, what happened last year? Just

in case you had forgotten, last

year, the lovely meal had all 104

jive flicks and kicks completely

disqualified -- Neil had all 104.

They were great. Recount! Recount!

How do you feel one year on?

I've

recovered, I've been through a lot

of therapy and it's helping.

I'm

glad! This is the Leader Board. Your

gorgeous wife at the number one spot

currently. Do you have the heart, or

indeed the ability, to knock her off

the top spot?

I went in just before

Katya and she said do you have any

advice? I said, honey, use your

arms. I personally think whatever

happens to me I should get those

points.

Nice way of looking at it.

The entire nation is waiting with

bated breath. Let's see how Neil got

on.

I'm a bit worried about the

Charleston, I haven't had as long as

Anton, he's been doing it since he

was born, that's a lot longer than

the rest of us. But I'm going to try

my hardest.

Hello, Neil.

Hello,

everyone.

Welcome to the Strictly

Pro Challenge this year, be looking

forward to you coming.

So have I!

Last year, obviously it was a bit

disaster because... Yeah.

You got

every single step disqualified.

I

know.

Learn from your mistakes?

I've

been working on both steps to find

out that the Pro Challenge is

different this year.

Well, I hope

you do a good job because we've got

the wonderful judge here to

scrutinise every little step you

take.

Keep that swivel going.

I'm

ready.

No pressure.

OK, for your

official attempt beginning in three,

two, one, go.

Good.

15 seconds.

Keep it up, Neil,

come on. Go from zero to hero. Don't

lose it.

Keep swivelling. Five,

four, three, two, one. Stop.

Well

done.

Well done. I think I might

have lost it a bit in the middle,

I'm not going to live.

A little bit.

You are giving us our thumbs in

waistcoat.

I liked that. The hands

were swinging.

I was trying

everything.

Lots of variation and

entertaining, good to watch.

Have I

won?

We don't know, we have to

scrutinise it and let you know

later. But well done, good attempt.

Better than last year.

Thank you.

Yes! You know what, I think this

could be my year, Giovanni is going

down.

Neil, taught me through the arms.

I

was trying everything. -- talk me

through. I'm the original chicken, I

thought thumbs in, let's try

something different, try everything.

It was your facial expression that

was my favourite. After each of the

professionals had made their

attempts the footage was watched

back by adjudicators in slow motion

to verify every civil swivel to make

sure they were all accurate. --

every single swivel. And because it

was knew they were obliged to check

it twice. Only kidding! 19 is the

score to beat to put you in front of

Katya. Neil Jones, in 30 seconds,

you are so excited. You completed...

DRAMATIC MUSIC

19 Charleston swivels. Exactly the

same as Katya.

19? I'm top of the

Leader Board?

Well, not all of those

swivels were legal. Wait for it.

Eight disqualified steps. Giving you

a score of 11. It's better than last

year, which puts you joint ninth on

the Leader Board. Look, there you

are. URL above Brendan Cole.

I'm

lower than Pasha.

It's OK.

And Amy.

-- you are above Brendan Cole. I

need to give him a cuddle.

Higher

than zero is OK.

And higher than

Brendan. Time to go to the training

rooms to see how our couples are

training for the second most

important challenge of the week, the

Strictly semi-finals. So sorry!

Foxtrot, we have a priority on the

position. And look where you are.

Head!

I struggled with getting the

feet and the head right. My feet are

killing me, my back is killing me.

Sometimes your body gives up on you

and I feel that's what has happened

to me today.

Head! Three... Head!

This is semifinal week. We can't

make a mistake.

It can't just be a

good dance. It's got to be a great

dance.

Nice, go, go, go, beautiful!

The Rumba has gone through stages of

yeah I've got it, too I've not got

it at all. So confused.

Look at me,

the Rumba is a very challenging

dance.

I keep trying to lead the

dancers.

OK, I'm coming back.

But

he's the guy, not me.

He loves being

the woman.

I'm trying to make it

look like it is extremely easy. Two,

three, four. But it's not.

I know.

It's time now to welcome four of

Strictly's unsung heroes - or should

that be sung?!

They've got some of the best pipes

in the biz - please go wild

for the wonderful Hayley,

Jamie, Andrea and Tommy!

CHEERING

At last, you are here. Welcome,

welcome. Lance could not be here

because we could not fit him on the

sofa but we are sending him some

love. Tommy, you have been here

since the show began, when

televisions were black and white!

How has the music changed?

It was

much more traditional in those days.

Then when Dave Arch came in, the

whole things changed. They are doing

tangos to music that you would not

expect.

It is Dave's fault!

Let's

blame Dave for everything. Jamie,

welcome, new kid on the block. You

have stood in for Lance three times.

How is it to join a show like this?

And how have they treated you? Have

they treated you like the new boy or

have they been nice?

You have been

nice.

It has been a wonderful thing.

It is a departure from what I am

used to doing so it has been good.

Really, really good fun.

Welcome.

Hayley, you got married!

CHEERING

Sent him I love. You did a surprise

wedding, amazing.

Yes, it was ace

prize!

She didn't know, incredible.

Thank goodness she agreed! The

audience don't realise you're

singing everything live. Do you

still get nervous?

Yes, sometimes,

luckily because the days so long,

you are so tired so you're not

nervous. But it doesn't matter how

many years you have been doing it,

you suddenly get the fear for no

apparent reason. It could be on the

song you have sung a million times.

The panic sets in, but you get

through it, because you have to.

There is no choice.

Andrea, you have

the best seats in the house. I love

it when they cut your cheeky face

peeking over. Do you get distracted

by the shenanigans on the floor?

I

don't. When I am singing, I don't. I

try not to look because otherwise it

puts me off my singing!

You are a professional.

I try.

I

like the way you say I don't which

means the others do. Tommy, when do

you know what songs you will be

singing in the week?... Usually by

Monday evening or Tuesday at the

latest. It is not much time. We have

three or four days to get the lead

vocals ready and the backing vocals.

They are often much tougher. That is

not a long time. Jamie, your

repertoire is often different to the

others. What do they call you in

for?

Be called me in for anything

that is remotely rocky or high.

Like

The Darkness. That was so good. How

can you sing that high?

I don't

know!

Have you always been able to

sing that high?

Yes, I think so!

Hayley, how can we forget your

stunning performance during Ruth and

Anton's paso doble. Let's remind us

of your brilliance.

SHE SINGS VERY

HIGH.

APPLAUSE

That is our goal. So good! Was their

pressure performing with two iconic

people.

I knew it would be

ridiculous. Anne Dunham said I am

about to go into the routine --

Anton said. They said we need

something more dramatic, what can

you do? And then they said, that is

it!

We could not get you here

without asking you to sing for us.

Make our dreams country. The

Strictly sinners. -- sinners.

# I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

# Just like the ones I used to know

# Where the tree tops glisten

# And children listen

# To hear sleigh bells in the snow

# I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

# With every Christmas card I write

# May your days be merry and bright

# And may all your

Christmases be white.#.

CHEERING

That's amazing! Christmas has begun,

people! Give it up for Hayley,

Jamie, Andrea and Tommy and the

band, a wonderful?! Hours Strictly

Singers! Time to welcome our final

guests of the evening.

These two are...

Automatic, systematic, hydromatic.

It's Mollie and AJ!

You have improved so much, I am

stunned.

Identity with Bruno at all.

I thought you were dancing by

numbers, I have to be honest.

Your

timing was impeccable today. I

thought you got it just right.

Impeccable!

Hello, Semi-Finalists!

Let's talk about that Rumba.

You've waited to be

Sandra Dee your whole life -

was Saturday night worth the wait?

It was so worth the wait. I think

literally that has been one of my

favourite nights ever. I loved

playing the part and dancing with

AJ. And we got two nines!

I love how

excited you are with those! My

little girl Nellie was watching and

she said, look at the Hat! That was

good with action going on there.

It

was -- look at that hair! I think

you were born to play the role.

You

had to leap into his arms, Mollie.

When he first said, you are going to

run off a bridge and leap into my

arms, how did you feel about that?

I

said OK, as long as you catch me.

In

slow motion.

I love the slow motion!

I said you had better catch me, you

had better catch me! He was so calm

about it.

Would would have been

quite embarrassing if he couldn't.

You had your joint highest scores

there, 31, your first nine from

Shirley, it is never too early.

Latin Queen as well.

But Craig was

not happy about the lift. AJ, at

this point in the game, you have to

impress the dealers and do you throw

the rule book out of the window a

little bit?

Mollie house to get off

the prop and if she is jumping, I

have to be there to catch my

princess. So I thought I would spin

around in place on the floor.

Said

effectively not a lift? I cannot

jump off and land on the floor. And

she cannot step because it is a big

one.

We are allowed to get off the

prop anyway.

I need to check the

rule book again. It is so huge!

Bruno loved the fireworks. Has it

been hard to work on that storyline?

Did hard to work on the storyline,

there are so much technical ability

and then obviously getting into

character. We have to mould it

together on the day.

I love you two.

We love you, Zoe!

Two dances, you

have waltz and Sam Byrne. You are

dancing to Shakira, -- the Sam

Byrne.

You're dancing to Shakira's

Whenever Wherever.

I'm legally required to play it.

MUSIC: "Whenever,Wherever"

by Shakira.

Shakira's hips famously don't lie -

are your hips telling the whole

truth and nothing but the truth?

I hope they are. The honest truth

is, I once said to AJ, let's avoid

the samba, because I never thought

we would get to this point that we

would be doing all the routines, and

now it has crept up on us. The samba

is the one that is left. It has come

back to get us in the semis. Where

are throwing everything into it.

We

are working extra hard. Mollie has

got to go out there and let her in

going. She has got to have a great

time and have a party dance.

You're

getting so good. And also the waltz,

Sarah McLachlan, Angel. It is

beautiful. As the ballroom girl,

does it float your boat?

I love

this. It is such an emotional song.

I even love it in the rehearsals,

literally. There is so much to

concentrate on, but the song is

amazing. I love the waltz. I

literally can't wait to do this one.

It is a gorgeous night. It will be

something special on the night. I

cannot wait for this performance.

If

you get through this weekend, you

will be in the final of Strictly

Come Dancing 2017. I'm just saying

that. Last year, you went out in the

semifinal, how can you make that not

happen?... You have got to give it

everything.

We will give it

everything that we do every week.

Mollie works so hard. She puts

herself under so much pressure. We

go out there, we have the best time

of our lives and we just have fun.

Somebody said we have broken the

Strictly record for the amount of

hours trained.

Well done! Good luck

this weekend. I hope it works out.

Mollie and AJ!

That's all we have time for tonight.

We'll be back here tomorrow at 6:30

getting all the gossip

from Joe and Katya.

Hot lips Karen Clifton takes

on the Pro Challenge, and Vicky Gill

will be letting me have a rummage

through her clothes rails!