Episode 18 Strictly - It Takes Two

It's Wednesday. Coming up on tonight's show, Jason and Kristina

lost pole position on the leaderboard this weekend. They're

here live. I'm chatting to Audley and Natalie about how they got to

grips with the foxtrot. It wouldn't be Wednesday without him. Ian Waite

is here to give us the latest news Live from Television Centre, this

is Strictly It Takes Two. Please welcome your host, Zoe Ball.

APPLAUSE Yes, hello, close the shutters and

bolt your doors. It's Strictly Hallowe'en week. Our couples will

be sending chills up your spine and taking a dance on the dark side

this weekend. On Sunday, one of them will go bump in the night and

disappear from the competition forever. SINISTER LAUGHTER

One pair sure to put us under their spell are Jason and Kristina.

They're near a second. But first, here's a recap of how they did at

the weekend. You got the performance, but you

lacked the technique. You looked great when you were standing still.

You lit up the room. You create the atmosphere. It was a great

performance, but not your best so far. You tried to make a big meal

out of this paso. You got indigestion. You need to keep your

shoulders down at all time. You need to follow through all the

lines that you create. It's a real shame actually, because the

intention, I know, was there. You go out and dot best you

possibly can. I don't think that was a bad job. All the comments

were pretty fair. If anything else, what this does is make me work

harder. Jason and Kristina! APPLAUSE

Hello. They're a lively bunch in the studio tonight. It's Hallowe'en.

That's why. Almost a full moon. It's scary. First week that you

weren't at the top. Were you surprised by the sudden downturn of

scores on Saturday? I think in a funny way it was a bit of a relief.

Because everyone talks about it and talk about, you know, well, where

are you going to be next week. There's probably only one place to

go, unless you maintain it. You can't maintain that the whole time.

I thought the whole landscape of the competition in terms of

everybody else, the celebrities, just went up a notch as well. But

vi to say, I was really happy with my performance Saturday. I also

felt it was a much better performance than the dress

rehearsal as well. Was there a lot of pressure this week, Kristina,

could you feel it? Definitely. We were at the top of the leaderboard

for three weeks. It prove that's Jason, even though he comes from a

musical theatre background, he has to work as hard as everybody else,

if not more. Paso was really hard. That's why I wanted the dance to

come early in the competition, get it out of the way. I imagine a

worse performance, but when I watch it at home, the knees at the

beginning was incredible. And even the professional boys hate doing

the knee walk because it hurts so badly. He was a trooper. He did it

amazingly all week long and on the night as well. You were very

pleased with him. I was proud. you should be. What was it like to

kick off the show, does that add to the pressure to go out first?

think it's tough going on at any point during the show. I do think

there is a level to be set and also, they say that the audience isn't

quite as warm... They're not warmed up. Yeah, but as far as performing

goes and having performed, it doesn't matter when you go on. I

get into a zone and a moment. Once you're out there, it takes over.

Something sort of takes over. exciting to open the show to be

honest. It works against us, because the judges were slightly

grumpy I think at the beginning of the show. They weren't yet warmed

up. They got better by the end of the show. More generous with marks.

I suppose they have to have somewhere to go as well. If you

give good marks in the first dance where can they go with it? Do you

think you're so good that the judges are extra critical of you?

Yes, I think so. But they have to be. That's part of the role that

they have to play. I respect what they have to say. I think the one

thing I took away from this weekend is you've got to provide

entertainment. Let's, you know we saw Rory go, who is a great friend

of mine. Were you gutted to see him go? Yeah I was. He was genuinely

upset. He puts a lot of effort and is passionate about dancing. That's

what this show is about. You have to remind yourself when you get

deluded by scores and routines and what Harry is doing or Chelsee's

doing, calm down. We're here to have a bit of fun and get into the

spirit of this experience. Speaking of having fun, Len seemed obsessed

with your firm buttocks on Saturday. I loved that. As we were all were

frankly. Very nice. We were trying to work out did he like a firm

buttocks or not sure? I don't know what he was talking about. Actually,

his position, which in paso doble the man is supposed to stand with

his hips slightly forward, arch in the back and all of that, it was a

beautiful position. It was really great. I think Len liked it.

think he wants to swipe his credit card in between my buttocks when he

goes to his local offlicense to get his milk and bread. Stop it.

only kidding. It's a bit of fun. Sarah online said, "The paso is a

difficult dance. I reckon Jason did a darn good job." There we go.

Thank you so hutch. Changing the subject. I think Len might have

been spending a lot of time in a plane with cabin pressure as well.

It has slightly gone to his head. He is working hard at the moment.

This week the quickstep, so far, it's been quite a successful dance

for our celebrities on the show this series. Is it going to be a

good one for Jason? You're smiling. I think so. It's a great story in a

dance, you know, afteriously with his acting background, it comes

really easily to him. Also, I think the whole ballroom frame and

everything helps to feel confident about the dance. I hope it's going

to be a good week. Nothing is easy in this competition, I'm so sorry.

I know, I've been there. Nothing is easy. This is the music you're

dancing to. # Bewitched, bewitched... #

When they said you were dancing to bewitched, we thought it was the

den im-clad bewitched. It will be slightly faster. A bit of a theme

this week, you like a theme as an actor. Does it work in your favour?

Definitely. Absolutely. I think to immerse yourself in a character is

what the judges are looking for and hopefully the audience are looking

for exactly the same thing. Kristina has done some great

choreography this week. She always does. The quickstep is about being

in sync, frame, foot work and hoping for the best. Speaking of

character, we think you may have been channelling somebody into your

performance. The legendary Michael Jackson himself. Check this out.

I would like to see a bit more I keep doing a Michael Jackson

impersonation. Where is my Michael Jackson solo? If you have marked

your performance well, you can almost let it go and live inside

the character that you are. # You've been hit by a smooth

criminal... # You are Michael Jackson. That's

cool. We love it. Good luck with the rest of your training, Kristina

and Jason! APPLAUSE

It's time for another It Takes Two teaser. We've been finding out a

few interesting facts about some of our pro dancers. See if you can

guess who everybody is talking about. Can you guess the dancer

from these clues? He is talented. Tall. Handsome. And unfortunately

married. This person is outspoken, arrogant, talentless and is my

friend. This person is never happy. This dancer is definitely one of

the naughtiest on the show. This dancer has appeared in every series

of Strictly Come Dancing. Whoi, do you think it is? Find out later in

the show. And we'll reveal all at the end of the show. Now, as our

couples work hard for Hallowe'en week, who better to koost an all-

seeing eye over the training than our own wizard himself, Mr Ian

Waite. Please welcome Ian Waite!

APPLAUSE Hello Blondie. Nice to have you

back. Good evening gorgeous. sound so formal. What a weekend it

was, quite a change around. Jason knocked off the top spot. Harry got

a ten. Chelsee went flying up the leaderboard. We said goodbye to

Rory. You just can't call it, can you? You can't. Who would have

thought we would have had Jason's name engraved on the trophy already,

wouldn't we? He's been doing so well. Probably not necessarily a

bad thing, because he has something to work towards. He was still

amazing on Saturday. Fplgts yes. Who are we starting with? Holly and

Artem first. What are te doing? They are doing the American smooth.

It's looking very smooth throughout. Holly's really impressed me with

this. She's improved on all the things that I was talking about

last week. I'm going to draw this in here. She has a banana shape

with her body. That's a lovely shape. So that mean noes gapping.

She has the contact throughout. Her lovely leg up there. Her head

position is right. The only but for me is that sometimes she's looking

down. This is in rehearsals and I'm sure she will eradicate that by

Saturday. Looking extremely good. So far then Holly big tick. We like.

Let's look at Lulu and Brendan. Brilliant samba on Saturday. This

week it's the paso doble. How is she looking? This is early days,

for me, sometimes Lulu looks a bit lost. She needs to look a bit more

direct and a bit more secure in where she's going and what she's

doing. My main critique of Lulu this week is arms. What's wrong

with the arms? I'd love her to start getting some sort of shaping

in the arms. They're dancing paso doble. It's all about the bull

fighter and the flamenco dancing. That's what I want to see in her

arms. Lots of shaping and curves. There you go Lulu. Do you it so

well. Anita and -- Robin. They are doing a tango. How are they

looking? Very well. I'd love to see, she's looking very straight up.

good? It's creating, if you can see the light between the two of them.

Gapping. There's a big gap here, yes. There's a big gap there and

I'd like to see a bend in the knees because I think that would get her

hips underneath. Because it is tango. It is in many directions, we

keep the knees low and keep it compact. That would make her dance

her body up to Robin a bit more. love how I start doing it.

hoping everybody at home is doing it. And we're happy that Robin is

wearing his sweat band that we gave him last night. It looks so cute on

him. Robbie and Ola are doing the paso doble. Having seen them do so

well at tango, I think he will make a good matador, yes? It's good for

him because his character, his character, Robbie is all about, I

mean he's a masculine and he's dramatic. I think he's got that

sort of strong character that the paso doble needs. What I'm stopping

it here for is, I'm going to do that, oh, no that's not right.

Can't operate his machinery. going to do that. There you go. His

bottom. In paso doble, a bit like with Anita, I've got a problem with

his dropped bottom. If he was to... Everybody has a problem. I've got a

problem with my dropped bottom. Sorry. He needs to open his hips,

clench his buttocks and then he'll be like what Len said to Jason last

week. Firm buttocks. Hips underneath and then he can apel and

walk off doing heel leads. Can you do that again. Apel and walk off.

love it when you do that. Looking very fiery in my waist coat and red

shirt. Let's look at Nanton as I like to call them. This is the

rumba. Nancy tells me she's an expert at making love. She should

be good at this. I'm excited about that. But I would like to say, for

me, one minute she looks stiff and the next she looks floppy. I'd like

to see more consistency in her body action and body movements. Here, we

can see it's an opening out. I'd like her to use these hips and

bring them out like Anton is doing at the moment. I will do a

demonstration with you. This is opening out. Was that St? Thank you

for that almost round of applause. I'd like to see it more three

dimensional with Nancy. We need to see that third dimension. They gave

Alex a hard time for lack of hip action. Nancy needs a bit more.

Russell and Flavia are doing the samba. Now, he's a bit of a party

boy. He brings the party. This should be a good dance for him.

This is perfect for Russell. It's carnival, Brazil, flamboyant.

Typical him. I've slowed it down. I would like Russell, he's doing heel

leads here N samba we don't do heel leads. Is that a hangover from the

tango from the weekend snfrplgts maybe. Last week he spent the week

doing tango. Everything going forward is a heel lead. Here we

pitch our weight forward and dance with the toe first. If I dance with

my weight back then I do a heel. So get your weight forward and you'll

be doing lovely dainty toes everywhere. Flavia, loving the

pants there. Alex and James had the rumba last week. This week it's the

paso doble. How is our lass looking? I feel that Alex is

struggling this week because I think the James is making

choreography a bit more difficult. It's paso doble week. The

choreography is more intricate. The steps are more difficult. She is

struggling slightly. She's clinging to James there at the moment, as

she's running around him. I think by the end of the week, she will sl

got to speed. He's strong as well. That's true. At the moment she

probably, her feet are not in the right place as her body. Hopefully

by the end of the week, she'll be up to speed. She will be. Harry and

Aliona got a ten for the waltz last week. Tango this week. Can Harry

get another high score? It's looking very slick this week.

They've done lots of rehearsals already. I think most on the

leaderboard. Look at that face. What can I say? Like he's being

attacked by a deplted squirrel. Oh, look! He is the devil. I'm loving

the expression. I'm saying they're dancing much slicker at the moment.

It's the extra practice they're putting in. They want to continue

from the success of last weekend and I do think they're going to do

it. I'm loving his expression. He's got the right feeling and

expression, as you can see, explosive face in there. We are

excited by Harry. Chelsee and Pasha are doing the tango. She had a

great show on Saturday. How's it looking this week? Like Holly, I

think she's confident because of their result last week. Her top

line is much better. Her hold has improved immensely from last week.

What I'd like to see, I'm going draw an arrow there. I'm going to

draw a little circle round there, oh, no, no, no. That's not a circle.

You need to practice with it, love. Circle there. I feel that she needs

to be dancing up to him. The problem is dancing without any

shoes on. She needs to get her shoes on and practice with those.

Then she'll pb a bit taller and it will look better. No shoes, bad.

never let you practice without shoes did I? No, and look what

happened - we didn't win. Who is going to give us thrills this

weekend? I think it's the Hs, Holly and Harry this week. They're going

to bring the thrills. And the chills and spills, Nancy, but I

think you know, I'm always excited to see what she produces.

always pulls something incredible out of the bag. Lovely to see you

gorgeous. Come back next week, Ian Waite!

APPLAUSE So handsome. As ever, you have been

keeping your Finger On The Pulse of all things strictly and let us us

know what you think. Hi, my name is Ellen, I'm from North Wales. I

don't know if you notice, during the show, while Tess was speaking,

in the background, James Jordan was messing up Robbie Savage's hair. It

was funny. Thank you. Hello, I'm Charlotte. I'm from Yorkshire. I'm

six. I really want to say that the Argentine tango with Flavia and

Vincent was great. Thank you, bye! Hi, it's Mark, aged four. When

Robbie laid down, I thought it was very good and when Ola wiggled her

hips, I thought that was brilliant. Hi it's Terry from Plymouth here,

just a quick note, was Zoe Ball born with trousers on? Thank you

very much. Bless you Terry from Plymouth. I

know I always wear trousers. Especially for you, I'm wearing a

skirt. It may not happen again. Thank sow much to Charlotte and

Mark and Ellen for your lovely messages. You're gorgeous and so

polite. Our lines are open for you to call us and tell us your

Now on Saturday night, Audley proved yet again that he could

master the ballroom dances. Even Len gave him a standing ovation

while sitting down. Audley and Natalie join me in a second, but

first, here's a reminder of the action at the weekend.

I'm seeing some improvement, particularly in your frame. That's

good. You've done a foxtrot which is probably the hardest technically

to do. I'm sitting here giving you a standing ovation, well done.

could see it, "I'm going to get through this." You lost it a couple

of times. I want you to relax a bit. The more relaxed you are, it

becomes more enjoyable to watch. You did a good job. You should be

proud. These dances are so tough for me. There's no hiding. We

delivered, when it mattered. That's the best we've danced that dance. I

can't ask for no more than that. I'm happy. Definitely. Welcome

Audley and Natalie! APPLAUSE

Audley, you've got a seated standing ovation from Len. That is

praise indeed. Well done you. you, thank you. Were you pleased

with that? Definitely, the judges' comments were uplifting. To get a

standing sitting down ovation from Len, lazy thing. Get up. If you

want to give me a standing ovation, stand up. I was happy. Were you

pleased with the overall performance that you gave on

Saturday night? How was it? I was definitely pleased. The rehearsal

beforehand, I didn't nail the dance, messed it up a few times. Every

Saturday night, I put my best dance in. We danced the dance the best we

have danced it. Can't complain. I thought, if I go out, I've danced

it the best I could. It's hard to learn that dance in a week.

Everybody has said how notoriously difficult the foxtrot is to learn

for the male celebrities. Were you pleased with him? I was extremely

pleased. Like Audley said, it was our best dance that we'd done. It's

very exposing that dance. If you do the wrong rise and fall it looks

very out of sync. We were definitely in syny Saturday night.

You were. Were you relieved to get it out of the way. It's nice to get

the comments from the judges, being the hardest dance. I know we can

put that away and say we've done the hardest dance, now everything

here is a bonus. We can keep improving. I'm glad to get it out

of the way. That rise and fall was hurting my knee. Let's talk about

your knee. We have seen in training you have an Audley sized plaster,

about the size of a loaf of bread. How was your neon Saturday? It was

painful. But at the end of the day, we don't focus on problems. 20

years as a sportsman, so my knee, anything sitting into my knee, the

foxtrot, sit into your knees, I was. Then I done some ballet and jumping

in the air, it took my knee over the edge. I had to try to bring it

Can you imagine. OMG. It's such a workout for you. How's it going in

training? Good. As you can see, I'm like, eight-and-a-half stone

bouncing. With boxing we have the soft ring, we could take away the

impact. This is like going for it. No rest for the wicked. You should

do it on a spring floor. Can't you train in a ring with a bouncy

floor? We should try that. Penelope said on Facebook, "Audley was a bit

of a Mr Darcy on Saturday night, proper hero." Daniel says, "Audley

Harrison should have been a dancer, in the a boxer." There you go. You

can fall back on boxing if your dancing career accidents work out.

Good to know. And Karen has said, also, Karen Hardy, choreography

queen, has said the jive again is really hard. You're getting all the

best ones for the boys to master. Why is it so tricky? There's lots

of, all your weight has to be in the front of the toes. Have you to

really lift your knees up. You're dog a lot of solo work as well. I

can't really hide. You can't hide. You can't hide Audley, look at him!

I might as well just get stuck in. He's going to be on his toes,

pumping those legs. It's hard work. It's a minute 30 and we can do this.

It's 100mph. If you miss a step, you can't catch up. On top of all

that, you have been all the way back to the States this week and

come back with your lovely wife, who is here tonight. She's so

excited to see you. How much training have you squeezed in on

top of your trip back? Fly there, coming back, we went straight to

the gym yesterday, got three hours in. Three hours today. We're

getting there. We like to work under pressure. Yeah we do. Did you

see Len and Bruno on the plane. know, we missed them. They do that

every week and dot show. They were back there in economy.

LAUGHTER BBC budgets! Nice one. You were one

of the first couples up for elimination, each week you have

impressed the judges. Can you go to the top? Each week we've got better

and better. I think if you aim for the top, you can only come down.

Each week to show improvement, shows I'm working really hard. I am

working as hard as I can. To be recognised by the judges an the

beautiful public keeping me in, how can I complain? It's a special day

today. It's your 40th birthday. Happy bairge day darling. And we've

got -- happy birthday darling. We have a special present for you. We

asked a few of your Strictly friends what they would buy you for

your birthday. I would get him a gold watch. A really nice, big pair

of comfy slippers I would buy him a Margeic carpet. After training with

Natalie he could nip back to the States to see his wife and children.

Then still get back to to strictly on Saturday. A pair of Strictly

boxing gloves so he can give Craig a right hook. Some very special

couture, very stylish, Italian boxer gloves. Smaller feet. Fplgts

a ten off Craig because he deserves it with that beautiful style.

right pec. A large Strictly Come Dancing trophy. Go on champ.

Especially for you, we have clubbed together and that's what we decided

to get you. Open it up. It's exciting. OMG!

APPLAUSE We had them specially made for you.

Aren't they stunning. Wow. We will see them on the show. I am going to

wear these with pride. One more message from you, from a bloke

called David, you might know him. Have a look. Audley, in the wise

words of Mohammed Ali, float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. In

your case, just don't dance like an old man. Happy 40th birthday and

keep battling on the dance floor. David Haye. That's cool. Good luck

at the weekend. Audley and Natalie! APPLAUSE

Earlier on in the show, we asked you to work out who our pro dancers

were talking about. Have you guessed yet? Have a look at the

answer. Who was everyone talking about? Did you guess? You guessed

it, it's me. It was our very own bad boy,

Brendan Cole. He's here tomorrow night with Lulu. Thank you to all

my guests tonight. Tune in tomorrow at 6.30pm, when I'll chat to Harry

and Aliona and Russell and flafya. Plus, I'll be check in with head