Strictly Come Dancing was back this week, hitting the halfway point but feeling a bit of an anticlimax after the excitement of Icons Week followed by Halloween!
But we needn’t have worried. It was just as glittery and fun as ever, with the Strictly ‘journey’ (yes, we know, we hate that cliche too. But it’s a cliche because it’s true!) really beginning to make an impact on the contestants.
Sometimes we need a reminder that the true brilliance of Strictly isn’t just the sparkles and music. Though obviously that’s a big part of it! But also it’s lovely to see the contestants really changing and becoming different people.
And we thought we saw a lot of that this week.
Here’s what we thought of everything that happened in the ballroom as Strictly Come Dancing hit the halfway point.
Balvinder and Julian smashed their Couple’s Choice (Credit: BBC)
Balvinder impressed
Winning our hearts this week was EastEnders star Balvinder Sopal. She shared some emotional memories of her mum, who died last year. And normally, our cold, cold hearts would have made us roll our eyes a bit at such personal stories being aired. But it didn’t feel that way – just as Lewis visiting his family last week didn’t feel forced or out of place. Maybe after 21 years of Strictly, we’re finally softening up!
Anyway, poor Bal has been in the dance-off three times so far, which seems very harsh.
But this week she danced her Couple’s Choice with partner Julian Caillon. It was a Bhangra-style routine, paying tribute to her mum and to her culture. And it was joyous!
Bal looked like she was loving every minute of her dance – and so did Julian who said learning the unfamiliar moves meant he’d had “the funnest week” of his entire dance career!
It was quite an emotional moment, showing just how resilient Balvinder has been.
And the judges loved it too. Motsi Mabuse gave it a standing ovation. Shirley Ballas said it was Bal’s “best dance so far”. But though Craig Revel Horwood said Bal “owned” the dance, he only gave her 7 points, while the rest of the judges awarded her 9s.
We thought Craig was being a bit unfair, there.
Personal growth!
There was more ‘personal growth’ (urgh, we can’t believe we’re writing these words – what has happened to us?) on show in Amber Davies’s routine with partner Nikita Kuzmin.
They danced an energetic disco-inspired Salsa, which won Amber two 10s – from Motsi and Anton du Beke – and two 9s from Shirley and Craig.
Actress Amber confessed that she’d found dancing ‘as Amber’ quite tricky with no character to hide behind. But whatever she did this week to make her dance more personal obviously worked!
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