Occasional Hope

Katie was the right one to go this week. Ashley and Faye continue to be a cut above the rest. No real surprises this week, everyone performing more or less at their usual standard. Am I a horrible person for wanting Seann and Katya to dance to 'I Want Your Kiss'?

No, I think the internet is banned, it would Mel it too easy for things like the Malta task.

Are you sure? It's the same production company making the show, just a different channel broadcasting it.

Another battle of two bad teams this week. Somehow I just knew the girls' French magazine would be riddled with errors. Jackie was less annoying this week.

Exactly, The meringues were intriguing as a recipe, and they all did pretty well in the technical. Here's a recipe for vegan meringues: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/vegan-meringues

I assume it was filmed where they said it was set, in the hills just outside Sheffield. It borders onto the Peak District not far off.

Well, I enjoyed that. I liked the new companions, and thought it worked that we got to know them before the Doctor showed up. Sorry they had to kill off Grandma though. Liked seeing the doctor make a new screwdriver, though a bit implausible.

PS, I wasn't massively impressed by the choreography in the Harry Potter thing at the start.

Movie week: my rankings GREAT 1. Ashley - spectacular. That could have been a pro dance on Sunday night. My only criticism is that she was a bit too smily.. 2. Faye - excellent. 3. Danny - dramatic, very good, undermarked. GOOD 4. Charles - beautifully acted and well danced. 5. Vick - liked it. Worried that her early performance and lack of fanbase coming in could just put her in this week's bottom two, although not that likely. 6. Lauren - another good dance. MID RANGE 7. Dr Ranj - light and charming, makes up for flawed technique. 8. Graeme - seemed a bit slow for a Charleston but very entertaining. 9. Joe - as expected, a bit more tentative in ballroom than he was with the fast dances, but not at all bad. NOT SO HOT 10. Kate - overmarked, felt she was rather awkward, not to mention the unfortunate stumble. 11. Stacey - competent enough dancing but I felt the quirky costumes were an attempt to hide how utterly boring the actual dance was. 12. Katie - much improved from last two weeks, but still not a natural mover. But nice to see her looking happy and confident. 13. Seann - the judges may have liked it, but I fund his demeanour laughable, and not in a good way. Lucky they told us it was the Matrix, because otherwise I would have said he was playing the older Jedi in that really bad Star Wars prequel. 14. Lee. He didn't deserve to be in the danceoff last time. This week, he really really does. Very awkward and out of time. I predict a danceoff of Lee versus Lauren, Katie or Vick, Lee to go home. Bruno seems to be more OTT than ever. Shirley spent half the time he was talking literally cowering in her chair.

Jasmine wasn't a good leader, but think she deserves some leeway as she was pushed into being PM. And Sarah was fairly ghastly on screen. She prob came across worse in person, 24/7. (Sarah was on the front page of one of the tackier tabs about a naked photoshoot yesterday. What a surprise.) I don't think they did team names. I suppose they only really need one once they've mixed up the genders.

Initial thoughts The task Sarah was particularly irritating, thank goodness she’s gone. But Jackie is an unlikeable games player, so hope she doesn’t last too long. Kayode is all talk and no substance. As a public speaker he seems to use nothing but cliches. The girls seem rather mathematically challenged. the boardroom: LOL at the exchange over the octopus “you brought me a real live octopus“ - “actually, it was dead”. Nice to see one of the boys has some self awareness, noting they won only by default. I haven’t registered all their names yet, so not sure which one.

another year, another season.

His partner was Susannah this year, not Katie, btw.

It all went wrong for Dan, but Manon was pretty close to the edge. Rahul is the most consistent overall through the competition so far, but when was the last time 5he front runner won this show?

Candice invited her season's fellow competitors to make cakes for her wedding: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-6226709/Bake-winner-Candice-Browns-stars-carefully-craft-12-unique-wedding-cakes.html

What a very gracious exit. The judges can’t have had to think much about that decision.

I think it's too early in the season for 10s.

The overall standard is pretty high this year. My rankings for ep 2: GREAT 1. Joe - really enjoyed that performance, and he showed signs of an engaging personality too. If he wins this, it isn't going to be because of his youtube followers. BUT - was doing two fast dances in a row a tactical error? We don't know if he can replicate this form in ballroom or a sensuous dance like the rumba. Also, if this Charleston had been delayed a few weeks, I reckon he could have got a significantly higher score for it. But right now, he's my favourite. 2. Faye - dramatic, sexy and elegant. A real contender for the title. 3. Danny - excellent performance. 4. Vick - lovely graceful balletic performance, perhaps now reaping the fruits of her earlier training. Could be at risk of B2 due to lack of fanbase, but I think tonight will have won her enough votes to escape. MID-PACK/GOOD 5. Ashley - undoubtedly a very competent dancer, but it was a bit cabaret showgirl for me. Is in danger if she ever drops to the bottom half of the scoreboard, imo. 6. Dr Ranj - fun, fun, fun, making up for technical shortcomings. Possibly same tactical error as Joe. 7. Stacey - good, confident performer. Out of sync in places but I felt undermarked. Could develop into a contender. =8. Kate - not bad. =8. Lee - pretty decent jive, but still not warming to the personality. NOT SO HOT 10. Lauren - a bit limp, especially compared to the week's other Charleston. Possible B2. 11. Charles - not too bad, but rather heavy footed. Showed some charm in his performance. 12. Susannah - much better than last week, but still not up to much. May survive thanks to Anton's fanbase and a sympathy vote. 13. Graeme - walky and hunched over, but delightful personality will carry him through. 14. Seann - he tried. Another B2 candidate. 15. Katie - stiff and ploddy. B2 and possible boot?

The elimination this week was extremely obvious. The editing also signalled fairly clearly that Kim Joy would be star baker. I like ginger if not too strong, but I don't like anything else spicy so I didn't really fancy any of this week's bakes, but some of them were very pretty. LOL when Manon's starting falling off as it was being judged though.

not a bad start. Dr Ranj and Joe Sugg were surprisingly good, as was Graeme. Faye, Ashley, Stacey and Lee also very good. Charles and Danny pretty strong too. Vick I felt was under marked and looked really disappointed in the crowd after the other performances. Unless she does better next week she could be at risk of the first boot. Susannah was poor but a 1 from Craig seemed a bit harsh.

Oh, I fully admit he didn't mean it that way. But It looked like Ruby didn't appreciate it. Tonal awkwardness, if you like. I've seen meringue roulades before. But never an uncracked one.

Loved Jon this week. The guys generally seem to be stronger atm. I still can't quite warm to Dan - he probably meant his "no cheating" to Ruby to be joky but it came across a bit nasty.

Rahul seems to love the English countryside. It's so sweet.

Poor Antony, he seemed so lovely. I would have preferred Briony to go home this week. Rahul is very sweet but needs to start showing a bit more confidence.

The celebs I will particularly hate this year based pm their VT on the launch show 4. Joe - didn’t hate him as much as expected but feel he isn’t taking this seriously. I may be wrong. 3. Seann - says not trying to be funny, which is lucky because he isn’t. 2, Lee - just really annoying. 1, Ashley - wow. I thought Lee was going to be this year’s bete noire and then she came on in all her overconfident glory. She came across as a really awful person, IMO. She can’t have realised, surely? Please let her go out really early, ideally first.