Dots And Stripes

At the end of the day, Adam's number 1 concern is Adam's ego. No matter what happened, he was going to be the first coach down to 1 artist, and that 1 artist got fewer votes than everyone else left in the competition. We head into the blood baths and Adam will be lucky if Reagan has the opportunity to sing for the save next week.

Yep! No matter what happened, the outcome would have sucked for Team Adam. Adam has always played favorites. The format tonight just forced him to be upfront about it. I'm also soooo curious about what was happening in the room that we didn't see. The way Kelly phrased things made me think DeAndre and maybe Dave were more visibly bothered by what Adam said than was shown on TV. I doubt many places send entertainment reporters to this show anymore, but I would LOVE an on set report to know what went down.

This is what Adam does. When he has multiple artists in the bottom, he picks a favorite. It's interesting that the producers didn't give him a minute to make a plea Reagan without DeAndre standing right there. Adam deserved to lose his team tonight. I said last night he's been phoning it in. That Bruno Mars song was not going to save DeAndre. Reagan, who could not convey the emotional depths of Complicated was never going to see Cry. If Adam is looking for someone to blame, he should find a mirror. Adam can also save a little blame for TPTB. That was a bad set up tonight. It wasn't a fair fight and I give credit to Dave and DeAndre for holding their heads high throughout. Finally, this is why I don't like tweens on this show. I do feel bad for Reagan. She was in a tough spot. Adam's need to baby her is an argument for raising the age limit. If kids can't take the lows of being on a show like this, they're too young to participate.

It is just as much of a popularity contest, maybe even more so because the tie goes to the viewer votes. The voting system for Strictly has it's own flaws. A three person finale can lead to some odd results when you map everything out.

Kennedy definitely went more modern this week. Smart coaching from Jennifer to take the risk now before the blood bath next week. I also liked Jennifer's tweaks to "Because you loved me." MaKenzie was one of my favorite performances tonight. Chris was probably the other one. Adam is so full of it saying no one else could sing "That's what I like." Yeah, I think there are other reasons why most singers on this show would leave that one alone, especially given the number of teens and tweens who do well. Between that and Reagan singing a song completely outside her depth, I feel like Adam is phoning it in.

Of course! If it's Charles vs. Ashley, Charles leaves unless Ashley completely bombs (and even then the judges might be torn).

I loved the theme this week! The musicals lent themselves well to big, crowd pleasing dances. Faye and Gio's Sound of Music was my favorite, even with the Gwen Steani touches thrown in. The judge's comments for Stacey were so over the top it was funny. You would have thought Stacey wrote Les Mis based on those comments. The number was so typically Kevin. Salsa did not suit Joe at all. I don't know why Craig thought he sold the number well, I found his face to lacking in expression. That was Lauren's best dance yet. I thought a bus was heading straight for Charles when I heard he had rumba, but the judges seemed to like it. I find him likable, but they let him off easy for standing around a lot. I thought Karen's hips didn't do the rumba justice either. I agreed with Shirley about Ashley not staying in position, although clearly she is the best dancer overall. Darcy telling Ashley her arm wasn't right, then giving a 10 was strange. We'll see if Ashley really is unpopular this week. Anyone can end up in the b2 with the ties on the leader board, first place got 6 points but last place only got 3. This really will be about who the audience likes best. A Charles v. Ashley b2 would be my guess, but nothing will surprise me.

It's amazing that MaKenzie was a 0 chair turn last season. I didn't watch any of the bring back stuff, but it makes me wonder if there wasn't a hidden gem or two in the mix that Kelsi missed. Lynnea wasn't bad, but she wasn't really live show material either.

iTunes sales no longer count for votes.

Makenzie has become my favorite vocalist this season. Her tone is beautiful. I also really like Kennedy, but I didn't like the second half of her song tonight. Two weeks in a row she felt very cliche. I hope she picks something less obvious next week. I like Sarah Grace too, but that song felt too on the nose, almost like an impression of Florence. Raegan does not know teen angst. At all.

Ironically, I think the Lindyhop is what put her at risk. It made it look like Ashley was at the top of the pack, but it actually didn't change her place on the leader board (she was still third overall). Basically, it made it look like Ashley was safer than she was. This is exactly the time of the season when stronger dancers end up in the bottom 2. I'm a little surprise Lauren has avoided the bottom 2 all season long. I guess anyone who likes her and AJ knows they have to avoid the dance off to stay. I feel like Joe/Ashley/Faye/Stacey are headed to the finals. Maybe Lauren or Charles could play spoiler, but I don't see either of them winning. I did not like Joe's dance at all and the scoring didn't help matters. Please let this "couple's choice" thing be a one season experiment. I think we're done with it for the season anyway

Tyke sounded like he wanted to go home. That was such an odd song choice and he didn't sing it well. I wonder what Adam was really thinking after that one. I'm happy Lynnea even if that wasn't a stellar performance. Kelly is right, she comes in at a major disadvantage, although I do think TPTB are trying to give her a shot. Both her run order last night and tonight make me think that. (Oh look, it is possible to go in an order other than the coaches chairs!) Kelly is very good at this show. Sandy is the best vocalist of the three. Too bad she didn't put out her best performance tonight either.

So disappointed! Kim-Joy should have won. She clearly beat him in 2 out of 3 rounds. I didn’t mind Rahul, I mostly found his bumbling to be funny, but he missed the mark too much to win.

I don't think Adam needed help on that one. He tends to pick dudes he can relate to. A young rock guy? Yeah, Adam's type of artist.

I just realized tonight we have a Kennedy and a Reagan in the top 13. Little things amuse me. I actually think it might be useful to compare these two tonight. I liked Kennedy's vocal better, but everything about that performance was cliche and old. Reagan at least had a very modern song and did her more favors. Overall I think there were a lot of strong vocalists tonight. I'm ok with most of these artists hanging around for a while. My favorites so far might be Chris, MaKenzie, and Sarah Grace. Sarah Grace had a few bum notes, but I like her tone. I like Kennedy, I just wish she had picked a different song or at least done a different arrangement.

I think they were sisters, just not twins. They said something about being born 20 or 22 months apart, which would be even weirder if they weren't related at all.

Yes! These bakers do not need Prue to remind them they messed-up. Look at any of baker's faces and you can tell they are already heartbroken. It's fine for her to say it's too salty, but she doesn't need to follow that up by letting Briony know she blew it. It's not like Briony didn't try her hardest.

I don’t think he was in a good position for a deal. His debt makes a deal very high risk. The debt may become too much for the company. He already had a ton of investors and a lot of debt, so a shark would have a hard time recouping any of their investment if the company folds. I thought Lori was acting strangely there. She wouldn’t come out and say that she wanted equity, but it seems that’s what she wanted. Since when would Kevin put up the money for Lori to get a share? He was right to say focus on his deal now and try to figure out how to work with her later.

It took me a little while to warm to Kim-Joy, but I am 100% sold after the space turtles. It was so strange, but also cute and something no one else there would do.

It was nice to hear everyone talk about the times the show went too far with bending reality. That was one of my bigger complaints with the later seasons. I loved seasons 1-3, but as it wore on it became more about going for the silliest joke and less about telling interesting stories. The writers not finishing scripts until shooting was underway was also insightful as to why the show may have struggled to tell coherent stories later on.

I enjoyed seeing Mark's pressure tactics come back to bite him. How many times have we heard him tell people to make a decision quickly or tell someone to accept his offer without hearing the other sharks out? Kind of nice to see him be on the losing end when an entrepreneur was decisive. I'm also glad they brought Sarah back. I thought she improved since her first go around. She had some good advice and seemed at ease with the other sharks. I hope her deal with Barbara for the tea kits works out.

I'm team Manon on this one. Rahul messed up the first two rounds too badly and didn't do well on the showstopper. I thought Paul was too harsh on Manon for bringing her French influence to her bakes. I liked the signature challenge assignment in theory (bake bread for your sandwich), but when you tell them they need to make a bread that takes 24 hours in a much, much shorter time frame, of course it is not going to be authentic! I felt like Paul was playing gotcha with Manon, trying to prove he knew enough about French baking to find the inspirations. The shirts as a tribute to Jon were a really sweet touch.

I noticed this too! I loved the sweater, but why not wear something more comfortable for the temperature?

Danny had a little back and forth with James Jordan on twitter. That's probably the perfect target for him. I'm sure James loved being relevant to Strictly again for 5 minutes. I enjoyed a lot of the dances. It was a fun night. The scoring was wacky. I wouldn't mind any of Kate, Lauren, or Graeme leaving. Stacey going wouldn't bother me at all, however I know better than to hope for Kevin to leave at this point. I wouldn't be surprised if Faye or Charles end up in the bottom 2 this week. The 10's make it look like they are safe, but the ties make it easier for them to end up in danger. Right now, I see Ashley or Joe winning it all.

I assume tonight’s format was forced to avoid moving This is Us. I missed the coaches. I missed seeing human beings with personalities. With that many singers back to back, it’s hard to remember many of them. I think that means popularity coming in to tonight is going to spur more votes than tonight’s performances.