Is it just me or did this week’s Strictly live show have a very weird feeling about it? Of course we were one contestant down with Amanda Abbington absent for non-specific medical reasons, but the remaining pairs seemed very tense and making a few mistakes. And the judging was all over the place! We are at that point in the competition where it swings from ’this is a good score for a non-dancer trying their best’ to ’now we expect greatness and nothing else’ but still, it felt like a rollercoaster of a show.

Annabel & Johannes - Charleston

Like the jive last week, I was worried about this one because the one word everyone has used for Annabel is elegant, and the Charleston is not really an elegant dance. Actually, it was much better than I thought - she has amazing legs, and was getting all the steps right. The character probably wasn’t quite quirky enough but I thought she did a great job, particularly making a mistake and carrying on. “Probably one of the chicest Charleston’s we’ve seen.”

Nigel & Katya - Foxtrot

Great song, great outfits and great characters. You could sort of see he was concentrating on technique and his frame lacked a bit occasionally. He looked so stylish doing it though. I didn’t notice what a BIG mistake it was, so he did cover it well. I can bet if (when?) he gets to the final, this is one that is called back for a do-over.

Eddie & Karen - Samba

I wasn’t expecting this to be good, and it’s better than I thought it would be, but not great. Took him a while to get into it, and the same old problem, better apart from Karen than with her in hold. Disagreement amongst the judges.

Krishnan & Lauren - Quickstep

Somehow, we’ve all made the situation worse because now Krishnan is gritting his teeth and trying not to count quite so visibly… but we can still see it! A pretty good dance though. Great energy all the way through, so much more personality than in previous weeks.

Angela & Carlos - American Smooth

Light and fluffy, great song. Nice personality. Gentle lift but a good one. Really nice dance, story, they seemed to be having fun. Craig really is in a bad mood this week. Carlos’ sounds are something else!

Ellie & Vito - Paso Doble

How did he do that? In the VT, he said “It’s gonna be just like this,” snaps fingers, city appears! Anyway, wouldn’t have put Insomnia down as a paso song but it really works. Great attack, slightly off beat occasionally, not the best shaping but a really great performance. Craig said nice things about Vito, made him cry. A 10 from Motsi, hooray!

Layton & Nikita - Salsa

“Am I being dramatic?” You are lovely, but that’s ok! This was insanely good. Another professional performance, but where I’ve said that in previous weeks, this was next level. Some ridiculous tricks and lifts and stuff. “Nothing ever looks ugly, untidy,” says Shirley. Three 10s and a 9.

Bobby & Dianne - Viennese Waltz

Light and floaty, good frame, Ballroom Bobbie etc. Boring though. Craig liked it even though not technically perfect which is unusual!

Adam & Luba - Couple’s Choice

BACKSTREET BOYS MEDLEY. I thought nothing could ruin this but… wrong! He is so bad, Luba working twice as hard as he is. They did the chair dance but to the wrong song. Weird. I think the judges fell for the emotional backstory because it wasn’t that great. The best bit was the gang singing Everybody as they climbed the stairs.

Zara & Graziano - American Smooth

Didn’t enjoy that at all - really tentative to start with, felt very slow and long. One of those lifts almost went wrong, absolutely terrifying. Motsi described it well, that she waits for Graz to pick her up. Overmarked.

Angela & Kai - Argentine Tango

First one of the series. Nice legs and good footwork, balance felt a bit off occasionally, but it was amazing, as she always is. Why is there a Chuckle Brother in the audience?

Layton and Nikita on top of the leaderboard again, with Ellie and Angela not too far behind. Nigel can’t have been impressed to be on the second half of the table, but I didn’t think he’d be in danger. The prediction felt too easy this week, Eddie and Zara, and that’s exactly who it was. Eddie was the right person to go, as I said last week, I don’t think he had much of a journey left to go, as fun as he was.

And lo, we’re off to Halloween-land next week! I don’t care about Halloween as much as the movie/musical weeks but it’s always fun to see what the costume departments can do!