Halloween! The timing of this theme week feels a bit off as Halloween isn’t actually until Thursday, five days after this special goes out. But never mind, we’re always ready for a bit of costume and make-up. It can be a challenging week this one, because if you don’t recognise the couple it can be harder to connect to them, but I don’t think that will be a problem this time out.

Absolutely have to give a big shout out to whoever came up with the idea of Craig and Anton being the twins from The Shining. That Charleston step at the beginning with the stoney dead-eyed faces… chilling and hilarious in equal measure! Onto the dancing!

Chris & Dianne - Samba

There really wasn’t much in the way of hips, it felt a little bit jerky and I’m sure I could see him counting at various points throughout. But again, completely amazing. Loved the characterisation and the song fitted the dance perfectly. On first is obviously a concern but I like that Chris just threw it out there - first and a samba, not good odds!

Pete & Jowita - Viennese Waltz

I laughed a lot at the VT of these two, and the dance that followed was really good. An entertaining Viennese Waltz doesn’t come along that often. The theme made it a bit jerky which is hard to reconcile with the style of the dance but I loved it. Great performance and masses of personality.

Montell & Johannes - Cha Cha

This was danced very well, I think, but it didn’t really grab me. I didn’t know the song which didn’t help. They certainly knew it, singing along rather than counting this time. It wasn’t a favourite for me. Also later Montell put on slippers when in the crowd behing Claudia, she really dislikes the heels!

Punam & Gorka - Tango

The CG boat looked amazing, so much better than the crappy cemetery gates that Chris & Dianne were subjected to. It was a medium good dance, done well but I just couldn’t settle into it, couldn’t trust that it was going to go okay.

Wynne & Katya - Salsa

Definitely good tricks, as you’d expect from Katya. You could see that he was putting everything into it. Quite adorable. But if you step back from that, it didn’t really seem like a great dance, and he ended up crawling on the floor which isn’t a great review! The judges liked it more than I did but still, maybe a bit overmarked?

JB & Amy - Foxtrot

Hard to dance in dungarees and looking like a scarecrow. Weirdly I thought the opposite to the judges, that it seemed to get better as it went along. I don’t know if it’s a crowdpleaser though, especially compared to other dances so far.

Tasha & Aljaž - Samba

I really liked this one, thought I was going to hate it with the silly green and blue people, but it was a lot of fun. Aljaž was hilarious with his biceps. Mixing the Frankenstein stiffness with the samba rhythms was very well done and quite impressive.

Shayne & Nancy - Paso Doble

Nancy did an awful lot of the work at the beginning. I like the concept though, very dramatic, but not sure it’s his best work. I just kept thinking of Alton Towers which was annoying.

Jamie & Michelle - American Smooth

Damn these two growing on me all the time. The concept of this is a bit weird though, brother and sister dancing together like that. You just know Wednesday and Pugsley wouldn’t. But I did like the fun pranks and role reversal and stuff, it distracted me from focusing on the dancing so a good job!

Sarah & Vito - Argentine Tango

Great introduction to the Argentine Tango, they really should do this for every dance. What to look out for and stuff. Anyway, the first lift went wonky with a heel in the dress but the rest of it was aboslutely OUTSTANDING. Drama, passion, kicks, flicks, the lifts! People love the Argentine Tango and this is why.

Sam & Nikita - Jive

The lips doing the announcement were great. Costumes have taken a pounding the last couple of dances with Nikita’s falling off in all the wrong places and then not coming off when he wanted it to. But still, can see why they wanted to end on this, everybody needs a bit of Nikita in suspenders. Timing was out occasionally and it was kind of a disaster when it could have been brilliant.

After watching all the dances, I felt like it would be Shayne and Punam in the bottom two, Punam was at the bottom of the leaderboard and has probably been quite lucky over the past few weeks but her time has come. And Shayne, I think how little dancing he did at the beginning of that number will reflect negatively on him, even though he didn’t choregraph it. Jamie, Sarah and Tasha at the top of the leaderboard again, it chops and changes but similar names and faces keep doing very well.

Ultimately, at least, I got a dance off prediction correct and it was Punam who the judges have sent home. I think that’s the right decision but boy are we getting to the meat of the competition now. We’re getting to the point where it’s hard to pinpoint the weakest of the pack and it’s just going to come down to the dances on the night.

Anyway, on to next week, a special theme week to celebrate Strictly’s 20th year - Icons! I’ve seen the dance and track list already and it’s a mixed bag, so can’t wait to see how it all unfolds.