We’re halfway through the series and the quality of the dancing is getting better and better each week, as you would expect. But how can we live up to the highs of last week, where we saw the first 40 of the year? Let’s find out!

Lewis & Katya - Cha Cha Cha

This was good, obviously, and not annoyingly good - it was completely watchable and a great dance. The technique looked pretty impressive, considering the cha cha is notoriously tricky.

Karen & Carlos - Charleston

I was expecting great things from this after seeing the training footage, and it delivered. It might be the fastest Charleston I’ve ever seen and it was packed with content, incredible beats and accents. The swivel was a bit hit and miss but I definitely saw some in there. And more importantly, she looked like she loved every second of it.

Alex & Johannes - Paso Doble

If I’m being honest, I found this dance a bit boring and the music wasn’t very inspiring. Alex did a great job but it just didn’t grab me. It was interesting to consider Alex finding it difficult to dance to music that has no lyrics.

La Voix & Aljaž - Foxtrot

Love this dress, all pastels and candy stripes. A lovely song, although the time signatures were variable and tricky. A good dance, very smooth and comforting to watch. I don’t think the frame was the best, but I enjoyed it.

Balvinder & Julian - Couple’s Choice

Emotional backstory, which led to a great dance. It was energetic and enjoyable, and Balvinder looked comfortable doing it. She was a bit overshadowed by the energy coming from Julian, who smashed it.

George & Alexis - Viennese Waltz

Three lookalike friends came to visit George this week. What a great dance this was, I loved it and it seemed much improved on the previous couple of weeks. He covered the floor, sort of wide and over the top in a good way. I was conscious of his thumb creeping up a lot. George split the judges again.

Amber & Nikita - Salsa

This was completely amazing, the atmosphere was fab, the energy brilliant. The lifts were out of this world. The spin with one arm, and then she just gets up and carries on! Nikita was living his best life. Loved it!

Vicky & Kai - Tango

Definitely no nerves in this one, not sure it massively did it for me, but she was really good! Love how she stormed off at the end but then quite quickly ran back into his arms.

Harry & Karen - Samba

Pec-ography. Good for a samba, lots of rhythm and a lot of fun, great song. Not as good as the rest of the pack is the problem at this point. Did look like he was loving it, suited him a lot where most people don’t enjoy the samba.

Lovely to see Vicky at the top of the leaderboard this week!

I guessed it might be La Voix and Alex in the dance off, and that would be okay because Alex said she wanted to have another go.

It ended up being La Voix and Harry, and on the second dance La Voix improved a little to impress the judges, who unanimously decided that Harry should go home. A shame but we’re getting to the tough end of the competition where good dancers will start leaving each week. On we go!