Back from Blackpool and everyone has been talking about their being a dip in energy, so I wasn’t expecting absolute perfection from this week’s performances. Plus there’s that new gimmick, Instant Dance, in which the couples get a dance style, a new piece of music, quick choice of clothing, ten seconds to think about it, and then go go go. It’s going to be a disaster.

Alex & Johannes - Cha Cha Cha

Jojo’s afro looked amazing. Poor Alex just messed up far too many times in this dance. She managed to retain the confidence and performance aspect despite it clearly being a disaster of a dance. And afterwards she was so upfront about that, and that her body is just entirely fatigued.

George & Alexis - Quickstep

I was a bit worried Blackpool might have been a one off for George, but nope, he smashed this. Really good character, nice and stylish dance. Kept up with all the steps, maybe a couple of tiny mistakes but just felt like some old school joy.

Lewis & Katya - Rumba

“Be brave. Don’t hold back.” Good advice from Katya in the VT. Obviously this was great, it felt like it was leaning towards contemporary rather than rumba - we’ve seen that a couple of times this series already. The spins were great towards the end. How did Katya slide off screen?

Balvinder & Julian - Jive

I’ll be honest, this was much better than I was expecting. There was great character and she had excellent bounce. There were a couple of moments that didn’t look quite right and perhaps a bit tired as it went on, but really enjoyable.

Karen & Carlos - Couple’s Choice

Karen is so amazing. The breakdancing section was fab! Such confidence throughout, I really loved it, it was outstanding. I’m surprised it got a 40 because she was definitely ahead of Carlos at times, getting more and more excited as the track went on and they definitely went out of sync because of it. But small complaints for a wonderful performance.

Amber & Nikita - Jive

Great energy, good kicks and flips, plenty of fun. The slow start went on a bit long for my tastes, but once it kicked in it was amazing. Perfect score.

Instant Dance

Then we had the chaos that was the instant dance. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to it but it was more fun than I expected. Not sure it added much to our understanding of where these dancers are in their journeys, because there were so many variables. But still, interesting to watch all the same.

The scores are massive this week because we have last week’s rollover, so two scores added together, plus the instant dance 6-5-4-3-2-1 on top. No surprises that Lewis tops the leaderboard, with Alex and Balvinder at the bottom.

It was Alex and Balvinder in the dance off, too, and the judges opted to save Balvinder - she’s record breaking now, having survived so many dance offs! Again, it’s a shame for Alex to go home at this stage, she was obviously loving the process, but given the swirling talk of injuries, her own admissions of fatigue and the poor performance on the night, it’s probably the right decision.

Next time is musicals week and I can’t wait!