Strictly Speaking - James and Ola: Katya's falls, Anneka's horrendous dancing and Karim was undermarked!

James and Ola Jordan have their say on Movie Week


strictly come dancing column
On 6 October 2019

It's all go in the Jordan household - the couple are in a taxi on the way to the airport for some filming in theh Greek islands. "I'm feeling good," says Ola who is 4 months pregnant with the couple's first child. "But everything takes longer than you think it's going to now. Even putting my shoes on is an effort!" But despite a busy travel and a work schedule, these former Strictly pros and global dance champions never miss an episode of Strictly Come Dancing - and this week they're filling us in on the talking points of the third live show: Katya's falls, Kelvin's incredible scores and who really deserves to be in the bottom two.

James: Overall, the show as a whole was a lot better than last week. There was some really really strong performances whereas last week everyone was just a little bit average.

Ola: There was great choreography from the professionals and I always love movie week! I think the hair and makeup team are just amazing - the way they painted Dev blue was so cool - I love seeing what they come up with.

Dianne and Dev were a hit

James: As do I, but I do think sometimes movie week choices really enhance a performance but at other times it's at a detriment - the music's not good, or the costumes makes it all a bit of a joke. So some people get a bonus and for others it's bad news.

Ola: Yeah - it can be great. Because everything comes together - the dance, the music, the choreography, the costumes. But sometimes the song doesn't quite work for the Paso or the Samba. It just doesn't look right.

James: I feel that Karim suffered last night - the song didn't work with the samba, they were dressed up as Kung Fu pandas. The judges complained that he didn't have the correct samba action but it's hard to get the correct samba action if the music is not asking for it.

Ola: And even under all that fur that he was wearing you could tell that he's still an amazing dancer - so that's really an achievement! Like despite that weird song he's still got the dancing. He was amazing.

James: Yes, I think he was way undermarked. I'm not saying that there's biased judging but for me Karim was CLEARLY better than others that were marked above him. Like a million miles ahead. There is no way that any person dancing judge could say that some of the people that were in front of him should have been, because he was far far superior. And that's a fact - so that's slightly frustrating because there were a handful of people that were marked in front of him that shouldn't have been.

Ola: I guess the judges could say 'I prefer someone else's performance more because of the music and the costumes and the song and everything'. Maybe they just are not into Kung Fu Panda!

James: Yeah but they're supposed to be marking the dancing.

Ola: Supposed to be. But in this situation, obviously not!

James: Like - I love Aljaz and Emma - I love them as a couple, but last night she was not good. She had bad posture, her head was in an awkward place, she was stiff through movement, there was a gap in between them you could've driven a bus between. It just really wasn't good and yet she got four 7s and Karim was getting 6s. For me it's nonsensical.

Ola: There was a lot of fuss on Twitter about Kelvin's perfect 10s too wasn't there?

James: Yes! Lots of people were saying it's too early for 10s - for me it's never too early for 10s. If a performance is worth a 10 it should get a 10. Would I have given him a 10? No. I believe it was a strong 9. Personally I would've given Dianne and Dev a 10. For me that was exceptional.

Ola: So you don't think Kelvin should have got the 10s then?

MORE: Kelvin Fletcher's daughter Marnie has the cutest reaction to her dad's high score

Kelvin and Oti received the first 10s of the series

James: It was my personal feeling that the lifts weren't that great, it just looked awkward so I wouldn't have given it a 10. But that's not taking anything away from the dance, it was still a brilliant dance. But for me but for me the dance of the night was still Dev and Dianne.

Ola: You know what James, I actually do agree with you. I think Dev and Dianne deserved a 10.

James: Of course you agree with me. That's because I'm always right!

Ola: This time! This time.....So what other talking points did we want to discuss. What about Katya's fall. I mean I know it happens but - I'd just like to say, I never fell over!

Katya's falls got everyone talking

James: Well pros are only human - we do make mistakes. Whether you slip over, slip on the dress, I've seen Brendan fall over loads of times, I've fallen over in shows before. It happens! But then she came upstairs and as soon as she fell over going into Claudia's room we instantly knew that was fake.

Ola: Yeah it was obvious that she was just making a joke about her fall, but then loads of people were going mad about it! Saying was she drunk!

James: She even went on Twitter later to explain it. But we knew from the beginning she was just having a laugh. To be honest with you I thought they both dealt with the real fall quite well. She tried to sell it as best she could. Mike didn't know what to do - whether to help her up or continue but they continued, they got through it, it happened, these things do!

Anton's teeth were also a massive talking point

Ola: Then the next hilarious thing was Anton's teeth! When Craig said he thought they were false!

James: Yeah, we've been talking about was it a set up? Maybe - probably, but it was very funny. Anton is funny anyway. It's unusual for Craig to be funny, he's normally the miserable one! Whatever it was, it was a bit of TV magic and Anton takes things like that brilliantly anyway.

Ola: He's the loveliest guy - it was so the best person to happen to. He'd never get upset by anything like that.

James: Yes, someone else might have taken it badly! It's a bit like saying someone's fat - or when you go, 'I didn't realise you were pregnant' and they're not - it's a little bit awkward isn't it?

Ola: Haha! I'm going to start doing that to people when they say that to me! I'm going to so, 'no, no I'm not! I've just been eating a lot!

James: So who do we think did worst out of movie week. You really didn't like Anneka's did you? It was a pretty horrendous dance.

Ola: I mean really, what was that about? She didn't dance at all, she was running around the floor, I couldn't really make out what that was!

James: It was bad. But the theme and song really didn't help did it? It certainly wasn't for me.

Ola: No sadly, she deserved to be in the bottom place. Definitely. If the public wants to save her because they like her then fantastic, but on dancing it should be her in the bottom two with David?

Anneka's dance didn't impress

James: Did anyone surprise you this week?

Ola: I liked Emma with Anton, I liked Emma's dance. I didn't expect it to be good but the whole theme worked well for her, she danced well. I enjoyed that one a lot.

James: And for me, I felt Chris lifted his game this week. He looked really great when he was dancing apart from Karen. When he was dancing with her it was a bit awkward, he needs to work on that. But overall I felt he really improved and I can see he's got something. I think he's going to be the dark horse of the competition.

Be sure to check in next week to see what James and Ola think about Strictly's fourth week.

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