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Last night’s live show recapped
A rewind of Saturday night’s Icons Week action on-screen now. Couple’s Choices from Tasha Ghouri and JB Gill clock up the 10s! Sarah Hadland takes it to cha-cha-church! Shayne Ward dresses up like my Sergeant Pepper grinder! Hey, who needs those smoke-filled sliding doors on Stars In Their Eyes?
Frockwatch
Here’s our presenting pair, so let’s compare their couture. Tess Daly is in white bodice and trousers. Claudia Winkleman is in chic black with beaded neckline and pocket details. Poppies present and correct in both cases. Claud wins, making it another clean sweep for La Winkle this weekend.
And we’re off!
Roll clap-along credits. Five of these couples have left us. Who will become the sixth in around 35 minutes time? See if you can guess from the sadness behind their smiles.
Buckle up, ballroom watchers. We’re about to go back to the Elstree Studios ballroom…
K-Pop comes to Elstree
Tonight’s musical guests are K-Pop’s latest big boyband, the oddly named dearALICE. Who from the name alone, sound to me more like goth rockers than teenyboppers. Pretty sure I saw them at Reading Festival in the 90s.
Anyway, just five minutes to wait now…
Majestic new nature series Asia on BBC1 approaching its end right now. Lovely to hear the reassuringly familiar whispery tones of Sir David Attenborough again – 98 years young and still the don.
The mudskippers, sea bunnies and baby whales have been my highlights so far. That army of sea snakes might slither its way into my dreams tonight, though.
It’s a mere 10 minutes until we go from wildlife to waltzes. Any last dance-off predictions?
Are you ready for Jojo’s jelly?
Tonight’s pro group dance is a Beyoncé medley, with Johannes Radebe channelling his inner Sasha Fierce as the Icons Week routine’s protagonist. Expect high heels, sassy moves and full fabulosity.
Fifteen minutes until glitter o’clock…
Nervy night for mid-table quartet
A pack of four celebrities scored around the 30-mark last night, leaving them in the bottom half of the leaderboard on a high-scoring night – namely Sam Quek, Chris McCausland, Wynne Evans and Jamie Borthwick, who were all marked between 29 and 31 points.
Along with Pete Wicks, this foursome in particular will be making “phone hand” gestures and hoping that viewer votes keep them clear of the dance-off. It’s just 20 minutes until glitter o’clock…
Another flurry of perfect 10s last night
We saw seven more maximum scores handed out last night – three 10s for JB Gill, three for Tasha Ghouri and one for Sarah Hadland. Somehow reassuring that Craig Revel Horwood’s perfect paddle remains mothballed.
It’s 25 minutes until we’re back in the ballroom…
Will the public vote save Pete Wicks’ skin?
After last night’s live show, salsa-ing Freddie Mercury impersonator Pete Wicks was cut adrift at the bottom of the leaderboard by a massive seven-point margin – the biggest gap of the series so far.
Will voting viewers ride to his rescue? If so, will we see another dance-off shocker? It’s less than half an hour until we get our first clues…
Who will fall at the halfway hurdle?
Icons Week is about to claim its first ever victim. Good evening and welcome to the latest elimination of Strictly Come Dancing 2024. I’m Michael, your virtual dance partner for tonight’s results show. Please watch along with me as the sixth celebrity is sent home, bowing out at the precise midway mark of the contest.
Following last night’s high-scoring live show paying fancy-dressed tribute to music icons, our 10 surviving pro-celebrity pairs will be whittled down to nine. The judges’ scores have been combined with the public vote. Tonight the bottom two will perform again for survival. So who’s in dance-off danger?
Pete Wicks was bottom of the leaderboard by a long way. Sam Quek and Chris McCausland were joint second from bottom but will voting viewers agree? If not, the likes of Shayne Ward or Wynne Evans could be at risk.
It’s showtime at 7.20pm on BBC One. I’ll be liveblogging from 6.50pm, providing build-up, rolling coverage, analysis, reaction and a pinch of mild mickey-taking. So snuggle up, hunker down and see you on the sofa.
As always, I’d love to hear from you too. You can tweet me @michaelhogan, email me at michael.hogan.freelance@guardian.co.uk and the comments section below is open for conversational fireworks. I’ll contempo-waft down there whenever I can to see what you’re all saying and report on your comments.
Buckle up, ballroom-watchers. Nearly time to staaaaaart iconic eliminating!
An iconic goodnight
Phew, what a show. Faintly ridiculous but highly entertaining – in large part thanks to your excellent running commentary.
That concludes tonight’s twinkle-toed, badly bewigged liveblog action but meet you back here for the results show, which airs at 7.20pm Sunday on BBC1. I’ll unleash the blog at 6.50pm for build-up, so please rejoin me then. In the meantime, I’m @michaelhogan on Twitter, so feel free to give me a follow or say hi.
Thanks for watching along with me, as always. Hope to see you right back here tomorrow but in the meantime, it’s the traditional exhortation: keeeeeep dancing! Goodnight.
Over on Twitter (I refuse to call it X), Rita Griffin writes to me: “I didn’t know Jeffrey Dahmer was an icon, Craig.”
Finally, on Shayne Ward’s Beatles quickstep, Somersetlass says: “Some fun reminders of the Beatles films there. I rather liked it. Shayne for a change wasn’t outshone by Nancy and had some great footwork.”
eiwrite says: “That was a bit odd where Nancy whipped off Shayne’s jacket to reveal – the same outfit underneath! Why?!”
paperview adds: “If cockapoos could vote, Shayne would win every week.”