Strictly '22 #16 — Twice the dances, twice the drama, triple the paso dobles... its the semi-finals!

[PolkadotsAndMoonbeams]

Previous thread here.

Remember as always this is a SPOILER-FREE THREAD.

Does no one else remember Bez’s conviction for domestic violence? About 10 years back, but still.

Well Motsi for starters had absolutely no idea what she was voting for.

The others the same to varying degrees.

They did get it was important cultural references that were special to Will.

They had plenty on that score to say about Hamza, but Northern working class (well its appeal is a bit broader than that but it's certainly rooted in that) they are all clueless.

But they got the worship of legend Bez going on.

Its their ignorance and snobbery (and the ignorance of a few posters) going on.

It was epic.

But i also recognise, there's not a cat in hell chance they'll put will through against anyone else on that if he's in the dance off.

I thought it was JC when I first saw him! 😆

It's going to be mathematically incredibly difficult for Will to avoid the dance-off (Monkseal has pointed out that the last time the person at the bottom of the leaderboard at this stage avoided the bottom two was 2006) but I think a final with both Molly and Fleur in it is going to seem as if it might as well be a two person one.

Think Will would have carried off a theatre dance better rather than street.

Helen and Hamza for me although I threw Molly a vote tonight too.

I can't warm to Carlos at all. I'm not a Will fan, he's got an ego and I am sick of hearing about his family (even though his wife and kids are beautiful), despite being from Manchester!

Molly - what a great attitude - picks herself up smiles and dances again - lovely girl imo.

But for me, Helen and Hamza - they aren't dancers, aren't stage trained and have come a very long way.

With no ties on the leaderboard I think it will be Will vs either Fleur or Molly, and since they both have 39 dances in the bag against his 38, he should go home (though it's not a done deal - three quarters of the judges scored them the same, so all three could potentially go for Will).

The nightmare scenario would be if he was in the DO against Helen whose best dance only scored 37, but I hope that in that situation the judges would go Helen's way regardless. And I think her public support is good enough.

and the ignorance of a few posters

what ignorance?

I didn't like Fleur's dance , she's way too heavy footed and danced the Charleston as if it was hip hop.

Oh Manchester, so much to answer for...

Fleur and Helen have learned a lot along the way. It seems that Hamza's been working on the finer technique points as he's gone by (I'm not astute/ knowledgable enough to pick it up for myself on TV). Molly has shown a mature work ethic, but she's not reliably nailed getting the personality of the dances each week. Will's shown least development as he's gone through after a strong start.

Always interesting when you have one with a high/low mark versus someone with two okay marks.

I think it could be a Helen/ Will dance off

Will probably deserves to go but I do like him. He is very much a Bredbury lad (even if the VT was in more upmarket Romiley where his family cafe is - and to be fair more to film!). Even when he was in Hollyoaks he used to travel back every Sunday to play football for his local pub team.

I'm going to stick my neck out and say Helen is going to win this year. But as someone said upthread, no one is really standing out. Partly because those left in are all good.

Both Helen and Molly have that dead behind the eyes look and are head girl annoying. Absolutely no passion whatsoever in the pair of them.

The marking is shocking. There wasn't a dance worthy of a 10 tonight with the possibly exception of Mollie's paso.

Anton is a nice judge and very encouraging but he's far too generous and has been all series.

I didn't like Hamza's waltz nor either of Will's dances (the CC was basically the same as Bill Bailey's from 2 years ago with different music). I thought Fleur's Charleston wasn't as good as they said.

This whole series has been very average.

I didn't like Hamza's waltz nor either of Will's dances (the CC was basically the same as Bill Bailey's from 2 years ago with different music).

I don't think it was anything like Bill Baikey's as his was Gangsta Rapper's Delight and he and Oti were dressed in suits.

Did you mean Chris Ramsey? He did his to Let's get ready to rumble and had similar outfits.

Completely agree, I do think that a professional like Kai could have got Molly to light up.

I agree

I meant the routine. I appreciate the music and outfits were different. Didn't they do something similar to Bill's bit on the bench when they sat on the steps? But maybe you're right.

Anyway it was average not great imo

Agreed Will’s dance was a rip off of the BB jive but nothing like as good

I'd like Hamza to win because he's the only one left that doesn't seem to have done dance at all before Strictly.

i would like Helen v Will in the DO, either of them to go.

i think it's worth re-watching Helen's AT, paying attention to her face. I'm sure I didn't imagine her complete discomfort.

Wasn't one of the other Couple's Choice dances for this series said to be a rip off of Bill & Oti, complete with counter claims that Bill & Oti's was a rip off of Charles Venn..

The bench bit was very Bill and Oti (and nowhere near as good) they had hat swapping too.
I was watching it last night to fill the gap 😂

There's not been much contempowaft this year.

3 votes for hamza here