SCD '23 #4: Fourth thread, second dances, first eliminations. NO SPOILERS.

[PolkadotsAndMoonbeams]

Previous thread here.

Spoiler-free thread please

Video thread here. Please link videos on that thread to avoid slowing this one down for some posters.

Layton coming over as having a high opinion of himself. He is really good though

I can only imagine his tantrums when he comes second.

Nikita is a great 'balance' for him

Loved Layton. Loved watching them.
One of my name changes was YerBasic back in the dim past.
Being a Basic Bitch is shade, especially in LGBT circles.
It was a joke.
I loved Amanda and Layton. I have a soft spot for Krishna.
Eddi doesn't deserve first boot. Zara is improving slowly.
I am aware that those on the top are usually safe but with Amanda having bad press and transphobe hate and with Layton having ringer vitriol and being black and gay, I'll vote for them regardless.

I agree with that. He is not a dancer, presumably doesn't know what goes into a proper cha cha cha.

Layton will be saved by the judges in any dance off that he’s in so he’ll get to the final like Ashley Roberts but won’t win. I think it’s those who have the ‘journey’ that win like Hamza and Stacy Dooley.

I voted Amanda and the Angelas.
Would have voted for Ellie too if I'd had a vote left.

Karen has a penchant for not having proper dance content. I don;t know why, Maybe she goes for entertaining over scores.

Especially in the early weeks I think the public should be given 4 or 5 votes not 3.

She's one of the most experienced pros too, @Lentilweaver. You could almost understand it if it were one of the newbies but she has been on strictly for years and should know the score. I like Eddie a lot, I think he'll do well. He comes across as fun and eager to learn.

Possibly quite clever - sleb gets criticised, public goes “that’s not fair” and chucks them loads of votes?

Yes I like Eddie but think he was criticised for not doing correct steps when Karen should have corrected that, he’s certainly got more rhythm than Zara

Just had to have a teenager explain the alternative meaning of basic...........😜

Oh and Jake got 35 in week 2 for his salsa. Jay got 37 in week 3 for his jive.

I voted Eddie and Krishnan, obviously, and also Adam, who I thought was greatly improved, genuinely besotted with the show, and struggling with/raising awareness for an unglamorous disability.

There's a huge gap between the top and bottom half of the leaderboard though. Seven clear points between bottom of the left hand side and top of the right.

Does digitalspy still have the mole? Not sure I can be bothered to spend another evening watching Strictly tomorrow, even though I love it!

Somebody usually grabs a photo of the leaderboard and posts it, sorry I can’t remember who!

Strictly Spoiler has the mole. I normally don;t watch the results.

Again this year? The mole..

I'm surprised by Karen's choreography decisions - she's been doing Strictly for about 20 years!

After a good opening week, this episode was swamped by hideous costumes, childish theming and technique-avoiding choreography. Feel the show needs a lot more sophistication to balance out the giddiness.

Ellie and Vito have won me over. Adorable and charming; all the things that we're being engineered to feel about Bobby and Dianne, but I just don't.

Angela and Kai are a Douglas Sirk movie. I just love it!

Still like Annabel and Johannes, if not that routine. She's like a Kay's catalogue model who's reached middle age, or a hockey teacher from a girl's public school who is dating Doyle in an episode of The Professionals (Not Bodie. She is far too proper for Bodie.) and who is unwittingly the daughter of an upper-class arms dealer.

Bit weird after Adam's dance. They said on ITT that he has arthritis, so at first I thought he was just wincing in agony, but I guess he is just very invested.

Biggest disappointment - Nikita not reprising his dead ringer for Douglas Fairbanks Jr. dark hair and moustache look to go with that outfit.

Second biggest disappointment - the feeling that Gorka and his trousers are not long for this series.

Voted for Krishnan x 3, as the others I liked are (hopefully) not in danger. Felt a bit guilty about not voting for Les as I think he's at least got the potential to do something memorable, as opposed to Nikita and Zara.

What I enjoyed about watching Layton and Nikita's dance was watching Nikita up the choreography. He's really grown on me through each series. I was gutted when him and Ellie were voted off at the stage they were at last time.

I'm enjoying Krishnan as the novice dancer. He's got The Joy, and he will learn and improve, and I'd like to see that over some of the middling dancers.

Les is beyond hopeless though, and he's lacking the presentation to buy a few weeks entertainment/ popular vote. There was entertainment value to Tony last year that you could do something with. A Full Monty couldn't save Les. Tony wasn't co-ordinated but there was the fitness there to give it a good go.

My votes were Amanda, Annabel and AngelaS.

I find Layton annoying, Nikita must have the patience of a saint.

Surely Nikita and Les will be the bottom two this week?

Nikita and little Ellie were such a lovely couple.