Sometimes, the underdog cannot triumph
Poor Anita. She had to put up with Gleb’s crazy 1980s outfits (that hat!), his way-too-contemporary-for-Len choreography and the “Gleb special” (crawling around like a crab). And she has done it all with good grace and while working like a Trojan. For her efforts, this weekend she was rewarded by a place in the dance-off, where Darcey and Bruno – who had previously championed her – stabbed her in the back and saw her off.
I’m annoyed for her, as I think she deserved a place in the final, possibly ahead of Katie Derham or Kellie Bright. But it’s rare to see someone lose so gracefully, and she handled her hugely unfair exit beautifully, possibly realising that however hard you work and however well you do, ultimately it’s all a bit arbitrary. I did wonder if she and Savchenko had seen the writing on the wall, as their last outing was much more like a show dance than anything else. So it’s almost as if she has danced at the final anyway.
Anita Rani has been the underdog of the competition and an audience favourite, as she is one of the few celebrities with no previous experience. (Kudos, admittedly, to Derham, who is now the only finalist who hasn’t had dance training at stage school as a child.) Rani has been a delight to watch and embodied the true spirit of Strictly: do your best, get on with it and never complain even if they make you wear five-foot Maleficent goat horns.
Experimental choreography is never a good idea in a semi-final (or at all, really)
Rani’s exit had nothing to do with her, and everything to do with Gleb Savchenko’s choreography. It’s the first season on UK Strictly for the Russian who has competed on American, Australian and Russian versions of the show. I’m not sure if it’s us or him, but his style doesn’t work on the British show. Many of the routines put Rani under incredible pressure and exposed her weaknesses instead of playing to her strengths, as Craig and Darcey pointed out this week. They were also often curiously dated. (I blame Moscow.) I am still haunted by the Kwikfit-fitter jive routine.
Perhaps worse, Savchenko’s funky moves have increasingly antagonised head judge and ballroom traditionalist Len Goodman over the course of the series. Len’s walnuts were safe from the pickling jar every time he took to the floor. Instead it was always “Not enough basic,” “Not enough opening out” and “What was that crab through-the-legs thing?”
As stalwarts of the show know (I’m looking at you, Aliona and Kevin), to stand any chance of getting to the final, you have to please Goodman. After all, he has the casting vote.
Judges can’t control everything
Craig Revel Horwood turned up to work on Saturday with one mission, and one mission only: to get Katie Derham out of the competition. I have to say that I admire him for this. Revel Horwood has to play a ridiculous pantomime baddie on the show, which only very rarely accords with his true personality. But I think he is ultimately a person of integrity, and when he thinks someone is Just Not That Good a Dancer he will do everything within his power to get rid of them. I found it hilarious that he marked her a 4 for her Charleston. But he was right. It was awkward and out of synch.
It still seems incredibly weird that Derham won the dance-off – when the two danced previously, Rani scored 32 for her salsa and Derham only scored 31 for her waltz, and ballroom is supposed to be her forte. This was surely a vote for Anton? Because seeing him in the final is a good Strictly story? And what on earth happened to Bruno? When Derham first danced the waltz, he wept for Italy at the betrayal of Puccini’s greatness. By the dance-off he had been either brainwashed or on the limoncello. Maybe both. I hope he’s laid in a large supply for the final.
