Strictly Speaking – James and Ola Jordan: Michelle didn't really dance, Karim deserved a perfect score and Emma was overmarked
James and Ola Jordan don't have too long left before they welcome their first child together, and the pair admitted that they have started to rush to get everything ready for their bundle of joy's arrival. Ola said: "My brain's gone! We've been trying to finish the house up... we're trying to rush it between the panto because after we finish the show we'll only have two months left!" James joked: "Then you'll be pushing a baby out! It's been a busy week, I spent one day trying to build chairs, I ended up giving up and calling my dad!" The pair took a break to watch Saturday's Strictly Blackpool show, and had plenty to say about the special edition. Read their HELLO! column here...
James: We competed in Blackpool for many, many years so it always holds a place in our hearts.
Ola: Absolutely, and I know how much more the celebrities get nervous for Blackpool because they're dancing in a completely different place and it's made out to be a much bigger thing, so yeah I think they get much more nervous. Everyone did a great job, and it was more of a show this week, everyone did a show dance. Everyone was really good I would say, everyone lifted their game.
James: The two frontrunners are Kelvin and Karim, they were phenomenal. I think Karim is the best dancer in the show, there's no doubt. He's better than everyone and his performance on Saturday was exceptional. To be honest it was almost flawless. It usually annoys me when the judges say, 'Oh you couldn't tell who was the celebrity and who was the professional,' but when Shirley said that this week I was actually thinking to myself, 'He was that good, he was actually like a professional dancer.'
Ola: Not taking anything away from Amy, obviously. Karim was just brilliant.
James: The only thing I feel like he's missing is what Kelvin has, it's that something special. Soul! Kelvin's got that soul, that passion, that performance value, he's got the entertainment factor. He's got something special when he performs. He's nowhere near the standard of Karim, but when you see him perform you're more drawn to him than Karim.
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Ola: It's really hard to explain. I think you either have it or you don't have it. And as for Karim and Kelvin not receiving all tens, I think they read our tweets! One hundred per cent positive. Craig probably said, 'I'm not going to give a ten because the Jordans said there would be four tens this week!' That's what I think happened, honestly! We said that would happen last week and they deserved four tens.
James: They should have given four tens last week for Saffron. The judging is all over the place so it's no surprise for me to be honest with you [laughs]. I don't think Craig is being harsher this year, I think he's always been like that, it's really worrying to me because I find myself agreeing with Craig a lot which really annoys me. With his marking, out of everyone, I think he's the most spot on.
Ola: But I think he should have given a ten this week, to be fair.
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James: Well, at least the other judges were giving out tens! Speaking of which, I didn't realise that Anton went 17 series without a ten! That's a bit worrying isn't it! 17 partners and not one of them got a ten. He's had lots of chances, well done! I love Anton and he always says the right thing at the right time, you know when he was with Claudia and saying, 'You don't know what this means! 17 series!' He's a funny, funny man. I'm very happy for him. Would I have given them tens? No, but I'm grumpy old sod that expects something really special to be a ten. I didn't feel it deserved tens.
Ola: To be fair, it didn't. In comparison to Karim or Kelvin, it didn't. But each to their own! I'd actually say Saffron was better than Emma. Emma was third on the leaderboard while Saffron was fourth, and I think it should have been the other way around.
James: The leaderboard should have been Karim, Kelvin, Saffron, Emma, then Alex, Chris and then Michelle. Michelle at the bottom, no question. Bloody hell, I think I danced more when I go on my golf walk! [Laughs]. It wasn't commercial dance, it was Vogue! It was ridiculous, that's something Madonna made up. It's not a dance, for me it was just walking around moving your hand in front of your face.
Ola: I think it's a real shame because Michelle is a good dancer and she's better than Alex and Chris but during yesterday's performance she wasn't. She was let down by the theme, whatever she was given, she's better than this.
James: Maybe she wanted to be the one to do it, but it was a bad idea. It was a bad idea that backfired. On my Twitter, 99 per cent of people agreed with me that it wasn't good, so that's what people at home were thinking too.
Ola: I gave Chris a five on my Twitter last night thinking he can do better than this, but even he danced more than Michelle. But now it's like Saffron has overtaken her. It's a shame because she's a good dancer and she could potentially be in that final. It's not Michelle's fault if it's not her choice. She's been let down by choreography. She's a better dancer than that. Let's not blame Michelle.
James: Alright! Are you hormonal?
Ola: Yeah I am! [Laughs]
James: It's hard to say who should be in the bottom two. Obviously we think Michelle, and based on dancing it should be Chris as well but I really like him. On dancing, should he be in the bottom two? Yes. But it's popularity as well. I would pick up the phone to vote for him. To me, he is what Strictly is about, he's never danced before and he's going out there and doing his best.
Ola: Alex Scott has never danced before either, what did you think of her?
James: She did a great job. I can sit at home and watch her dance and I can see Neil has a much tougher job than anyone else in the competition because you can see she doesn't have any natural movement, the way she lifted her skirt, you can see she's never danced before. I think Neil is brilliant. When I put my views that I didn't love their dance on Twitter a lot of people disagreed with me but they got a lot of production value; the performance, the costume. It was a great spectacle. Personally as a professional dancer I look at the way she moves, the fluidity and the technique. Neil was very clever with the choreography, it all tied together and looked really good, but Strictly now have so many people who are trained dancers, it's hard for her to get any higher on the leaderboard.
Ola: She definitely got a massive show dance last night, it was a big spectacle for me. I don't think people watch for the dancing, they think, 'Wow it's a massive show dance, she's dancing with the other girls,' but when you watch the dancing I think she was in the right place on the leaderboard. I think Saffron should have been higher though. She did a really good job last night. The whole look was beautiful. There were a couple of things she got wrong, she wasn't a ten, but Quickstep is a hard dance, hard to get it 100 percent right.
James: I loved the routine AJ put together, it was a big show piece, it's what Strictly should be about; ballroom and latin dancing and dancing as a couple... I really enjoyed their performance. I think she seems adorable! She has improved a lot, I didn't like her at all at the beginning but I really think she's improved. In the last two weeks she's done ballroom, I want to see her do a strong latin now.
Ola: I think latin might be her weakness.
James: Yeah, she needs to prove she's not a one trick pony, she needs to be good in the Latin as well.
Ola: I think we've talked about everyone now! Anything you'd like to add about the episode, James?
James: Yeah, overall I just thought the Blackpool show was brilliant. This Blackpool week, bearing in mind that they get less time because they have to travel up to Blackpool, it's tough! But I thought they all did a fantastic job. The pro dancers are so amazing at what they do.
