Peter Schmeichel Leaves Strictly Come Dancing
Ex-goalie Peter Schmeichel danced his last dance last night on Strictly Come Dancing.
The former Manchester United star was eliminated along with his dancing partner Erin Boag on the BBC show last night.
Schmeichel, who celebrated his 43rd birthday yesterday, said bad things always seemed to happen on his birthday.
He said: “I have no luck on my birthdays. I once missed world cup qualification on my birthday. I’m used to it,� reported BBC Online.
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November 20th, 2006 at 4:45 pm
Strictly Come Dancing – SHOW 7 – 18th November 06
On Saturday morning I was lying in bed when a beautiful blonde walked into the room and sat next to me. My daughter…obviously. We made plans for the weekend. Breakfast, shopping, Bond at the cinema, birthday party later on. Across the country the scene was replicated. Chez Dawson Matt was skipping through a dance technique book by Fred Astaire, Louisa was propped in front of children’s TV watching TMI, Emma Bunnnton was just getting in from being Down Town, Brendan was in bed with another blonde, not Miss King, Carol Smillie, not Smiley, was concentrating on her Capricornian resilience, Rudolf Schmeichel was skimming his sledge bookings for Christmas, 0014 Ramprakash lay fretting of what was to come and Brutus Forsythus practiced his comedic timing and appalling links, to no avail.
Daniel Craig is the new Bond. Casino Royale sizzled with great stunts, excessively realistic violence, sharp dialogue, love, emotion, twists, turns and passion. It was the real deal. More please. In a week when at last the general public saw sense and the pecking order changed again and again sadly 0014 was the opposite. Mark Ramprakash was invited to Rumba, a dance of passion, love, affection and body contact and it was clear early on that the man who had Salsaed with such spark was defeated by reticence, overwhelmed by intimacy. The Rumba is no place for the shy, for the timid. Along with the Fox Trot it is also technically challenging and as much as Ramps carried that off there were mistakes at the end of the routine when it looked like he’d forgotten what to do next and he was forced to rush the finish. Surprising that no one mentioned it. Twenty-seven points nearly had 0014 off the mission.
Another favourite perilously close to having her double 0 status revoked was former Spice Girl Emma who only scored thirty, I say only, her equal lowest score of the series. Dressed like silver tinsel she and the diminutive Yorkie Darren Bennett danced the Cha to ‘All Right Now’ by Free. Why? Go on, give me a clue. Why on earth would anyone choose such a track? For me that set the tone. Surely there are better tunes to dance to? Something more authentic? More Cha? ‘Loco In Acapulco’ is widely acknowledged as the greatest Cha record in the world. ‘All Right Now’ isn’t.
The juddgers picked up on Emma too, dancing in that precarious ‘first up’ spot. The panel weren’t wowed, not even Emma’s man on the inside, our Craig, could hide his disappointment. I’m sure it is tough to put in a week’s effort only to be shot down but both Emma and Darren will learn from this. All that glisters is not gold, not even tinsel.
There have been rumours in the press that the judggies have been feuding, Arlene and Craig jealous of Len and Bruno’s selection to appear on the American version of Strictly, Dancing With Stars. That could be hype to sell papers or to gain viewers from the ailing X Factor on the other channel. Don’t know, but when Claire and Brendan had finished their Tango there was a clear split between the two halves of the panel. Len and Bruno said there was no chemistry and no passion. Craig and Arlene revelled in the overt sexiness and the drama. Brendan, who had been tuff in training, and who had had a tirible week, couldn’t believe it when Len gave him a six. ‘Ridiculous’ was his response on camera. Claire kept quiet and bit her tongue. Maybe she has lost some of the burn that she obviously felt for the Kiwi Gob at the start of the series? Maybe the other blonde has had an impact? She did look the part though in a blood red frock, backless, nothing sexier other than discovering that your dance partner has gone commando…
Still in the paddock is Rear of the Year winner (1998), the Dark Horse, our Carol, who scored a PB (personal best) of thirty. Tall, sexy, gorgeous, a Capricorn, all things to my liking, she and Matthew did a Cha to ‘Dancing In The Moonlight’, a song just more suitable than ‘All Right Now’, just. Carol had been worried all week, but such is her steel that she went for it when the moment came. Well, her legs did. Her hips did and even her arms, much pilloried by the picky, well they did too. But as with Ramps’ Smooth last week her face told a different story. There was no confidence in her look just terror in her eyes, the forced smile masking her inner feelings. Capricorns are notably stubborn and driven; sometimes they just have to let go and go for it. If she does, the Dark Horse will move from a canter to a gallop and who knows what will happen then?
The music police need to involved with this show. Let me give you a scenario. You have the best male Tango dancer in the world, a man so in love with himself that if he was chocolate he’d eat himself. He has free rein to choreograph what he wants and to teach his protégé the steps, the moves, the feelings and La Passione. And this he does; you will struggle to find a better Tango than Vincent Simone danced. Technically it was perfect, a terrific routine, fantastically put together. With a push and a shove this could easily have got forty; instead it slid to the obscurity of thirty-five. There were two things missing for the dance to be given a ten. The acting from Louisa was mediocre, surprising given that she is supposed to be an actress, and the music was lousy. Go to Argentina and see if anyone there Tangos to the Eurythmics.
It was Rudolf’s birthday on Saturday, 43, I know, he looks older. But he has had a hard life, for a millionaire. Rudolf was born in Denmark in 1963 in the town of Gladsake, which makes him a Dane, not as Bruno said, The Flying Dutchman. At 6’ 4� he is a big lug, a goalkeeper who scored ten goals in his career, a career distinguished, laden with trophies and accolades, a member of the treble winning Manchester United team of 1999. He also played for Hvidovre, Brondby, Sporting Lisbon, Villa and City. There is only one City, and it’s not Bristol.
Throughout the series Rudolf has struggled with dancing. I’m not talking about doing the steps; monkeys can be taught routines but conveying the feeling of the dance, expressing the inner self, metamorphosing the chemistry and the moment. He scored a thirty-one in the Tango a while ago. He also scored n-n-n-n-n-n-n-nineteens with the Paso and the Samba. He should have got done last week with DBS, death by Samba, but he didn’t. Thankfully he will be free from now on to prepare for the heavy workload of Christmas. His Fox Trot, with a thirty second intro, nice try Erin, was danced to Something’s Got To Give. It did.
On then to the new favourite, the wunderkind Dawson. This fella is going to take some beating now. He has a great partner, the sassy and sharp Yorksher lass, Lilia Kopylova, a former figure skater at the Silver Blades ice rink in Sheffield, and he has caught the bug. ‘Hi, my name is Matt…I’m a dancaholic.’ And this means that he now has the desire to match the determination. A world-class sportsman competing properly is an awesome foe. Ask the 1997 South Africans where his precociousness helped The Lions win the series. Ask the Aussies that lost the World Cup final in 2003.
Dancing a Waltz to ‘Wonderful World’ the routine, again smartly choreographed, was slick, graceful and elegant with nice rise and fall and with control, the thing that is needed most in the Waltz. You’d think that dancing one, two, three, left, right, left, or right, left, right, would be easy. But it isn’t, each step has to be measured, the body weight centred with every movement, accuracy of placement vital. And he carried it off with aplomb. Craig called it phenomenal, Bruno a sensation. Arlene promoted his cause mentioning the final and Len was unreserved, saying it was the best dance of the series. He tenned it. He had to. Thirty-seven points is the highest score of the series so far.
So, as Daniel Craig immortalises himself on the big screen, 0014 has a real competition for the coveted Strictly Come Dancing trophy. Dawson the new Bond? Maybe. Brutus the new Bond? More like Brooke Bond.