Five couples remained at the beginning of the evening but only four could make it through to the quarter finals hosted by Bruce Forsythe and Tess Daly. This evening the very nervous competing couples had to dance two dances each, which they had never danced before. There was a very festive atmosphere with an outstanding band and exquisite costumes. With only three weeks to go one more couple must leave tonight. The excitement in the studio was electric.

Carol Smillie and Matthew Cutler who were in the bottom two last week and wanting to earn a thirty out of forty this week, opened with their fabulous Viennese Waltz, impressing all the judges who gave them a thirty four. Len Goodman described Carol as being like a great big red swan gliding across the water. Clever footwork and rotations, amazing, surpassed yourselves were some of the other judge’s remarks. A lovely start to the evening. Thirty four is their best score so far.

Rugby player Matt Dawson and Lilia Kopylova followed with the Quickstep. Their second dance will be the Rumba and Lilia has said that the Rumba is the hardest dance for scoring well. They did a beautiful and exciting Quick step with the high score of thirty four from the judges. One judge’s comment was ‘I’m on cloud nine watching you’, another remarked on Matthew’s growth as being the most outstanding of all the celebrities and Len Goodman, head judge, said ‘by golly that was good’ and ‘cant wait for the raunchy rumba’. Another 34.

Emma Bunton and Darren Bennett, aiming for a ten, impressed the judges with their Waltz. Craig Revel Horwood, who is said to favour Emma, said he was mesmerized and could have watched her all night and ‘Great Choreography’. Arlene Phillips felt that although Emma’s upper part was good, her footwork was a little ‘nasty’ Len’s opinion was that the song, routine and performance all came together. They received two nines and two tens giving them the highest score of thirty seven, earned only once before in this series. Ten is for perfection and faults were found so either they are scored too high or people like Mark and Karen and Louisa and Vincent are being underscored. Especially if one listens to judge’s comments, watches audience response and their faultless performances. Emma and Daren still have to get there and did not deserve 38 points.

Cricketer Mark Ramprakash and Karen Hardy danced the Foxtrot with a beautiful entrance, lines, twirls, falls, good head posture, to receive the ridiculous score of 28 from the judges. These are one of our two top dancing couples. Why are the judges underscoring them so badly??? Their remarks were weird, to say the least. Were we watching the same dance? 28 points!!! Enough said.

Louisa Lytton and Vincent Simone made a striking entrance with Louisa wearing a breathtaking white dress. They waltzed around the floor introducing steps we have never seen before. Their joy in dancing shone through every move and a sheer pleasure to watch. The judges remarks of ‘you rocked me’, good choreography, gorgeous and great, were well deserved earning them a thirty three. We expected nines with at least one ten. The judges are not consistent in their judging and do not put their points where their mouth is. 33 was an insult.

All the contestants are working flat out and should get what they deserve.

Carol and Matt’s second dance was a Samba with excellent moves and ‘wriggles’. The judges loved it and told them to keep up their good work, rewarding them with 34 and 68in total. Carol could be a good dancer but is inconsistent and lacks concentration.

Matthew and Lilia’s second dance, the rumba, brought much deserved criticism from the judges as Matthew did very little. Lilia was doing most of the dancing with Matthew on his knees half of the time. In spite of this, the very generous judges gave them twenty seven, added to their previous dance, they had 61 out of eighty. Lying bottom.

Emma and Darren’s Paso Doble brought mixed remarks from the judges. Pleasant to watch but not enough steps from Emma, bad beginning, brilliant choreography, liked it, beautiful interpretation but not enough from Emma, great and well done. You can guess who said ‘it gave me goose bumps’. They received thirty seven which was way over scoring. 74 grand total.

Mark and Karen danced a very exciting Samba with lots of hip and shoulder movements as they sizzled across the dance floor. Arlene was very excited as she gleefully shouted ‘the sexy hip movements are back’. Other judges remarks were liquid action, good hip and shoulder movements, legs, feet, routine, good line and lovely to watch. Mark and Karen certainly looked liked they were enjoying the dance tremendously. Bruno said it was the ultimate party dance, shouting excitedly, ‘You did it’. Craig said ‘you are back and burning it, it was amazing. (They really were all of that and more. Flawless)) Len said ‘You get it in my book, that was really jolly good. Mark you are right back’. Now tell me what would you expect the judges to give them after that, keeping in mind Emma’s score of two tens???? We expected four tens, full house as it was outstanding. No, they received 36 points and not one ten (giving them a total of 64 points and 2nd from the bottom). Can anyone tell us WHY?????

Louisa and Vincent made a sizzling entrance with new exciting steps, fast moving, sexy funny, a star. Joyful, fiery and amazing footwork. They just come bouncing back after knocks by the judges, determined to show what they can do. Good for them. Louisa has been told that she is as good as the professionals, in the mixed dances. There was an outcry over the judges underscoring them last week by audience, fellow competitors and even guests on the mid week ‘Strictly Come Dancing, Take Two’, hosted by Claudia Winkleman. Louisa was invited on morning and afternoon TV shows and all shocked at the underscoring of her brilliant dance last week. Do the judges not care about their reputations and are they trying to enforce their choice, and not for the dancing, to win? Louisa’s outfit was a gorgeous gold and silver sparkling skimpy dress with a wide belt. Judges comments ‘Cutest Cha Cha Cha’, Arlene said ‘a Cha Cha Cha must be cheeky and it was’, she loved it. Len said it was cheeky and lovely and suited Louisa. The audience went crazy and it was the most exciting dance of the evening. Bruno was so excited he had to make up words to describe his pleasure in the dance ‘beautidelicious’ being one of them. These two always look so happy as they thoroughly enjoy dancing together. The judges have expressed how they have become one, essential for successful dancing. If ever a dance deserved ten across the board, this one did. What did they get??? 36 giving a total of 69 and second to Emma and Darren with their undeserved 74, as beautifully as Emma danced and as nice a person as she is, the dancing was not of the same standard as Louisa and Vincent’s and Mark and Karen’s.

Final Judges Scores out of 80: Emma and Darren 74, Louisa and Vincent 69, Carol and Matthew 68, Mark and Karen 64 and Matthew and Leila bottom with 61.

After the public votes were added, Carol and Matthew and Emma and Darren were the bottom two couples. (Does this not tell the judges that their over scoring of Emma is not doing her a favour as no one likes such obvious unfairness). This is Emma and Darren’s second week at the bottom.

There was much tension all round before Carol and Matthew were announced as the couple to be leaving. Four couples left, who will go next week.

This article was written by Evelyn Lewis, a contributor here at Unreality TV. Thanks Evelyn.