What a lovely gracious man he is.

Right result - but Gaga went off for me then for a minute!

That was the right decision.

Awwwww, the smile is gone Fair result 'though

Audley is a nice man and a gracious loser.

Awww.. that's a shame when that clown is still there.

I really want to have the dance off back - if Anita had gone it would have been a travesty!

...and Nat did well to get him as far as she did - he definitely improved (not much, but he did improve).

Gawd, the Rocky theme

I'd like the dance off back too... we're going to be losing good dancers in favour of comedy 'dross' soon.

Off to the X Factor thread, bye all.

Off to the X Factor.... catch you next Saturday in here xxx

Fair play to Audley, he is a lovely guy.

But im now 5/6.  

Wait for meeeeeeeeeeeeeee................

Oh yes, he did improve. Unfortunately the improvement stalled.

Night all

Sorry I couldn't join you tonight..... but the result was a foregone conclusion...... shame..... it should have been Russell

Right decision that Audley is the one to leave this week, he was the weakest one there. Poor Anita, she is lovely but not near the top 4 quartet and is clearly loving her time in the show.

Delighted Chelsee, Russell and Holly will be dancing at Wembley. I am warming to Harry a lot and still like Jason. Robbie is starting to grate on me a lot, although I don't mind Alex.

Holly tweeted that she is training for the next dance with both Brendan and Artem then a decision who she will be dancing with will be made in the week. I prefer Holly with Brendan, chemistry was there in the partnership which she doesn't have with Artem IMO who needs to rest and recover from his injury.

Here's what our nervous celebrities will be dancing to on the night...

Alex and James - Tango to 'Relax' by Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Anita and Robin - Samba to 'Come On Eileen' by Dexys Midnight Runners

Chelsee and Pasha - Samba to 'Spice Up Your Life' by The Spice Girls

Harry and Aliona - Salsa to 'I'm Still Standing ' by Elton John

Holly and Brendan - Quickstep to 'Valarie by Amy Winehouse

Jason and Kristina - Jive to 'Wake Me Up Before You Go Go' by Wham

Robbie and Ola - Salsa to 'Let Me Entertain You' by Robbie Williams

Russell and Flavia - Jive to 'Reach' by S Club 7

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOh a few numbers there that I like - have to say the one I hate is 'RELAX' Frankie Goes To Hollywood  ....................never liked it!

posting this mainly for the professional dancers than the BBC news readers - the lovely Ian Waite on our screens again 

I so hope this is Russell Grant's last dance ,let him go out on a high tonight.

WACKY Russell Grant is being wooed by US telly bosses after wowing them with  his joyful campness on Strictly.

The TV astrologer — who performed on a fake bull during Saturday's show — hopes he could now make it big across the pond.

Crowd favourite Russell, 60, said: "One should be cautious but I am living the  dream at the moment.

"I have offers from all the major television networks in this country. Even in  America they have called and offered me stuff — the showbiz stuff that I  love." Russell reckons his "have-a-go" attitude appeals to the US telly  chiefs. He said: "There are not many people who love stage musicals as much  as I do and who basically will go out there and try anything."

The former BBC Breakfast Time stargazer says even Strictly's host Bruce  Forsyth reckons he has something special.

He said: "Bruce came up to me and said, 'Russ, other people come on and goof  it up and do comedy but they can't dance.

"'You goof it up and do comedy — and you CAN  dance'."

Russell admits he cannot match the technique of some of his fellow contestants — but reckons he makes up for it through sheer pizazz.

He said: "My thing is not to be technically correct. I've got rhythm — movement, I can strut my stuff. But on top of that my forte is  entertainment. What is getting me through this is people power." Russell  nearly had to leave the BBC1 ballroom-fest after a knee injury flared up,  but doctors now say treatment can wait.

The astrologer went easy on his painful knee when he performed a bespectacled  Latin routine with partner Flavia Cacace on Saturday. He said: "I had to try  and cut down on anything strenuous which is how we came up with the idea of  the bull.

"Because the paso doble dance is about the matador, Strictly said, 'Why don't  we have you on a bull?' I said, 'Why shouldn't he be a short-sighted  matador?' It's crazy, it's wonderful — it's Strictly."

And he added in a chat with Radio 5 Live: "If I had to leave Strictly next  week, it would still be the happiest, most wonderful time of my life."

 

ALEX Jones says Strictly is taking its toll. The One Show host, 34,  said: "My cleaning bill has gone up due to fake tan stains on my sheets. And  my scalp is covered with glue thanks to hair extensions."

 

STRICTLY'S Chelsee Healey is now second favourite to win the show.  The actress' weekend performance saw her odds tumble from 6-1 to just 5-2.

Harry Judd is 15-8 favourite, while Jason Donovan is 11-4.

 

The sun

Anton's next step: After the nightmare of Nancy, Strictly’s favourite dancer springs a big surprise

What did he really think Nancy? Is he going to replace Brucie? And why is he all set for a family?Strictly’s Anton du Beke reveals all

  By Rebecca Hardy

Last updated at 11:13 AM on 12th November 2011

‘I just did my bit,’ he insists, ‘to get her ready for the big race. I sound like a groom!’ The analogy sort of works – ‘the second most famous Italian after Sophia Loren’ (her words) was as light on her feet as a carthorse, or as judge Craig Revel Horwood put it, she danced ‘like a plodding mule trudging through mud’.

Family man: Anton du Beke, 45, never speaks openly about girlfriends but says that he is ready to settle down

‘That’s so unkind,’ Anton tries to look aghast, before adding, ‘It’s because her bloody heels were too high. But I don’t mind how good or bad my partner is, as long as we have a lovely time. If you give Nancy enough attention, she’s a pussycat.’

Oh come on, we’re talking about a firecracker who reared up at Strictly’s stylist, threatening to quit unless she was given a Harrods hairdresser. Oh, and then there were her complaints about the judges, the outfits, the choreography…

‘I try not to get involved with all that stuff,’ he says. ‘I’m happy for someone else to tackle her hair – and good luck to them. She was a joy in the studio.’

Crikey. This sunny-soul stuff is bordering on the saintly now, which surprises me. I’m told there were times she tested even Anton’s legendary patience, moaning that he was trying to hog the limelight and saying his choreography was designed to make him look good, rather than her.

Despite rumours about her demanding nature Anton says Nancy Dell'Olio's a pussycat if you give her enough attention

It’s probably fair to assume, then, that there was no romantic frisson between them. But even if there was, we’ll probably never know, as Anton, 45, never speaks openly about girlfriends – although he does allude to them. Is he with someone now?

‘I can’t answer that at the moment,’ he says. ‘Ask me next week.’ What’s not in question is that Anton’s boundless charm has meant he’s attracted a huge following since he started as one of Strictly Come Dancing’s original professionals – so much so that he’s favourite to replace dear old Sir Brucie when he retires. Will he?

ANTON’S STRICTLY CAR CRASHES

NANCY DELL’OLIO 2011

The boa blunder, the Halloween horror show – the fiery Italian failed to set the show alight

 

ANN WIDDECOMBE 2010

Was likened to ‘a Dalek in drag’ by the panel, but the ex-Tory MPproved a hit with the public

 

ESTHER RANTZEN 2004

Judges gave her tango 16 out of 40, branding her ‘technically an absolute disaster’

 

KATE GARRAWAY 2007

‘Tutankhamun in a frock’ and ‘a shag pile carpet’ were just two of the jibes the presenter endured

 

‘As far as I’m concerned, Bruce is the show and he’s not leaving,’ he says. ‘He’s my hero and has been since I was a young boy watching the Generation Game. He’s a genius. Without him, it’s a lesser show.’

Just as Strictly will be without Anton, which, sadly, is now the case. Nancy, of course, was booted off during a Halloween spectacular that saw her emerge from a coffin. Anton should perhaps have nailed the lid down. They received just 14 points from the judges as Alesha Dixon called her ‘a walking disaster’, adding, ‘Your legs are so far apart – and that’s not very feminine.’

Anton was appalled. ‘I thought the judges overstepped the mark. Maybe Alesha’s forgotten what it’s like to be standing where Nancy was. That wasn’t nice. She went to her dressing room and cried her eyes out. How is that acceptable?

‘I knew as soon as the audience had enough of what we did that we’d be off the show, because we were never going to be kept on by the judges, but I thought their comments were unnecessarily harsh.

‘Oh well, what do you do? You just keep going,’ he says. ‘When I speak to my mum on the phone, that’s what she says. Mum was always hard-working. She came over from Spain and bought her own council house. “Keep going,” she says. “What are you going to do, stop?” That’s not an option.’

That’s the attitude Anton has adopted ever since his troubled childhood, as the eldest of three children in Sevenoaks, Kent, to his mother Conchita and Hungarian father Antal, a violent alcoholic who died… well, Anton chooses not to remember exactly when.

As an escape from his father’s brutality, he immersed himself in the  glamour of the old movies – White Christmas, Easter Parade – and dreamed of dancing like Fred Astaire. He rarely speaks about his difficult  early years, and he doesn’t want pity.

‘My father was a full-time waiter but stopped, I suppose because of the  drinking, and then went into a factory,’ he says. Was he very brutal? ‘Yes. But I can’t really measure how brutal brutal is. Let’s just say  very.

‘But nothing  about me is about that. It wasn’t that big a deal. It was at the time,  obviously, but only through the physicality of the thing because  something hurts, but after that, when it stops hurting, you just avoid  the situation the next time. It had no effect on my life because my  father could do nothing to me. What could he do?’

Anton, a sporty child who excelled particularly at racquet sports but received little encouragement and just ‘floated through school’, set his sights  on becoming a dancer.

‘The Fred Astaire movies made a huge impression on me. I bought an LP by  Mantovani [the Anglo-Italian conductor who specialised in cascading  strings]. I didn’t tell anyone about it, but it was the music – that  stringy, lush, wonderful music. You felt like you did watching Fred  Astaire, and you were floating away on it.’

So, is he a romantic? One who believes in the happy-ever-after of films  like Easter Parade? ‘Yes.’ So why has he never got married? ‘I don’t  know. I’d like to. I’d like to have children. But imagine if I had a  little girl, I’d be ridiculous,’ he says, again turning the mood. “Come  on Sugar, let’s go shopping with Daddy. You’re not wearing that. Put the other thing with the fur on and the heels and the earrings.” ’

He’s actually being very funny, but still… Did dance get in the way of long-term relationships?

‘Maybe. My goal was to become the best dancer in the world and, because I  started late, I always had this feeling I was playing catch-up, so I’ve  been a bit of a maniac most of my life, sort of striving. I’ve never  felt at any stage I was in the popular cliques or that I was invited on  to the top table, so you always feel you’re not quite there.’

He began taking ballroom dancing lessons at a church hall in Sevenoaks at  the age of 14. ‘It was the closest thing to Fred Astaire and it was all  about dancing with a partner. I wanted to dance with a partner. That was the key for me. I immediately realised this was what I wanted to do.  When you dance and you get hold of someone like Erin [Boag, his  professional dance partner] or one of my wonderful teachers and it’s  right – the balance is perfect – it’s like you’re being swept away.

'It’s breathless. Everything stops. It’s a moment of perfection, as if you’re walking across the clouds. You can barely speak sometimes. You just  want to do it again. You’ve got to remember through all this stuff with  my father, nothing else but the dancing mattered. It wasn’t even his  negativity and his alcoholism and violence that spurred me on. I didn’t  even have pity for him, really. I didn’t have anything.

‘My only drive was to be the best dancer in the world, but I never won the  world championship.’ Has that been a regret? ‘Yes. But on the plus side, Strictly Come Dancing came along and changed the direction of my life.

Evening dancers

Helloooo everyone.

Evening all.. missed the start. 

Hi Vids, just seen Ola's outfit...passes ice bucket!

hahah  I was just about to ask if he liked it, Supes!

I'll be watching/listening, but probably not posting much as I've got to have dinner ready before Merlin comes on.

OLA OLA OLA OI OI OI.

Evening all.

If I disappear, it means my Chinese has arrived.

Very seccccssssy Kaffs

Im going to be very quiet for a while.

Thought you might like Vids

hello cooks and takeaway-ers  (I'll phone mine to arrive during X Factor)

not a groaner then....

vids hates Robbie Savage now.