WEEK 3: Footballers take on the glitz and glamour of Movie Week!

Strictly’s football stars turned into movie stars in the ballroom on Saturday night as they faced even more glitz and glamour in week three of the competition!

Karen Carney performed a cha cha cha this week from the 2000 film ‘Miss Congeniality’. She commented that this week she felt like she was transforming “from footballer to lady” as she took on Sandra Bullock’s character Gracie Hart. She and Carlos even took etiquette lessons to improve her capability to take on the character, but in the end she commented that she thought “Carlos would play Sandra Bullock better than [her]”. 

After their dance had finished, she told Tess that she “just went for it” and this statement also shone through in the judges comments. Cynthia Erivo was a guest judge for movie week and she commented that she was “pleased and proud” of the way that Karen and Carlos danced saying that she thinks Karen is “wonderful”. Shirley commented that though the dance was a “power packed piece of choreography”, as she moves forward Karen must “refine things” such as footwork and arm placements. Anton said that there is “enormous physicality in the way that [Karen] dances” but that she shouldn't “dance flat if [she] can avoid it”. Craig, ever the constructive critic, noted that Karen must have a “straighter leg” and that the dance was “spiky”, but he noted that she puts "absolutely every inch of [herself] into that dance” and that they’ve seen her “potential”. Finally, Motsi commented that she “loved the poise in that cha cha cha” and agreed with her fellow judges that Karen is “attack, attack, attack and that’s the way to be on this dance floor”.

Afterwards, Claudia asked about how Karen felt about starting the dance on her own and as many can imagine Karen said she was very “intimidated”. When asked about what it’s been like to have Cynthia’s guidance help her improve this week's dance she said that “she’s a beautiful person” and that she wishes “everyone could meet her because she’s a lovely person”. In terms of scores, Craig gave them a 4, but the rest of the judges gave them a 7 each which resulted in a total of 25 points, which left them in 9th place on the leaderboard. 

On the other hand, Jimmy was performing the first rumba of the series to No Time To Die from James Bond. Though this is a “nice and slow dance”, his dance partner Lauren noted that this “actually makes it more difficult” and in the competition it is notorious for being extremely difficult for the male celebrities to perform. 

After he performed, the judges were extremely complimentary. Shirley noted that he had “lovely, nice body actions” and that she “loved the theme and the story” that he and Lauren told in their dance. Anton thought the dance was “excellent” and said that he thinks it is “one of the best rumbas [he’s] seen for a considerable amount of time”. Craig was rather blunt in his commentary, stating that he was “not expecting very much at all” from Jimmy’s rumba, but that in the end he was “quite pleasantly surprised” with the dance. Motsi agreed with some of Anton’s comments, with both judges saying that he had a lot of “control” in his movements. Cynthia was the last to speak, and she said that the way that Jimmy never lost Lauren’s eyes was “electric” and how they “spoke about finishing the line [of his arm] [...] and there was always energy and tension” in the way that his arms moved during their dance. 

With Claudia, Jimmy said that “dancing is one thing and then having to act with it as well is a whole other ball game”. This comment however definitely did not come through in the judges scores however, as the pair were awarded a 7 each from Craig and Motsi, a 6 from Shirley and an 8 from Anton, which gave them a total of 28 points (which left them in joint sixth place on the leaderboard). 

Both couples made it through to week four of the competition without having to face the dance-off this week. Instead it was presenter Ross King that went home this week after facing Eastenders actress Balvinder Sopal in the dance-off, which means that we can look forward to another week of watching these football stars develop their dancing skills!