Evans, in particular, spent so much time on the Strictly soap-box, you wondered if he had started reading from an autocue. “Strictly is such a precious family that I want everybody here in this room and at home to look after it for the generations to come,” he said in closing remarks that went on longer than a Ridley Scott director’s cut. “It’s a wonderful, wonderful thing.”
What was wonderful was the cameo by Pet Shop Boys, who re-imagined Mott the Hoople’s 1972 hit (penned, of course, by David Bowie) as an autumnal anthem – full of yearning and regret (much like Wynne’s speech then).
Results night can feel an afterthought after the epic goings-on of the previous evening. That was the vibe at Blackpool, though there was some mild excitement when judge Craig Revel Horwood defended rewarding Pete Wicks’s dance in super-tight pink PVC trousers with a mere four points – a stonkingly low return this far into the contest.
“I’m not talking about his outfit,” he told Claudia Winkleman, cross-examining him during her natter with the judges. “I was looking at the technique. It wasn’t great…He messed up several times. I’m just being honest. I love Pete. I love the fact he’s brave enough to come out in that outfit. He was going [about it] in the wrong way. It was a bit of a mess.”
Craig was more generous towards Wynne and Katya, praising the energy they brought to their Charleston to Les Toréadors by Georges Bizet – complete with Evans spinning Katya by the legs, having rode in on a hobby horse. “That routine was a real crowd pleaser,” Revel Horwood said, before adding the inevitable “but….my vote has to go to the best dancer.. and that is Montell”.
The rest of the panel agreed that Montell and Johannes’ bingo-themed salsa to salsa to Don’t Leave Me This Way by Thelma Houston scored higher for technique. The couple survive to twirl another day while it’s a long trip home for Wynne and Katya. They leave behind two months of tears and toil and one medium-sized controversy – a mixed bag, to be sure, but one the Strictly family is unlikely to forget in a hurry.