Scanlon is forced to take the rough with the Smooth

ANGELA Scanlon may have danced to the tune of an American Smooth, but she had a rough ride when it came to the Strictly judges’ panel critiques.

Craig Revel Horwood was particularly prickly with Angela and her professional partner Carlos Gu’s performance, telling the couple, ‘The key to this dance is obviously American Smooth and smooth it wasn’t, unfortunately. It just lacked grace. I felt like you’d run out of ideas at the end... I don’t think it’s your best, I really don’t.’

Pretty-in-pink Meath chat show host Angela and casually chic Carlos came in for some constructive criticism from head judge Anton Du Beke.

‘The narrative is really clear, it’s never generic dancing, it’s always a wonderfully puttogether performance. I’d like some softness through the whole thing... it needs to be as though you’re dancing on clouds. But you’ve so much to offer, it’s lovely to watch.’

While Shirley Ballas was ‘delighted’ with the dance, she continued by saying that she felt they had far more to give on the dance floor.

‘For me moving forward we need more details; there was definitely no breath in the upper half of the body. I think you’ve got a lot of potential, what I don’t want you to do is start panicking, try to take things a little bit more at ease.’

Praising Angela for having an abundance of talent, Motsi Mabuse said that she should really just inhale and let the music wash over her.

‘When you come to the dance floor, you have this talent of really enjoying the dance. Because you have so much tone, it’s a good thing in dancing but you also need to absorb the music and let the music give you expression. So next week just try to breathe.’

In the end, Angela and Carlos’s scores weren’t their best: Anton 8, Shirley 7, Motsi 7, Craig 6.