Strictly’s a cha-cha challenge too far for Cracknell
JAMES Cracknell became the first casualty of Strictly Come Dancing’s 17th series last night, departing the competition after losing a dance-off with David James.
Cracknell, 47, and Luba Mushtuk, 29, had received the lowest marks from judges for a second week running. They received 13 out of 40 for a ‘stompy’ jive – up on on last week’s 11 for the tango.
Their routine began with the pair flipping pancakes – which Craig Revel Horwood described as the ‘best part’.
Cracknell said afterwards: ‘Luba’s been amazing, being so patient with a couple of left feet.’
HE’S rowed across the Atlantic, trekked to the South Pole and has two Olympic gold medals to his name. Alas, James Cracknell won’t be adding a glitterball trophy to his haul of achievements after becoming the first celebrity to get the boot from this year’s Strictly.
On Saturday night he said that he was taking part to ‘prove people wrong’. And if those people were thinking he’d turn out to be a phenomenal dancer with a great sense of timing and rhythm, then he certainly did.
Cracknell performed a jive to Tutti Frutti which – for no obvious reason – centred around a pancake-tossing theme.
In fairness, being light on your feet was never going to come easily to a 6ft 4in hulk of a man, and what should have been precise, sharp flicks and kicks ended up looking as though he was trying to dislodge a pesky piece of chewing gum from the bottom of his shoe. Joining Cracknell in the dance-off was fellow sportsman David James who performed a paso doble that Craig Revel Horwood described as ‘limp, lame and lacklustre’.
The ex-England goalie looked a bit shellshocked by the judge’s comments, revealing that he had ‘fallen in love’ with the dance. Heaven help us when he has to perform one he hasn’t taken to.
Former Emmerdale star Kelvin Fletcher continued to be a revelation with an elegant waltz. And was it me, or did his biceps look even bigger than last week? His arms must measure more than his partner Oti Mabuse’s waist. Following last year’s snog-gate scandal with comedian Seann Walsh, there was a question mark over whether Katya Jones would be relegated to the chorus line.
She escaped the axe but was punished by being paired with a no-hoper, BBC sports presenter Mike Bushell. On Saturday it became clear that she intends to keep him (and her) in the show as long as possible by turning him into a pound-shop Ed Balls. Mrs Jones choreographed a bizarre cowboy-themed American smooth that featured an array of clumsy, acrobatic lifts that you had to watch through your fingers.
At one stage she was dangling upside down from Bushell with her legs clamped around his neck. Fred and Ginger it was not.
Bruno Tonioli described the precarious lifts as being like a ‘psychotic cliffhanger’. Yet something tells me the steely-eyed Mrs Jones would be prepared to suffer some mild concussion if it prolongs her time on the show.