Debbie could pull off the best magic trick in the final

Glittering: Debbie Mcgee is the first older woman on Strictly whom no one has made allowances for

Gosh, this has been an up-anddown Strictly. And I don’t mean up and down like a “Debbie and Giovanni, look-no-hands, mamma-mia!” lift. Heavenly Rev Richard Coles was clearly supposed to slot into the so-bad-it’s-good role, but he got eliminated too soon.

Then, in the biggest shock in the show’s history, Aston Merrygold and Janette Manrara were eliminated, despite acrobat wu nd er kind Aston topping the leaderboard. Admittedly, the Michael Jackson-inspired Viennese waltz (now there’s a sentence I never thought I’d write) was a stylistic car crash.

New head judge Shirley Ballas was doing brilliantly until then. But her decision to send Aston home and save Mollie King – Mollie! – was bizarre.

Subsequent attempts to justify Shirley’s error by overpraising Mollie while finding fault with better dancers brought charges of unfairness. Susan Calman’s childlike wonder at finding herself dancing was my favourite thing of all. Otherwise, there were very few standout routines, and Blackpool was a dud. Having said that, this Saturday’s grand final could be wonderful.

It’s too close to call as all four couples are fabulous in different ways. I reckon it will be between Joe and Katya and Debbie and Giovanni, but secretly I hope that the 59-year-old gets the Glitter Ball.

Debbie used to be a magician’s assistant.

Now she’s just magic.