Key events
An electrifying performance, styled with vintage glamour and sizzling with passion. One worthy of the historic surroundings.
Powerful and expressive with each coupleâs bodies in complete close contact. Changes of gear and a gorgeous classy feel. Intricate flicks, kicks and pivots.
From Blackpool to Buenos Aires
We open with a group dance from the professionals. Choreographed by Matt Flint, Leandro Palou and Maria Tsiatsiani, itâs an Argentine Tango set in a glamorous 1940s hotel. The regular Strictly troupe are joined by supporting extra dancers for this stunning number, set to the sultry sounds of Tango Jalousie, written by Danish composer Jacob Gade in 1925.
And weâre off!
Whoâs about to become the eighth couple to board the sequin-spangled tram home?
Inflate your armbands and shove a Flake in your drink. Weâre about to be beamed back to the Blackpool Tower Ballroomâ¦
Will it be Wicks vs Wynne?
Any last dance-off predictions? By rights it should be Pete Wicks vs Wynne Evans but the public vote means anything could happen. Blackpool fingernails are being bitten.
Just five minutes to wait nowâ¦
Tower Ballroom turns Argentine
The professional troupeâs group performance at the prestigious Tower Ballroom is always something special. Tonight we can look forward to an Argentine tango in a period setting. Gauchos and ganchos incoming.
Itâs a mere 10 minutes until the clock strikes sequinsâ¦
Polar bears hanging out in an abandoned Soviet weather station = sheer animal magic.
The third episode of Sir David Attenborough-narrated wildlife epic Asia just wrapping up on BBC1. Tonight weâre in the continentâs frozen north, with stunning footage of Himalayan wolves, Amur tigers and the worldâs largest owls. Twit-twoo indeed.
Thank goodness those starving bears survived. However, one pair of hoofing humans soon wonât be so lucky. Itâs 15 minutes until choreographic kick-offâ¦
More near-perfection last night
Last nightâs brilliantly balletic paso doble saw Tasha Ghouri top the leaderboard for an impressive sixth time in nine weeks – and score 39 points for the third time.
With Jamie Borthwick, JB Gill, Montell Douglas and Sarah Hadland also notching 39s this series, weâve been one point away from a maximum seven times â compared to four times at the equivalent stage last year. How long before somebody goes one better?
Itâs 20 minutes until weâre back in the Tower Ballroomâ¦
Our Canadian correspondent writes
Another email just in from Strictly fan and eager liveblog follower, Iain Crofts in Montreal:
If I werenât frozen out from voting on Strictly by being in Canada, I would usually be voting for Sarah and Vito this season. However, last night I might have voted to save Pete from the dance-off, just to ensure that his pink PVC performance could remain forever unrepeated. No wonder there were reports of him not being very happy in rehearsals.
When you wrote in yesterdayâs liveblog about the spread in his scores, it seemed like a question of Craig being objectionable with his low-ball score of four. Now that Iâve seen the dance clip, Craigâs score seems objective, while the other judgesâ over-scoring looks like, in the words of an eighties French-Canadian pop hit, âUne Question de Feelingâ.
When it comes to dance-off danger, I suspect that Peteâs active fan-base might be massing on the beach to keep him afloat at Blackpool. Could the red light be flashing for Wynne and Jamie? In all fairness to Pete, if he is to be voted off soon, it would be better to bow out having given his all in a routine that he could look back on fondly.