Strictly Review: Seann Walsh and Katya Jones

The odds were against comedian Seann Walsh and his professional partner Katya Jones this week in Strictly Come Dancing as they have been engulfed in a media storm after pictures emerged of them kissing were splashed across the tabloids followed by Seann being publicly dumped on Twitter. 

However, after all the drama of ‘kiss-gate’ the public chose to save them, sending Katie Piper and Gorka Marquez home. 

Rumor has it that the pair were supposed to be dancing a raunchy Rumba but instead that had to be scrapped and replaced with a Charleston set in a pizzeria which was put together by Choreographer Jenny Thomas. The music was 'Bills' by Lunchmoney Lewis. 

Dressed in the most unsexy outfits the costume department could find that the pair managed to get an 8 from Head Judge Shirley Ballas. But did it really deserve such a high score? 

Let’s take a more in-depth look:

For the first 20 seconds, they set the scene or as we would describe a lot of faffing with cheese until they start dancing. Once they get going, we see a basic 20s in hold, followed by some flapper walks. Katya seems to be counting out loud at this point and there is a tiny stumble at 27 seconds in. Did Seann accidentally pull her over?

They then move into a lindyhop section and break out of it with a helicopter at 42 seconds. The knees are not closed here nor is there any swivel on the supporting leg which are vital for this move.

We then see some impressive lifts from Katya and we jump straight back into another lindyhop section and then into rather weird lift where she climbs up his back. We’ve not see this in any style so we are not really sure what genre that is from. It also breaks the flow of the dance. Maybe they were just looking for unsexy moves to perform in their Where’s Wally outfits?

Seann does get a little Charleston solo break, which he mouths his counts and goes wrong. He looks very stiff in this section.

Once they chuck the pizza boxes in the air, it’s back to the oven for some some more faffing followed by a Charleston Around the World and 3 lifts. The final one looks a bit wobbly and the transition into their final position is not very smooth, in fact they don’t hold their end position.

Overall, this routine had some nice elements but it was very unpolished and messy. We see them falling over, mouthing counts and in terms for content compared to last weeks Charleston we barely see them in hold and only see classic 20s Charleston and a helicopter. 

Judge Scores and Comments:

Darcey: "That was a full routine! You delivered it with great energy, great attack. There were some really tricky lifts in there. There are moments where you do become slightly clumsy, but overall, very strong character." (7)

Shirley: "That routine was outstanding. Totally entertaining. I loved it, I thought you did extremely well." (8)

Bruno: "You threw everything at it but the kitchen sink. It was so manic but manic in a good way. The finish at times was a little bit gangly, but you went for it." (7)

Craig: "What I love about you, Katya, is you will say, 'Yes, let's do it and let's do more' and that's what you did. A lot of it was left to the gods, but you did it really, really well." (6)

I’m afraid we don’t agree with Shirley on this one. We do love Jenny Thomas as a choreographer but it was excuted poorly. The only thing that saves it is Katya’s energy so its a 6 from us. Do you agree?