Strictly Come Dancing's Harry Aikines-Aryeetey hailed 'dark horse' by ex pro after 'worst salsa she's seen'
Ola Jordan didn't hold back after this weekend's Strictly Come Dancing
Strictly Come Dancing saw its first elimination over the weekend – with a former pro saying Thomas Skinner and Amy Dowden’s performances “weren’t pretty”.
Branding the couple’s dance the “worst salsa I’ve seen”, ex-pro and former winner Ola Jordan has had her say on the weekend’s performances.
But addressing the star-studded couples ahead of Week 3’s Movie Week, Ola has also revealed who she thinks will be this year’s “dark horse”.
Who left Strictly this week?
Strictly Come Dancing’s first casualties are Tom Skinner and Amy Dowden. They were in a dance off with Chris Robshaw and Nadiya Bychkova, and it came as no surprise to Ola. She’s even describes it as one of the “worst dances” she has ever seen. Ouch.
The pair did a salsa to Bonkers by Dizzee Rascal. But Ola explained to Mecca Bingo: “It was probably the worst salsa I’ve seen. It wasn’t pretty at all. He can lift Amy – that’s about it. Maybe the song choice impacted them because it wasn’t a salsa song. There weren’t many proper salsa steps.
“It was very basic, flat-footed, no hip action. I could see he was gutted, but am I surprised people didn’t vote? No.” Ola added: “Watching that, I’m not surprised. It’s a shame for Amy and for him, because I know he wanted to stay longer.
“Tom was not good – the salsa really wasn’t good – so I’m not surprised he was in the bottom two. And from that bottom two, I’m not surprised Tom went. I would have made the same decision as the judges. That was quite an easy decision.”
Strictly’s Harry is tipped a ‘dark horse’
After dragging Tom and Amy’s performance, Ola opened up about who she thinks is going all the way. She’s thrown her support behind Gladiator Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and his pro partner, Karen Hauer.
On Saturday night, Harry – aka Nitro – and Karen performed a Quickstep to Everybody Needs Somebody To Love. They are now ninth on the leaderboard, with a combined Week 1 and Week 2 score of 45. Although he is sitting in the middle, Ola has her eye on him for the Glitterball Trophy.
“I like Harry – he’s great,” Ola said. “He did a great job. He had loads of quickstep steps in the routine – and that’s important, because sometimes people avoid doing the proper steps. The actual steps are the hardest part.
“He had loads of quickstep content, and there was no messing about. He had a very good posture for someone so big and muscular. I’d like him to stride more around the floor with bigger steps, because he’s capable of it.”
“Sometimes he looked down at the floor – I’d like his eyeline up. That would improve the look,” Ola continued. “But overall, he did a really good job. I see him more as a contender now.”
Current Strictly leaderboard
Amber Davies and Nikita Kuzmin are in the top position with 56 total points and Lewis Cope and Katya Jones are in second with 55 total points. George Clarke and Alexis Warr are in third with 54, while at the bottom of the leaderboard is Ross King and Jowita Pryzstal, with 25 combined points.
Week 1 judges’ results were added to the Week 2 marks to form the final scores. Ola said: “It’s hard when they combine the scores. It depends on what dance you get and how well you do in each number.
“When you look at the bottom of the leaderboard, I think it’s pretty accurate. As soon as I saw, like I said, Ross in his kilt, I thought he’s not going to be in the bottom two. The dances weren’t great.”
Strictly’s Movie Week
Week 3’s Strictly Come Dancing is Movie Week. We already know some of the songs and films, so expect it to be a good one. The Barbie Movie, The Sound of Music and KPop Demon Hunter will all feature in the special.
Weighing in on Movie Week, Ola said: “Yes, I’m looking forward to it, but sometimes I think Movie Week and theme weeks overshadow the actual dancing. People concentrate on the acting instead of the Foxtrot steps, technique and everything.
“I’m looking forward to seeing what they’re going to do, but I hope it doesn’t overshadow the dance.”
Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC One and on BBC iPlayer on Saturday (October 11), followed by Sunday’s results show on October 12.
