‘Poor footwork and nerves’ land Strictly Come Dancing couples with low scores

Four couples received scores of below 30 points from the judges.
Strictly Come Dancing 2023 professional dancers and celebrities appear on the live show on Saturday (Guy Levy/PA)
PA Media
Charlotte McLaughlin21 October 2023
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Some Strictly Come Dancing couples have been given low scores for their “poor footwork” during nervy performances on the latest episode.

On Saturday, judge Motsi Mabuse told former tennis player Annabel Croft to “next week calm the nerves and get on with it” after her performance to Ladies Night by Kool & The Gang.

Fellow judge Craig Revel Horwood praised the dance as “one of the chicest Charleston’s we’ve seen” but said there was “no swivel in there to speak of”.

Nigel Harman and Katya Jones were praised for their foxtrot to I Just Want To Make Love To You by Etta James, which head judge Shirley Ballas said would not look out of place on a West End stage.

However, Ballas did point to Harman’s nerves, saying: “You have to channel your mind… just imagine you’re in a practice hall” and judge Anton Du Beke also criticised the footwork, saying Harman went a “bit wrong”.

Harman received support though from Harry Potter star David Bradley, who appeared in the audience to cheer his fellow actor.

Revel Horwood criticised comedian Eddie Kadi for being a “little bit awkward and very turned in as well” during the samba to Calm Down by Rema ft. Selena Gomez with professional Karen Hauer.

He said: “The footwork was very sloppy… It also lacked flow… You know how to work the crowd so build (on) that, darling.”

Angela Scanlon admitted that she was running at her partner Carlos Gu “like a tree I had to climb” during the live performance as Revel Horwood said she “lacked grace” and Du Beke urged her to show “some softness”.

She performed a light-hearted effort in an American Smooth dance to Cherish by Madonna.

The four couples received scores of below 30 points from the judges.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in