Two questions this week: (1) Has it ever happened before that a married couple are in direct competition on telly; with Tess Daly's Strictly Come Dancing up against husband Vernon Kaye's All-Star Family Fortunes? (2) Why isn't the Sunday show broadcast on BBC HD?
I can only answer the last question. Apparently, all the behind-the-scenes footage is filmed in standard-def, so Sunday's show can't guarantee it'll have 75% HD-content -- which BBC HD require their shows to contain. See, there you are. You learn summat new every day...
Onto the show itself, which returned to focus on the celebrity men/professional women for this third week of the competition. Here are my thoughts on the aesthetic delights of the female form, as I have no clue about dancing and you've already heard 4 judges give their verdict there...
ERIN BOAG & Austin Healey
Okay, I'm an Erin apologist now. She's looking mighty fine this series. In fact, I might even check some of her earlier appearances on YouTube, as she always struck me as looking old beyond her years. Was I blind, or has someone told her to pull herself together? Regardless, here she was in sexy blue-tinsel dress that showed her shapely legs, with long hair, lots of smiles, sexy moves and a short skirt. Better and better, Erin.HAYLEY HOLT & Mark Foster
She was red-hot in the special exhibition dance last Sunday, but isn't quite as alluring for the actual dances that matter. A long, pink skirt with yellow-gold dress, old-style hairdo and hair in a tight bun. A good tango, but she's nowhere near as sexy as she could be this series.KAREN HARDY & Gary Rhodes
She looked resigned to the fact she'll be leaving SCD, as Rhodes is a poor dancer. Here, Karen was in a purple spangled number with a split skirt showing her nice legs, lots of cleavage, and long slick-black hair. Very nice.KRISTINA RHIANOFF & John Sergeant
God bless Mr. Sergeant for making the best of his limited ability, so the Russian groover can stick around for awhile. Sadly, Kristina didn't wow me this week; brown frilly skirt, hair up, string-backed dress. Not awful, and she was appropriately exotic and powerful in the tango, but not a patch on her exhibition dance with Hayley Holt and Brian Fortuna last Sunday.OLA JORDAN & Andrew Castle
She will probably never beat the Week 1 cat-suit, but Ola made the most of a white dress that left most things to the imagination. Still, there was lots of cleavage (the reason for Castle's hilarious double-taking woodpecker impression?) and she exuded a hot and sexy energy as usual.CAMILLA DALLERUP & Tom Chambers
The great Dane is dressing well so far this year, here performing in her usual playful and cheeky manner, wearing a black-and-gold dress to match the song title. Tight black "under-dress", long legs and schoolgirl ponytail completed a dancing highlight this week.LILIA KOPYLOVA & Don Warrington
Lilia was overshadowed by Ola in week 1, and nothing here really got her back on-track, although she always brings a certain sauciness to her dances. Her tango here was a brilliant routine, although the black dress and cut skirt only afforded brief glances of her sexy legs. Still, I'm sure there are corners of the internet that screen-grabbed her extended knickers flash in the final tableau."SWING DANCE" GIRLS
Another group dance from the celebrity girls, very well done. I particularly liked Christine Bleakley again (she just seems to be having a blast), Lisa Snowdon looked cute, and Jessie Wallace also looks deliriously happy to be there strutting her stuff. Good, solid work."RHUMBA" GROUP DANCE
The professionals did a group dance that meant all the girls had to wear tight-fitting silver dresses with tiny skirts. Why are the group dances on Sunday night proving to be sexier than the relevant dances every Saturday? Ola Jordan and Flavia Cacace looked particularly hot.THE DANCE-OFF
This week it was between Gary Rhodes/Karen Hardy and Mark Foster/Hayley Holt. Ooh, tough one. If you've seen Saturday's show, the Sunday results episode is pretty laborious – and a dance-off involving those two was utterly needless. As everyone watching expected, chef Rhodes was forced to hang up his dance shoes. It's a shame to lose Karen, although I'm hoping Hayley Holt will start raising her game. She just looks hard-faced and miserable half the time, unless she's in a group dance.4 October 2008 – BBC1, 6.45pm
5 October 2008 -- BBC1, 8.10pm
