The remaining Strictly Come Dancing couples will be breathing a sigh of relief after surviving the Blackpool special, but they shouldn’t get too comfortable as another elimination awaits.
Angela Rippon’s dance-off winning streak came to an abrupt end on Sunday’s results show – while she had survived two with ease, Bobby Brazier proved too tough of a competitor and she waved goodbye to the iconic ballroom.
Now, the remaining six couples will be battling it out in week ten of the competition, and with the glitterball trophy firmly in sight, they’ll be pulling out all the stops.
Body language expert Darren Stanton, who spoke on behalf of Betfair Casino, has analysed all the competitors and believes that he’s deciphered who is leaving next.
Sadly, he thinks time is up in Strictly land for Annabel Croft, 57, and Johannes Rabede, 32, who’ve yet to face a dance-off.
‘Annabel could be the next casualty to leave the competition,’ he claimed.
On the recent episode, Annabel performed an American Smooth to Unchained Melody by Benedetta Caretta, which earned them a respectable fourth position on the leaderboard but Darren spotted that she was out of her depth.
‘Annabel showed regular signs of nervousness and I could sense she felt out of her depth this week.
‘She knows she doesn’t have very long to prove her place on the show.’
In order to change their fate, Darren has advised them to ‘take some risks’ while performing their Paso Doble to España cañí by Trad.
‘At this stage, Angela and Johannes have done well and they are a strong couple in terms of the trust they have with one another.
‘However, they are playing it quite safe and they will need to show they aren’t afraid to take some risks,’ he concluded.
Whatever the outcome of the coming weeks, Annabel is eternally grateful to Strictly for giving her a positive focus after her husband Mel Coleman died from stomach cancer in May.
‘It has been a horrific year, it was something I’ve never anticipated, this was never meant to be how life was going to be, I thought I had a future with my husband, we’d been together since I was 21, 36 years together and I miss him terribly, there is no question about it,’ she said on This Morning today.
‘I so want to speak to him about what we are doing, I miss his humour and I really wish that Johannes had met him because I feel like they would have got on so well.’
She later added that she doesn’t know where she’d be now without the BBC series.
Darren is also concerned that Nigel Harman, 50, and Katya Jones, 34, may have ‘taken their eyes off the ball’ for their Quickstep to Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong’s It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing) after finishing second to last on the leaderboard.
‘This week was a real blip for Nigel and Katya, which none of us saw coming,’ said Darren.
‘They’ve really slipped behind this week. We also saw Nigel storm off after receiving his score.’
‘They thought they had it in the bag, and they could relax a bit – but they’ve taken their eyes off the ball and it hasn’t done them any favours.
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‘The pressure may have gotten to them and they will be feeling it even more now.’
It wasn’t just Nigel, who Blackpool impacted, claimed Darren.
‘We also saw a different side to Katya. Normally we see her feeling a lot of joy with no fake smiles, but this week she was putting on a front.
‘Katya displayed signals of disgust and anger. It tells us that they felt humiliated to be in a low position. I’m concerned for Nigel now, he really needs to up his game next week and prove his position.’
This week they are performing a Rumba to It’s All Coming Back To Me Now by Celine Dion, and perhaps they can climb the leaderboard once more with a sultry routine.
Strictly Come Dancing airs Saturday and Sunday on BBC One and iPlayer.
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