Boyfriend missed Ola spanking Chris last night...

....oh dear, but that will teach him to be wedded to his i-Phone instead of watching ITT.

Some good interviews last night as well, especially with Jade and Ian.

Anton however really needs to develop his listening skills, particularly if he is touting for more work as a host/presenter.... I am not convinced that Laila and Anton have the chemistry that he has enjoyed with previous partners though, and am half expecting a big bust up by about week 4 or 5. Whether or not it will be semi-staged for the cameras or not would be anybody's guess.

He seems to have developed a sound strategy for teaching Laila, ie. concentrating on technique that can be transferred to other dances, but this could, of course, be Anton's defence for producing a very lack lustre cha cha last week.

I am also not sure about their intended strategy of "just getting into the dance" paying off completely (they may change their minds of course). Whilst getting straight into hold and getting on with the dance appeals enormously to Len, this may not prove a vote winner with the public. I think that ballroom dance can very often appear distanced from the audience (the couples even dance with their backs towards the audience for most of the time) and the little intros and outros are the perfect place to engage with the viewers at home. It is also the place to personalise the dance, and that is often the part that sticks in the viewers' memory when it comes to voting. The field is very crowded still - I don't think there has ever been a show where 14 couples have all danced on the same night, with 7 couples all dancing the same dance. That is a lot of quicksteps for the viewer to sit through, and methinks they are likely to vote for the most memorable!

Talking of memorable, Erin has promised us a paso to remember this week, which should be reason enough on its own for X-Factor waverers to tune in. Erin and Austin's paso from last series, although short on proper paso content, was one of the highlights of last series, and absolutely spine-tingling...... Not sure how Ricky can measure up (it is really early in the series for anyone to be pulling off a convincing paso) but I wait with bated breath. Claudia of course had the perfect response to this announcement with "Will there be snacks?". Got to love the woman.

Jade comes across so much better in interview than in her VTs. I have been a bit suspicious since last week that she is not getting the best edit and here was the proof. Jade is shown working Ian into a complete sweat and in need of a sit down, while she is not showing any sign of perspiration, not even a faint glow! Shades of Gaby and James in Series 5, with James shown sitting down resting whilst Gaby went on training - and on, and on, and on. And look how far being painted as over-competitive got Gaby! (And Denise Lewis for that matter).

Jade made a very interesting point though about the contrast between her sport and Strictly. In long jump she has the best of three tries to be taken as her attempt; in Strictly, she has to nail it first time out. It must be an interesting psychological challenge for her, especially as she is still competing at a high level in her sport. (Most sportspeople have retired by the time they come on SCD). She needs to alter her mind set to allow for the "no second chances" nature of Strictly, but without compromising the longer-term mind set that she needs to be a top competitive long jumper.

And so the row about Ricky Whittle rumbles on, with the has he, hasn't he had previous "dance" experience. To quote Arlene, bored now. We have this every year, it all gets blown out of proportion, and armchair commentators go leaping to conclusions. The only difference this year is that the fuss is about a male contestant, not a female.

To my eye, he looks a bit like a rough diamond - someone who is an undoubted natural mover, but who needs polishing to turn him into a real dancer. I think that if he had had 7 months previous training (there seems to be another rumpus starting, in addition to the "two hours of salsa dancing two years ago" fuss, but I have lost the will to track down the details of that rumour), then someone as naturally talented as Ricky would be appearing a good deal more refined. In particular, his way of moving seems to me to be quite "hip hop/street" in that he seems to dance with his knees rather too flexed, and a bit "low" into the floor, instead of with straight legs and pushing down and out from the floor. There is also something about his head movements, particularly when spotting his spins, that are more "hip hop" than ballroom/latin. I hope for his sake, he gets a chance to put the rumours to bed, once and for all.

Whatever the real facts of the matter are, I have a feeling his paso will be the one to watch this Saturday.