So I have shed my first Strictly tear of the season....

...at Jo and Brendan's exit interview. Actually I am welling up again just thinking of Brendan saying that he knows he has a friend for life. I am so very pleased that Jo had such a good SCD experience, and the fact that she did must largely come down to Brendan. I know all the celebs are so brave to go completely out of their comfort zone, but Jo readily admits that this is the first thing that she has ever done on her own - and for a spurned woman, confidence destroyed, to learn to dance in front of 8 million people - that takes true guts and determination.

I must admit to having rolled my eyes when I heard she had signed to Strictly, but now I am full of admiration for a lovely, bubbly, down to earth woman. And I have done an abrupt U-turn on Brendan this series, and really like the new mellow, philosophical side of him. They make a lovely team, and I would have liked to see them outlast the likes of Anton and Laila and Flavia and Craig.

Talking of which, just how delusional is Craig? I appreciate that he is a real trier, and that he wants to be a good dancer, but has he watched any of the footage back at all? Has he even watched himself in the mirror? Poor, poor Flavia. And I even think Claudia may have been at a loss for words yesterday evening, and that is something that I have never seen before.

But with all these bandwagons going on - the get Craig to Blackpool bandwagon, the I want to do a good dance on my birthday bandwagon - I can see him lasting another couple of weeks. (And the SCD producers must surely be pushing this, because they know that if Craig stays, there will be the big shock exit of the series). So expect the couples in 3rd and 4th place on the leaderboard to be dancing off this Saturday, as Craig coasts through on his out of body dream cloud. I think the judges will make sure Jade and Ian are as safe as possible this week, as well as Ricky and Natalie.

Zoe and James have got salsa or samba this week, and have been talked up and overscored so much this weekend, that they are riding for another fall; Anton and Laila are back on the ballroom, but won't have the comedy factor of a latin, and Viennese Waltz has never been a big vote winner; Ali and Brian need to portray aggression in the paso....any or all could be at risk.

Having seen the segment on camera work, I think I need to stop moaning about the camera operators! SCD has a whopping 10 cameras, including 3 handheld, a steadicam, 2trained on the judges, and a technicrane that weighs a ton and a half, and needs 4 operators to shift it. Wow! I had no idea how complex the planning for the camerawork could be - the choreography seems almost as complex as something the pros would come up with. It is all scripted, with operators hearing instructions via headphones, and requires split second timing - with no room for error.

Once again, there seemed to be a real camaraderie backstage, and I laughed at the fact that the only celeb who admitted to getting distracted by the cameras was Jo Wood!

And so to Craig Devil Borewood and his predictions for the week ahead. I almost fell off my chair when he stated with complete conviction that Ali would be good at paso because "she is so good at those kind of dances" - darling, so far Ali has performed a waltz, rumba, quickstep, jive, salsa, and american smooth - she really hasn't needed to do drama or passion. So a little fact checking needed, perhaps?

And as for the waspish "Well, that will be interesting" about Ricky G's forthcoming rumba - well I think that your Char Char Char with the Duchess of Cornwall was rather interesting - particularly with regard to the bent knees and forced hip action (it comes from the feet, darling, not from just swinging the hips randomly). Don't give up the day job, dearie. Stick to theatre choreography and leave the latin dancing to the pros.