Such a successful salsa that they wanted to see it again

Well I am glad that it was Ricky Groves attempting that sentence, not Vincent.

Erin seemed somewhat subdued tonight, definitely as though the honeymoon is really over. Mind you, they are down to the last 8 couples, with the real donkeys gone just as Phil and Chris (Ricky's nearest rivals) seem about to break away from the mid table pack, and just as Ricky seems to have levelled off. The reality is that she is probably running low on quirky choreography (I won't call it gimmicks, because Erin is far too classy to resort to gimmicks!) and the end is nigh. They may well outlast Laila and or Natalie which could just about be justified, but should they knock out Jade or Ali, she knows that the ranks of Craig Kelly/John Sergeant/Kate Garraway beckon.

Poor Erin, deprived of the trophy in SCD3 by the public's attachment to Darren "I am just a blokey bloke from Barnsley, me" Gough (we won't mention the puppet dance), and deprived of a place in the semis by the judges' inexplicable preferance for Lisa, she then had to witness the semi final debacle last year, with all couples going through, and then the Adventures in Bacofoil travesty that was Lisa and Brendan's showdance. I really think this is going to be her last series, what with the producers's penchant for importing leggy long blondes, two of whom (Natalie and Katya look set for at least the quarter finals), and her professional partner's idiocy earlier this series. Flavia and Vincent and now Natalie and Ian are real challengers to the throne of ballroom royalty, and redundancy cannot be far off.

Once again, Karen Hardy was articulate and charming, and had some good points to make about dances such as the foxtrot and quickstep being perfect for a big ballroom like Blackpool, whereas the salsa's real home is a smoky night club, so trying to make a salsa work on a stage the scale of Blackpool makes it lose its essence.

Oh no family filler - let's move on quick! Actually, it is Anton and Laila on next, so let's linger. So we learned that NatCass cannot sing, Ricky G's mum found out about his stint on Strictly from his neighbour's paper, and Laila dresses like Sonia from Eastenders in her own time. Bless.

So to Charm and Smarm - whingeing about scores, showing complacency, lack of chemistry, and Laila unable to get a word in. No change there then. Except it is the rumba this weekend though - expect balletic moves from Anton, lots of lines, no hip movement to speak of, and no passion. Bottom two. Please?