"You can ask for kittens, goats, anything you like really"

So said Claudia when enquiring what the Legend That is Bruce Forsyth asks for on his rider. What would ITT be like without the incomparable Claude?

I thought it was a lovely interview with Bruce, showing off his enthusiasm for the show and for the business in general. He was at pains to stress that he paid for his own champagne though (stung about newspaper comments about how much he earns?) and how come he gets about 8 tickets for his showbiz mates for each show, when the general public can't get in for love nor money?

He seemed to be doing his best to defend Team Cola as well - stressing their teamwork, improvement, entertainment value. I suspect this could be part of the BBC strategy of not getting too much egg on faces if they do go on to win.....the much revered elder statesmen of SCD has praised much of what Team Cola are about, so maybe a Team Cola win wouldn't look that out of place in the annals of Strictly.

I do think though that for the sake of impartiality, as well as his own reputation, James shouldn't really be on choreo corner (or midweek panel) at this point. It would be good to have as much objectivity as possible, and we do have quite a few pros who would do as good a job as James. The forums are alive with the charges of hypocrisy on James' part as it is, vis his criticism of John Sergeant last year compared to his support of Ola this year, so why give further material to the stone throwers?

It is difficult for him, but I do believe he is trying to be balanced, in admitting that Ricky is the better dancer, techically, but that Chris and Ola have a lot going for them. Flavia was brilliant on ITT - she is really coming into her own as a commentator - and I learnt so much about the technicality of the AT from her.

And as for the Master Class with a twist - Len looks like a saint compared to Bruce - who already seemed to be losing patience with Claudia after just one session. How many episodes has Len suffered?