Strictly Come Dancing live: Show gears up for Halloween week as speculation over new presenters continues – UK Times

There are just 15 minutes left until Halloween Week kicks off. Here’s a reminder of who’s performing what tonight:

• Alex and Johannes – Salsa to “Horny” by Mousse T feat. Hot ‘n’ Juicy

• Amber and Nikita – Viennese Waltz to “I See Red” by Everybody Loves an Outlaw

• Balvinder and Julian – Samba to “Stay” by Shakespears Sister

• Ellie and Vito – Tango to “Abracadabra” by Lady Gaga

• George and Alexis – Cha Cha Cha to “Apple” by Charli XCX

• Harry and Karen – American Smooth to “Mystical Magical” by Benson Boone

• Karen and Carlos – Argentine Tango to “Red Right Hand” by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

• La Voix and Aljaž – Paso Doble to Beethoven’s 5th

• Lewis and Katya – Couple’s Choice to “Creep” by Radiohead

• Vicky and Kai – American Smooth to “Total Eclipse of The Heart” by Bonnie Tyler.

Seems like the Doctor Who star will be putting her all into her costume for tonight…

“Stacey would be amazing. We’ve had no conversations about anything like that,” the star said.

“Me and Stacey are on the other side of it now, where we sit down like everyone else and watch it as fans,” he added of his relationship with the show. “We’re obsessed with Strictly, we’ve become like super fans.”

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Strictly’s Karen Hauer has spoken out on the “harsh” criticism she received from the judges over her choreography.

The professional dancer said it was a “shame” that the judges weren’t impressed with her and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey’s Argentine tango during Icons Week as she “loved it”.

Both Craig Revel Horwood and Shirley Ballas criticised the “bump and grind” moves used in the Usher song, with the former saying: “I wasn’t entirely fond of throwing all the groove stuff in there.”

Hauer suggested if the judges wanted her to choreograph a classical Argentine tango, then “give me the music and I’ll do it”.

“That was the assignment,” Karen said. “I was just a bit like”, she said, pulling a face.

“While I left earlier than I’d hoped, I walk away proud of what I achieved. In just a few weeks, I made my point – a footballer can dance, it’s more than okay to put yourself out there,” he wrote on Instagram.

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Amber Davies, who was in the bottom two last week alongside Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has dubbed the dance off an “awful” experience.

The former Love Islander said being in the bottom two against the footballer was one of the “worst feelings in the world”.

“I wasn’t sad because we were in the dance-off, I was sad because I loved him so much,”she said.

“I felt awful that it was us that had to be a part of them getting knocked out”, she continued, adding that the sports star and his professional partner Lauren Oakley were an “amazing team”.

It’s been an emotional week for Vicky Pattison who welled up on It Takes Two on Wednesday after her father John told her he was “so proud” of her.

In a prime time TV crossover, Celebrity Traitors star Cat Burns is set to appear on Strictly this week.

The singer, known for her single “Go” and her UK top 10 album Early Twenties will perform on Sunday’s results show alongside one professional couple.

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In case you need a reminder of last week’s scores, here’s the leaderboard from Icons Week of the competition:

Lewis Cope and Katya Jones: 9 + 9 + 8 + 8 = 34

Vicky Pattison and Kai Widdrington: 8 + 8 + 8 + 9 = 33

Amber Davies and Nikita Kuzmin: 8 + 8 + 8 + 9 = 33

Alex Kingston and Johannes Radebe: 7 + 8 + 8 + 9 = 32

Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and Karen Hauer: 6 + 9 + 7 + 8 = 30

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Lauren Oakley: 7 + 8 + 7 + 8 = 30

Karen Carney and Carlos Gu: 7 + 7 + 7 + 7 = 28

Ellie Goldstein and Vito Coppola: 6 +8 + 7 + 7 =28

Balvinder Sopal and Julian Caillon: 7 + 7 + 7 + 7 = 28

La Voix and Aljaž Škorjanec: 6 + 7 + 7 + 8 = 28

George Clarke and Alexis Warr: 6 + 7 + 6 + 8 = 27