First 'Strictly' Lindy Hop-a-thon ends in scoring disaster

Strictly Come Dancing’s first ever Lindy Hop-a-thon nearly ended in disaster as the judges lost their leaderboard, forgot the dancers’ names, and announced the scores in the wrong order.

It should have been double the excitement tonight, as not only were the celebs taking on a second dance with the Lindy Hop, they were also fighting for a place in next week’s quarter final.

But thanks to a technical error with the judges’ digital voting board just as they tried to read out the scores, it all went horribly wrong – read on for the Lindy Hop catalogue of errors.

Elsewhere, Stacey Dooley put in a stunning performance that saw her to joint first place with three 10s and a nine, while for once, Ashley Roberts didn’t come out on top from the judges’ scores.

Joe Sugg baffled fans with his utterly bizarre hip-hop-inspired outfit for his couple’s choice routine.

Head judge Shirley Ballas also got everyone talking with her choice of dress, a hugely voluminous ballgown.

Graeme Swann and Oti Mabuse

Dance: Quickstep to Sing Sing Sing by The Andrews Sisters

What we thought: Graeme looks to have upped the fake tan intensity tonight, beautifully contrasting with his dazzling white outfit.

He went for his Quickstep with as much attack as ever, but it was far from being his best performance and he admitted to nearly having fallen over at one point.

What the judges thought: Shirley Ballas said: “You had a few hiccups, but you recovered. I commend you on the fact you were able to re-pick it back up.”

Bruno Tonioli said: “You took us on a cruise to remember. It wasn’t all plain sailing though, you hit the rocks in a few places.”

Craig Revel Horwood said: “It was like watching the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz.”

Score: 24

Ashley Roberts and Pasha Kovalev

Dance: Samba to Hot Hot Hot by Arrow

What we thought: Ashley’s usually so great at selling a routine, but it all felt a little OTT tonight.

It seemed like she was maybe trying to cover up not feeling quite so comfortable with the Samba, although let’s face it, she never does anything that’s less than 95% perfect.

What the judges thought: Bruno said: “Your hips are criminally good. Your hips are lethal weapons.”

Craig said: “I felt you hit it a little too hard. But what you lack in technique, you certainly make up in performance.”

Darcey Bussell said: “We’ve come to expect so much for you. But I’m on Craig’s side, I would have loved a bit more bounce.”

Score: 36

Faye Tozer and Giovanni Pernice

Dance: Waltz to See the Day by Dee C. Lee

What we thought: For the first time, we thought Faye managed to edge just a little ahead of judges’ pet Ashley tonight.

A beautiful, classy performance that really does deserve a quarter-final place, especially given that they had to change their dance mid-week because of Giovanni’s injury in training.

What the judges thought: Darcey said: “It all came together. It was divine. You always give something extra, beautiful work.”

Shirley said: “I can tell you’ve put long hours of dedication in this week because there were skills that we haven’t seen yet throughout the competition. I thought it was exquisite.”

Score: 39

Joe Sugg and Dianne Buswell

Dance: Couple’s Choice – Street and Commercial to Jump Around by House of Pain

What we thought: Possibly the most uncomfortable few minutes we’ve ever experienced on Strictly – from the outfit and hairdo, to the sliding about all over the place on the Swiss ball, we’ve no idea where Shirley and Bruno were looking while all that was happening.

To be fair to Joe, Dianne didn’t look any more comfortable with the style than he did.

What the judges thought: Bruno said: “That was a ballsy performance, it was so inventive and so witty. You are always totally on the moment.”

Craig said: “I felt it looked a little bit too concentrated. It’s difficult to stay in sync when you’ve both got props like that. It needed a lot more grunge, a lot more earth, a lot more homeboy.”

Score: 35

Charles Venn and Karen Clifton

Dance: Tango to Eleanor Rigby by The Beatles

What we thought: Charles was always going to struggle to follow up his amazing Samba from last week, but this Tango was nothing to be sniffed at.

Ok, it wasn’t as brilliantly memorable as his Blackpool routine, but Charles is still one of the strongest dancers in the contest.

What the judges thought: Bruno said: “It definitely grabbed your attention and that’s important, you did the character very, very well. Very powerful performance.”

Darcey said: “There was one timing problem, but generally, I liked it a lot.”

Score: 30

Lauren Steadman and AJ Pritchard

Dance: Salsa to Familiar by Liam Payne and J Balvin

What we thought: Lauren might not be topping the leaderboard in terms of scores, but she definitely deserves the title of most improved dancer.

She genuinely looked like she was enjoying herself tonight, which many celebs without dancing experience struggle to do in Latin, and some of those lifts were seriously impressive.

What the judges thought: Shirley said: “I don’t think it’s your best number, but there were certain parts in it that I did enjoy.”

Craig said: “I thought it was rather lacklustre and your foot placement was very haphazard. It was a shame, really.”

Score: 23

Stacey Dooley and Kevin Clifton

Dance: Paso Doble to Malaguena by Brian Setzer

What we thought: Never mind a quarter-final place, Stacey and Kevin are going for the win now.

It’s impossible to take your eyes off Stacey when she’s dancing – absolutely no professional performing experience before Strictly, and yet she’s giving Ashley a run for her money.

What the judges thought: Darcey said: “Oh my goodness, that was fierce, you were eating up the dancefloor. It was dramatic, powerful, brilliant.

Shirley said: “Tonight, you looked so much the star. I just thought it was absolutely brilliant.”

Score: 39

The Lindy Hop-a-thon

When the Strictly bosses planned this new segment, they probably knew it had potential to be confusing and chaotic – but no one could have predicted just how so.

It’s the first time Strictly has ever done a Lindy Hop-a-thon, so in brief, these are the rules – everyone dances at once, lifts are allowed, if you knock into anyone you get points taken off, and the top couple scores seven while the worst gets one.

As the judges said it would be, it was absolute mayhem with so many people all doing so many different moves at once, but we don’t at all blame Stacey and Kevin for giving themselves a rest from having just performed by piggybacking around the floor for a good long while.

Faye and Giovanni stood out for being particularly amazing, but it was difficult to pick anyone else out of the masses.

Things got even more awkward when the judges lost their voting board and Shirley prematurely announced Ashley as the winner, completely dampening any sense of tension as she then had to go back and announce last place onwards.

Shirley also managed to show up that she isn’t too sure of anyone’s names without the autocue, as she got a number of them wrong, apologised for calling out the right names thinking that they were wrong, and most memorably called Charles’ partner Karen…Diana.

Claudia Winkleman then confused us even further by wrongly trying to confirm that Graeme had come in last place rather than Lauren – oops.

Bruno decided to clarify things by reading out the couples and where they had placed, holding up the corresponding number of fingers. Brilliant plan, except he held up the wrong number of fingers.

So, to be clear, the scores from worst to best were: Lauren – 1, Graeme – 2, Charles – 3, Stacey – 4, Joe – 5, Faye – 6, Ashley – 7.

And if that still makes no sense, the top line is that Ashley won and Lauren came last.

Bet they won’t be repeating that again in a hurry.

Strictly Come Dancing continues on Sunday at 7.20pm on BBC One.

Read more
Arlene Phillips’ Strictly return confirmed
Noel Edmonds will be ’emperor’ of the jungle
Fired Apprentice reveals co-stars tactics