Who are this year’s Strictly Dark Horses?

What a week of huge highs and lows and am I going to have fun sharing these with you…

Twists and turns

From the disaaaarster of whiplash to the amazing Denise Van Outen, who made us feel for a second with all her twists and turns in Jive that she may not be able to dance after all, to a crestfallen Nicky Brynes …AGAIN…being pummeled by the judges for a second week running, to the return of the Dance Off. And of course Johnny Ball sadly being given the boot and Richard Arnold scraping back to fight another day. Out of all this, it became clear the judges were not going to be generous in anyway with their criticisms or their marks again this week.

Dark Horses

Rather than focus on the obvious, I’m going to dig out those who could be dark horses with potential to shine over the next couple of weeks.

Sid Owen

So first up has to be Sid Owen… there is just something I like about this man on the dance floor – it’s his inner mojo I think!! Even though he completely messed up his Salsa timing, I think he forgot to keep counting as a result of loving what he was doing so much… Then having a Shakira lookalike in his arms just blew him away. And when fun, music and dance all come together it can be one explosive experience. If he can get his timing controlled, keep the excellent characteristics of the dances and continue to enjoy himself he could be one of our dark horses.

Fern Britton

Fern Britton really impressed me with her improvement in just one week. It didn’t set the world on fire but it has the foundations of allowing her to remain in the game for quite sometime yet. This week I was able to enjoy and see the real Fern on the dance floor and even though Len Goodman wasn’t overly impressed with the ‘wafting’ as he put it, she showed signs of great movement across the dance floor, a clear delivery of all her choreography and with the bonus use of arms… even if they weren’t as good as the judges wanted! There was a lot she didn’t do right of course but really, to coin a phrase, she just needs a big old rocket up her bottom now!

Louis Smith

Louis Smith – again a good delivery but we need to be jumping out of our seats with excitement at some point in this Strictly (dare I say it)… journey. And yes I know it’s only the second week but I’m really hoping that top gymnast Louis has me choking on my marshmallows in surprise at his entertainment-packed performance, sooner rather than later…

Especially when I remember back to the moment in series 4 when the very reserved Mark Ramprakash suddenly screamed out “can we have another go…” during the Salsa, which was picked up by our microphones. Mark was suddenly in the running for the final once he had a voice…and remember everyone loves a bit of a surprise on a Saturday night!!!

Speak next week…
Karen Hardy

World Masters, United Kingdom, International
And British National Champion of Latin American Dance
Carl Alan & BDF Award Winner for Services to Dance
Winner of Strictly Come Dancing Series 4
Director of the Award Winning Karen Hardy Studios
Find out more about Karen’s dance studios at www.karenhardystudios.com

Do you agree with Karen’s dark horses? Or is there anyone else you tip to go all the way? Let us know below.