Just one act into Episode 4 of Let’s Dance for Sport Relief and we’d already been treated to Jo Brand, Lee Nelson, Russell Kane and a man in drag dressed as Rhianna.
That man was comedian Patrick Monahan, wearing a pink wig, sparkly crop top and flowery skirt, finished off nicely by regular flashes of hairy armpits. He capered around sexily to Rhianna’s ‘Only Girl in the World’. It was fun, although hampered slightly by the fact I had no idea who he was. Somehow it’s ok when our TV favourites make themselves look like prats. Russell Kane and Noel Fielding can totally get away with it but less well known types can seem just a little bit cringey. Just to redeem it…or to make it worse, I’m not sure…Louie Spence was revealed as one of Patrick’s backing dancers.
Next up was Roland Rivron who danced to ‘Weapon of Choice’ by Fatboy Slim. Full credit to Roland, he was pretty good, doing lots of proper choreography, complete with ballet leaps and pirouettes and spinning about on a concierge trolley. It lacked polish but he sure tried hard. As Russell pointed out, ‘It was like someone had fed one of my uncles a bottle of cod liver oil.’ And it was. In a good way of course.
Third were comedy duo, Watson and Oliver, who, bizarrely decided to skate their routine! Transformed for their act only into an ice rink, the girls took to the stage dressed as Torvill and Dean in their iconic ‘Bolero’ outfits and proceeded to perform an (almost) proper figure skating routine to Ravel’s classic with just a little comedy twist. It wasn’t quite olympic standard, as it seemed that only one of them was a good skater but it was impressive. It did leave me wondering…why? But then it’s usually best not to question Let’s Dance.
TV presenters Suzi Perry and Ortis Deley from the Gadget Show were the next contestants dancing with a latin twist to Ricky Martin’s ‘Viva la Vida Loca’. They both looked the part and the choreography was good but they (Suzi in particular), didn’t seem like natural dancers.
Last up was Fatima Whitbread backed by the Cuban Brothers bopping to ‘You Should be Dancing’ by The Bee Gees. The Cuban Brothers opened the routine, showcasing their amazingly flexible bodies in a sequence of amazing disco moves before Fatima sashayed on, looking very feminine in a long red dress. She wasn’t quite up to their standard but she gave it her all.
After the usual filler, chatter and music by Will Young and LMFAO it was results time. The excellent Roland Rivron deservedly received the highest public vote and pranced like a middle-aged Billy Elliot through to the final. It was announced that skating wannabes Watson and Oliver and Patrick Monahan were going home.
That left the judges to decide the fate of Fatima and her Cuban Brothers and Ortis and Suzi. Russell Kane went with Fatima despite the ‘sexual chemistry’ of the other pair. Lee Nelson on the other hand ‘voted with his pants’ for Suzi and went with her and Ortis. With the deciding vote Jo Brand wasted no time in plumping for Fatima and The Cuban Brothers.
And so Fatima will dance in the final later this month, alongside stars including Miles Jupp, Omid Djalili, Eddie ‘The Eagle’, Dani Harmer and Tyger Drew Honey.
Catch up on tonight’s episode http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01dlr8j/Lets_Dance_for_Sport_Relief_2012_Episode_4/
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