On Sunday’s results broadcast, Angela Scanlon and Carlos Gu might be the next to quit Strictly Come Dancing.
Halloween is past, but a ‘curse’ lingers in the air – the dreaded Samba. Nothing scares a Strictly competitor more than the prospect of having to do a volta on the BBC show… it’s worse than Craig Revel Horwood’s three paddles.
According to William Hill Vegas, the kind of dance is most likely to see you departing Elstree Studio for good, so it’s no wonder that her chances of elimination were immediately reduced to 5/1 following the presentation of her ‘doomed’ routine on Tuesday.
Over the last six series, the Samba has been used in 21.6% of the eliminations.
Les Dennis and Nancy Xu were the first to depart when their nautical-themed routine failed to impress, then Eddie Kadi and Karen Hauer samba rolled straight off the dancefloor in week five.
While the duo has been making it through each week, frequently hovering near the top of the scoreboard, this might be a genuine struggle.
Angela, 39, and Carlos, 30, will have to work hard to impress Craig, Motsi Mabuse, Anton Du Beke, and Shirley Ballas with their dance to Jennifer Lopez’s Ain’t It Funny.
They could turn to their fellow rivals, who have successfully fought the ‘new curse’ with high kicks and shimmies as their weapon of choice – Two weeks ago, Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola made it through with their Samba, and Bobby ‘the hips’ Brazier and Dianne Buswell made it through with their Romeo and Juliet-themed Samba.
The Samba has also created Strictly history, with Danny Mac and Oti Mabuse, as well as Fleur East and Vito Coppola, achieving the perfect 40/40 for their exuberant dances.
Fortunately for Angela, she is not the favourite to go – Adam Thomas and Luba Mushtuk, who battled departe Zara McDermott and Graziano Di Prima in the dance-off last week, are at 4/6, while Annabel Croft and Johannes Radebe are at 9/2.
Body language expert Darren Stanton, speaking on behalf of Bingo, believes Adam, 35, and Luba, 33, who are dancing the Rumba to Callum Scott’s Dancing On My Own, should take their final bow since they don’t have anything more to give.
‘Adam and Luba could be evicted this week after being in the bottom two. Even though he is popular with viewers and the audience, he has reached the heights of his ability to dance,’ he began.
‘He’s done so well and his skills and confidence have grown massively, but I don’t think he has very much more to give of what we haven’t seen already. Many other couples still have some way to go and still have a journey ahead of them.
‘They have a strong connection, there’s no doubt about that. There’s a good level of chemistry and they have each other’s backs but it feels like it’s towards the end of their time. It could be that the viewers will have his back again, but physically, I sense he’s going to struggle to pull through this time.’
Strictly Come Dancing airs Saturday and Sunday on BBC One and iPlayer.
