CLOSE CALL. CLOSE friggen CALL!!! In showjumping we have a ‘jump-off,’ which is when there’s an equality of points between competitors after the first round, and then they jump against the clock. Give me a jump-off any day. A DANCE-OFF… now that’s something you NEVER want to experience.
A drunken dance-off in Manhattan with a bunch of friends is a hoot. A dance-off on Strictly Come Dancing is a very sobering experience.
To be honest, the whole day had been a bit of a balls-up. Our rehearsals went badly because I had such problems with the music - the singers couldn’t sing our song, Wild Wild West, so for each rehearsal we just had to dance to the beat of the instrumentals.
Now I’m used to dancing each move to the lyrics of the song, and not hearing any words totally put me off. Thankfully, the multi-talented JB Arthur came to our rescue during the show and sang the song himself, while conducting the band at the same time!! Huge thanks to him for that.
I’d been super excited about our Samba because of the horsey theme. I loved the song, the choreography, and most of all… our Wild Wild West THEME, where I got to wear my riding chaps and use my whip!!! The judges had been drilling us since the first episode to come up with THEMES for our dances, so we did exactly that for our jive and our samba, but they were both complete flops that backfired at us!
What really grates my carrot is that instead of judging my dancing, the judges all marked us down for our samba THEME that they didn’t like. Is this Strictly Come Theming or am I on the wrong show?
I did have a sinking feeling that I would be in the dance-off after not scoring highly with the judges. I knew from the start of this show that I wouldn’t have nearly as much public support as the rest of these guys, because I’m not well-known. And of course, when you’re at the top of the leader board each week, people think you’re safe so they don’t think it’s necessary to vote for you.
Thursday night proved that this isn’t just a dance contest… it’s a popularity contest too. So if you think I deserve to get to that final, PLEASE PLEASE VOTE guys - I can’t do it by myself, I need YOUR support!!
Anyway, we scraped through last week and I’m so thankful for that. I was very upset, though, to see Hlubi go. The girl is incredibly sweet and hard-working, despite what she was made out to be on the videos. It takes two to Tango, and both she and Khutso are very determined people who unfortunately found themselves in a situation that catalysed a clash between their fiery personalities.
I’m really gonna miss her on Thursdays - she’s always the first to run up, throw her arms around me and shower me with kisses, leaving me with a wet ear and a big grin on my face. It’s such a nice start to your day.
I must say I think everyone danced really well on Thursday. The standard is rising. And Rob is getting far too good for my liking. Every week me and Grant let off all our farts in his cubicle because it’s right next to ours. They’re pretty violent so we’re hoping that the methane will impair Rob’s performance. But, alas, it doesn’t seem to work… in fact maybe that’s the precise reason why he gets on this crazy high and performs so well!! So it’s back to the drawing board…
As for the question of whether beauty queens sabotage other contestants’ outfits backstage, I can now clarify that THAT is a fallacy. Cindy came to my rescue literally two minutes before we had to go on stage for the elimination. My corset had come loose and was slowly unravelling itself all the way up my back …
Grant is now fumbling to get the thing tightened in time, but he’s not really getting anywhere. Beauty queen to the rescue! “Don’t worry guys, I’ve done this a million times!” and with some dexterous work of her fingers, VOILA, outfit back in place two seconds before we take to the stage! Thanks Cindy.
I was actually just going to leave it and go out there with a loose outfit. Can you imagine the TVSA headlines the next day… “Traumatized Tessa Loses her Clothing in Dance-Off.” Although it could’ve turned into a good thing... “Topless Tess Gains Male Public Support and Votes Roll In!”
The story behind my outfit is quite funny considering Thursday night’s events. Originally, the designers had freaked when I asked for peacock feathers because apparently they are bad luck. I’m not superstitious at all so I didn’t care, and told them that I wanted the feathers anyway. So, reluctantly, Kurt gave me a hairclip with a beautiful, long peacock feather sticking out, and I had earrings to match.
Well, by the end of the show I ran up to Kurt and yelled, “HOW could you FORCE me to wear peacock feathers, look what happened?!?!” He laughed, and didn’t even need to say “I told you so…”
Later that night when I got home I went straight to the stables to sit with my horse. An animal has the power to project its serenity onto a person and make you feel better about anything, and that’s just what I needed that night. But the first thing that my boy did when I entered his stable, was to grab my peacock-feather clip between his teeth, RIP it out of my hair, and spit it down on the ground!!
I had a good chuckle, but I’m starting to think that the ‘bad luck’ of the peacock feather is actually our GOOD luck in disguise, because Grant and I are now even more determined than ever to win that trophy!! Sometimes it’s good to have a minor setback because it just drives you to want it even more and work even harder…
What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. But our strength also lies in YOUR VOTES, so please please please SMS ‘3’ to 34766!!! THANK YOU!!:)