91Èȱ¬

What a week and what drama as John announced he was quitting the show. The press exploded and the media frenzy that followed surprised us all.

There were news crews on 24 hour vigils stationed outside Television Centre. The news was even making headlines in the US! A friend who was in NYC last week told me that the USA's most influential broadsheet, the New York Times, carried a story with the headline "With feet of lead a British dance show favourite plods his way to stardom!" complete with the infamous photo of John pulling Kristina across the floor!

What? America has a new President, unemployment is at a record three-year high and they're concerned with our John and Kristina? Who would have thought it?

This week saw an ill-fated Jodie get voted off the show and Arlene's "dance-off Queen" Lisa survive her second dance-off in a row, as she was saved by the judges once again.

Looking very sultry in her exotic Cha-Cha get up, Christine found herself at the bottom of the judges' leader board for the first time.

But she was saved, thanks solely to the public vote. She told me a little story on Saturday about a chap at the pub next door to the studio where she and Matthew train, and often pop into for lunch. This man/die hard fan won't let Christine sit and eat her food until she's had a wee dance with him first right there in the pub! I've heard of singing for your supper but not dancing for your lunch!

Rachel was once again the Queen of the night. The most fabulous Foxtrot blew the judges away, as well as everybody else, getting a perfect score of 10 from all the judges, and breaking a second record in as many weeks. After training harder than any other couple this week, Vincent said there's been a transformation, it seems our Rach has finally found her confidence on the dance floor.

Tom was uncharacteristically nervous ahead of his Tango this week but pulled it off with masterful machismo. He told me the most challenging part of this week's routine was synchronising his movements with Camilla. He revealed that he got over this by pretending he was a robot. It seems an odd thing to do but hey it worked.

A chest-baring Austin (newly shaved) Cha-Cha'd his way up the leader board in an historic performance of the camp disco hit 'It's Raining Men.' And did you notice? He was actually singing along to the words during the dance! Who would have thought it? The rough and tumble, rugby legend, Austin singing 'It's Raining Men, hallelujah' at the top of his voice!

Talking of camp disco classics, how much fun was the Saturday night fever group dance? What a blast! Both Tom and Austin got to wear the traditional white suit and thanks to Arlene for choreographing a wonderful routine.

We had an eclectic celebrity head count in the audience on Saturday, including actress Felicity Kendall to Hollywood actor Steve Guttenberg who starred in the US version of strictly- Dancing with the Stars. Zara Phillips was there with her partner Mike Tindall and revealed she'd love to take part in the show but unfortunately, this is the busiest time of the year on the show jumping scene.

I reckon head judge Len and Bruno were feeling pretty perky about this week's long commute to LA being their very last of the year, as it's the Dancing with the Stars final meaning that next week, instead of hopping on a plane for 11 hours, they can put their feet up with the Sunday papers and relax. It's time to smell the roses boys, I bet they can't wait!

Next week of course, it's double the dancing, which means double the difficulty for all our celebs as they get to grips with learning 2 routines for next week's show. Goodness me, can we pile the pressure on anymore? No, these are the moments we live for, see you then!

Tess' Take - week nine

Tess' Take - week eight

Tess' Take - week seven

Tess' Take - week six

Tess' Take - week five

Tess' Take - week four

Tess' Take - week three

Tess' Take - week two

Tess' Take - week one