South Yorkshire Star – 30 January 2009

Strictly Sensational Published Date: 30 January 2009 By Sarah Dunn STRICTLY sensational! The disco balls sparkled and the sequins glistened under the stage lights as TV’s Strictly Come Dancing came to Sheffield Arena. Eight celebrity dancers – including this year’s champion Tom Chambers – took the crowd on a magical journey around the floor. On home turf for the night was Sheffield’s own Darren Bennett, paired up with his old partner Jill Halfpenny and still riding on his success in this year’s Christmas special. His wife Lilia Kopylova, had challenge of dancing with Julian Clary and the audience was supportive of its homegrown talent – with a mobile phone text vote leaving husband against wife in the final two. But it was the dancing that triumphed over the double entendres – as Jill and Darren lifted the glitter ball trophy with their flirtatious Foxtrot and jumping Jive numbers which had scored them a near-perfect 79 out of 80. Host for the night was Kate Thornton, and, for the first time on the live tour, all four judges – Craig Revel Horwood, Arlene Phillips, Len Goodman and Bruno Tonioli – were there to share their good cop-bad cop opinions, with an excitable Bruno on particularly good form. The line-up was a mixture of stars from past and present series, featuring Tom Chambers with partner Camilla Dallerup, Cherie Lunghi and James Jordan, Kenny Logan and Ola Jordan, Rachel Stevens and Vincent Simone, Gethin Jones and Flavia Cacace, and Jodie Kidd and Ian Waite. Split into two halves, the first was dedicated to ballroom, followed up by the more lively Latin numbers. Highlights in the ballroom had to be Tom’s famous Fred Astaire opening, as he leapt through the air from the stage steps onto the floor before leading Camilla on a cheeky Quickstep around the room. Cherie’s American Smooth featured ‘that lift’ from last year’s show and had all the women in the audience once again admiring her fabulous figure, while Gethin melted the hearts of the judges – and the teenage girls in the crowd – with his warm fairytale Waltz which scored the first straight 10 of the night. Rachel performed her famous Rumba, in the same beautiful dress she had worn on the TV show, again capturing the romance of the dance which led to her gaining the best score ever in the whole series. And when the dancing left something to be desired, there was still the comedy banter and the naughty jokes to keep people entertained, as Kenny Logan pranced around in his kilt, and Julian tore Craig’s criticisms to pieces even when he scored a mere two points for his Samba. To top it all off the audience was treated to a medley from the professional dancers, as they twisted and turned in all corners of the floor in a whirlwind of sparkles and sequins. In the words of Craig Revel Horwood: “FAB-U-LOUS”.