With the final only one week away, the celebrities upped their game in the semi-final of Strictly Come Dancing as they pulled at the audience’s heartstrings.
It’s been an emotional week that saw Will Mellor collapse under bad feedback from the judges, Fleur East and Molly Rainford put up a fierce fight, Helen Skelton remained stoic, while Hamza Yassin opened the floodgates.
However, it was the professional dancers’ speeches about why their celebrity partners deserved to win the glitterball trophy that may have tilted the balance for the winner.
With no stand-out goosebump moments and five potential winners, voters could be swayed by the minute details of the body language of the couples that show so much about the true nature of their relationship.
Take a look at my predictions for the final and break down of what each couple communicated to the audience this week through their heartfelt, desperate plea to make it to the final.
Fleur East and Vito Coppola
Vito threw a whole mini-drama into his speech about Fleur. This couple have shown signs of a competitive, play-fight kind of a relationship where each spurs the other on to better performances. In the live show they melted, though.
After their first dance they glowered aggressively at each other before Fleur broke into a smile and Vito clasped her head in both of his hands to plant what must have been a mock mouth-kiss to signal and end of their dance relationship.
Vito then gave the best speech of the night. The man who began the competition pumped with alpha bravado told how Fleur was "one of the best people I have met in my life". Becoming deeply emotional he added that Fleur had "saved me from my tough period I had, although she doesn’t know this".
Vito began a passionate chopping gesture with his hand to signal emphasis for his points but at the end he had to turn his head away, presumably in tears. It was a touching display of softness from this very strong dancer and the emotional reveal could have done much to keep Fleur in the final.
Helen Skelton and Gorka Marquez
Helen’s comment of "What’s the point of doing something wonderful if you have no-one to share it with?", sounded like such a poignant cry about her marriage, but when it came to Gorka’s speech at the end she looked more embarrassed than tearful, as though she was trying to make a joke of it rather than crumbling emotionally.
This couple are all about the smacking high fives and the friendship signals and as Gorka broke away from her and stepped back to make his speech Helen seemed to fix him with the same warning stare that she used when he spoke of her lack of confidence earlier in the run.
Gorka stuffed his hands in his pockets to suggest he was embarrassed too and didn't meet Helen's eye.
The viewers have been making every step of Helen’s emotional journey with her already though and she might have realised it was safer to skip the cheesier content at this crucial point in the contest.
Hamza Yassin and Jowita Przystal
Hamza saved his tears for last, in his most emotional appearance to date. His polite, modest body language seemed to dissolve, as he crumbled into tears after his second dance.
He wiped them endearingly with his thumb, but by the time he got to the balcony, Hamza fell into Jowita's arms, sobbing while she hugged him.
It was as though Hamza had been saving up all his emotions until tonight but his repeated cries of "We did it" in Jowita’s ear after their dance and his tears showed exactly how much emotion he has been bottling up.
Jowita made a speech but I doubt anyone can remember what she said because she and Hamza were clinging together to each other. Their body language spoke louder than any words and showed how much their partnership meant to both of them.
Molly Rainford and Carlos Gu
Molly’s final dance with its ‘survivor’ theme seemed to have triggered something in Carlos that we haven’t seen before in this competition. Until now his body language has mirrored Molly’s and the couple are known for their vibrant, bright smiles and excitable energy.
After this very aggressive final dance though, Carlos was a totally different man. He remained firm in his facial expressions and kept his jaw held tight still.
It was as though all the resentment of seeing Molly get brilliant scores each week, before ending in the dance-off too many times finally spilled over.
Carlos delivered a passionate and strong speech directly to the camera, and had precise, emphatic hand gestures.
The dancer even began to shout as he spoke so firmly, as it seemed he was fighting for his protective and loyal partner and their place in the final.
Will Mellor and Nancy Xu
Will was a crushed and beaten man after his first dance, as he apologised to Nancy and said he felt ‘rubbish’ that he had let her down.
Will’s distress was visible in his body language when he kept up a ritual of touches and scratching, from his head to different areas of his face to some scratching of his chest, showing confusion and fear.
He forced a smile on the balcony, but later he managed to come back fighting with his second dance.
Will must be vulnerable for the dance-off and Nancy’s speech about him was touching but might not be compelling enough to score them more votes.
He continued to interrupt with more apologies about his performance from the evening, as she began to speak about his dedication to his family and how she had wanted to "create a memory for him" and for "your family."
This couple are strongly professional but in terms of their body language, but they could be at risk of elimination after the comments from the judges and the lack of emotional persuasion in their messages to the audience.
