Dancing on Ice Twist!

The promised twist alluded to by Philip has been announced - a series of head to head performances will take place on Sunday, with the judges choosing which of each pairing will be safe from elimination!

The producers have matched the contestants with their nearest competitors from Movie Week's leaderboard - which means Jorgatt versus Mattina! I don't envy the judges on that one!

At the bottom end, it's Cookey versus Semmy, which, if they play to Chemmy's strengths this week, should see her through without much trouble. Elsewhere though, it's closer than close, with Romark versus Vindy, Dannifer against Sebianne and Andi taking on Mattene. Toughie.

In other news, Alesha is her normal down to earth self on the red carpet and Ola talks about life as she knows it.

Strictly Come Dancing Snippets

Shocking news in, that Ola Jordan was attacked in a bowling alley in South London. Ola was there with James, celebrating a friend's birthday, when a woman leapt across the lanes and punched her in a totally unprovoked attack. Crazy. All the best for a speedy recovery, Ola.

Brian Fortuna is a busy boy - he's starring in Over the Rainbow in Bromley, with Maureen Nolan (no relation!) and also playing the part of Aladdin in Northampton this year.

Claudia has had a little boy, called Arthur. Or possibly, Pumpkin or Rabbit! This is why we will miss her ...

Kara has confessed that she only did Strictly because she was desperate! The world of interior design's loss is the West End's gain, as she's received brilliant reviews for her portrayal of Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion.

And the latest rumours are ... Ricky Hatton and Russell Grant! Yes, we'd all rather Russell Crowe, but what can you do ... Russell G does love to dance though and has been hankering after an invite for some time!

Strictly It Takes Two: Quip Central!

Tonight - we've recovered the sofas, Paulla and Widdyton will try them out. Behind the scenes and Scott's hairstylist would look right at home in Albert Square; Jared-teasing and Erin sabotaging Gavya!

Paul (A wand-ering star) says he pictured the judges as spitting image puppets and could barely contain himself; Ola (Strictly Dancing Queen) sticks up for her man, he didn't get anything wrong. They're adorable in training. Foxtot next week; it's going well, says Ola. "Who are you doing it with?" asks Paul!

Judges comments, condensed. Craig in the house (Handy-man: it's an armography thing) Overall, celebs are fantastic, loves the new pros, pairings are great. Matt and Pamela impress with the arms, desperate to see Widdyton's salsa!

Chris Hollins' take too (see what I did there?) Peter -good hands, agile, true gent; Gavin - great turn of speed, loves going forward, let's hope he loves going backwards and side to side too; Pamela - good with her head *ouch*; Felicity - oozes class; Matt - enthusiastic, can get down and dirty; Ann, tactical genius; Tina - small and nippy; Kara - loves the pressure of competition; Goldie - exuberant, disciplinary problem; Pasty - from absolute beginner to lethal weapon; Paul - veteran showing touches of magic. Don't mess with the boss! Michelle, big signing from the US; Jimi the bubbly boy and Scott - a players' player.

Widdyton! Ann (Right Foot Forward) has a fantastic attitude - and replies "no-one's ever seen Dumbo dance before" to Clauds assertion that the world was waiting. Anton (Beke in business) says they changed the beginning of the routine, taking out the splits and cartwheels! Re the standing ovation, Ann says: They hoped we'd finished, they'd had enough! Re next week, there'll be things in the salsa that don't belong there - like the waltz, lol!

News in Brief: SCD, DOI, DWTS,

From the Strictly training rooms:

Ali and Brian are excited about having the opportunity to let their hair down this week - there's plenty of flirting, hip swinging and fun in rehearsals!

There have been many points of amusement for Katya in training so far this week, with Phil sniffing his armpits, chewing carrots and blowing his nose throughout rehearsals. Katya has also told him that he looks a bit scruffy and would probably dance better if he dressed a bit nicer for training!

Chris has read up on the Paso dance and discovered that the man is in charge! He took advantage of this by telling Ola she would soon be calling him Mr Hollins! I bet that didn't last long though ...

Natalie is still loving being part of the show since she has reached the halfway point but didn’t quite realise it would get so serious!

According to Anton, he has had shorter relationships than the 12 weeks he has been dancing with Laila! Laila said “Anton and I are sometimes like a married couple. We shout and scream at each other and then he tells me I’ve got to be sexy!” Towards the end of their Rumba routine, Laila started to feel dizzy. Anton, of course, thought this was because she was getting intoxicated by the Rumba and his irresistible charm!

Ricky Groves spoke of his disappointment at losing the public vote and said that you can never tell what will happen, as the last time when the judges slated his dance he still got through! The words Erin used were 'down and out' - come on now, it'll all be different again this week!

Ricky and Natalie had a lot of fun in rehearsals yesterday - Ricky performed a Beyoncé impression which, whilst incredibly entertaining, didn’t impress Natalie apart from giving her the giggles. That clip will probably be tucked away for the end credits on ITT! The fast-paced routine of the Jive seems to be taking its toll on him though, there's a lot of panting, leaning against a wall out of breath and lying flat on his back! Now that's official and not anything to do with rumours touted by the red tops, people - I know how your minds work, now stop it.

In other SCD news, Karen Hardy coaching Phil and Kate from 'The Apprentice' on Live from Studio Five; they'll perform in front of a judging panel on Friday.

Fancy a cruise? Of course you do, and even more so if it's free and you can have dance lessons with Darren and Lilia!

Camilla is a busy busy bee - not only has boyriend Kevin Sacre confimed on Twitter that she's definitely in I'm A Celebrity etc, she's also set to take over from Mr. Motivator as the fitness guru on GMTV!

According to the gossip rags, Vernon Kay is leaving ITV and coming to the Beeb - to take over from Brucie on Strictly! I like Vernon actually, and the only other person I've thought so far that would do a good job is Paul O'Grady. Like I said, that's the gossip rags ...

Ali, Natalie and Zoe have also signed up for the next Strictly tour, joining Ramps, Austin and Kelly, leaving just two places, another from the current crop and one more from an older series presumably. Who would you like to see?

Torvill and Dean say that Dancing on Ice is the toughest reality show on telly - and I'm not going to argue, you wouldn't catch me doing it! Here's a more in depth article with them - ignore the headline, it's not an attack on Strictly *rolls eyes*. It's also reported that Boyzone's Mikey Graham will be taking part as a tribute to Stephen Gately, and that Heather Mills may possibly drop out, due to the pain it's causing her.

Trav's Thoughts are in on both DWTS and SYTYCD, enjoy!

Handbags at Seven Paces!

ITV bosses are a bit upset - Strictly has been scheduled at a later time on a Saturday, thereby overunning with X-Factor for an hour and they're scared no-one will watch - because, clearly, given the choice between watching something live with no adverts and a recorded show with incessant talking and adverts, what are we going to record? Not rocket science, is it! Personally, I'm thrilled, it's normally too much of a rush around tea-time and I end up watching Strictly on I-Player! And as soon as that DVD recorder is tuned in *raises eyes to heaven* I'll be recording X-Factor anyway! I agree with the BBC man re their schedule, but some people are easily outraged aren't they (see the comments!)

Nice article with James and Ola.

Mrs Overall to star in Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing on Ice!

So You Think You Can Dance is underway - since I'm unable to watch, I've found two excellent blogs who give you a rundown, both Travis and MJsbigblog I've mentioned before and have an extensive commentary for your delectation and delight!