The third season of SABC2's celeb ballroom dancing reality competition
Strictly Come Dancing premiered on Thursday, 24 May 2007.
This is a recap of the first episode, with a gallery of super first episode pics at the bottom for you to browse through.
First, Erald Felix and Mary Martin performed their rendition of the Cha Cha Cha. Mary wore a midriff blue dress with light blue cut-outs.
Salome Sechele said that she would have liked to see Erald dance more and scored them a six. Tyrone Watkins was his usual self and scored the couple a four.
Hezekiel Sepeng and Lindsey Muckle, dressed in a white gown with clear crystals which complemented her platinum blond hair, outdid themselves with the Quickstep.
Dave was quite excited about their performance, "The two of you melted together." He scored them a seven, but Tyrone remained with his four.
Thembisile Ntaka, dressed in a yellow dress with red Swarovski crystals and red ribbons, and Thabo Moloto impressed the judges with her musicality in the Cha Cha Cha.
Tyrone warned Thembisile about her footwork, but the judges' score remained favourable, with Lillian Phororo scoring them a six.
Lieschen Botes described her training as being "hectic". She and Ryan Hammond tried to impress the judges, to no avail. Her smile was commented on by Lillian and she looked lovely in a pink dress with clear crystals.
Only Lillian scored them a seven.
HHP and Hayley Bennet's quickstep had the audience on their feet. He was dressed in a simple tiger-print shirt and she in a gown inlaid with yellow and clear crystals.
Salome scored the first eight of the evening from the judges and Tyrone upped his score to a six.
Lesley Mofokeng slid through Sara Els's legs at the end of their Cha Cha Cha in an attempt to stun the audience and the judges. The judges' comments were favourable, with a range of scores.
Although Tyrone's comment, "You've got potential!" got the audience going, he (again) only scored a four.
Patricia Lewis glammed it up with a magnificent black chiffon dress complemented with black gloves. With her partner Marcel Vilonel, they overwhelmed the audience, especially Dave whose comment: "It was the raunchiest, sexiest Cha Cha Cha ever!" got them the second eight of the evening.
Candice Moodley shined as a Bollywood princess in her bronze dress. Tyrone commented that it was "good choreocraphy" by her partner Quintus Jansen and gave them only his second score above four in the evening, a five.
The judges commented that the contestants (like those of the previous years) looked nervous, but that they were impressed that they have not used any props to "get them on the floor."
Lillian commented that she could feel the competitive spirit on the floor.
As far as the judges votes go, HHP and Hayley are in the lead with 26 judges votes. They are followed by Candice and Quintus with 23 votes. Third place is tied: Hezekiel and Lindsay with Tembisile and Thabo. But the viewers' votes must still be counted.
There was no voting in the first week, but viewers have the chance to vote the entire week until the end of episode 2. The voting will then count towards the results of next week's episode.
Viewers can vote for their favourite couple by sending an sms to 34766 at R2 per sms or by phoning 083 913 4766.
The couple with the least votes are announced in the results show at 21h30 (the same evening): they will perform their last dance and bow out of the competition.
| STRICTLY COME DANCING: EPISODE 1 |
|
|
|
|
|
*Photos by Cobus Bodenstein / Cathy Pinnock