Both SABC 2 viewers and Hlubi Mboya herself were dumbfounded after the soap star was unceremoniously kicked off the national TV channel’s popular series, Strictly Come Dancing last night (6 November 2008). This serving as a reminder that reality TV takes no prisoners - despite the fact that her performance had impressively improved during the last couple of episodes.

When the judges’ scores and viewer votes were tallied, Mboya & partner Khutso Khunou came head-to-head with Tessa van Duuren & dance partner Grant Esterhuizen in the feared and dreaded dance-off. Van Duuren has been a top scorer through the series and managed to achieve the third highest score from the judges. But viewers and their votes were obviously not there for Hlubi and Tessa, at a time when they needed it most… Gugu Zulu’s fans obviously did their thing to keep their favourite speed freak out of the hot water.

After the dance-off, the judges chose to keep the following of the two celebs in the competition:

Tyrone Watkins: Tessa van Duuren
Salome Sechele: Hlubi Mboya (“for more body rhythm during the Samba”)
Dave Campbell: Tessa van Duuren
Head adjudicator, Lilian Phororo, also vouched for Tessa, immediately booting Mboya out of the competition and back to real life.

Viewers’ votes account for 50% of the final scores. As per usual, when judges’ scores and viewer votes were tallied, the two couples with the lowest combined scores had to perform their routines again during a dance-off.

The judges’ scores (before viewer votes were added) were as follows:

Rob van Vuuren & Mary Martin: 32
Garth Collins & Hayley Bennett: 28
Anele Mdoda & Brandon Eilers Le Riche: 28
Tessa van Duuren & Grant Esterhuizen: 27
Cindy Nell & Jonathan Broadway: 27
Hlubi Mboya & Khutso Khunou: 26
Gugu Zulu & Sarah Cooper: 23

All couples performed the Samba – that festive dance, inspired by the sexy moves in the streets during the Rio Carnival. Think lots of sensual hip action, energy, fire and passion.

ANELE MDODA

The show's bounciest couple, 5FM’s Anele Mdoda and Brandon Eilers le Riche, once again lit up the dance floor with their wow-factor and energy. Phororo thought the “party princess” once again delighted, while Watkins suspected that too little time was spent rehearsing. She was reminded to pay attention to her arm line, but also complimented on the way her work on toe movements has paid off.

NEXT WEEK

Viewers can expect to be entertained by couples performing a group Gumboot Dance (not scored) and a Viennese Waltz (for scores from judges). The Parlotones will be the show’s special guest artists.