What is the Strictly Come Dancing Cha Cha Challenge, who’s performing this weekend and what are the odds on who will leave?
FORGET Blackpool week, the celebs are now focused on this week's Cha Cha Challenge.
The dance Ed Balls described as a "nightmare" could see who will be through to the final five. We have all everything you need to know about when to tune in.
What is the Strictly Come Dancing Cha Cha Challenge?
In addition to their usual rehearsed routines, this brand new challenge will see all six contestants dancing the cha cha cha simultaneously.
The judges will vote each of them off until they have a winner. Any points earned from the judges will be added to their overall score.
A Strictly spokesman said, “This Saturday, all couples will do two dances – their own routine as well as the Cha Cha challenge – to determine their place on the leader-board.
"All the couples have done a Cha Cha in the competition so they are already familiar with the technique. As per the rules each week, the leader-board accounts for only half of the final result with the public vote making up the remaining half.”
Who's performing this weekend?
Ed Balls, Judge Rinder, Claudia Fragapane, Ore Oduba, Louise Redknapp and Danny Mac will be dancing their hearts out for a place in the final five.
The week five theme is Musicals, and all six will be hoping to quickstep their way into the eleventh week of the competition.
What are this week's dances?
Claudia Fragapane and AJ Pritchard will dance the Argentine Tango to 'Cry Me A River' by Justin Timberlake.
Danny Mac and Oti Mabuse will dance the samba to 'Magalenha' by Sergio Mendes.
Ed Balls and Katya Jones will dance the tango to '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction' by The Rolling Stones.
Judge Rinder and Oksana Platero will dance the rumba to 'Lean On Me' by Bill Withers.
Louise Redknapp and Kevin Clifton will dance the waltz to 'At This Moment' by Michael Bublé.
Ore Oduba and Joanne Clifton will dance the paso doble to 'Everybody Wants To Rule The World' by Lorde.
What are the odds on who will leave?
Ed Balls - Sun Bets EVENS, William Hill 6/4, Ladbrokes 7/4
Judge Rinder - Sun Bets 7/4, William Hill 9/2, Ladbrokes 7/4
Claudia Fragapane - Sun Bets 5/1, William Hill 9/2, Ladbrokes 7/2
Ore Oduba - Sun Bets 6/1, William Hill 6/1, Ladbrokes 6/1
Louise Redknapp - Sun Bets 33/1, William Hill 20/1, Ladbrokes 20/1
Danny Mac - Sun Bets 100/1, William Hill 66/1, Ladbrokes 100/1
Sun Bets Spokesman Tim Reynolds said: “The change in scoring format this week is a killer for poor Ed, and we don’t think the public can save him from the bottom two.
"Rinder looks the most likely to be battling Ed in the dance-off, but we’re quite confident it’ll be Balls out on Sunday night!”
An insider told The Sun: “The challenge is almost definitely set to place Ed bottom of the judge’s leaderboard.
“He’s the worst dancer on paper and even if he nails his rehearsed dance, he’s set to be voted off by judges.”
The cha cha cha is a style in which Ed scored poor marks and struggled with the technique on the Halloween show.
So the popular contestant will rely on the public vote more than ever to avoid being in the bottom two and voted off by the judges.
Producers are secretly keen to get rid because they want attention to be on dancing rather than his comedy performances.
Professional dancer Brendan Cole, however, has come to Ed's defence.
Writing in his , he said: "I think Ed Balls needs to get more credit,
"Ed and Katya are working hard - one week they'll be characters like 'Gangnam Style' last week, and the next week they try and do a really good dance and it sort of backfires on them," he explained.
"The judges are definitely going down that 'character' route, but I think if somebody's achieved something, it should be recognised because it has a big impact on the next week, especially for the pros."
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