Strictly Come Dancing favourite Delta Goodrem could be putting her chances of winning at risk because her post-injury routines are too careful, according to body language expert Sean Johns. The pop star earned the series' first 10 with her comeback Rumba alongside Kai Widdrington after recovering from a rib injury, but Johns believes the performance revealed the tension between showing emotion and avoiding further harm.
Careful dancing reads as careful
Speaking exclusively to the Daily Star publisher Reach, Johns cautioned that Delta cannot afford to perform "carefully" if she hopes to win the competition. He explained: "The danger is that the body doing the dance was a careful one, and careful reads as careful. Kai chose the rumba to rest the rib, Anton gave it a ten and Craig a seven, and that gap is where she is: between the emotion she showed and the risk she couldn't take."
Delta and Kai secured their place in Halloween week, where they will perform a Viennese Waltz to Unchained Melody by The Righteous Brothers. While her comeback drew praise, Johns interpreted her emotional embrace with Kai as a sign of the strain she had been under, reports Wales Online.
The hug that revealed the cost
He said: "Watch the first two seconds after the music stops. Delta doesn't turn to the judges or the crowd; she goes straight into Kai, her face buried in his shoulder, both arms wrapped round his back, and the hug holds well past the point where a stage hug would break."
"That is not a celebration hug; a celebration hug is upright and looks outwards. Hiding the face in a partner is what the body does when it has been holding something for a week and can finally put it down."
Johns also suggested Delta's confidence had not fully recovered, adding: "When they part, her hand goes up to her cheek before she looks anywhere else, the gesture we use to catch a tear we haven't decided to show. Only then does she find the crowd."
He contrasted this with her walk-on: "hand in Kai's, chin level, shoulders back, a composed face. The composure got her through the dance; the hug is what it cost. Off the floor, the same two gestures come back. Her arm stays hooked around Kai's neck the whole walk, which is a body that doesn't want to let go of its support yet."
Despite those concerns, Johns believed Delta wanted to shift focus away from her injury, stating: "She wants this filed as a blip, not a story, and her hands are already arguing for it."
Judge praise and divided fans
Judge Anton Du Beke was full of praise for her performance on Saturday evening: "I'm a bit old-fashioned with the Rumba because I like it to be romantic, I don't want it to be sexy. I don't want all the unpleasantness; I want love. And I have to tell you, this is my favourite dance of the series, by a million miles."
Fans on X, formerly Twitter, were divided over the comeback and its scores. One wrote: "Delta was given the Rumba, because it's slow and gentle, with her injury in mind. But she knocked it out of the park, I enjoyed it and I love that Celine Dion song. She definitely deserved that 10 from Anton."
Another commented: "What injury? That rumba by Delta Goodrem was fantastic!" A third declared: "Delta is back. Mesmerising dancer. One of the few women who can look good dancing beside a wind machine."
Others felt the judges had been too generous, with one posting: "Overmarked by Anton, especially. There are 3 Judges who give marks that folks can reasonably understand then Anton who tonight handed out sympathy votes to Shaun and Delta. Time for a change." Another agreed: "Delta hugely overmarked."
Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC One on Saturday at 6.30pm.
