The cold days are with us again, the nights are drawing in…which means the return of the popular BBC Competition Strictly Come Dancing .What has Strictly Come Dancing got to do with the Eurovision Song Contest,you may ask? Well, during each series we often see a connection between the two contests, be it a well-known Eurovision song or a song or piece of music from a former Eurovision act.

Last Saturday, we saw another Eurovision influence in the Movie week of Strictly Come Dancing, where the contestants and their professional dance partners danced to songs from various movies. Celebrity Helen Skelton and her professional dance partner Gorka Marquez, danced a Viennese Waltz to the song “Hopelessly Devoted to You” from the film “Grease”. As we know , the song was originally performed by the late Dame Olivia Newton-John, who represented the United Kingdom in Brighton, in 1974 with the song ,”Long live Love”. A very nice tribute to our former Eurovision star, who passed away in August.

Here’s the performance by Helen & Gorka. They scored 31 out of a possible 40 marks from the judges for their efforts. .

And here’s Olivia’s performance at Eurovision in 1974

What do you think? Do you think Helen and Gorka did a worthy tribute to Olivia ? Would you like to see more Eurovision influences in Strictly Come Dancing ? Let us know what you think by dropping us a line in the comments box below .

Author : Sarah Rudman

Source: BBC