What an incredible shame that Delta and Kai can’t dance this weekend! Poor Delta is suffering from an injury and has been advised to rest, which means we won’t be seeing her Olivia Newton-John inspired routine. Fingers crossed she takes the time to look after herself well and is feeling better soon.

But there’s still a lot to get excited about. Tabby and Mark stunned us last Saturday with the first Argentine Tango of the series, and now they’ve pulled their second difficult dance draw in a row with the samba. I’m not hugely convinced by Raye’s Where is My Husband as a samba song, but if Tabby’s proved anything in her time on the show so far it’s that we should definitely never underestimate her.

A more obvious musical selection is La Copa de la Vida for the salsa. It’s Lawrence who’s selected Ricky Martin as his icon this week, and I think this music will really help him and Jowita to get into the party Latin spirit and start to nail down that hip action. Motsi commented on the lack of Cuban motion in his rumba this past week, and this is something that’s really important for the salsa, too, so she’ll surely be looking out to comment on how well he’s taken that note after we see him dance on Saturday. That is if he doesn’t spend the whole routine tossing Jowita into the air!

Graeme and Lauren are also on salsa, dancing to an Abba medley. It’ll be Lauren’s first time teaching this genre on the show, so it’ll be interesting to see how she fares – and it’s also Graeme’s first time venturing outside of the ten standard ballroom and Latin dances, with which he has some past experience. Plus, salsa is a faster number, and Graeme mentioned struggling last week with the speed and energy of the jive. So this could be a trickier week for these two.

It’s also certainly going to be a tricky week for Will, who’s just welcomed a new baby boy into his family! Congratulations Will! Now that both he and Dianne are parents, who knows how much time they’ll have to train. Will’s picked Elton John as his icon and the pair will be dancing to Crocodile Rock. This has only been used once before on Strictly, for Caroline Flack’s iconic Blackpool jive, which scored a whopping 37. I’m not optimistic we’ll see similar scores for Will at the weekend but Dianne has turned out some great classic jive choreography in the past – I think their success will more down to whether they’ve got the energy to execute it!

Yet more party Latin to come from Bethany and Nancy, who are dancing the cha cha to the Aretha Franklin version of Respect (and what a great choice of icon, right?) This is very different to anything Bethany’s done on the show so far, so it’ll be interesting to see how she copes. The judges will be looking out for a clear, sharp straight leg action, figure-of-eight hips, and plenty of attack in the upper body.

Shaun’s chosen James Brown as his icon this week, and like Graeme, he and Alexis will actually be performing to a medley rather than to just one song. They’re to perform a Couple’s Choice, which is really good timing – after the Argentine Tango, which is normally danced later in the competition when the couples have more experience, this is the highest scoring genre on the show. After a very weak quickstep and a dance-off appearance last week, a crowd-pleasing Couple’s Choice might be Shaun’s only hope for pulling through to Week 5.

Another number I think is likely to please the crowd is Cach and Maddie’s foxtrot. There was a bit of amusement on the results show last Sunday with Cach apparently not knowing how to pronounce Frank Sinatra – but that’s who he’s picked as his icon nonetheless and they will be dancing to the wonderful Theme from New York, New York. This is Cach’s shot to prove he can do elegant, jazzy ballroom, and he’s standing on the shoulders of some great routines from Strictly past. I think if Maddie keeps the choreography fairly traditional, this will impress the judges.

There will also be some foxtrot in Lacey and Vito’s number this week, although interestingly we’re going to see some Viennese waltz too. Lacey’s icon is Adele and they’re dancing the American Smooth to Hometown Glory. Normally on Strictly, the American Smooth is a version of either the foxtrot or the Viennese waltz (occasionally a standard waltz) with more out-of-hold elements and lifts. But Vito’s apparently getting creative with the choreography this week and mixing multiple genres: a tricky task which I’d say he’s very much qualified for, seeing as American Smooth is one of his highest-scoring dance styles as a pro. I’m very excited to see how it goes!

John’s picked Bon Jovi to pay homage to with a paso doble to It’s My Life. Honestly, if there’s one pro we can trust to choreograph a dramatic rock paso, it’s got to be Katya, right? After shocking everyone with his Week One foxtrot John hasn’t quite managed to reach the same heights since, so let’s hope the judges are impressed with this routine.

And we’ll get another paso doble from Jaime and Carlos, who are also honouring rock royalty, having chosen David Bowie’s Let’s Dance by their track. Jaime had a bit of a breakthrough with her moody, intense Viennese waltz last week so maybe the dark and theatrical character of the paso will suit her. And this dance is easily one of Carlos’ strongest genres. I think this could be something really special, but Jaime will have to work hard to make sure she hits those striking Spanish lines; Craig and Shirley have criticised several couples so far this year for underwhelming paso doble shaping.

More drama, I’m sure, to come from Sarah and Julian with their tango to Shania Twain’s That Don’t Impress Me Much. Interestingly, this is Julian’s second year in a row dancing in icons week to a country song! Last year he and Balvinder escaped the dance off after two weeks in the bottom two, so maybe he’s hoping country-ballroom will see him get lucky again? They may need some luck – they were near the bottom of the leaderboard last week, so with Shaun on a Couple’s Choice, I do think these two may unfortunately be a likely candidate for Saturday night’s dance off.

Lastly, Dani and Nikita have drawn rumba, and they’ll be dancing to Hero by Mariah Carey. This is only our second rumba of the series and it’s a difficult, exposing dance; Dani may struggle with the intimacy and sensuality of the genre. And since the judges have been much tougher with their scores in general so far this series, I can’t say I envy her the challenge…

So it’s an action-packed Icons Week ahead of us, even if we will be sadly missing out on a routine from the always excellent Delta. Bring on the glitter!