As it happened: Dancing with the Stars NZ semi-final

It's the semi-final of Dancing with the Stars NZ.
It's the semi-final of Dancing with the Stars NZ. Photo credit: Mediaworks

There are just five contestants left in Dancing with the Stars NZ, and it's down to the wire.

Who will make it to the final? Stay tuned as we'll be posting live updates of Episode 17.

8:35pm - End of live updates

That's it for tonight! Join us tomorrow for the second half of the semi-final.

Viewers can help keep their favourite dancer in the competition by texting their first name to 3333 - each text costs 99c and net proceeds go to that star's chosen charity.

DWTS NZ airs Sundays 7pm and Mondays 7.30pm on Three, and all episodes can be viewed again on ThreeNow.

8:34pm - NZ Twitter enchanted by Shav

8:32pm - Judges' scores

Another scoreboard-topping result for Shav!

Rachel White: 10

Camilla Sacre-Dallerup: 10

Julz Tocker: 9

Total: 29

8:30pm - Judges' feedback

Julz likens the dance to a Disney fairytale, calling it "exquisite".

Rachel says the routine was magical, and was jealous that Shav nailed a particular move which took her years to perfect.

Camilla loves everything about Shav's dancing, and says it's "perfection".

8:27pm - Shav's second dance

Shavrique will be dancing the Viennese waltz for their second performance, which apparently involves lots of spinning.

Her most memorable year was 2003, when she was living in London and got a job with SMTV, and there's some cute footage of a young Shav.

Looking beautiful in a white gown and dancing to absolute jam 'Breakaway' by Kelly Clarkson against a backdrop of falling feathers, Shav is a stunner.

She's graceful, sprightly and looks like she's having the time of her life.

8:23pm - Lots of love for Jess from NZ Twitter

8:22pm - Judges' scores

Jess is at the top with another stunning score!

Rachel White: 9

Camilla Sacre-Dallerup: 10

Julz Tocker: 10

Total: 29

8:19pm - Judges' feedback

Camilla loved the jive, and says Jess should be in the final.

Julz loved her kicks, springing to his feet once more to demonstrate his passion.

Rachel says it was light, fun, energetic - her best dance yet.

8:15pm - Jess' second dance

Jess' most memorable year was 2001, when she had cancer and lost her leg. She's brought partner Jonny along to the Child Cancer Foundation to chat to the young patients, and says she'll be wearing some of her 'courage beads' during the second dance.

There's a very cute photo of Suzy Cato visiting a young Jess in hospital, which makes her early departure even sadder.

Jess and Jonny are dancing an "upbeat, fun" jive to remind herself that she beat cancer. In a very cute spangled playsuit, Jess looks like she's enjoying herself more than in her first dance and is very energetic and well-timed.

8:12pm - NZ Twitter still loves Chris

8:10pm - Judges' scores

Another great score, meaning Chris got 57/60 for his two dances tonight.

Rachel White: 10

Camilla Sacre-Dallerup: 9

Julz Tocker: 9

Total: 28

8:07pm - Judges' feedback

Rachel was wowed! She says he deserves to be in next week's final and has improved his left arm and core awareness. "Tremendous job."

Camilla says it's an honour to watch Chris dance, with his "outstanding" nifty footwork.

Julz compares the pair to Clark Kent and Lois Lane, which is confusing. Does Vanessa not know that Chris was secretly a cricket star?

8:04pm - Chris' second dance

We're in a time machine back to the year 2000, which was Chris' most memorable year and there's some nice archival Black Caps footage.

How hard would it be to learn two whole dances in one week? They're really upping the stakes for the semi-final.

Dancing the quick-step (to one of those terrible early 2000s rock songs that dads love) in a relatively normal outfit with some subtle studs, Chris is full of controlled energy and smooth grace. This guy has really grown on me.

8:00pm - NZ Twitter collectively loses their minds

7:57pm - Judges' scores

Rough scores for David Seymour on his birthday :(

Rachel White: 4

Camilla Sacre-Dallerup: 5

Julz Tocker: 4

Total: 13

7:55pm - Judges' feedback

Julz was very disappointed, and is almost speechless.

Rachel also wishes David had practised more, and then there's a cut to his sad little face.

Camilla says this routine was a huge step backward, but says David deserves to be in the semi-final as much as every other contestant.

7:51pm - David's dance

How did we let this happen, New Zealand? David Seymour is in the semi-final, and Suzy Cato is not.

A weird comment from him about gender roles in the paso doble.

David reminisces about texting girls from his first cell phone in the 1990s. He and Amelia practised their routine out on the street and David wore a red cap distressingly similar to the Make America Great Again ones.

Union Jack flag! Will this be a Brexit-themed routine? Nope, a Blur one, hence the wig to look like frontman Damon Albarn as he dances to verified banger 'Song 2'.

Weird arm movements aplenty, but at least he's not mouthing the words this time. In fact he's committed to a kind of death mask facial expression.

Just jokes, apparently it's a Noel Gallagher costume, and there's an attempt at a Manchester accent too.

7:47pm - NZ Twitter kind of agrees with the judges

7:45pm - Judges' scores

Still some very decent scores, even after the harsh comments.

Rachel White: 8

Camilla Sacre-Dallerup: 7

Julz Tocker: 8

Total: 23

7:43pm - Judges' feedback

Camilla was underwhelmed this week after last week's near-perfect score.

Julz agrees, there was apparently a timing issue which I didn't notice.

Rachel would have liked more "pop and wow", but is loving Sam's newfound confidence and good Latin motion.

7:40pm - Sam's dance

This flirty number kicks off with another almost-kiss behind a hat.

It's a cha-cha to 'Crush', with lots of synchronisation and fancy footwork. Sam's got a sparkly aquamarine dress with a matching choker for true 90s fashion.

She finishes the number balancing on Aaron's shoulder! Impressive stuff.

7:38pm - NZ Twitter loves Chris Harris

7:37pm - Judges' scores

Amazing score, tied-first with Sam Hayes for the top score of the competition so far!

Rachel White: 10

Camilla Sacre-Dallerup: 10

Julz Tocker: 9

Total: 29

7:34pm - Judges' feedback

The judges were on their feet when Chris finished his dance - is a 10 on the cards?

Rachel didn't want the routine to end, saying it was "first class".

Camilla was also impressed, and says she's the most excited by his progress in the competition.

Julz says Chris has shown he can lead with a strong frame, and it was an "amazing performance".

7:32pm - Chris' dance

A rumba this week for the last good male dancer in the competition.

Chris Harris is decked out in a sparkly shirt and some dripping emo eyeliner, and he is owning this look. He's got a good pout going on as well.

I don't know what song this is but Chris is getting into it, swinging Vanessa around about a thousand times and gliding smoothly around the dancefloor.

7:29pm - And the surprise announcement was...

...another season of The Block NZ. Definitely just as exciting as the Prime Minister's baby!

7:27pm - A mixed reaction from NZ Twitter

7:25pm - A cryptic baby announcement

Dai mentions the Prime Minister's newborn baby before announcing a surprise later in the show. I can only assume this means Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford has been booked in as a contestant for next season.

7:24pm - Judges' scores

A very respectable score for Jess and Jonny.

Rachel White: 8

Camilla Sacre-Dallerup: 8

Julz Tocker: 9

Total: 25

7:22pm - Judges' feedback

Julz loved the tango, it was full of content. One of the best he's seen!

Rachel says it was a clean, polished, synchronised performance. However she wishes it was just a bit more fierce.

Camilla would have liked a more gutsy performance, but says the quality of Jess' shoulders was exceptional.

7:18pm - Jess's dance

Jess was in the bottom two last week, and says having to perform in the dance-off was terrifying.

She'll be doing a tango to Michael Jackson's anti-racist anthem 'Black or White', and brings out a demonic blue Furby to watch her practise the 90s-themed routine.

Looking regal in an appropriately monochrome sparkly gown and what looks like a scrunchie, Jess seems to be executing the moves well but she seems a bit nervous. 

7:15pm - NZ Twitter has some sartorial comments

7:13pm - Judges' scores

A great opening score for Shavrique!

Rachel White: 9

Camilla Sacre-Dallerup: 9

Julz Tocker: 8

Total: 26

7:10pm - Judges' feedback

Camilla was very impressed, calling the routine amazing with beautiful fusion.

Julz was also into it, but criticised some specific move and then got up to demonstrate.

Rachel's called it - this was the best samba of the competition, and they had great bounce action apparently.

7:03pm - Shav's dance

It's a 90s night! That still doesn't explain Seymour's wig, or Dai Henwood's artfully shaved lines in his hair.

Tomorrow night the stars will apparently be dancing to commemorate a significant year in their lives? Confusing but could make for some interesting routines.

Up first is Enrique, who have survived two dance-offs so far and shouldn't have been in either one, quite frankly.

They'll be doing a samba to 'Jump Around', which sounds incredible. They tried on a number of eye-watering fluorescent outfits, but settled on something a touch more subtle.

There are six people onstage! This is so difficult to visually comprehend!

Shav and Enrique are on-beat and in-sync (to me, a novice) and are certainly energetic but I'm still thrown off by all the extra dancers joining them.

There are lots of dance moves that I assume are from the 1990s, but like Enrique I was being born during that decade so I don't really know.

7:00pm - Opening number

Some very young-looking dancers kick off the night in black outfits, bopping along to timeless classic 'Everybody Dance Now'.

If there's a theme for the episode I can't tell what it is. Is David Seymour wearing a wig?