Tick them off when you spot them on screen! Take a drink for each! End up stoving into the Christmas Bailey’s early! Here’s your 10-point spotter’s guide for this year’s penultimate live show…

• Claudia deliberately prompts one of Vito’s animal/food analogies or rambles about obscure steps

• Pete Wicks pretends to have never heard of his song or dance

• Craig is roundly booed for raising his “nine” paddle

• Dianne tells Chris she’s proud of him and he looks nonplussed

• Tess Daly’s frock has involves superfluous asymmetry or a strange neck detail

• Aljaž is thrilled that one of Tasha’s ballroom steps was appreciated by Anton

• Claudia ropes in token “young person” from the cast to plug Strictly’s social media channels

• The glitterball trophy is in the studio and greeted with audience “oohs”

• JB Gill mentions that he’s “looking forward to showing his serious side” in the paso doble

• Tess tells a post-dance couple “they’re on their feet!”

It’s been a busy old week in the training rooms, with our couples dividing their time between rehearsing two routines. Most of them are wisely varying the pace with one slower ballroom dance and one Latin or speciality number.

Sarah Hadland faces a challenge by taking on a tango and a jive. JB Gill will feel the heat with a paso doble and a salsa. It’s 20 minutes until glittery go-time…

In last weekend’s musicals-themed quarter-final, we saw a dance-off shocker as pace-setter Tasha Ghouri was consigned to the dance-off for the first time. However, it was Montell Douglas and her pro partner Jojo Radebe who sadly departed the dancefloor. Miss them already.

Who’s next for the sparkly scrapheap? It’s 25 minutes until the sparkly curtain comes up…

According to bookies, Pete Wicks is favourite to bid farewell for the third week running, with the shortest odds he’s faced since the series began. JB Gill is second favourite, followed by Tasha Ghouri just behind.

According to the betting, Chris McCausland and Sarah Hadland should be quietly confident of a place in the final, barring dance dis-ah-sters or public vote shockers. Will there be an upset? We’ll get our first clues in half-an-hour…

One more live show, two more dances and you’re in the final. No pressure, everyone. Good evening and welcome to the semi-final weekend of Strictly Come Dancing 2024.

I’m Michael, your cyber dance partner for tonight’s high-stakes live show. I’d love you to watch along with me as our five remaining couples bid to reach this year’s showpiece finale and get a shot at the fabled glitterball trophy.

Yes, it’s do-or-dance time for the ballroom class of 2024. For the first time tonight, our pro-celebrity pairings tackle two full routines apiece, so it’s been a busy week in the training rooms. Will this extra challenge sort the waltzing wheat from the cha-cha-chaff? The judges have their last chance to influence proceedings this weekend. In next Saturday’s final, their scores will be for guidance only and it’s all down to the public vote.

Feelgood favourite Chris McCausland and the consistent Sarah Hadland are surely shoo-ins for the grand final. As for the rest, it could be any two from three. Tasha Ghouri and JB Gill have survived a dance-off apiece, while Pete Wicks is by far the lowest scorer of the four semi-finalists.

It’s showtime at 6.30pm on BBC One. I’ll be liveblogging from 6pm, providing build-up, rolling coverage, analysis, reaction and semi-sarky asides. So close the curtains against Storm Darragh, pour yourself a warming libation and I’ll see you on the sofa.

As always, I’d love to hear from you too. You can tweet me @michaelhogan, email me michael.hogan.freelance@guardian.co.uk and the comments section below is open for dance discourse. I’ll flick and kick my way down there to see what you’re all saying and report some of your comments up top.

Who will take a great leap towards the glitterball? Who will fall at the last hurdle? It’s nearly time to staaaaart double-dancing!