Yes Gavin is a rugby player, albeit not a particularly good one, but, that said, as we saw with Jade last year, who is an Olympic athelete, when using different muscles even the atheletes can run into trouble, and Jade certainly broke into a sweat. Austin Healey, an actual rugby player, sweated plenty - so whilst you make an interesting point, I don't think your point will stand up to much scrutiny.
Being an Irish rugby fan I would love to agree with you ,But even I , in all fairness, will say that Gavin Henson is a dam good rugby player .He played for his country and the Lions and thats they hardly picked him for his looks .,
If we were being fair, Gavin and Pamela would have had similar starting abilities.
He was trying to learn in 12 weeks what some of the contestants had spent a longer period of time learning previously (and I'm not singling Pamela out here).
I didn't like Gavin's dancing, and I didn't go all gooey over him either, but I respected the effort he put in. He struck me as a guy that gave it his all.
It's swings and roundabouts really isn't it. They all have different abilities as have contestants in previous years, Ramps and Matt Dawson to name a few. Gavin may not be as talented at dancing as Pamela, but he is half her age and, as a professional sportsman, very fit so would surpass Pam's stamina levels easily. Also not all of them could put the hours in for training, Scott for example struggled with his EastEnders commitments. I'm not making excuses for any of them, just pointing out that they all have different advantages/disadvantages.
I like all the finalists, but have a soft spot for Pamela and James!
It's swings and roundabouts really isn't it. They all have different abilities as have contestants in previous years, Ramps and Matt Dawson to name a few. Gavin may not be as talented at dancing as Pamela, but he is half her age and, as a professional sportsman, very fit so would surpass Pam's stamina levels easily. Also not all of them could put the hours in for training, Scott for example struggled with his EastEnders commitments. I'm not making excuses for any of them, just pointing out that they all have different advantages/disadvantages.
I like all the finalists, but have a soft spot for Pamela and James!
I completely agree with you
Each contestant comes with their strengths and weaknesses.
The point I was making was that Pamela hasn't had it any tougher than Gavin in my opinion. Yes her age and fitness have been against her, but she's had other things working in her favour such as a bit of dance experience.
I dunno I liked Pam's QS but I can see why folks thought she was over-marked, not keen on the Charleston, loved the VW and whilst arguably her and Kara should have got the same mark I think that Pamela benefited by stumbling when James was between her and the judges whilst Kara made a mistake in front of Craig and Len is just Len. Both Pamela's VW and Kara's tango were top notch and at the end of the day they deserved to be the top two dances of the night.
I like both Pamela and Kara but although I think Kara should win - it does annoy when Kara's fans say 'Pamela couldn't do what Kara does' the words 'twenty years age difference so duh' come to mind.
We have the right finalists (although I do feel sad that Scott faded and under-performed at the end considering how good he has been this series - this jive, VW and QS were amongst the best dancers of the series) and it promises to be a good one.
Agree completely with the OP's post. Pamela bores me rigid now because you just know she's going to get 10's before she's danced a step. She has to be the most overrated celeb ever. Most of her dances are worthy of 8's and no higher, giving her 10's is so ridiculous it makes the show a joke.
You are SO RIGHT. Pamela is a joy to watch and I think is favourite to win. Kara is heavenly in her dancing but it's about dancing AND entertainment. I think Pamela has been under marked on several occasions and it was deeply unfair that three of the four judges twice failed to down mark Kara for her illegal lifts. It makes a nonsense of the rules when the dancers are reminded several weeks ago about lifts and then three of them ignore them.
You think Pamela has been undermarked???????
Pamela made mistakes too and yet she was not marked down!!!!!!!!!!
The issues people have with Pamela are: overmarking for performances not worthy, favouritism with the judges, not being marked down for her mistakes, her fakeness and `im so humble` acts amongst other stuff
Wasnt there a BBC ageism row or something like that?
Just face up to it, Kara is a better dancer!
Of course Kara is the better dancer, I don't think that's in dispute, however, that said, given that Pamela is 61, her performances have been remarkable and whilst I completely accept that, at the beginning, she was a little 'ever so umble', she overcame that dreadful gushing sincerity and became more down to earth and therefore more likeable, obviously, IMHO. I wasn't a big fan of Pamela's back in the NTNoCN days, but must say, having watched her over this series of SCD have thorough warmed to her. I also agree that we do have the right finalists (although for me I would have preferred Scott) but still looking forward to the final.
Wasnt there a BBC ageism row or something like that?
Just face up to it, Kara is a better dancer!
Well, most of the comments against Pamela seem to suggest that her age shouldn't matter and up to a point that's correct.
However, if it cannot be taken into account in judging how well she has coped with the rigours of such an intensive training regime and performed as a result, then this would indicate that people like yourself would consider that only young people should be allowed to compete in Strictly Come Dancing.
Elsewhere I asked the question that if Paul Daniels had turned out to be a reasonable dancer instead of being pretty hopeless, would you think it reasonable that he as a 72 year old man who is 5 ft 4 should be judged alongside a 28 year old man who is 6 feet tall and with no allowance being made for the fact that one is almost 3 times the age of the other?
By barring older people from competing, it would create nothing short of a shitstorm for the BBC so the sensible thing to do is to judge people based on how they perform (taking certain factors into account) and not by comparing two people as if these factors don't exist.
The fact is that Pamela Stephenson is a far superior dancer to both Michelle Williams and Tina O'Brien, despite being considerably older than them. Did you also object to them being eliminated ahead of her? She is probably not a superior dancer to Kara and I fully expect Kara to win.
I just don't like to see implications that only young, beautiful people are entitled to win anything.
I think on balance Pamela has been over marked but she just has edge over Kara getting into the mood of the dances and Kara is supposed to be the actress.
I hope the best dancer on the night wins as they both would be worthy winners in their own way and who know Matt may surprise us.
Comments
Being an Irish rugby fan I would love to agree with you ,But even I , in all fairness, will say that Gavin Henson is a dam good rugby player .He played for his country and the Lions and thats they hardly picked him for his looks .,
It's swings and roundabouts really isn't it. They all have different abilities as have contestants in previous years, Ramps and Matt Dawson to name a few. Gavin may not be as talented at dancing as Pamela, but he is half her age and, as a professional sportsman, very fit so would surpass Pam's stamina levels easily. Also not all of them could put the hours in for training, Scott for example struggled with his EastEnders commitments. I'm not making excuses for any of them, just pointing out that they all have different advantages/disadvantages.
I like all the finalists, but have a soft spot for Pamela and James!
I completely agree with you
Each contestant comes with their strengths and weaknesses.
The point I was making was that Pamela hasn't had it any tougher than Gavin in my opinion. Yes her age and fitness have been against her, but she's had other things working in her favour such as a bit of dance experience.
I like both Pamela and Kara but although I think Kara should win - it does annoy when Kara's fans say 'Pamela couldn't do what Kara does' the words 'twenty years age difference so duh' come to mind.
We have the right finalists (although I do feel sad that Scott faded and under-performed at the end considering how good he has been this series - this jive, VW and QS were amongst the best dancers of the series) and it promises to be a good one.
I thought that too, 8 and no higher.
Pamela made mistakes too and yet she was not marked down!!!!!!!!!!
The issues people have with Pamela are: overmarking for performances not worthy, favouritism with the judges, not being marked down for her mistakes, her fakeness and `im so humble` acts amongst other stuff
Wasnt there a BBC ageism row or something like that?
Just face up to it, Kara is a better dancer!
Of course Kara is the better dancer, I don't think that's in dispute, however, that said, given that Pamela is 61, her performances have been remarkable and whilst I completely accept that, at the beginning, she was a little 'ever so umble', she overcame that dreadful gushing sincerity and became more down to earth and therefore more likeable, obviously, IMHO. I wasn't a big fan of Pamela's back in the NTNoCN days, but must say, having watched her over this series of SCD have thorough warmed to her. I also agree that we do have the right finalists (although for me I would have preferred Scott) but still looking forward to the final.
Enjoy.
Well, most of the comments against Pamela seem to suggest that her age shouldn't matter and up to a point that's correct.
However, if it cannot be taken into account in judging how well she has coped with the rigours of such an intensive training regime and performed as a result, then this would indicate that people like yourself would consider that only young people should be allowed to compete in Strictly Come Dancing.
Elsewhere I asked the question that if Paul Daniels had turned out to be a reasonable dancer instead of being pretty hopeless, would you think it reasonable that he as a 72 year old man who is 5 ft 4 should be judged alongside a 28 year old man who is 6 feet tall and with no allowance being made for the fact that one is almost 3 times the age of the other?
By barring older people from competing, it would create nothing short of a shitstorm for the BBC so the sensible thing to do is to judge people based on how they perform (taking certain factors into account) and not by comparing two people as if these factors don't exist.
The fact is that Pamela Stephenson is a far superior dancer to both Michelle Williams and Tina O'Brien, despite being considerably older than them. Did you also object to them being eliminated ahead of her? She is probably not a superior dancer to Kara and I fully expect Kara to win.
I just don't like to see implications that only young, beautiful people are entitled to win anything.
I hope the best dancer on the night wins as they both would be worthy winners in their own way and who know Matt may surprise us.