Thats great Phil comes across as such a lovely man you can't imagine him being stern and dominating, I think at best he came out with a serious face but not fierce. I bet Katya had a ball training him though he looks such a good laugh.
I liked Katya I would'nt mind her coming back to Strictly as long as Aliona keeps her place as well.

I echo your sentiments about Katya - she is a very strong character and built very entertaining and funny relationships with Gavin and Phil, who were both very difficult to motivate. Dan was a bit more difficult to like, though I think he has a different opinion.
I'd like to see Katya return.

Katya was my favourite female pro after Aliona.

Saw Katya on tour with Pasha last year and she was great. Not just her dancing but she had a natural way with the audience. Very funny too.

There's a clip on you tube from ITT of Aliona and Katya with Matt and Gavin thats really funny. Aliona and Katya's bootcamp they both just keep smacking them it's hilarious

Michael Pattie's BBC VT

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02kt8bb

I like him - I think a lot of people will, and I think he and Aliona will form a good team.

Michael maybe has the biggest challenge of all in terms of getting from where he was when the Christmas lights were turned on in Dumfries, to the dominant man dancing a passionate Tango with Aliona, but Aliona is brilliant in this sort of situation and she will take Michael along the right path to get there.

Anyone else here what Brendan Cole is supposed to have said in his show?

Well they must have been getting along before the Tour or Brendan wouldn't have asked Aliona to join the Tour or she wouldn't have accepted.

I guess the new situation must have contributed.

I don't take any more from it than that.

Back to the here and now;

An interview with Michael and Aliona and our first glimpse of some Tango training.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/enterta...ichael-5251377

For Brendan to say something like that so publicly is really mean and shows he's definitely not a gentleman. I won't support him again.

I will of course be supporting Michael and Aliona. Thanks for posting this article Michael seems to be doing well in training but it sounds like it's an emotional rollercoaster for everyone you have to admire his get up and go after all he's been through. Lets hope with Aliona's help he can do a really good tango and make his family proud.

It was certainly unnecessary - what Brendan did.

Michael's Tango seems to be very much aimed at comedy, which makes it a bit more of a possibility that Aliona would have chosen that music, as it does lend it to that. It's a chicken or egg choice as to whether the comedy came from the music choice or the music came from a comedy choice.

I think it will go down well with the audience and is in keeping with the Comic Relief theme.

Michael has progressed well and has got to a good enough level. He is bending his knees and getting a Tango look to the dance.

From what Janette said, there is a limit on the training hours. I can only guess that is to level the playing field as some of the contestants may not be able to train as many hours as others. On the other hand, some of them have more dance experience than others, so I'm not sure really as to what the purpose is.
I think Michael was capable of more training hours and his dancing would be even better if there had been no restriction.

There also seems to be about 10 days between training ending and the dance show, which surely will mean that the competitors will not be at their peak for the show? I would think a 2 day gap - maximum - between training and the show would be the best way to go.

The People's Strictly has been very well thought out and planned thus far IMO and I like the whole feel of it. I hope I'm not left thinking after it that they could have done the dancing bit better by letting them train more. This show is less about who wins than the normal Strictly - its more like the underwater dance or the Torville and Dean Comic Relief events, so they should try to get the best looking show they can put together from the contestant's too.

Michael and Aliona's training video looks great. He's come on such a lot since we last saw him. I agree it seems a bit silly to have such a big gap between the end of training and the show, if the training hours were limited you would of thought they could spread them out a bit. I'm looking forward to Wednesday now when we meet the next three contestants.

Tomorrow may not be quite as tear-inducing as last week, but their work for charity will earn a lot of respect.

It was nice to read Michael saying "We're a team." That is a key part of the experience of Strictly and with all the interference in music, choreography and theme choices, 'rigging' the results and the introduction of backing dancers, there is much less of a feeling in recent series that the pro and celeb can make their own future on Strictly, so that feeling of teamwork and being a team is diminished.

Well I've made a mess of that. I decided to record Wednesday and watch it when I've got more time. So I have just watched a third episode and missed the second. Never mind they all looked like they were getting along ok. I thought Aliona and Michael were good when they danced for Craig. He is always a bit picky, Michael should'nt beat himself up over it he's doing great. I really liked the bit were they got strictlyfied I think that would be my favourite bit because I certainly can't dance

The Wednesday reveal will be on iPlayer - if you can see that. It was done well and it was a good show. Maybe not quite as tear-inducing as the first reveals, but all 3 of them have done so much for others and Trishna does have serious health issues but is inspirational in how she handles it all.

I would have liked to see more training. Thursdays training clips showed Aliona only in hard taskmaster role, and Michael has said that Aliona is a hard taskmaster when training him but returns to her usual bubbly self after training.

It did look like Michael was beating himself up over not progressing as well as he expected, and that may well have held back his progress. There was quite a bit of joking around when Aliona taught Tony and I did wonder why Aliona was not making the atmosphere a bit lighter with Michael. Maybe Michael just isn't the type to joke around like Tony, but he definitely does have a fun side so I'm glad he has now got into the right frame of mind to enjoy the Strictly experience.

Michael is an example of why I think they were wrong to limit the training to 70 hours. With more time, I think Aliona could get Michael to a level where he was satisfied with his dancing. His dancing is now good enough and hopefully his comedy performance side (which he evidently has from seeing a clip of his Strictly fund raising dancing) will come out in the dance. The Tango looks like it will be entertaining.

Yes I've caught up now. Enjoyed seeing the background of the other contestants.

I've just read an article were Michael has said that Aliona is teaching him techniques to over come his nerves so I hope that helps. I do think that they should be able to train as much as they can, it's probably because Trishna's limited because she gets tired that they,ve evened it out but she looks like one of the best dancers and is fit in her own way doing hockey and zumba, they could have started her training earlier so she was'nt doing too many hours in a day. They don't limit the celebs training, Tony could'nt do as many hours as the others could he?
Aliona and Michael seem to be having fun, I think Aliona is very focused on getting the job done or at least to the best her partner can do. I did enjoy the interview with the squeaky noses

Just seen you've put the same article up on The Peoples Strictly thread Fatskia

Hi Gill,

Yes - I noticed that Michael said he was more mentally tired than physically.
I remember Matt Baker saying that his brain was fried after his first rehearsal and Matt was a very fast learner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehY4LU4r4Wk

Michael did draw a short straw in getting a Tango as his first dance, as I think its perhaps the most difficult dance for men to learn.

One thing I have noticed is that Aliona teaches the proper technique in dances. In Strictly, I have seen dances where technique is avoided and the judges seem to ignore that and give good marks. An example is Ola teaching Chris Hollins to Tango without bent knees, whereas Aliona taught Rav to bend his knees - which is a whole higher level of difficulty.

I think the stress Michael put himself under was making his shoulders raise and probably clouded his mind when learning. Harry Judd was a slow learner at the start, partly because he had to learn how to learn, but he speeded up after learning a few dances. That is why someone like Michael would benefit from extra training time.

I'm interested in all that stuff about training, but I don't think the producer is going to feature the training much in the People's Strictly - unless they do repeat it each year and want to get more program time out of it.

Initially to me Michael came across as a very serious guy - even morose - so I was very pleased to see glimpses of his fun side in the clip of his Strictly fund raising and at his reveal. I hope he can dance his Tango with a seriously funny kind of approach which will suit it.

Hi Fatskia
It's funny you should mention Matt Bakers training I've just seen one of the last ITT and he said if he was to do it all over again he wouldn't change a thing. He liked the way Aliona trained him and her drive, she shouted at him, cursed and smacked his bum

Michael does come across as a serious guy even a bit sad which is understandable as I suppose this all brings back why he's doing this for his son. I think his son would be very proud of him. Lets hope he does well on Wednesday but also that he enjoys himself and the whole experience.

Going back to training I think the most improved has to be Harry Judd especially his ballroom. I think Aliona worked wonders with him. I remember people on here calling him a ringer. He was only a ringer in regards to popularity the rest was down to Aliona's hard work.

Hi Gill,

Matt Baker - what a perfect match for Aliona in that he learned so fast, was so honest and could work so hard for so long. The only problem was they were short of training hours. We had a combination of fast training, unusual choreography and great teamwork. Matt had the advantage of having been a high level gymnast and had done a bit of dancing before.

Harry was another top guy in that he immediately formed a team with Aliona and stayed part of the team. You could see from the Foxtrot that Harry was struggling with Ballroom, but a couple of weeks later Aliona cut the quantity down and got 45 seconds of sublime Waltz out of him. From then on it was obvious that Aliona could get Harry to a very high level in Ballroom - it was only a matter of quantity and soon he could do a whole dance at superb quality.

Latin was a struggle for Harry. He had a hang-up about moving his hips. What surprises me was how good he was in the CCC even without moving his hips. Aliona got Harry to a reasonably good level, but he couldn't get beyond that in a week or half a week. As far as I could tell, Harry started off a novice, but with a lot of potential in that he had great balance, timing and fitness. He wasn't really a natural dancer but like Matt Dawson, could be taught to be a superb Ballroom dancer.

They did work the most hours of anyone to get the results. Some people dismiss all the hard work they put into their success, but I feel better for (like yourself) being able to appreciate what they achieved.

Well done Michael!

Very happy for him and Aliona that Michael performed so well. IMO Michael got the most difficult dance to do and Aliona taught him the proper Tango technique, so he did very well with the training time available. Michael's acting was very good - totally in character.

You never know who will actually get the viewer's votes so good luck Michael - you got my votes.

A photo for Michael's wall at home. Excellent form Michael!

http://static.tellymix.co.uk/files/2...ormances-6.jpg

Ya wee dancer!

A wonderful set of screen captures which tell the story of Michael's Strictly experience so well.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/clrhml...h/16792870525/

Brilliant dance I really enjoyed it he got into charactor really well. I enjoyed the whole show definetely had a lovely feel back stage they were all really supportive of each other. Celebs out bring on the real people.

Real people might not be so good.

Exceptional people seems to have worked well.

I'll pick out a few photos I particularly liked - if I can isolate them.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/clrhml...57651290578202

https://www.flickr.com/photos/clrhml...57651290578202

https://www.flickr.com/photos/clrhml...57651290578202

https://www.flickr.com/photos/clrhml...57651290578202

https://www.flickr.com/photos/clrhml...57651290578202

https://www.flickr.com/photos/clrhml...57651290578202

https://www.flickr.com/photos/clrhml...57651290578202

https://www.flickr.com/photos/clrhml...57651290578202

https://www.flickr.com/photos/clrhml...57651290578202

Michael and Aliona's Tango in HD with the judges comments etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNr4vKWlpU4

Michael IMO got the most difficult dance. He was the only one not to get music suited to the dance. I searched in vain for a single video example of that music being used for a Tango. Its usually used for a Cha Cha Cha.

Aliona taught him the proper Tango technique, so bending his knees, which usually causes poor posture with your bum sticking out. It's also very tiring and Michael is the oldest competitor - but he seems to be fit and kept good posture throughout - even managed to keep his shoulders down. His footwork was good with no mistakes I could see.

He also had to generate the dominant, forceful, sharp character of the Tango despite the music not helping. He didn't really overcome that obstacle but it was still clearly a Tango. Facial expression was serious but not exactly what was required.

A Tango where he was in hold a lot of the time - which again is more difficult, and he managed that without gapping. Kept his balance well.

The performance side, Michael did very well. He stayed in character throughout and never got flustered even when doing the fiddly parts with the tickets and flower.

It was also a one-off chance, recorded as it happened, so equivalent to a live show performance, and again Michael handled that pressure.

I'm well pleased with Michael's dance and think he had a very high level of difficulty set for him, so to do so well in his first ever proper dance is a great achievement.

Well done to Aliona too. It was a very difficult task dance-wise set to that music and with Michael being a slow learner, having a character very different to the Tango personality and with limited training time, to get him to that level was a job well done. She also coached him on how to handle performing live under pressure and again, that worked.

They seem to be good friends and appreciate each other - as Michael said, they are a team.

Congratulations to Cassidy and Natalie on winning the People's Strictly.

I'm sure Aliona is pleased for Natalie as they seem to be friends and very appreciative of each other's work. I often see one of them congratulating the other at the top of the stairs after a performance.

I'm pleased that they all performed to their potential and really they are all winners.

Looking back at the Tango, it's interesting how Aliona adjusted her Tango dancing to match Michael's. Its important that the pro does not markedly out-dance their partner. You could see that Aliona knew Michael had nailed the Tango as he walked away and it was just so perfect an end result after it had looked very touch-and-go as to whether they would pull it off.

This was Aliona's Tango with Matt. They had a poor first dance that week and Aliona had to make the dance look as good as possible without out-dancing Matt. Matt was also in a very emotional state for the first time and you can see Aliona studying him after the dance in case he needed support. Matt did get a little weepy in an interview just afterwards and Aliona immediately shielded him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsu_cFekmqA