You should come along to my dancing class - we have ladies of all shapes sizes and ages - and quite a few of us WOULD qualify for the Roly Polys!!

We go along because we enjoy the exercise, the friendship and all love to dance. And on the sizeist point - one of the best Jivers there is a 60 year old lady who is about a size 20 - boy can she move!!

I think we should wait until Saturday to decide how good/bad Natalie is. Even then, some celebs take a few weeks to really "get" dance and start performing well - Darren Gough springs to mind.

But to pretend size has nothing to do with how well someone does a physical activity like dance is a bit naive. Of course, there are the exceptions where larger people are much more physically fit than thin people, but in general, having a lot of excess weight means your heart has to work harder.

But Nat may be really fit, who knows. And of course, there's Joe who's probably wonderfully fit but look at him dance!

I'll bet you she can't dance either but will be kept in by the fat women vote while a better dancer is eliminated.

I must be confusing this Natalie Cassidy with another one who shamelesly flogged a "lose weight" DVD only to reveal later that she lost the weight by taking laxatives.
Hardly a good example to set to young girls is it?

Personally i prefer the more curvy woman and have enjoyed the new larger catwalk model in the news this week.
I wouldn't describe the gorgeous pro dancers as skeletal and wouldn't watch the show if they all had the stick-insect build of Tess Daly.

Despite having a mind like a "bee's arse" i work with primary school children every day and encourage healthy eating and exercise.I don't encourage my girls to be like Natalie Cassidy.

She looks like she's going to be fine, to be honest. She didn't look bad at all in the group dance, and her training looked OK. She certainly seems to have rhythm. We'll see, but I'd wager she certainly won't be the worst this weekend.

I think she looked good in the group dance. She has rhythm and seemed to have plenty of energy. Her training footage doesn't look bad either.

I think she will be in for a while. On merit. But I guess we have to wait and see.

What a nasty little thread this is in places, Shirley Ballas was impressed with Natalie's dancing and she certainly is qualified to judge it - what we saw of the training the dancing is looking excellent and I feel Natalie will do well on Saturday

You beat me to it. That's exactly what I was going to say

she's a sweetie and a REAL PERSON with an actual personality and I hope she does well

so there!

[quote=currysocks;35642111]I'll bet you she can't dance either but will be kept in by the fat women vote while a better dancer is eliminated.


You don't know that Natalie can't dance - and perhaps before pre-judging her and making catty comments - you should reserve your judgment on her dancing ability until you have actually seen her perform. I find your "fat women vote" comment insulting to SCD viewers - is it reallynecessary to make vicious swipes to get your point across. Go back to the playground.

It's Strictly Come Dancing, not Strictly Come Set A Good Example to Young Girls.


You may encourage healthy eating, but it's attitudes like yours with your "fat women vote" that leads young women like Natalie Cassidy to take drastic steps towards weight loss that may cause serious damage to their health.

I think she is a pleasure to watch - she adores SCD and her enthusiasm shows - she has great energy.

[/quote]
You may encourage healthy eating, but it's attitudes like yours with your "fat women vote" that leads young women like Natalie Cassidy to take drastic steps towards weight loss that may cause serious damage to their health.

Well said, rosieee. I couldn't have put it better myself.

I am rooting for Natalie to do very well, I hope she is brilliant. And if she isn't, I will enjoy that too.

[quote=samiskim;35642991]
We've already seen Cassidy thundering across the dancefloor.

I'll be back in the playgound tomorrow promoting health and exercise.
Meanwhile,you can continue defending a vacuous celebrity who shamelessly uses her weight to generate income.

For goodness sake grow up, currysocks. It is hard to believe you are a teacher when you make such childish remarks. You really have a playground mentality and school really is the best place for you.

Let us bear in mind that Shirley Ballas was impressed with Natalie's performance, and many of the dancers on this forum have been as well. Her training footage for this weekend looked like one of the better ones, too. She did not "thunder" at all.

You don't have to like the girl, of course... it just seems that you're being overly hard on her.

'Currysocks, I hope your pupils aren't catching even the slightest glimpse of your terrible attitude.

Natalie's training footage, for her tango, actually looked quite good.

I love her attitude and enthusiasm. I'm in no way qualified to judge but it does seem to me that she has a bit of 'rhythm' some of the other don't have. I would like to see her in the final if only to demonstrate that it is skill not size that counts.

They may not even be a teacher

May be a dinner lady promoting healthy food for all we know ?

only a PE teacher though

I saw her in the summer at the Isle of Wight Festival and she is a normal sized girl - she's probably smaller than me, if I'm honest. She looked healthy and happy and isn't that what we should be encouraging nowadays. Trouble is, the dresses and training outfits aren't flattering on anyone over a size 10 because they cling to every part of you. I think it's really cruel to make an issue out of her size. When she lost all that weight, people weren't happy and now she has gained some, people are on her back again.

Yes, I couldn't agree more. And if you think Currysocks is bad on here, try taking a look at what he says about all the female celebs on the Strictly Vent thread !

Aren't they all real people? Having a bit more weight on you doesn't make you more real than someone who is has a bit less weight.


She made money out of promoting her weight loss - she's the one that opened it up for discussion. That's not an excuse for people to make really rude comments, but she is the one who made an issue of her weight first.


I wouldn't want someone to make the final just based on their size (or race or gender) just to prove a point. If she is a good dancer or a good entertainer, then I hope she makes the final.

She did as many interviews admitting she'd done the weight loss thing for the wrong reasons as she did to promote the DVD originally. That's at least some kind of redress IMHO.

I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw in the group dance from Natalie; she was considerably more co-ordinated and showed much more personality than Jo Wood or Laila Rouass, not to mention Richard Dunwoody. And she wasn't an embarrassment like Tuffers either.

Zoe and Ricky might be better dancers technically, but I think Natalie will be the Chris Hollins of this group

I agree LL, she's got bags of enthusiasm and lovely Vincent will bring out the best in her. The training clip on ITT looked promising, and Vincent knows a thing or two about tangos!