It is easy to read it like that, especially when he adds -


Just so we all know HE didnt bring it up, HE didnt use it as an excuse

I don`t think he meant anything detrimental to Tuffers tbf.

By most of the comments on this thread it looks like you`re not alone.

He might well be out in a dance off.

Spot on Sid

I went off him when I saw his ruddy great gas-guzzler.

He doesn't run a furniture delivery business, does he? Who else needs a huge pick-up?

Admittedly I haven't seen the vehicles the others drive and I might think the better or worse of them if I did. But his pick-up and his somewhat self-absorbed blog put me off him. Fab dancer but ......not my cup of tea.

Totally agree with you - it was his own personal blog so of course it would be how he did on Saturday night.

As for Tess mentioning his injury and oh how he got the sympathy - people forget of course that Tess mentioned Ricky G having the Flue the week before but thats OK!!

As for your post not understanding the dislike for him - well it has been like that from day one as soon as they appeared. Think if everyone was honest they would have been thrilled if Ricky had been dancing with their favourite Pro as one poster said on another thread - every lady Pro would have wanted Ricky and every Pro man Alli.

As for people assuming he is not popular just because those on DS do not how on earth do you know if the viewers do or not and as I said before I was surprised to see the support Ricky and Natalie have on the BBC boards.

I am one of those strange people who vote for the best dancer and that is Ricky and Alli.

The reasons people give for disliking Ricky really make me laugh: his car, his feet, his blog. What next - the colour of his socks? His fingernails?

I'm suprised he hasn't blamed Racism yet, or is he saving that for when he doesn't win??

Why are the colour of his socks vile and his fingernails dirty well thats another reason in my book then

No, probably didn't, but it's very easy to read it that way, so perhaps he shouldn't be quite so keen to press the send button when he blogs, and maybe get someone else to read it over first. TBH, the whole blog came across as a bit whingey and just annoying.

BTW, not planning on voting for anyone this year, I am Switzerland on the whole thing at the moment

I said his feet were ugly and while it is hard to ignore that when he is dancing, I didnt say I didnt like him because of his feet.

I also see nothing wrong in being competitive. But let's not confuse Ricky's cavalier stab in the back attitude toward his fellow celebs as being competitive. A true competitor wins (or loses) on their own merit, not by attempting to discredit their competition.

If Ricky wants to impress the audience at home, he needs to work harder to let his feet do the talking instead of his mouth.

Words of comfort Shappy like manna from heaven in the desert - and you don't even like him

I found wanting Tom to win bad enough on here last year but nothing compares to this flak.

Still that's what makes it the programme we know and love (note to self - support someone less out there next year)

Well, Jade, Jo and Laila appear to me to do samba rolls - if there is something in the feet that stops them counting then I acknowledge I'm not a dancer and well done you for seeing their feet with the way the camera moves. (After watching those and Ricky's I couldn't work up the energy to rewatch Phil's and Craig's as well so I can't say about theirs - I don't enjoy the samba at the best of times.) Ricky is specifically criticising the other dancers for not doing samba rolls, not for how well they do them. I rewatched them to try and see a good interpretation of what he says in the blog because, while not a fan, I don't want to dislike him, but I can't see any explanation for it other than that he's wrong.

[OT - rewatching, I can't tell you how depressing I find it that - to me - Jade is so clearly the most of fun of them by a mile and she's the one that ends up in the final 2. Does make me impatient with Ricky feeling sorry for himself. If he ends up in the last 2 he can complain all he likes, rightly, but until then... I don't think he will end up in the final 2 any time soon, btw.]

Excellent post thank you!!

I dont dislike the man because of his feet .Its his dancing I dislike becuase of his feet , they are careless and not elegant .

Maybe if you look back that is what people are saying

I personally am not keen on Ricky as a competitor becuase of his attitude and now because of his discrediting others , Not a nice trait and not doing him any favours at all

I agree with all of this - particularly about Jade. Oh well...

Karen Hardy wrote:-

There was high praise for Ricky Whittle, Zoe Lucker and Ali Bastian this weekend – who’s your favourite celeb to win the competition?
“My favourite is clearly Ricky Whittle. I know what the nation is like and we all love an underdog, but he’s just so far out there! From a quality and technical point of view he’s just blowing everyone out of the competition. The connections between him and his dance partner Natalie are brilliant. He’s so far ahead from a quality of dance point of view, then absolutely – he’s my favourite by far.

“But there’s still a long way to go – we’re in week six, we’ve got another 10 weeks to go so all things could change. It’s tough both physically and mentally so we’ll have to see who can hold their game.”

I wish Karen would give a bit of insight as to why she thinks Ricky is so far ahead. I accept her opinion because she knows much more about it than I do, but I cant see Ricky's Samba being a huge amount better than Jade's - infact, I thought Jade's was more difficult.


I did agree with Natalie's music choice (I suggested it in the 'What music?' thread)

One of the niggly problems about SCD this year is the ridiculously short period of voting that the combined show allows for. Personally I think its causing the show to disconnect from its audience and make the outcome less of an event.
Ive voted on an off over the years and this is the first year that I have not found the line to be engaged.

Yes, but the point isn't whether or not the rolls were a *good* attempt - in his blog, he says "we were the only ones to attempt the samba rolls" - and he's just wrong on that score, sorry. Even if you want to evaluate the quality of the rolls, there is no question that other couples made THE ATTEMPT. Jade, Laila - even Jo had an (admittedly sub-par) attempt at them. It's not really the standard of the rolls that's up for debate. It's the attempt.

It's the fact that he believes he is doing something nobody else is doing - and drawing attention to it - that is going to put a lot of people off Ricky, I feel, and which, I think, is going to be his downfall later in the competition.

Good luck to him, I think he has genuine raw talent - but he isn't the most *entertaining* dancer IMO. As to whether or not he is 'popular' in terms of votes, only time will tell.

But he has some serious shortcomings off the dance floor (and a few on, btw) and (like it or not) he is coming over as arrogant and conceited at a crucial time in the series when the real 'journey' people are demonstrating more likable qualities that will endear them more with the GP.

I'm not saying it's right, but it's ruddy important, and he ignores that at his peril.

I'm with Sid on this whole discussion. How does he know he doesn't have public support? That's what I'd dearly like to know.

jtnorth - I am absolutely no expert and it does make it harder to see the footwork with the jerky camera shots but I think the dead giveaway to them not being samba rolls is the fact that both girls are fairly stationary. Even with one samba roll, they should have travelled. I don't think Ricky is lying is his blog - I think he is misinterpreting what is being said. The samba roll being a prime example. Jo attempted a more 'basic' samba roll - ones that they will teach you when you start learning the samba and is on the bronze syllabus. The one Ricky attempted is known as the more advanced samba roll (shadow position) and I think this is where he's getting the terminology mixed up. The more advanced one is the flashier samba roll and the way I saw it, he was the only one to attempt this roll. But my samba knowledge is pretty rusty so everything I'm saying could be wrong!

I think the fleckerl remark was perhaps to do with the fact he was the only one to attempt it in both directions as Jade did do one in her routine.

I didn't find his remarks particularly disparaging but I think I'm very much in the minority on that one!

Yeah I'm confused too, he seems popular enough outside the forum(s) to me (then again for each contestant I know at least one person outside the forums that's supporting them). And he has quite a lot of support on the forums too

DOuble post sorry.

Sorry Sugartingles - have to agree to disagree on this one. I don't think either Jade nor Laila attempted a Samba roll and like in my previous post, I think he is just getting the terminology mixed up. I've looked at the clips over and over and I'm still not convinced Jade and Laila were trying to do samba rolls. They certainly looked like they were preparing to go into them but never actually did so it's not about the quality of the rolls - to me they never did them