And lets be fair Anton has to play to his strengths too, I don't think he could pull off sexy somehow so cheesy is about right I reckon!

I have every confidence Laila will be able to get the aggressive/sexy element of the Paso just right...god help us with Anton though...

I'm quite fickle - I'm so thankful that Laila is partnered with Anton on the weeks they perform Ballroom and wish she was paired with someone else when Latin looms!

I quite enjoyed their Samba, because frankly, I'm a disco type of gal. The choreography was no better and no worse than James' for Zoe but whereas Anton got slated for the disco guff, James was a hero! Performance wise I thought Laila looked comfortable whereas Zoe did not. Of course, it looks like the voting public agrees with me and thankfully not the judges.
Honestly, I am trying not to be a smug as Anton!

Be thankful she wasn't partnered with James Jordan, given his record. And I have to say, I don't think she and Brian or Brendan would have been a happy pairing either. So, in reality, she couldn't have done much better.

You're quite right.

I suspect one of the reasons they have avoided the dance-off so far is because Anton has such a large and loyal fanbase. Can't say the same for James.

And I think her and Brendon might have fallen out a fair bit. Laila's a feisty lass!

Then why is this the longest he has ever lasted in the competition? Can it be that his fan base were galvanised because of his remarks and to show their support for his attitudes?

I'm not sure whether Laila would have quarelled with anyone else as the only argument the "fiesty girl" seems to have had this year is to stand up for not being insulted by her idiotic partner. What a cow!

No, no, no!

You misunderstood me.

I fully supported Laila during that unfortunate incident and thought she handled herself magnificently.

When I use the word 'feisty' this was the impression I got of Laila before the furore surrounding Anton's comments. She herself said that she gives as good as she gets. And I like that quality in her It might not have worked in partnership with Brendon, that's all.

As for Anton not getting any further in the past, he did when partnered with Lesley and Patsy - and like Laila, they could dance.

He actually lasted as long in the competition with Patsy Palmer, who apart from Lesley Garrett in Series 1, was his only partner that could actually dance. Can't compare Series 1 as there were so few couples.

You read my mind Sid

Spooky!

So we just write series 1 off completely do we? You can compare it if you work it out as a percentage based on the couples. Therefore with Patsy he scores 69% and with Lesley 75%.

From reading what Laila said the other day I think she would have liked to have been partnered with Ian or Matthew!!

Dunno if that would have worked, she'd have been a big simpering mess working with someone she finds attractive...look at Ali!

No chance of that with her and Anton methinks!!

Don't think her thoughts there had anything to do with dancing

A perfect description.

No need to be so prissy

Me too and I thought that was what let the performance down.


I agree Sid (except the bit about being my favourite couple, although I do like them). In fact, Laila and Anton must have wondered what on earth they had to do to earn praise again for a ballroom dance.

Poor show by the judges - I thought they were rather dismissive.

But not exactly feistily since she knuckled down and grinned at the camera and put up with whatever the BBC and the PR agents told her to. So were do these feisty comments come from? If she was really feisty and gave as good as she got then she wouldn’t be stuck with Anton.

Why is Laila getting the criticism for Anton's comment?!

It seemed to me that the talk of 'the best dance ever on strictly' had caused the judges to take an attitude of OK then we'll judge it against that standard, instead of judging against the other competitors.

The judges seemed to be doing that all night though - several of the dances were overmarked in relation to the best dances.

The detour onto criticising Laila's latin tends to show that that judge had the wrong mindset.