So, Claude has got her wish, and Craig ( Ooooh it's ma birthday and I wanna go to Blackpool) has managed to worm his way to dance at the Blackpool show.
Will she now stop canvassing for people to vote for him and give all the contestants a fair consideration on the ITT show?

To be fair to Claudia, by the end of last week even she
sounded as if she had had enough of the B-word from Craig.

I have been in the past, a big critic of Claudia... her fringe, her dresses, her behaviour... you name it I've criticised it. This year though I think she's great, I much prefer ITT to some of the SCD content.
I don't think she was actively canvassing. I may be wrong, but she seemed a bit fed up with him in my opinion

I hope James says something about her canvassing for Craig, I hope he also mentions that the dance off dance is supposed to be what the judges vote on, which is quite laughable after sat night, so he wont be popular for speaking out I for one would applaud him.

I'm not entirely sure Claudia ever thought it would be a reality, I mean didn't she offer to give him a lift to Blackpool...ie no chance mate but I'm going there so if you want to come watch, sorted!!

She mentioned it a handful of times as a joke. The lines only open for 15 minutes on a Saturday.

I doubt she had any effect.

Claudia's one of the most stylish dressers on TV.

And she's certainly the best presenter.

I think you forgot to add...IMO

Thanks Ma Winkleman.

I'd say Claudia is massively improved on last year's ITT - bar this one flaw.

Having said this, I do not blame Claudia personally - she is just doing her job. There has been a very obvious drive to get Craig to Blackpool from the producers - yet another BBC management gaff - that has already ended in tears with two of the judges' favourites in the dance-off.

What's motivating this actually rather feeble attempt to grab headlines is, of course, publicity. Strictly is being hammered by The X Factor in the ratings and the producers are desperate to create a story that will draw in new/lapsed viewers. That tactic kind of worked with John Sergeant because, whether you liked him or not, he played to the audience on and off the dancefloor.

Craig, bless him, just isn't that interesting, however. Sure, he's trying hard, but doesn't really bring any of his personality onto the dancefloor. So anyone who hadn't seen the previous shows and tuned in on Saturday was probably left wondering what all the fuss was about ... particularly when The X Factor was able to stage the freak show of the year when Jedward murdered 'We Will Rock You'.

It is becoming ever more apparent with each series that the producers really have no idea how to manage the 'reality' elements of SCD - and that, combined with the other scandals that clouded the start of this series, will do it no good in the long run.

We are now into Week 8 and, IMHO at least, we have yet to see any real show-stopping action from any of the celebs on the dancefloor. Perhaps the producers should turn their attention to that, instead ...?

I agree some people on her are taking it way too seriously

Me too on this.

As far as I know, I am not related.

Does Claudia write her own scripts then?

Claudia did push the Blackpool angle with Craig, but she was probably told to.

Also, by the end of the week, she was almost campaigning for all the celebs to make it to Blackpool!

Good post. I agree with it all (apart from the first sentence, in that I think she was good last year too).

But good post, nail on head really.

He is from near Blackpool so why would that not be an angle?

Crikey, when a stubbed toe is headline-news then "coming from Blackpool" deserves a lot of hype. This is Craig - not Nelson Mandela. If we don't talk about him coming from Blackpool what do we talk about?

The ones who've achieved things - Dunwoody and Hingis (for example) and Saggy are OUT.

We've got a load of luvvies. What is there to say?????

Oh. My. Ears. That is Epically BAD.

It was the best.

Craig was in the dance off twice so he can't have been all that popular and all the hype from Claudia, Bruce and Tess certainly had an effect on the voting in getting him to Blackpool.

I voted for him in week 4 thinking he would make good dancer but I'm afraid he just hasn't got what it takes and its sad to see a good dancer like Zoe go.