I will and the answer is no - I can understand why people wanted him to get this far - he's improved (even if he is still the worst dancer not already eliminated) and Bruno didn't acknowledge that, he wanted to go to Blackpool and he's basically a nice guy - however I don't think he'll last beyond next week and it'll be even more depressing if he does. I didn't vote for him in foxtrot/salsa week even though I felt for the guy you can't just keep giving people chances - I voted for Ricky G (whom is entertaining) and Jade (whom I felt was badly undermarked and I now want to win) instead.

But I think they do by and large vote for what they find most enjoyable performance - those VTs do inform the performances. Tuffers enjoyment of it comes through in the VTs and in the dances he does - he looks like he is having fun and that draws me in to the performance where he still looks like he is having fun so i enjoy his performances regardless of technical skill. Ricky W is obviously a good dancer but to just watch him go out and dance week on week would be boring because he doesn't have a strong character coming through in the VTs and it doesn't show in his dancing, He was too good at the start to show much in the way of improvement so why would I choose to watch him rather than going to see a proper professional dance couple who can do so much better. None of his performances have wowed me and I don't expect them to but he may still surprise me who knows?

Your post asks what about who the public thinks is the best dancer and then wants them to vote on whose performance they enjoyed most and the two things are not necessarily or even usually it seems, the same thing at all.

If I'm going to watch an entertainment show with celebs rather than proper dancers then obviously my main concern is not for the quality of the dance per se but the entertainment and if what I find entertaining and want to vote on doesnt' fit with what 'you' (generic you) think I should find entertaining and/or be voting on, then thats tough.

I haven't and would never vote for Craig, even though I do like him (I didn't and would never have voted for JS and I didn't like him).

Re Monkseal's post, as a regular ITT watcher I'd say the show has an enormous influence on my vote, as I think I get to know the couples far more from that show than from the main show. The media coverage and this board do have some influence on how I vote, but it is on completely different level to seeing the couples on ITT.

The bottom line for me is the celeb has to have dancing ability and likeability, before I'll pick up the phone.

Interesting thread Jan.

I've voted every week for Crag and Flavia, and will carry on doing so for as long as they are in the competition.

I'm not voting for him because he's the underdog... or to annyoy the judges ....or to make sure he gets to Blackpool...or for any other of the reasons that people generally vote for the cr@p dancers.
I'm simply voting for them because Flavia is my favourite pro, and I would prefer to watch her on the show, over anyone else whether she was paired with the best dancer...or in this case the worst.

I must admit, when I first saw the title of this thread, I thought I was going to be asked how far I would go to see my favourite win!

As in, would I be prepared to sleep with the judges or something (my answer would, of course, have been yes).

As the public aren't technically trained, surely they've voting 80-90% on the performance aspects of the dance and how it made them feel, in which case how entertaining the dance to them IS the measure of who is the best dancer?

I should probably be clearer - I'm not talking about, say, people voting for Sarge because they thought his waltz was really charming and his paso was amusing, or people voting for Ricky because his cha cha was funny, or people who voted for Joe Calzaghe because they thought his jive was fun and showed improvement, or Kate Garroway because her faling down all the time was hysterical. I don't fall into either of those groups but it's "fine" for people to vote like that.

What I am niggled about is the tendency for the dancing to slide out of focus as the point of the show. Increasingly over this series and last, you talk to people who are supposed to be fans of a couple (all couples, not just the "entertainment ones") and they talk at length about the couples chemistry, their adorable VTs, how well they get on, how they seem like they're really enjoying it, how they think they're really talented, or the judges don't appreciate them. Then you ask them which specific dances they liked and they can come up with at best two or three out of a whole series worth.

I'm not really one to dictate to anybody how they should vote, although I will have a bit of a hypocritical moody kvetch when someone I like is eliminated or hits the bottom 2, but it just seems more and more the show isn't really about the dancing at all, which I think hurts it, because that's what it's supposed to be about.

Ditto pretty much all of Dilly's post. Although I do have to say that the judges really annoyed me last weekend with their general vitriol and throwing toys out of the pram attitude and if I wasnt already voting for Craig and Flavia - I would have started.

I do however believe they are on borrowed time and will probably get booted off this weekend.

But that could be because there are only 2 or 3 per series ie dances that stand on their own merit and are enjoyable as dance rather than out of interest to see how the competitors on SCD are doing or for their comedic value. There was only 1 wow dance last week so most people aren't fussed who goes as long as there are a few talented dancers left in, a few entertaining ones and something to talk about.