Firstly, it may be a travesty for you if Ricky didn't win but it certainly wouldn't be for me. I consider a potential winner to have a personality as well as dancing ability, and, while Ricky is a very good dancer and incredibly good looking, for me he lacks personality.
And secondly, as people have already mentioned, the forums aren't a representative of the public who watch and vote. The people on here tend to be more obsessive about Strictly and take it a lot more seriously, whereas the casual viewer who just watches the main show on a saturday may think and vote completely differently. The fact that Ricky has never been in the dance off regardless of his position on the leaderboard shows that he probably is popular with the public.

Yet another poster passing off their opinion as fact . What evidence do you have to suggest he is not popular?

To defend the OP he said HIMSELF he didnt think he was popular on his blog

Oh yes there is did you not know there has to be a new thread relating to this every couple of days or so!!

How on earth does anybody know how popular he is with the public he has never been in a dance off. Just came back from hairdressers today and the girls were all talking about his dance on Saturday - amazing.
I am on Virgin broadband I noticied they had a poll for the favourite dancer today - Ricky top with 32% - Chris 18% and Phill 14%. The comments about Ricky were all very positive as well.

For me I prefer his quite personality as I am fed up with the ones who beg and go on and on etc Ricky is there to dance and that is just what he does.

Well he's hardly going to say he expects to win it is he , all the little haters would have a field day with that.

But how representive is that poll- it is possible that that was just a few who voted

Spot on there!!

All I was doing was stating why the OP may had put that he wasnt popular on the thread........he was very vocal on his blog and in the papers that he wasnt popular, that the british people dont appreciate someone saying they want to win and that he would have more chance of winning if he fell over on the dance floor......thats a bit more than being modest about winning......thats implying that he doesnt think he is popular and therefore wont win........mind you he has the full support of about 5 people in Carol Norths hairdressers so it should all work out ok for him shouldnt it.

If I'm being brutally honest I don't really care whether or not he's popular with the forums as long as he stays out of the DO. Mind you, if he had been in the bottom two last week with that fantastic dance I would have happily watched it again. I do enjoy reading why people dislike someone and this year has been an eye-opener in how quickly someone can go from hero to zero for no apparent reason. When looking at the first few polls Ricky was there or there abouts; then from out of nowhere he became the forum Pirahã. Initially people were posting about wanting to see more of him after the group dance, then waxing lyrical about his Waltz and Rumba to what we have now. I've seen most of his interviews on ITT and he interviews well, and seems to be enjoying the programme. The pros all seem to like him and his fellow competitors all appeared to be genuinely pleased for him on Saturday. Yet many on this forum have spotted something in him that his supporters, the pros and the other celebs haven't and as a result have made "Ricky Bashing" their favourite sport.

In saying all the above it doesn't necessarily mean that the forum is wrong, and the Daily Star article would seem to support the common belief that he will have to do more than just dance to beat Chris or Phil. However, I do wonder how much of it is a band-wagon that people jumped on and now they can't be seen to jump off.

There's a very good thread HERE which seems to suggest the longer the competition goes on the more likely it is that support switches to the better dancers. Whether or not it would be a travesty if Ricky didn't win remains to be seen. At the moment I would agree, he is a fabulous dancer who is head and shoulders above the rest of the competition. However, the beauty of SCD is that no-one can rest on their laurels. This year there are a several dancers who I think who are shaping up quite nicely, and will soon be able to give him a run for his money.

I know you were and i wasn't having a go at you even if it might've seemed that way. I'm annoyed that yet again people are saying he's unpopular without having any statistics to back it up. What Ricky says is irrelevant too on this matter as if he's anything other than modest he will be ripped to shreds.

Do you really care who wins it?
Just enjoy the show, have a glass of wine. listen to the music - maybe even get up and dance

Ricky W is a good dancer in this company but he certainly is not the best ever on SCD. Mark Rampracash was in my opinion,better.
Ricky has two problems. As judge Craig said he is pidgeon toed and bandy legged. This tends to make him look slightly clumsy even when he isn't.
He certainly has got a good chance of winning, but you never know when Len gives 8 for Ricky G samba and the public vote Ricky G, Craig, and Chris better than Ali and Zoe.

He's not the best ever male.

For me that's Austin, but if we're talking of those who actually reached the last 3.....

Mark R was the best stylist...certainly the best Latin male dancer ever.

Darren G was the best entertainer.

For me, Ricky W isn't matching up to either...ATM.

And so he was week one. You could say it was ridiculous he was in it in the first place.

No one is punishing RW because we are voting for who we want to see again not voting against RW.

I don't vote until the final but, if I did, I wouldn;t vote for RW because I can live without seeing him next week and on ITT. Who would I vote for? Jade and Ian or Chris and Ola because both couples I would miss if they weren't on next week. I enjoy seeing if they win or fail. I enjoy hearing about how they deal with a bad dance or I join them in their elation at a better than expected week.

RW is just blerghhhh. Not good enough for me to watch as a pro (he clearly isn't that good) and not particularly interesting as a celebrity - you know he'll come out and be good - where is the entertainment (in terms of being vote worthy) in that?

Sanity!