Could not have put it better! She needs to be in the dance off this week, then she would see she is not the best.The judges are to soft on her with their marking.

Well said and I entirely agree.

She didn't expect to get this far - and has already started filming for her return to EE - so she will need all the support that she can get because her practice time will be limited.

Go Natalie!

But Natalie's never suggested she's the best.

That's just putting words into her mouth. And that's unfair.

Initially, I thought her marks on Saturday night were inflated. But after hearing what Karen had to say in Choreography Corner and looking at the rather generous scores handed to other couples, I've changed my mind.

Natalie has it all - the personality and a display of genuine improvement in her dancing ability.

If she makes the final, good for her, she'll have deserved her place there.

I think so too, Sid.
She now has a schedule on a par with Ricky W but she isn't moaning about it - quite the opposite as shown on ITT.
She is embracing the whole experience of SCD and will accept her time to go when it comes.
I think she deserves to be in the QF and hopefully further.

Well said sid

I want Natalie to go all the way if she can

come on Natalie and Vincent

her samba looks awful I'm afraid

I think all Sambas look awful until the whole package is performed; costumes, music et al.

Yep and it didn't look any worse than the other Sambas we've endured this series.

All the Sambas have been so dismal this season

*whispers* I even found Ricky W's to be found wanting a tad!

...Ooooh, JOHN BARROWMAN!

jade's samba was good

problem is Natalie's clearly going to do the 'guppy fish at feeding time' face all the way through it

Don't worry, I won't tell anyone you said that!


I'll give you that one Dolly

Cheers Sid, Im ashamed of myself.

Jade's Samba wasnt too bad, I wanted to see a bit more control in her arms though. Ian, as always, was a joy!

She thinks she's going to win, imo.

After hearing Karen, I thought Natalie's marks were just as inflated as I'd thought before, since, after all, Natalie wasn't the only relevant person whose dancing was praised.

Natalie was over-marked compared to other dancers, so all the marks being too high is irrelevant.


Personality? Natalie is easily the most personality-free person I have ever heard praised for supposedly having one.

I suspect that the main reason people think Natalie has a great personality is that they're repeatedly told she does. The clips we see don't actually bear it out.

Any improvement she's made has been slow. She hasn't improved enough to justify the rise in her marks.


No one who's gushed about day after day after day on ITT can fully deserve their place, I would say. The favouritism is sickening.

Rather condescending attitude to suggest that other posters don't have a mind of their own and are unable to form their own opinion of someone.
Contrary to the suggestion in your post, we are not all susceptible to brain-washing.

"Slow and steady wins the race" and she may do it.
Too many times the 'rapid' improvers come to a plateau and then the only way is down.

Yep, that could be right , but then she will kiss Brucies hand and hope he is better, she will listen to the Judges tell her what a great personality she has and how they admire her enthusiasm and off she goes to listen to her usual inflated scores. I have no idea what the judges see in Natalie that I am not seeing, she is devoid of any elegance , and her deportment is laughable, if she gets to the final I will eat my hat.

Not sure if I can bear to watch her clumping through another ghastly routine with her little partner clinging in bravely. I might have to go and make a cocktail or polish my laptop monitor.

Cannot bear the chin stuck foward, gob hanging open and terrible deportment any more. And all the fake gushing and gurning. Euwww! Why is she still there? Oh yes, silly me. You're not allowed to be good any more. You have to be a very bad trier to be loved

It looks as though they are going to try to make it a crowd pleaser like Chris's paso last week so could well pull in the votes regardless of what the judges say or do. ITT seems to be behind Natalie too so we could be stuck with her.

I don't think she's fake. OTT, yes.

I also don't know why she seems to inspire such vehement dislike. She has many dancing faults but she has positives also. She is so ebullient that some are bound to find her irritating but why does she tick people off quite so much? A mystery.

But then I'm weird. I don't have Ali-love.

Oh I do love a reasoned, objective, argument, put forward in an intelligent, articulate way - don't you?

Go on Sofakat - I'm sure you can squeeze in another couple of personal insults in there somewhere!

to be honest, I don't think Vincent's the right partner for her in terms of size - he's just too titchy, I think she would have been better off with someone a bit more substantial, maybe Darren

I think Natalie certainly does have a personality and seems like a nice enough girl - let's not forget that she's been in showbiz since she was a kid so it's not surprising she's a bit OTT sometimes

but I still don't enjoy her dancing and I've never been one for the 'tries hard but doesn't look great' dancers

I don't have a problem with her being ebullient. I understand some people naturally are but as long we don't meet before 9 o'clock in the morning and 2 cups of coffee normally all is well

What I'm getting slightly bored with is the fact that her ebullience and bubbliness is being lit up lights and signalled in an extremely heavy handed manner. Yes, I get it. You really don't have to mention it 3 times on the Friday panel just to get the point across.

They (dancers) are not responsible for the editing.
Her vivacity is her USP. She's not super-pretty so she tries to be super-perky. Like the fat kids who are funny.

Hey, it's a free country. If she winds people up then that's OK. There isn't a contestant who is universally popular. Except that Chris seems to have very few detractors.

In my opinion, Natalie doesn't think she's going to win. I doubt she'd have agreed to start back in Eastenders if she thought she'd still be in the later stages of the contest.

Secondly, I don't believe Natalie was over-marked in comparison to the likes of Ali and Ricky W who seem to achieve 9's regardless of how well they dance.

Thirdly, the reason people like me think Natalie has a personality is because we find her vibrant, funny, warm, endearing. I think it's patronising to assume we can't for an opinion of our own.

And she's made far greater strides than someone like Ali who is at about the same standard as she was at the start. I've seen no improvment in her Latin (she still can't let go and deliver any kind of a performace) and her Ballroom has always been competent.

Can you imagine how their showdance will be if they reach the final?