Ricky G Tango
Ricky W American Smooth

I know what you mean - I lost my appetite for it all last night....and besides, it's thrown all my cute wee charts out of sync

Surely with Ricky W doing the AS - Laila has to be doing the Waltz

Chris may have the VW - that will suit him

Natalie must have the samba

Isn't it going to look lopsided - 5 ballroom and one latin

I hope that Erin doesn't do anything quirky with the Tango to show Ricky's personality.

Well in that case, doing their other discipline from week 9 it should be......

Ali & Brian - Foxtrot (else Samba)
Chris & Ola - V Waltz (else Samba)
Laila & Anton - Waltz (2 consecutive Latins)
Natalie & Vincent - Rhumba/Samba (really has to be Samba)
Ricky & Erin - Tango (confirmed but was the other possible Samba)
Ricky & Natalie - A Smooth (confirmed)

Jade & Ian - Barring a miracle, I don't see them competing

If they bring back an eliminated couple as per the rules:

Zoe & James (highest marked) could do Salsa/Cha Cha
Phil & Katya (most recent) could do Paso/Jive

They're going to have to have a Samba only show at this rate or at least 2 per show for the next 2 weeks.

How quickly would they have to make a decision regarding bringing a couple back? I mean it would have to be soon or it wouldn't be fair right? Have they done it before?

Not that I'm aware of, but the rules have a few changes this year

So pleased Ricky W has the AS

where does it say they're going to bring a couple back, can't see that happening. That leaves us with a two person final if Jade drops out

It doesn't say they will bring anyone back they could have a non elimination week

I'm not sure if they will bring another couple back. They did not bring anyone back when Kelly Brook left the show early?

I seem to recall that they've made provision this year to bring back the last eliminated contestant if someone drops out. There was a big flurry of people interpreting the "new rules" at the start of the series, but it got a bit lost in people debating the new ties situation, whether Darcey would replace Craig, and whether they were actually going to announce the public vote order from quarters onwards.

There are contingencies about injured couples on the voting change explanations on the Beeb SCD website.

Oh right, thanks for that. They're definitely going to try to avoid a two person final then, sounds good to me, it's much better with a 3 way final

Thank you, i'll check it out

From the BBC SCD site:

In the event of any contestant leaving the competition at any point prior to the quarter finals, the BBC will decide on whether to reinstate previous contestants i.e. the person with the highest score eliminated from the previous episode or equivalent, or to take other actions in accordance with the BBC's contingency plans as it deems necessary and appropriate to the circumstances.

So hopefully there won't be a two person final.

On an unrelated note, it's my birthday next saturday so please keep chris and ola in

And on a related note, hopefully we won't end up with a week of just sambas and that they spread them out a bit!

Ideal scenario?

Ali and Nat both samba, both dance off, double elimination.

And Jade back as best female.

Ahh... wishful thinking.

Why do this now? After carrying on when Tarby had to pull out, when Kelly had to pull out...WHY? WHY? WHY?

Because people whinged and whinged and whinged about the two people finals (I didn't see a problem with them myself) and the show-bosses are reacting to the public whining, as they're doing a lot this year.

I'm sure I read somewhere that Chris and Ola were doing a Samba this week and he didn't think it would be a problem as they did okay with the Salsa? Of course, I could have dreamt it!

I cant see this being right as he only had the samba to do in the latin and would then be left with two ballroom and no more latin however as we have no idea what the future with regards to two dance week etc etc etc. who knows.

I'd rather he had the samba this week, get it out of the way as he's likely to score higher in the Waltz and VW in the coming weeks when it's much easier to fall into the bottom two - especially if we're heading for a two person's final. Remember what happened to Austin last year, a slightly weaker Latin made it impossible for him to get out of the bottom two, dance off against Lisa, the judges favourite, and he was gone - an no, no sign of me letting it go yet

I've just a horrible scenario in my head of Chris v Natalie in the dance off....