I'm saying that seems to be a realistic possibility. I agree that the judges couldn't say the dance was any good with credibility, but they could have had much the same effect on her leaderboard points by giving her 7s. Instead, her marks went as low as 5, which may have been her lowest mark ever, and Craig was rather Craig-like about her.

So now if someone says Natalie is overmarked, the response can point to her week 10 5 and 6; if someone says her mouth isn't mentioned, the reply can point to Craig's comments; if someone says Natalie isn't criticised like others, the reply can again point to week 10, and so on.

So by being harsh this one week, while helping her to get enough anti-judge, sympathy, and in-danger votes to keep her safe, it becomes a bit harder for viewers to think, or argue, that she's benefiting from double standards -- this countering an impression that was developing in forums.


Yes, it does rather seem that way, though week 10 can now be used in counter-arguments.

You have it almost exactly backwards. I think ITT should relax whatever filters they're using now and have a wider range of opinion on the show.

We've had this problem in Big Brother's equivalent to ITT, BBLB, for many years, and so people have tried to figure out what's going on. (For a couple of years, we even had the benefit of a forum member who was fairly often a BBLB guest.) As best we could work out, it probably wasn't that the guests were told what to say, or were vetted; it was more a matter of the show knowing what sort of opinion they'd get from particular guests and guests knowing the sorts of opinions the show would like to hear.

In any case, I think it's been pretty clear that there was something odd. For example, pretty much every year there are lots of guests who say this BB is the best ever. But surely there must be plenty of people who don't think that. Indeed, given the decline in BB's popularity, it's surprising they can find so many who do.

Now, remember how some people were arguing that this forum is representative of public opinion? (You might have been one of them, but I don't remember.) Well, look at the Least favourite couple after week 19 poll. With the vote total the now at 402, Natalie and Vincent are in the lead at 139, 34.58%

So where are the guests expressing that view? It doesn't have to be 34% of them. I mean, have there been any?


Not like she does about Natalie C. Claudia's usually not so gushing, doesn't do it so often (even in items that didn't naturally call for it), and doesn't act so much like all viewers must think the same.

It takes a lot to make me annoyed with Claudia, because I think she's great, but this is managing to do it.

well Veri I agree with you , I have never warmed to Natalie and find the constant praise of her on ITT very annoying . Also I just dont hink she is very ggod as a dancer , and physically her partnership with Vincent looks off. She is about the same height as him and as he is so slim he makes her look really chunky , which she isnt

Altogher , with the poor dancing , the physical mismatch and the constant gushing I will be very glad to see her gone!

I think Claudia and Natalie were separated at birth, they are both so OTT giddy about SCD. They both gush like excited children and are both way over-rated imho.

I wouldn't read too much into the poll here. On this forum, Ali and Brian have always been in front, followed by Chris and Ola* - Ricky W and Natalie (unusually for such a strong team), have always scored much lower on the 'favourite' and higher on the 'least favourite' polls. But it's Ali, not Ricky W, who's been in the dance off. Natalie and Vincent haven't been in the dance off, either.

*Edit - I see Chris is ahead of Ali this week! The comparison between Ali and Ricky W still stands, though.

Have never watched BB so don't know exactly what the 'chosen one' is!

However, though I am a Natalie fan - I love her enthusiasm, which seems totally genuine to me - I do agree she has been a tad overmarked.

She's probably the least talented of the remaining dancers but I would rather watch her and Vincent than Laila and Anton any day.

I looked at last night's ITT with a slightly more critical eye because of this thread and couldn't help but smile knowingly when Claudia brought up Nathalie when talking to the girls (Lisa, Cherie, Heather), none of whom would have mentioned her if they hadn't been prompted. It does start to look a bit suspect.

Not just prompted , poked with a stick till they got it right !!
They looked bored with the subject before they even started

Then Claudia asked about Laila right after she asked them about Natalie.

I agree Natalie is the chosen one this year is is so obvious.

The only ones they ever really talk about in dancing terms are Ricky and Ali. Possibly because they are the only ones who are talented.

With Natalie it's all about her 'enthusiasm' and her 'bubbly personality'. With Chris it's all about 'yeah baby/team Cola' and his amazing 'friendship with Ola'. With Laila it's how 'beautiful she is' and 'her outfits'.

Maybe the ITT crew genuinely do love Natalie, when you have a favourite sometimes it's a little hard not to gush about them, even if they aren't the best dancer.

Yep.
Although I have to concede there was a momentary stunned silence while they scrabbled desperately for something nice to say about her and Lisa came to the rescue with the fringing.
I think the girls were brought on to talk about the boys and vice versa.

I'm not anti any of the celebs this week btw - we have too few of them left - our show needs them!

I'm amazed at some of the conspiracy theories.

Maybe people are so nice about Natalie on ITT because they.......ummm....actually like her. Or is that too simple an explanation?

possibly they do , but there are some of us who dont! and the constant pushing of how loved she is , is quite frankly very wearying!

Bet her botfriend is loving all the adulation "his bird" is getting

I thought her boy friend Martin had left her.

Totally agree with you there I cannot understand why she is still in the competition I find her dancing really off and she never closes her mouth!! Last week was the first week the judges had really had a go at her and given low marks I nearly fell off my chair!!
Yes she is clearly the chosen one.

Which ones?


It's a fine explanation in at least some individual cases; but it doesn't explain why the show is so heavily loaded in that direction.

It is at least a bit odd, just as it's odd when guest after guest on Big Bother's Little Brother think the current year is the best ever, especially when BB's popularity has been declining for years. Or why does guest after guest say the same HM is great (which also often happens)? There is something odd when the range of opinion on a show is so different than the range seen elsewhere.

Natalie and Vincent are leading the least favourite poll here, and there are quite a few negative comments about her, both here and on the BBC site. Even if such things don't fully reflect public opinion, ITT pays some attention to forums.

So why is there virtually no sign on ITT that anyone is even slightly sceptical re how wonderful Natalie is? Why do guests provide so narrow a range of opinion?

God, heaven forfend that anyone should actually be enthusiastic, eh? Not quite the ticket for English people. I don't think Natalie's that good a dancer, but some of the tosh on here is just silly.

Yes, but what happened there is interesting too.

Claudia: "Let's also talk about Laila and Anton. How much are we loving them. I mean still, every time I talk about them I mention their Paso Doble because it was so beautiful. Are you girls loving their partnership?" Inviting the girls to say "yes", which they then largely did.

Because of various things have have happened, including the issue of whether a pro (Anton) whose Latin is weak was the best partner for her, there has been a question mark over their partnership.

With Natalie (who hadn't been mentioned by any of the three women before that), Claudia said: "Lets talk about some of the other couples. Let's talk about Natalie." So Claudia brings up the name, but she doesn't stop there to let them say whatever comes into their heads. No, she continues, "We had 3 ex-strictly boys on last week (sic) who literally every time you said 'Natalie' they would just break out into applause, because they loved her vibrancy. Do you girls love this?" -- Directing them already to Natalie's vibrancy. Lisa and Heather then gushed.

Thus, Wednesday. Thursday Natalie had easily the best edit. And again tonight.

(I mean the amount of screen time - especially for someone who wasn't having a Claudia interview - and its content.)

A huge number of them posted by you

When does anybody make negative comments about anybody on It Takes Two? It happens about once a series and everyone acts like the person in question just shot Lassie.

Wrong.

There are plenty of negative threads about Natalie that weren't started by me, for example. (I haven't started any thread that's primarily about Natalie. I started on that was about over-acting from several celebs, with Lynda getting the most criticism; and I started this one which is primarily about ITT.)

Or look at the least favourite poll. 153 votes for Natalie and Vincent, with only 1 from me.

I don't post at all on the BBC site.

Not quite the ticket could well be a factor!

There are quite often negative comments, and no one would have to be very negative just to indicate they didn't think she was wonderfully fantastic.

With Natalie, it seems there's either gushing from a guest, or Claudia, or both; or else she gets an especially nice edit (like getting that clip at the end of today's show.)

(Wouldn't the Friday show normally end with someone dancing in the practice session James visited, rather than a pre-recorded clip?)