Hadn't seen anything Strictly for the last few days so wasn't expecting Brian to pop up and announce Ali's injury.
I guess with Jade having to pull out the series has lost a bit of its spark. I felt she could probably have won. If Ali goes that's 2 potential winners gone in 2 weeks.

Will be very disappointed if she goes, think it's time to cut my losses for this year and tune in next year.

I'll watch the rest of it, but admit that it lost it's appeal once Jade pulled out.
Even before then, I thought that Ricky would win, but i was looking forward to a ricky, Jade Ali final.

It came as a surprise to me when I checked on the forum this morning. Sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong but the injury level does seem to be particularly high this year.
Hope Ali is ok to dance on Saturday, def agree she is a potential winner.

I will be very disappointed is Ali has to withdraw, with Jade going, there will only be 2 couples in the final, if Ali goes, what will they do about the final?

Why did Brian talk about Ali having to withdraw?

Even if she can't dance on Saturday, the rules would allow her to sit out a week then return the following Saturday (as Jade wanted to). From what Brian said, her injury does not seem to be as serious as Jade's ... so why suggest it might be?

I would guess that Ali will be out for a week, then back for the quarter-finals.

Well I love Ali&Brian's partnership as I also loved Jade&Ian's. If they have to withdraw I agree it is almost certain that Whittle has won. As much as I love Chris&OlaChops and would be ecstatic if they won, I just don't see it happening. This series really is just turning into a shambles. There are so many fangirls out there voting for Ricky cos he's "sexy" that the other couples won't stand a chance. Personally I wouldn't mind too much if he won (even though I can't bare Miss Lowe) but I'd prefer it to be less predictable!

Ali should NOT get a week off at this stage, it's just not fair on the others. Ricky, Chris and Natalie work really hard and this is the second time Ali has been injured. The first time the judges were very lenient on her Paso Doble and I feel the best thing to do would be to give everyone a pass into next week, which would also make up for the Jade dropout.

Agree with uptowngirl about Ricky W, he is good but I think that Natalie doesn't do them any favours by coming across as a tad agressive and ultra competitive.

I think the producers need to consider whether they have made the show too long and too competitive.

Sandra Fortuna posted the following on the BBC boards:

Hello FF's, and thank you for the support for Brian and Ali. I am very concerned about how hard non-dancers are pushed to do things that put their joints, feet, legs in jeopardy. For athletes, like Jade, like the football players on DWTS, the volley ball player that was on DWTS, the ironchef Karate expert on DWTS, etc, being on their feet jumping around, using rise and fall, doing splits, stressing their bodies may not be such a big deal. But hundreds of repetitions, long, long hours, pressure to succeed start to give a negative result after a while. When you take celebrities who are maybe overweight, older, who probably live less athletic lives than professional dancers, you have to expect something to give.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to see Claudia's show today. I don't know if I should watch it or ignore it. I do know that an announcement was made about Ali's recent injury. Last spring (I think), our local ABC reporter came to my studio to interview me about all the injuries on DWTS. The reason these happen is obvious. People start dancing and they are not in shape. They don't get enough down time. The stakes and the obligations keep rising as the show progresses. The participants push themselves to the brink. The urge to do well and make the right impressions on the teachers, the studio judges, the viewing and voting audience is tremendous.

These are the same motivators that push a couple like Ricky and Natalie to do a big lift in an effort to make an impression. These are the same motivators that push some of the couples to do 3 times the hours of training that some of the others do.

Incidentally, She supported Natalie's inclusion of the lift on the grounds that none of them knows how the public voting is going and Ricky might not get to the final.

Haven't been online for a few dayys so i was shocked to read about ali's injury.

I really really hope they dont have to pull out of the show . however if they do then they might as well hand the trophy to Ricky now and we can spend our next few saturdays out partying .

My dream final (because i like all of them) would have been Jade & Ian, Ali & Brian & Chris & Ola. Have lost one of my fav's and if ali is now gone then really cant see chris & ola getting enough votes to win.

Ideal solution is to give everyone a pass through to next week (hoping the week's rest will give ali the chance to dance again) and hopefully will give us a 3 couple final.

i came to the forum to start this exact thread !

i'm so fed up with the series this year i may just cut my losses , i've already decided saturday may have to be boycotted, even though i usually love the first two dance week

my reasons
leila has hardly trained due to her magazine shoot
ali hasnt trained due to another injury
i dont like the idea of the charleston or rock dance , when i saw the video for them on saturday i thought well i hope they get better dancers to teach it , then it turned out they were the experts!
theres no competition left
bruce is annoying me

im just plain bored bored bored darling

To be fair though what she's talking about there is injuries from over training whereas Ali's was clearly an accident. She slipped and landed badly on her foot.

I had already decided to opt out the rest of this series when Jade and Ian went out.

This is the worst series ever with respect to the quality of dancing.

Also, another problem is the attitude of people. what is wrong with having a bunch of average dancers competing for the glitterball? It's an entertainment show! The celebrities do take the whole thing too seriously and so do the audience.

It's annoying that people are saying this series is ruined when there are four celebrities who have fought their way this far and now people are just going to tune out.

I just think the improvement is what matters than the ballet lessons you've had when you were younger. Maybe lets just get loads of pro dancers on to satisfy everyone's need for a really high standard of dancing? Or just watch a pro competition.

Actually this is a little OT for the topic of the thread And I really do hope Ali returns or everyone gets a week pass.

I think this year the celebs have really been trying to hard. THat explains the long injury list this year. Its like an episode of Casualty.

I think we have had double the amount this year than the past 6 years put together. I wonder if its the pros pushing them too hard.

If Ali & Brian do withdraw then yes it'll probably be it for me too. I might drop in and out and catch the results but that'll be it.

As much as I love Chris & Ola, they're not good enough to win and if they did, well...

Natalie I can take or leave but can't stand Vincent.

Lailia and Anton are just becoming robotic now (same old week in week out, not a dig at their specific dancing style!).

Ricky ought to win really but I just can't abide his ultra competititve partner.

But Ali & Brian are amongst those with the highest number of training hours. I think they and some of the others have been pushing themselves too hard.

As I understand it, not if the doc has advised that she will be OK to dance (which he has).

...which he has, according to the Daily Heil's unnamed source, that is.

Its pretty clear that eerything would be easier without the weekly tempo (and they havn't got to the 2 or more dance stage yet) and the choregraphy/music choices could be tweaked with more time. The problem though is the weekly cycle of TV shows. Can't see how you get around that.

Dancing on Ice this year seems to have had its celebs out there skating for months already and even if it wasn't with heir pro before, it looks as if the teams are already mated up and practicing - 2 months bfore the show starts. that may be their counter to people starting at too low a level last year and some not having time to improve enough. The problem with that though is that it removes or challenges the journey stories.

The problem is watching two people who can't dance that well , one who can't dance Latin and one who can dance far better than anyone of them isn't entertaining. Winning is meaningless as its either a Ricky walkover with the nearest 3 competitors not there or its an absurd win over someone much better for nothing at all but turning up and trying as hard as anyone else did anyway.

Chris objectively hasn't any journey story or much improvement. Nathalie has no consistency and her improvement is patchy. Neither has any real backstory of a life changing experience.

Its potentially about as entertaining as watching the Olympic 100M final with only one athlete turning up and a couple of people from the local school egg and spoon race drafted in to make the line up look a bit fuller.

The basic problem is that you need to find half a dozen of the celebs who are talented movers, in tune with their body so likely to be successful dance students, and who also have a winning personality which happens to come across very well on the small screen.

I think there are plenty of such people in the sports and entertainment world. Trouble is, they're already so successful that they won't give a moment's thought to taking the BBC's shilling, as they can earn five times as much in the same number of months.

Maybe a series of "back by special invitation" would be good, where some of our non-finalist favourites do dances they never got the chance to do before, plus some new ones such as are coming up this Saturday.

LOL good analogy

If Ali is forced to withdraw that will definitely be it for me this year. I see no reason to continue watching when we'll have someone who was really good to start with yet hasn't progressed any further, a whiner who doesn't really try, a competant dancer who is still struggling to get back up to the level he performed at in the first week and a mediocre dancer who has 'personality'.

It was bad enough losing Jade but losing another good dancer will kill the show imo. It needs someone there to challenge the best dancer or it'll either be a snooze fest or an embarrassment when one of the crap ones win (which it could still be even if Ali stays)

Dancing on Ice always does that, because the celebs need to learn to skate before they can start working with their pro partners and learn routines, whereas with SCD there's no issue of the celebs needing to learn to walk (or even just stand upright) before they can start learning to dance.

The injuries, withdrawal and another potential withdrawal have definitely put the dampeners on the show.

I'll probably still watch but I'm loosing interest in who wins, as I was rooting for Jade & Ian then after they left I was hoping it would be Ali & Brian.

Probably best if I don't transfer my allegiance to another couple who knows what might happen to them!