Is it just coincidence that the two Rock n Rolls were in the dance off or do the public just love the Charleston?

I didn't like either dance...or the group VW idea for that matter.

I would have put money on the RnR being the best tonight - but the dancers let it down!

I didn't like either dance but the Charlestons were more entertaining.

No. The Charleston lent itself to panto or something that was acted as in the twenties. Ali finally found her wow factor and Chris has always been panto. Laila could do graceful with Anton doing panto. For Chris and Ali Bugsy Malone is well known and lots of people would recognise Roxie's funniest scene from Chicago.

Nat is too big and Vincent too small to do exciting lifts and Ricky was stuck with an under-rehearsed routine that wasn't that ambitious in the first place. He didn't have a theme or story to act and Nat had one but couldn't do any really attention grabbing moves.

Only by watching the Charlestons tonight did I realise Tom and Camilla's show dance from last year was basically based on the Charleston lol.

I felt that Chris and Laila's Charlestons had the charm that the Rock and Roll's lacked, and the judges scores kept an overmarked Ali (IMO) out of the bottom 2.

I thought the charlestons were just danced better than the RnRs. Even the poorest charleston (imo, Chris') was better than the better RnR (imo, Ricky's).

I don't think it was down to the popularity of the style of dance, more that the three charlestons were much better than the two rock and rolls. I thought the marking of the group dance was a nonsense and Ali's charleston was somewhat overmarked as there wasn't a lot of dancing there, but still Ricky W and Natalie were the worst.

I though Ricky W was seriously overmarked first time around as the limited amount he had to do he did pretty lazily, whereas Natalie did a lot more with more enthusiasm but less finesse and I ranked them pretty evenly. Indeed I preferred Natalie's dance. As it happens Ricky W actually upped his game in the dance off and what little he had to do he did more energetically and well so the result was right.

So the correct two in the dance off for me and the right decision at the end.

The coreography wa just so good in the charlestons, so inventive and packed full of novelty and fun. The rock 'n' roll coreograohy was disappointing by contrast, very average.

I agree it was the correct result to have the two R 'n' Rs in the dance off. Neither was danced well, with both being too slow and heavy footed, both Ricky and Natalie danced flat footed and poor Vincent looked set to have a hernia such was the effort just to pull Natalie through his legs.

Neither routine had the fun element to match the charlestons.

I didn't enjoy either dances but agree that of the 2 RnR was worst. I also think tthat had Laila and Anton been given RnR this week they would have left not Natalie and Vincent. It was down to luck.

I totally agree with this. Before the programme, I felt that those given the Rock and Roll had drawn the short straw. The Charleston is much more of a crowd pleaser and I think the comparison with Tom Chamber's showdance is clear. Personally, I disliked that dance but I can see why it would have attracted the votes and the same is true of tonight's Charlestons.

totally agree with this - rock 'n' roll was jive with knobs on - charleston was character-opportunity-packed

I hope we are not going to hear from Natalie C or from the other Natalie that being given R&R gave them an unfair advantage. Natalie has already gone for the "we couldn't do lifts because we are the same height" so she may already think she has grounds for a grievance, when really she had reached her peak and danced not so well, irrespective of "trick availability". Ricky and Natalie can complain that they missed one day's training, but does not explain why the other 4 days were not used better though.

I am afraid that IMO both types of dance could have been winners, but neither R&R dance was any good due to the celebs/pros, not the dance choice.

All three Charlestons were clearly better performed in the main show, but in the dance off I though Ricky redeemed himself and gave as good a performance as any on the night.

I am not a Natalie (or a Laila) fan but I do think that if Natalie had been given a Charleston and Laila the RnR that Laila would have gone. That being said it is just the luck of the draw how the dances are allocated so it doesn't bother me but it is an interesting point.

I think the fact that the Charlestons were fun was a definite advantage for getting viewer votes. Having said that both R&Rs were danced poorly first time round, so they deserved to be in the bottom 2.

Indeed. I also think the choreography for the RnRs was very poor.

I love the Charleston but I love jive too.

Ricky was very below par and Natalie wasn't good. Neither of their pro partners seemed that comfortable either.

Felt Anton coped well with a new challenge. Ola was wonderful. Brian and Ali did brilliantly and I like her much more now.

Is it an innate crowd-pleasing characteristic of the Charleston? Dunno.

I don't disagree that the Charleston lent itself to fun and therefore could be more suited to some couples, but I still feel that arguments that one dance was more of a winner from the start could be used inaccurately by either couple in the dance off. I felt that Natalie C had reached the end, her last 2 dances ( ballroom and a latin) had not been good and I am not convinced a Charleston from her would have been great either. As for Ricky and Natalie, well they performed badly and seemed to think any old rubbish would get them through. Both couples deserved to be there.

Remembering how bad Laila's jive was, I do think you are right that Laila might have struggled to impress with R&R in the way that she impressed tonight, so there was an element of luck there.

I agree.

I honestly thought I would be wowed big time by the RnR dances - especially Ricky and Natalie's - as they should have been really exciting and full of energy. I knew there would be lots of hamming it up in the Charleston and was looking forward to them - they exceeded my expectations by miles.

I was also surprised at how hard both Vincent and Natalie as pros found the RnR dancing. You'd think they'd have come across it at some point in their careers, even on a non-competitive way .

That was all I was saying. Laila would have struggled, just as Natalie did, with the RnR. I'm not saying the Charleston is more of a winning dance as I loathe it.

Whilst I can understand why people dislike the Charleston (all that mugging and flailing around is not for everyone..... I LOVE it!!) its surely easy to see why its a crowd pleasinf dance. I think a really good R&R wouldve given them a run for their money but we didnt get that tonight...

As others have said the R&R is so close to a jive... why not a Jitterbug instead?? Thats very lively!

The Charlestons sounded great tonight , because they used the authentic music which is always better then a lot of the modern drivel that is completely out of place, and in a lot of cases is more of a hindrance to the dance.

I think the RnR is less forgiving to a dancer than the Charleston. If something isn't right, whether training time, injury, or imo relative sizes of the partners, there's nowhere to hide in an R&R. In the Charleston you can do panto like Chris or, like the injured Ali, classic moves such as the cross-legs, that don't require so much bouncing about.

That N&V would have issues with the lifts and drops was obvious before the start. I also think Natalie Lowe's acrobatics slowed the flow of their dance, because she always came down so carefully from those great heights to save her knees and ankles.

In this choice of dances, Charleston is the "Ballroom" and rock n roll the "Latin".