In all fairness Ali and her partner have got away lightly on this forum this year. This forum would have gone into meltdown if:
[list] Ricky and Natalie had bumped Brian and Ali off the dance-floor on Saturday and received a 10. There was enough criticism that he received a 9 and the poor bloke (who let's not forget is the amateur) was leading his dance![/list][list]Ricky had turned up with a heavily bandaged foot after being seen in the papers the day before on crutches and then received a 10 for an excellent routine. My goodness the majority of "the it's cool to slate Ricky Whittle and Natalie Lowe gang" on here would have gone apocalyptic and screamed that he was faking it, and was looking for the sympathy vote and couldn't possibly have been injured[/list][list]if he had said "well at least I won't have to do that again" and then ended up in the DO where he danced worse than the other couple because he was so obviously injured, but was still saved by the judges. The threads and posts about his arrogance would have run into two pages before the clock struck 12[/list]
We've had posts this week about Natalie "winking" at the judges after she was saved in the DO ( personally I thought she was winking at Tess), but Brian fawning over Alesha was hardly commented on. Natalie was joking with Brian about his "floorcraft" and yet she's the villainess. I could go on but, those are the incidents that immediately spring to mind. The "mob" have (for whatever reason) put Ricky and Natalie's actions under a microscope and it's got to the point where the pair can't even breathe without someone posting a disparaging comment. So I commend the poster who dared to criticise St. Ali of Bastian on a regular basis for not being one of the crowd and being a LOT braver than I am!

Who said that, then?

Ali, when she was placing her foot in an ice bucket after doing her Paso.

totally agree. Whittle has zero personality.

Sorry Laura but Ali did not say that. ( I have commented before when you've posted the same thing but you must have missed it) The person who said that was Zoe just before the dance off.

What Ali said was 'no more drama for me, thats it' which is not quite the same thing. She could have just been referring to being injured for the second time in the competition and not talking about dancing again at all.

And trust me Ali has had her fair share of the criticisms on here. Its funny how people notice it more when its about their personal favourite and it seems to go over their head when its someone they're not as bothered about. I love Ali and i really like Ricky and i've seen a lot of unnecessary criticism about both of them but tbh neither of them have had the pelting that Natalie Cassidy got on here.

We've all seen hardly anything of Natalie - only 2 (I think) chats on the sofa with Claudia, no funny little montages of comedy clips of Ricky & Nat on ITT - & the odd glimpse of training footage when the BBC can afford/or be bothered to put a camera in their studio in L'pool. Her personality has had no oxygen of coverage - just the odd remark which has wound people up as we haven't had chance to get to know her.

Not a whinge about your post - just an observation.

Apologies; I honestly thought it was Ali. However I stand by what I said in the rest of the post, she has got away lightly compared to Ricky.

I think the venom against Ricky has been since around week 2. Natalie has only been more recent, however, I do think towards the end the posts against her were far more personal and very, very cruel.

In answer to the OP, just look at todays DS threads on SCD... Judges "scared at Ricky in the dance-off" and a ridiculous planted story about Ricky curtailing training because he's vomiting (bless).

Even though every week he makes mistakes he is clearly the most athletic male celeb dancer the show has ever had. However this BBC obsession with having him in the final is not fooling anyone. Athleticism does not equate to being a great dancer.

A friend at work told me about an article she read recently by an american talking about the voting behaviour of the british public on these sort of shows (admittedly about X Factor and American Idol but the point applies).
She said that in America generally people vote for who they think is "best" at whatever the show is about, whereas in Britain we vote for those we "like" best.

She argued it was because of the American tendency to idolise excellence and the will to win whereas in Britain we love an underdog and if someone seems too good or confident or ambitious we react as if they are getting above themselves and we love to knock them down. Tall poppy syndrome.

I think it's why so many of the celebs refuse to admit they want to win. If you read the "I'm a celeb threads", wanting to win is usually regarded as a major sin!

Makes sense to me, Ricky has always been good (even if not always brilliant) and Natalie is clearly ambitious, both things likely to lose them fans from the start.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again

Ricky and Natalie missed a trick, really. They should have explored the web cam angle that Carole Smilie used when she was training all week in Glasgow and not featured as heavilly on ITT.

Worked absolute wonders for her and Matt, who had left week one the series before and so was still more or less an unknown.

No worries. Like you i get a bit agitated when i see something posted that i know isn't right Yes i'd agree with you that Ricky came in for a lot venom from the start which Ali didn't really get. I didn't and still don't understand it

I do understand where some of the criticism comes from re Natalie but i can't stand it when people become personal and cruel. Theres a lot of that going around about all of them now - these boards have become even more nasty as the competition gets narrower

Oh, dunno about that. Think I'd have to beg to differ

There was a thread before the series started for people to say who they thought the most annoying celeb would be and I seem to remember Natalie C featured quite a few times ... I think it turned out to be a toss up between her and Jo Wood.

What a really nasty thing to say.

As with all these things thats a generalisation and I dont think its generally true. Donny Osmond won DWTS and he was by no means the best but people voted for him because they liked him.

I do think that Ricky and Natalie have been at a dissadvantage not being on ITT and I dont know if thats because of the BBC or something in Ricky's contract with Hollyoaks or what it is, however on the other hand a lot of people probably dont bother with ITT and only watch the main show so that would make no difference. If Natalie wants to stay and be embraced by the british public she has to learn to reign it in.......saying that any celeb she has will have to dance to her standard.....does not bode well for the future.

It was atrocious!
Crones at the foot of the guillotine, salivating over the next head in the basket.
What is it about fms that they can be so cruel in their criticisms - is it the anonymity of forums?
I fervently hope they are not like that in their everyday lives.


I think that if Ricky and Natalie wanted some more exposure as to their 'journey', Natalie especially would have made sure they got it somehow.

Their 'thing' this year seems to be keeping it all under wraps until the actual show - the art of titillation, just a drop at a time to whet the appetite then hit us with it!

Their 'thing' this year seems to be keeping it all under wraps until the actual show - the art of titillation, just a drop at a time to whet the appetite then hit us with it

well if thats true then its backfiring on them.....one of the things I dont like about them is that they make me feel like I am intruding on something private, and it makes me feel slightly uncomfortable watching them. This isnt helped by saying they are 'true to themselves' and 'doing it their way' and such like, they are meant to be dancing for us not themselves.

I think what we have to remember is that it's a relatively small percentage of viewers that watch ITT, and an even smaller one that uses the forums.
For the biggest majority of viewers on a Saturday night, all they see are the actual performances plus any training vids before the dances.
In that respect, Ricky and Natalie are no different to the rest of the couples.

I am not much of a fan of Ricki or Ali, the reason being, they both started good and have really only improved a little, on a number of occassions they have both made major boo boos and it has hardly been mentioned, they have both had incidents where their "moves" have been a mess and their points have not reflected that. The others have been on a "journey", have to say this series has been dull, i really dont care who wins !!!!

Just caught up: What an excellent post thank you.
You have said it all and I agree with every word.
Ricky is the best dancer and I love him with Natalie they make a great team. Yes nobody has put me off I shall carry on voting for them.
As for Natalie Lowe from the beginning people were posting nasty things about her I think people see what they want to see.
On Saturday at the dance off all I saw was relief from her when they were through she certainly was hugging Vincent and Nalalie. When they were in Tess's room earlier she hugged Ola and had a laugh with Chris. The week Phill Tuffnell went out the two Nalalie's had their arms around each other at the final bit where they all come onto the floor.
I think she seems to get along with everyone OK I also think she is a bit reserved which can look to be taken the wrong way.

Great post - well said Laura - absolutly spot on with your comments.

Apart from attributing the quote in the third bullet point to the wrong celeb, obviously?

I'm not a Whittle / Lowe fan. So that makes me a racist, sexist, jellus hatah? Come on sofakat, I thought you were a bit more sensible than that....