I bet he's a great lover too.

It's always the quiet ones you gotta watch

Pity about you then, Sidney!

I never really watched series four properly - I was abroad so had to catch it all on youtube, and it wasn't the same. I therefore have little to no opinion of any of the celebs who took part in it, including Ramps.

You're asking for a spanking!

I'll have you know I've had no complaints so far

They're all too scared of you and your threats of spankings!

Lol I agree with that! I was a Matt and Lilia fan which could be scary stuff, I ended up just sticking in their appreciation thread most of the time

You do realise that by typing 'spanking' and 'Mark Ramprakash' in the one thread, DS's hit rate will rocket!

I always felt that generally the Mark and Matt fans rubbed along rather well.

Hoorah!

Although I don't know if this year's males are any worse than usual on average, it's unfortunate that there's such a gulf between RickyW and his nearest male challenger...especially as even he suffers from bandy leggedness which doesn't make for a very attractive spectacle at times.

You would have to get rid of the viewers vote for that - except in the sense the viewers could vote for anyone however hopeless on any grounds imaginable in the final. The producers seem to find it difficult to find 4-5 people who could win on ability and they don't seem to have the luck to keep them when they do - injuries or the public vote sems to cull them anyway. They seem to be having more difficulty casting this series particularly finding good males. Probably only Jill, Darren and Alesha were in series where the best or next best opposition got to the end and stood any chance of getting the vote or wouldn't have been an absurd winner.

Actually Ali v Ricky would be one of the few real contests as both are similar in ability and on what little we know either could win. Ricky seems not to have the usual automatic female vote going for him and Ali isn't as far ahead of her male competition as Alesha or Natasha were. Chris v Ricky would be embarrassingy onesided and look silly when Chris won.

Why would it look silly?

If he proved to be the most popular celeb, then he deserves to win like everyone else.

He'll be remebered for bringing fun and laughter to the dancefloor

Let Anton tell jokes or just put Brucie on then if its about getting laughs for something thats not very funny - that would save the fees for the celebrites and pros. Perhaps Vincent can sing, Nathalie can throw a boomerang or Erin can sing " I Dreamed a Dream" Ola on her own would be more entertaining so we could have that too.

Someone winning who has 4 or 5 better dancers watching him, a winner with little ability and no story and two really good dancers with no votes would be indefensible. They can't continue to put out Strictly Pulling New Faces or Dancing Strictly Optional or run a show where no female can get any votes.

Oh yes please

What made me input this thread was seeing a repeat of Mark Ramps doing the Argentine Tango and comparing him with the current group.
His performance in the AT was absolutely brilliant, and in my humble opinion, was up to professional standard.
To have Chris and Laila in the last 4 indicates the lack of talent this year, although Chris does bring some fun to the comp.

In fairness though, many people who are voting for Chris do seem to be voting for the entertainment he brings while dancing and the same could be said for Natalie. Your "alternatives" don't really work, even as a joke, because I doubt very much whether Anton telling jokes sure as hell wouldn't entertain people anything like as much as Chris and Ola dancing (or get them to vote). The same could be said of Natalie throwing her boomerang.

People are enjoying watching these celebrities dance. That is a fair proportion of what they're voting for. I know some people will disagree and claim they could sit on the floor and get votes, and maybe, at this stage, they're right to an extent. However, I'd still maintain that those people who'd vote for Chris and Ola even if they loused up every step on Saturday are doing so because they're hopeful that if they put them through one bad week, they'd come out and entertain again the following week.

As for my own preference - I don't have one. I see some charm in Chris and Ola but they're not good enough to get my vote. I'm yet to be convinced by Laila; she hasn't tapped into a fraction of the potential I thought she had early on. Ali and Ricky are very good but hardly any of their dances have grabbed me so far. The only couple I've voted for is Jade and Ian, although I'd love another couple to force me to the phone before the series ends .

Or to turn things on their head, maybe they should scrap Strictly and subject us to a pure dance competition like Come Dancing? Hang on, they tried that and ratings fell.

Chris is by no means a poor dancer. He has produced some decent routines and has managed to entertain and endear himself to people like myself as well.

I know some viewers would like Strictly to be all about the dancing. But the format upon which it is based means that this will never be the case. Like it or not, the personality of the celebrity and the kind of partnership they develop with their pro plays a part.

Chris (and Laila for me) come the closest to fulfiling both aspects of the show in what has been a very weak series.

It`s a lottery...you just can`t predict who will be good when the celebs are invited onto the show.However as another poster said, it`s the lack of improvement that`s most noticeable....I can accept the overall standard is`t as high as previous years but I`am disappointed about the lack real improvement by all of the final 4....but hey that`s life.Fingers crossed for next year.

Most popular does not = deserves to win.

The most votes could even go to the least deserving, for instance if enough people wanted to make a joke out of the show.


The Come Dancing a straw man / red herring makes a very poor argument.

No one's arguing for a "pure dance competition", for a start. Also, there are other differences between SCD and CD.


He's a poor enough dancer that he's had to rely on gap-mouthed gurning, ham acting, and rubbish semi-acrobatics.


Why talk about dancing as if it's divorced from other aspects?

Can't people want entertaining dancing, for example, rather than some other sort of entertainment, in a show called Strictly Come Dancing?

A problem with the "personality" aspect is that it's not clear it's even about personality. It often seems to me more about prejudices and irrational dislike, or confusing acting with "personality".


Both aspects? Are there are only two?

Re Laila, her partnership with Anton hasn't been outstanding and may even be a net negative. Her personality hasn't been very noticeable.

Firstly agree about this year's crop of celebrities none outstanding! Mark was fab-u-lous best dancer ever so I thought but along came Gethin Jones in Series 5 and nobody since has compared to his improvement, dancing, and personality!

Funnily enough, I've voted for more celebrities in this series than in any other - I don't think the lineup has been weak at all. It is a mixture of dancing talent and personality and there's been something for everyone, just like a box of quality street.

And I don't think an Ali/Ricky final is obvious at all - going by this forum, the popular vote is with Chris and possibly also Laila, so a reversal of the judges leaderboard is a distinct possibility. And since no-one can know for sure who's more popular out of Ricky, Laila and Ali, the judges can't rig it.

Fair point scattyjan but it is fair to say that this series hasnt produced any stand out dances that stay in the memory, apart from possibly RW and Natalie's quick step or Chris and Ola's charleston! Which I think is the op's point.

Oh, I dunno - I've watched a fair few again - Ali and Brian's Charleston, Ricky and Natalie's VW, Ricky and Erin's Paso and AS, R&N dance off R'n'R I need to try to find somewhere as it was fantastic, Nat & vincent's QS and Jive, Zoe and James' rumba, Ali and Brian's foxtrot, Jade and Ian's ... there's probably more but I could end up here all night!

I guess some people have such marvellous memories of one particular dancer, they feel like they're being somehow unfaithful if they let themselves succumb to liking anyone from subsequent series

You misunderstood me completely, Shappy.

In my comment I referred to the standard of his dancing, nothing more.

Your declaration that the art of conversation is the defining factor in deciding a good SCD competitor is strange, as it is largely a dancing competition.

This is my original comment:


I was referring specifically to all the posters on this forum who made many references to his sexiness, looks and how much they fancied him. I imagine they didn't fancy him based on the execution of his heel leads (he didn't do any, BTW). I was talking about people fancying Mark, and why I didn't. You then replied:


You can imagine why I thought you were continuing the subject of the conversation, rather than changing track completely to talk only about his dancing ability. Perhaps next time you should make your posts more explicit.


I didn't declare this: again I was talking about his appeal to the ladies.

I have acknowlegded in other threads that he was technically a good dancer (but not brilliant, and not the best in his year, Emma and Louisa were better), but I didn't find him appealing.

I won't rehash the whole personality versus technique thing here, but the popularity of Chris this year is evidence enough that being able to talk does increase appeal.

Calm down, Sheppy. Don't get so het up. None of this really matters.

I think anyone who comes to an internet forum to post about a show cares about it just a little bit.

ShAppy