Yes i know, Ali and Ricky are some way ahead of Chris, but for me i think Chris symbolises what the show is about.

IMPROVEMENT! For me he is the only one who has got better throughout the weeks. (I would of given that to Jade, but she obviously had to pull out)

At the end of the day, these shows are won by the ones who appeal to people most at home and for me Ali and Ricky just havent done that. Ricky is fantastic but i feel his partner is letting him down because she comes across as a right snob to me and thinks she is well ahead of the other couples.

I also want Cola to win so Alesha can eat her words, because in interviews she has come across as really favouring Ricky when she said ''it's only about Ricky for me'' as if to say she doesnt care for the others!

The polls I do on here have shown Chris and Ola with a significant lead for a good few weeks. I wouldn't read too much into some of the moaning on here. They are the minority.

Read the threads again....there are as many supporters as there are dissenters. I for one feel that he is the only one that truly engages with the public. Whether he is technically as competant as the others is not the point for me. Chris for the win!!!

Everyone ???

He is leading in all the polls. He is hardly the underdog. It is also obvious that some people want him to lose because they think that the winner should be amongst the best dancers. Clearly they are wrong as it is not a pure dance contest but a combination dance and popularity reality show, but they are entitled to their opinion.

To answer orginal question:

Its because he's not the best dancer, it's not 'everyone' and even some/most Cola fans acknowledge that he is not the best dancer. Some viewers will brand it a 'farce' if he won, also display a lack of the shows credibility and don't want Chris to get backlash for winning.

I want him to lose because I find both of the other couples more entertaining to watch. I would imagine most others are the same. You do get a few "PURITY OF THE DAHHNCE" snobs and the obvious handful of titty trolls but most people who want Chris to lose (which is an ugly way of phrasing it) do so because they find other people more entertaining.

It's this ugly dichotomy wherein if you're a Ricky/Ali fan you're a dance snob who sits there wanking over heel leads and fleckerls, and if you're a Cola fan you're a gormless turd who just likes the funny faces, that's producing an awful lot of ill feeling, and it's unnecessary. People like what they like, and it's almost always because they're entertained by it.

Love this! So nice to be so sure you are right.

Obviously I'm right about it. If it were a purely about the dance the two better dancers wouldn't be scrambling for the remaining place against someone who after 3 months of training still has to be hidden behind his wiggling parter to disguise how he hasn't managed to grasp the steps completly even though the ones she gave him were pretty basic. Duh!

We all know why they are doing the rumba. So that the oldies will be impressed that he is cabable of moving his hips at all (whilst standing still) and so that the style of the dance means that the female has the most steps and whilst strategically placed in front of her partner.

Quite simply because they are the worst dancers who are left in the show and do not deserve to win. They have NOT shown the most improvement - they were good at the start and became awful then better again so that is an illusion.

For me, he hasn't improved enough for that to be a reason, nor is he a particularly good dancer. Alesha can keep banging on about a face not mattering, what with the camerawork, most of what we see is face.
Hell, much as I disliked her, even Snowdon last year was a better dancer, the whole top 5 last year was better than him actually, overall.

This does NOT make me a dance snob, as I personally don't find Ali entertaining to watch either. The deer in headlight face in each and every single dance got boring in about week 2. Yes, she's a good dancer, but doesn't entertain me.

For me, Ricky is the only person who has entertained me throughout. I wish he'd had more chance to rehearse and appear as the titbits we see out of training are very likeable! Yes, Natalie is powerful, but I'd call it fierce and ambitious as opposed to competitive, smug and whatever else people are throwing at her. Say what you want, she's the only pro to have worked on such detail with her celeb (turned out feet) and while he no doubt has natural ability, she has also managed to extract the best out of him (excluding the Jive).

Thanks I will. She has done a fantastic job. It is very rare to see a man at the end of SCD looking as if they are capable of leading a dance rather than perform a set piece and pretend to lead. She and Ricky have managed this. She seems to have actually taught her celeb to dance.

She is serious and focused on the job but maybe that is why she has achieved results. Unfortunately she thinks the competition is about this and has ignored the PR aspects of the show. It will make for an amusing show next week as I think that the dancers of the show will strive to produce something stunning which will make the "its not fair" brigade enraged when one of them goes. It is natural as despite the "journey" it is Ricki and Ali who are showing the most improvement and the widening the gap between them and Chris becomes more and more obvious.

Au contraire.....I want them to win. They make me smile, laugh, clap and cheer and would be a victory for the journey, the partnership, the showmanship and not just technical ability.

Go Team Cola.

It's an outrage!!!

How dare the voting, paying public chose their FAVOURITE, as they are told to do. For shame. Go flog yourselves. Bad public, naughty bad public.

They are NEVER asked to vote for the best dancers. When will people grasp this most basic of concepts.

I hope he wins, I got him in the sweep in work.

We've had this justification before with Chris Parker, Julian Clary, John Sergeant et al. What we've never had is the weakest dancer (average scores wise) in the final three as odds-on favourite.

Note to next year's contestants - get your catchphrases,
t-shirts, hats, badges, scarves and charming smiles & quips ready now - there's a receptive audience out there

So what. People need to get a grip. It's just a bit of fun. Chill out. Real life is far more serious and some of us use this show as an escape.

Also, it's not justification, it's fact. They never ask to vote for the best, but for the favourite.

The difference being that Chris is far from diving the depths of those that you mentioned above

Darren was odds-on favourite the week of the Strictly 3 final.

Exactly and can I add that with no dancing qualification whatsoever who am I to judge who is best or more technically competent than another? As rule of thumb I am drawn to a partnership because of how it makes me feel emotionally when I watch them perform.....Rachel Stevens, John Sargeant, Jade Johnson, Ramps and Team Cola have been my favourites over the last 4 series and not because of their technical ability.

I couldn't care less who wins but, I am furious that it's highly unlikely that I'll get to see Ricky and Natalie's showdance because the beeb couldn't get their act together sooner.

Pointing out the truth doesn't mean that someone is angry about it just that they acknowledge it. Chris is probably going to win - becaue he is popular, helped by his age, demographic and the fact that he has a link to breakfast TV which has a connection going back years with Strictly and where there is a crossover of the audience. Which is OK. He has done nothing wrong and it is only a reality show not not life and death.

However, this is a discussion board and people are bound to therefore discuss why he is the favourate and the fact that it is silly to claim that he deserves to win more than the others who are better dancers, have struggled through injury, improved more than him etc.

He is the popular contestant but dissent is supposed to be allowed.

I didn't know that - dratted statistics (truths!) catching me out!

& to other posters I'm not saying Chris Hollins dances like John Sergeant etc. - just that he's the weakest dancer of the three and the arguments/facts, be what you will, have been used before for other weaker dancers who are successful in this programme

I only remember because they ALWAYS lie and say Colin/Zoe were the bookies favourites, but super underdog Darren Gough came through at the last minute on his journey train and upset the odds.

Some of us are proud that we were smart enough to put money on him at 33/1 in week 2 thank you very much

I liked him from the first dance (Cha Cha I think) because my preconceptions of him were shattered and it was obvious he had rhythm. But I've still swallowed the myth that he upset the odds in the final

Looking back though, I can't understand why I didn't want Colin given my conversion to dance "purity" in this series.

Dont take any notice of a few whingers chucking their toys from the pram on here. I think its pretty obvious they are panicking at the prospect of their fave not making the final. They where quite happy for the judges to "fix" it so that the couple who topped the public vote would still be kicked off, but now the dance off has been abolished and the person with the fewest votes gets the boot instead (the most democratic way) they are resorting to a lot of foot stopmping and tantrumming, "its not fair", "Im not watching the final, its a fix", "why cant the public see its a dancing contest" blah blah.

Someone needs to remind them its a television programme.