It has come to my attention that some comments in my tour report may have offended some Ali and Brian fans, so please let me take the opportunity to explain.
This is what i wrote:
Quote:
“Ali & Brian
Ok, apologies to the Ali & Brian fans, but I’m going to be brutally honest here. Their banter about an ‘engagement’ was really quite off-putting and totally unnecessary. Brian did the ‘forget about the 10s, let’s get married anyway’ line and it came across as really stilted and rehearsed, both looking totally uncomfortable with having to do it, and of course Craig gave them a 9 just because. Their VW was good, as it always is, and I didn’t really see her do much wrong apart from being slightly out of sync with Brian in one movement when they broke hold, but it wasn’t magical. Fairly marked, although it could easily have had 40 I suppose seeing as she danced it equally to her Blackpool effort.
Her samba did nothing for me either. She came out shaking her hips then had to stop and start the hip action when the music started to get it in time. I’m still not drawn in by her performance – it all seemed too sweet to be a proper samba. Fairly marked, and she was obviously popular in the arena.”
Firstly: please note the apology at the top. I knew no Ali and Brian fan would like what I was about to write, just as I don't like most things that are written in criticism of Chris and Ola. However, that does not negate either my right to say them or anyone else's right to criticise Cola, as people, Ali and Brian fans included, have done previously - it certainly does not make me in any way hypocritical. I said at the start my report was biased, just as anyone who has a favourite would say. But my bias was in my positive view of Chris and Ola's dancing, I hold no grudge against any other couple - why should I? I judged on what
I saw, not what anyone saw or thought.
Second: the engagement banter is scripted, it's obvious from the reports coming in night after night saying that Ali and/or Brian have said variations of the same thing. That's a fact. This doesn't mean that I wouldn't like to see them get engaged, what they end up eventually doing is their own business and no-one else's. It's my
opinion only that something like that should not be played out in front of 10,000 people purely for entertainment purposes but if they're willing to do that, it's up to them. As I later said, it's 'saccharine nonsense that they
have to do' - it wouldn't surprise me if the producers asked them/told them to do it - they did look uncomfortable. I'm sure their real engagement, if it happens, would be far more romantic and personal (unless of course they do it on the last night of the tour - and even that, while not being the 'personal' element would be a genuine romantic surprise to Ali i think!)
Third: My comments on their dancing were my own critique, my own opinion. I said that they were fairly marked, I even repeated that, and did not at any point say that they were rubbish (which i did say about others!), but just that it didn't make
me personally excited. I'm not commenting on behalf of anyone but myself, not even a single other Team Cola fan, which somehow this has turned into....
Fourth: If you read on in my report you'll see that i actually criticise my own favourites as well, so I fail to see how I am blind to anything other than Team Cola. I just don't particularly like Ali's dancing, and that's not a crime, I'm by no means the only one, just like I know many people don't like Team Cola.
Therefore, to the Ali and Brian fans whom I seem to have upset: please don't turn this into something it's not. I don't care what you think of Chris and Ola, unless it's a personal insult to them in which case I will respond. I was at no stage gloating about how Chris won over Ali, I didn't even mention it. Anyone can criticise Chris and Ola as much as they like, it's not going to make a difference as to my liking for them or indeed my liking for any other couple! Yes, I was infuriated by the voting from home business, but it made no difference to Ali's performance, and that's what I was critiquing from my personal point of view. I don't have to like everything about her, and nothing I said was malicious in any way. Honesty about my own view and malicious comment are two different things entirely.
My personal lack of love for Ali and Brian is my own opinion alone and cannot possibly offend you because the whole world are not supporters of Ali and Brian. And most importantly, I did not at any stage say that I doubted their relationship is genuine - it obviously is. What I was merely pointing out is the scripted nature of their interactions on stage, which has no bearing whatsoever on the eventual direction of their relationship - that's up to them alone.
I do apologise for taking over the thread like this, but I'd rather get it out in the open and ended rather than being moaned about.
”
.....and I hope anyone going to any future SCD related events, still come here to share their views. 
