To me, the choreography tonight seemed to have been dreamed up by setting up routines for random people, then picking the couples out of a hat.

Why did Mikey get the personality routine, when it's Gary who is finding it hard to stand outuld've learnt more by having to act a specific part in Cecilia. Mikey can seemingly sell a performance with any song; if they had made the routine more complicated he could've danced to Danny (hell, Danny could've danced to a more complicated routine than that!)

Why did Kieran get given an overly rhythmic routine which resulted in him focusing more on that and losing out on skating and lifting? Easy would've allowed him to focus on developing his skating and lifting skills with a simpler method.

Why did Tana get the fast routine when she's still hasn't got a grip on basic skating, while Danny gets a slow, simple routine that couldn't show any development whatsoever for him?

Why did Heather get a routine which was going to damage her artifical leg (I can't believe Heather didn't warn them this could be an issue) while Emily got a routine which was relatively easy on the legs? Admittedly, it would have to have been made slightly more complex for Heather.

For me, the only three couples who got the right routine tonight were Sharron and Pavel, Daniella and Matthew and Dr. Hilary and Alexandra.

I meant to edit this, but I'm too late. I copied this across from the main episode thread - point still stands though. lol

Some fair points, though I thought Mikey's routine suited him, and Hayley's was brilliant. But I felt the same about some of it, some very odd choreography.

It looks like Danny might be struggling a bit now, they had a lot longer to learn the first routine. Hope not, he's one I was hoping would show a progression.

Reckon I posted virtually the same thing in the Popstar to Operastar thread on Friday ..lol
Bad week for "Danny's"

Ph I forgot Hayley and Daniel somehow. Yes, there's was perfect as well.

While Mikey's routine suited him, I think another couple who needed it more could've used it (eg. Gary, who was told to find a personality then given 'Easy'). Mikey already has the personality nailed down - he doesn't need any help with it from the routine.

Danny isn't improving because he's not being helped to improve. Last week he danced an exciting routine yet was criticised for basic skating (WHY was there a lack of basic skating in the first place??? He's capable). Tonight they ditched all of the tricks and had him skating in circles - surely it's not that difficult to find a balance for him? They've managed with some of the others and Danny's not that bad a skater.

Totally agree with this, he got no credit for what he did last week. I felt he looked totally demoralised tonight, even when he was skating, and he's not arrogant at all, he's very worried about his skating, he was just trying to have a laugh with Jason last week, not seduce him as Jason seems to have taken it..

(that's referring to the article in the papers, might not make sense if you haven't read it, but he basically said Danny's comment about giving him a cuddle was trying to use the fact he had a good body to get better marks! What?! )

Yes, I saw that lovely comment from Jason. I didn't think he could surpass himself, but boy did he prove me wrong tonight!

I thought Danny looked low throughout the show when he weren't speaking - like he was putting on an act and was really quite down. Obviously he was worried about remembering the routine, and Jason did not help by reading everything wrong.

But Jason can't be blamed alone. Whoever choreographed his routines for the past fortnight (I'm guessing it's Chris, Jane and Karen with input from Frankie) need to ask themselves how they got it so wrong when it comes to him.

And indeed, for this week's routines, how the individual programmes and couples became so mismatched.

They do seem to have strange choreography sometimes. I know they have to mix it up between fast/slow songs, give them new challenges, etc, but sometimes it doesn't help the skater at all.

Like giving Jeremy Sheffield a very uptempo song last week. Now he obviously deserved to go based on his performance last week, so I don't really have a problem with him having left because he wasn't good at all. But they knew he had problems with speed and had missed out on a lot of training, surely something a bit slower could have worked?

I can't really remember Danny's routine tonight, but I do remember not being very impressed with it in the skate-off. I don't like him but he's a good skater and I don't think that came across well tonight.

And Gary's just seemed silly tonight. Even if he had to do a slow song (I think he did an uptempo song last week - do they have to alternate?), to complain that his performances come across as 'nice' and he's getting lost in the crowd, and then to give him 'Easy'...there's not a lot more that could be done with a song like that.

But saying that, some of them have really good routines - Mikey's choreography was brilliant, really suited him, absolutely loved it!

Couldn't agree more OP ... I was watching last night thinking some of these routines are really clever and exciting and some ( Gary, Danny ) just dull. Danny's in particular was odd because I was looking forward to his performance and found it just very ... dull, the routine didn't grab me I guess ... I know some of this is to do with the skaters ability, but a lot is to do with the choreography too.

The choreograhy that really stood out as being 'bad' for me last night was Emily's. I felt the whole opening section of her routine was just wrong with the music, it didn't work and it wasn't the right start. Subsequently the whole thing just went downhill after that ...

I do think it's a bit of a lottery on this show, sometimes they get great routines and sometimes dull one's ... I'm pretty sure that on some level it effects the voting too, afterall if we find a routine dull we are not going to find it memorable enough to vote for!

My gut feelings when watching some of the routines were as follows

They wanted Gary to come across more like a pair skater this week and focus on the technical aspects - they also gave him a routine that was a bit less cheesy as he clearly still feels a bit self-conscious - whether he should is another matter

They want Danny to emulate Chris Fountain perfomance-wise (I have thought this with his previous routines as well) - his skating needs to improve yet though

They gave Hilary something he could do fairly easily so that he can get some confidence - they can then be justified in starting to challenge him a bit more

T&D said as much about Dr Hils on DOI Friday.

Re: Danny and Gary, I'd have to agree. Danny's routine was a bit of a 'nothing', and all his routines so far have been to laid-back music - he could do with something like Chris's Timewarp routine that's fast and furious, to really get him going.

Let's see if T&D can come up with a personality-based thing for Gary, who really is lovely. Make the man show off, for God's sake!