Hayley & Dan for me

Gary & Maria <3

I think the night belonged to Danny and Frankie.

Danny & Frankie

Danny and Frankie

Danny & Frankie - and I normally can't stand Frankie in particular but Danny really made a huge effort to understand where he had been going wrong - worked on it and delivered a vastly better performance so all credit to him.

I was most moved by Hayley/Daniel but thought Danny's was the performance of the night because it was such a breakthrough for him as well as being enjoyable for us.

To be perfectly honest I thought the standard tonight was poor. Usually a couple of celebs each series really step up on jump night but none did. If I had to pick one though I'd say Danny and Frankie.

I agree I think tonight was poor from the music choices to the tired routines.

chris and jayne are legends but I truly think a revamp is needed next year with the pro skaters taking part in doing the routines? they are becoming tired and need new input.

A decision has to be mader regarding music either pick a genre each week or use more contemporary music for all it was grossly unfair to give one couple a track that is number 7 in the charts from a popular hit series compared to the terrible music given to Emily, Kieron and Daniella

I thought the standard was a lot poorer than last week to be honest. I thought they would have been giving brilliant shows by now....but its all a bit flat.

Agreed. Personally I think I'd enjoy it more too - I don't actually know most of the songs on the show, and there's something more fun about a performance when you know and/or like the song.

Performance of the night for me was Gary and Maria, I loved it! But the biggest improvement for me was Danny and Frankie - to his credit, he has put in so much effort to try and progress.

Dannys was the performance of the night, Hayley did well like she always does, however I do feel she was a little bit over marked.

Well, Kieron and Brianne aside, I actually really enjoyed Emily and Fred this week, oddly!

Worst performance for me (apart from Mikey, obviously, who is just rubbish compared to the rest) was Gary and Maria - that was all kinds of a mess, and Gary was back to his whole looking incredibly awkward thing. He just doesn't have the skills or personality to carry that sort of routine off.

I think they were all a bit disappointing this week and rather messy.

I also wondered if the level of injuries was significant - after the monstering that Sharron got last week maybe the celebs are all too scared to say they can't manage things that they are being pushed to do? As well as Mikey and Keiron having significant injuries, Daniella's leg was strapped up.

Am I right in thinking the T & D routine was pre-recorded - there was absolutely no applause and at the end you saw AL-W and KJ bowing and waving and T & D and the pro skaters on the ice with a few instrumentalists in the background but I don't see how they could have got all that lot out of the studio during the short chat with T & D afterwards.

I too wondered if it was pre-recorded. Usually you get massive cheers when T&D skate on. Not last night though.

Re the routines I thought they were all messy and "unfinished". I thought Garry got the roughtest deal with that dreadful routine, and that Daniella got the worst music with that dreadful song. I didn't think Danny was that much better than previous weeks to be honest - thought he was overmarked and I thought Hayley and Dan were "same as same as" this week - no sparkle. the one I enjoyed most was Emily and Fred cos it was fun. Mikey was dreadful and needs to go imo.

LOL. But still better than Kieron

Hayley and Dan gave the performance of the night by a mile. Great song, did a LOT more solo skating than usual (as Robin said) and just had the most entertaining routine by a mile. Was a little disappointed with Kieron if I'm honest, as I thought his performance was not his best....Danny did well though.

Nah, Kieron was way better than Gary this week, Strictly.

I was disappointed in Hayley and Dan too, incidently. They had a massive advantage in having a hugely popular song compared to the rest, but their performance was pretty flat and dull and unambitious for me, oddly. I thought it was one of their worst. Pity - should have been a good one for them.

I thought Hayley and Dan's was the best, though it wasn't their best. Agree with many of the sentiments on this thread though, in that most of the routines were a bit flat. Not a reflection on the skaters themselves neccasarily, the choreography for most of them was bobbins and some of the cossies were trainwrecks - it takes REAL effort to make a lad as handsome as Gary look anything but... Yellow? Nude? Sequins? Really?!! Also Daniella's routine was too technical and picky and again, her costume was vile. Her skates looked like wellies!!

Interesting to note that Daniella and Gary are the only real competition to Hayley, and they're the ones who got ridiculous costumes and rubbish routines and songs, where Hayley got a popular song and a nice costume. NOT Hayley bashing here, as I do like her and Dan and I think they're fantastic on the ice - but that's my point. She doesn't need things like this to do well and ultimately 'they' are doing her no favours as the public will go against her if they get a whiff of 'favouritism' (as we saw last year when Ruthie favoured Zoe Salmon)

Lastly, if Mikey is injured and unable to do some of the elements or choreography set by T&D in future weeks, will be interesting to see if we get the same cries of 'rebellion' and 'not trying hard enough' like Sharron got!

Nah, he's booked for the tour already, so they have to keep him on side!

Daniella was an odd one. Not sure whether it was the choreography or her, but something just didn't click with the performance. The costumes probably didn't help!

Good point!

Yes I fully agree, and I don't know why! Her skate off was really bad. If Emily had performed to the same standard as in the main show, they would have had a hard task to keep Daniella in.

I slightly thought Nicky was right, actually, and that Emily was actually better than Daniella in the skate-off, even as it was.

Though I'm still glad Daniella stayed, because she can do much better than that as we know.

Actually, Kieron and Gary were my joint favourites - still loving Kieron's work and they should really do more 'novelty' routines like Gary's to avoid the whole 'big lifts joined together by some wobbly steps' that most routines turn out as.

Hayley was more of the same, Daniella and Mikey were disappointments, I didn't get what was so special about Danny's routine (apart from the obvious results his hard work produced) and I've never expected to see anything good from Emily anyway.

I thought I was the only one who thought that. Daniella was very diplomatic (she is not quite as naive as I thought). She clearly did know her skate-off was pants (judging by her face and her short interaction with Matthew), but was very quick in saying that everything was just a blur. Good thinking on her part.