On the basis of this I'm very much looking forward to seeing him in SCD, and you can't really call him over-qualified just on one weeks training, although maybe like Kara he could have missed the first week of training as a handicap.

I hope he's got the personality to win people over though, he could risk coming across as over-competitive to some. I don't care, it is a competition, but he's unlikely to have the 'needs mothering' or 'endearingly rubbish' factor.

He'll absolutely have the personality people want to mother, so long as he holds his temper in check - he's a "nice young man", who grew up on a farm and presented Blue Peter. He's not awful looking, in a milquetoast sort of way, and he's got a corny, juvenile sense of humour.

I would imagine if he does start well, we certainly won't get the "oh we don't like it when they start off too good, we prefer to see a journey" that Ricky got last year. He's got a far more BBC 1 friendly personality, just like Ramps did.

I think Matt will do well and be popular but I am not sure about the partnership with Aliona myself, but perhaps its because I cant get her and Rav out of my memory .

I'd agree that Matt will be well received, but I imagine he'll also be well treated by the BBC's editors. Odd bits of footage and comments from last year's celebs suggested that Ricky Whittle was an awful lot more than just the pecs-with-rhythm he was portrayed as, but with the editing and his limited ITT appearances he never got a chance to make any sort of impact on viewers except on the floor.

I do think that slebs with a BBC connection get an easier ride in general from the production crew, but that might just be natural suspicion on my part

I love Matt i will be voting for him every week whether he is good or bad and the amount of experience he has does'nt bother me

I do think the BBC give more than a passing thought to how the VTs are coming across.

I remember Emma saying when she had been eliminated that she and Darren had loads of fun, but the VTs never focussed on that part of the week. Whereas other celebs VTs were laugh a minute, even though we knew from other sources that arguments had been going on. I wonder with hindsight whether the BBC actually liked all the controversy surrounding Emma- it certainly made us all vote more for Matt, Louisa and Mark. I couldn't stand Emma, so they successfully manipulated me!

Since all the competitors get the same length of training by professionals and each and every dance is choreographed step by step, I really can't see it mattering what anybody's done previously. This comes up every year on the boards as "unfair this and unfair that". It rarely maters at all when really good dancers get voted out in favour of soap stars etc by the GBP.

In the words of the immotal Barry Fyfe: "You can dance what steps you like. Doesn't mean you're going to.....WIN!"

This series suddenly got interesting!
Since he's done ballet and gymnastics I figured he might have some promise, and at least have strength/balance/flexibility to start with..... Seems like he's got rhythm too! Hurrah and thank god for that, the possibility of some decent dances

Makes me wish they all had previous experience

To be fair they've balanced it out by pairing him with Aliona, instead of giving him a pro who can choreograph.

He favourite, had previous dance experience, and is pair with a pro who has been criticised for her choreography. Not a chance in hell he'll win.

I'm glad you posted this Katie, I was hoping someone would!

I don't really like Matt, but it'll be interesting to see how far he goes and whether those clips will be brought up on ITT. I'm not entirely sure how well he's going to bond with Aliona and how her choreo is going to match up.

If this is Matt Baker's level of experience then he'll come under even more intense scrutiny from Len, Bruno, & Craig (I'm discounting Alesha as she doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things when it comes to judging anyway).

These judges will only expect nothing from Baker but perfection all the time & he'll deserve those criticisms.

In which case he better really put those trainings & winning to this competition or he'll be eaten alive by the 3 judges.

You forget he's a man. No way will he get the same criticism as a woman in the same position from Len. And his gymnastic background will probably also qualify him for "sportsman" status anyway.

I think it's tough for most of the pros to choreograph around someone who can't dance. Aliona only had about three dances with Rav before they were voted out, and she was struggling to get round the fact he was basically a big lump of wood with bedroom eyes.

Some people, we know, are better at getting a decent dance out of duffers than others, but I hardly think it's fair to write off Aliona's choreographic ability before she's had a fair crack of the whip.

Matt and Aliona's training video looks great. Although his footwork is not seen, his upper body movement, posture and hands are excellent.

Unfair! Previous training! Not in the spirit of the competition! Ofcom!!!!

Sorry, thought someone should

I was wondering today if the fact that Darren and Lilia were not given Celebs this year was partly due to this......they would have had reason to at least complain a bit that Matt had training from them before unlike their own celebrity.....just a thought.

I know we have had lots of 'previous experience' threads and moans over the years but I think this is the first time we have actually had a celebrity that has had some training with some of the professionals that actually worked on the show, with video evidence to prove it (unlike unsubstantiated rumours about Ricky last year) add this to his gymnastic background I do think he has a substantial advantage....fair or unfair its up to you.

At least Kara's previous strictly experience was 'flagged up' and she was 'penalised' for it.

I can't see a way that would work Jan.... Darren and Lilia are amongst the most discreet of the pros- in previous series they wouldn't even confirm whether they were taking part until they'd been given the nod from the BBC.

Also you'd take the risk by firing them that they'd think they'd got nothing to lose by letting the press know!

However because they were in it, I still had the video so I was able to spill the beans before anyone

Interestingly Michael Stylianos and Lorna Lee will be appearing on ITT in coming weeks (apparently). Interesting to see if they are allowed to mention that they already know Matt quite well! From what I have read of their position in the dance world, Matt was very lucky to get this training from them...

Tom Chambers

Tom only won in the end because of his freestyle. If Matt can make it to the final, then he's bound to win. No doubt he will be able to produce a great freestyle with his gymnastics background.

Tom beat Rachel and Lisa in the semi-final votes (they revealed them). Lisa going home shows he beat both of them in the vote-count before the showdance. Both Rachel and Lisa were in the bottom two multiple times throughout the series. Tom was never there.

His showdance might have been the best, but he could have come out and done Dummy Dance dressed as the proverbial Bakofoil turkey and he still would have won. The showdance has never made a difference, ever.

Matt being clean-cut and middle-class and "nice" is exactly why he will win, and Scott and Gavin won't. Jimi might be able to give him a push at the role, but Matt's got him beat on dancing thus far.

In general, women just don't support women on shows like this. A lot of the time they vote for men they fancy, and they are willing to condemn women for really trivial reasons. I do think that speaks volumes about women in general! They don't support each other and then they blame men for everything. Obviously not all of them, but a lot of them are like that.

Anyway, I do think Matt will win. He's a decent dancer, he's male and he has no personality. That's a winning combination!

Matt Baker is really young looking and lacking in sex appeal though. Tom was basically attractive if you ignored the awful gurning faces he made when he danced.

Is that not a matter of opinion ?

surely though they were unignorable

I suppose so- I'm sure his wife must find him attractive at least! But I don't think he can get enough votes to win just based on his looks, so he'd better hope one of the better looking guys doesn't get slightly better at dancing. I think his only hope is if all the finalists are so unattractive that the audience is forced to vote on something new like dance ability.