hear, hear - well said CarolUK

Given that Matt completed at least two years of a drama/acting degree, then this bit only really serves to push the point.

Personally I'm not bothered - I know what experience he's got, more or less, and will judge accordingly. Some people transcend their natural advantages (youth, experience) and others don't. And I think they've been more straight up regarding Matt's advantages than they been with most contestants in the past. It'll probably be a good thing for the show in the long run to have a winner who'll mostly satisfy all of the "likability", "entertainment" and "technical skill" camps. Should he win, obviously.

I'm not going to!

Given that only one couple go out each week then even if Matt was head & shoulders above the others and sailed through each week, other strong competitors are going to be going through with him. They trained intensively 3 weeks prior to the competition so with a further 5 or 6 weeks of intesive training behind them the other stronger celebs are going to be more or less on a par with him anyway

This.

My hubbie and I have ballroom and latin lessons and dance socially. Some people just 'get it' straight away, whereas others have been dancing for years and still struggle. 5 days is nothing whichever camp you fall into.

When did the BBC put a ban on Kara. Jill Halfpenny won and she went to the Laine School of Dance she was more qualified than some of the professionals.

You know everything about everything, apparently.

She had a weeks less training because she had done one of the Strictly's for charity (danced with Ramps)

This is the most sensible post I've read on this thread. Thank you twt.

In other words, "I agree with you, so I'm going to indirectly insult everyone else". Nice.

The one thing that is beginning to annoy me a bit is the faux surprise on ITT about Matt's abilities. They speak as if he's been nothing but a celebrity farmer all his life, neglecting to mention his gymnastics past which meant the acrobatic moves and clean lines that we saw in his Cha Cha were second nature to him.

I don't care that Matt was a gymnast. I don't see it as an unfair advantage as such, so long as it's pointed out. At the moment though, it's being made out as if he learnt to do a backflip during training leading up to show one!

Absolutely right.

I can see how this would annoy people, but it doesn't really bother me. I watched the footage and though I wasn't at that particular competition, I do watch a few open comps and I'm speculating that it was an extra category/fun competition the organisers set up because they knew Blue Peter were taking part. On a normal day I doubt they would have won in a standard latin category (intermediate level judging by costumes and choreography). The steps he learnt there (in about 2005?) probably won't help him much in SCD anyway even if he could remember them because the SCD routines are far more showy.
If anyone thought Matt was over competitive and grumpy in that footage, you want to see some of the ding-dongs between partners when they come off the floor having had a bad dance!

I didn't really see the need for the BBC to have given Kara Tointon a one week ban either. The amount of dancing she did for sport relief was minimal really. However perhaps the reason it just appears that Matt didn't get given a ban was that the BBC knew with his countryfile schedule he had less training time anyway so it evened out, especially if Kara had no other projects on at all and could devote all her time to training.

I personally would disagree with the claim that Jill Halfpenny was more qualified than some professionals. She doesn't have pro qualifications in ballroom/latin therefore is definitely less qualified to dance ballroom and latin. She may have been to a particular dance school as a child but it doesn't make her a pro. I used to dance at a recognised dance school, it doesn't make me a pro!

Also he will have performed his gymnastic routines before an audience which will help him feel at ease!

I find him extremely boring - despite his dancing which I must admit is quite good.

This is what I found on Wikipedia.

Very true. In the end, the reason that Matt danced well on Saturday has very little to do with the fact that 6 years ago he spent 6 days learning two routines and everything to do with the fact that he has a flair for dance. If he learnt enough in 6 days to win a beginners' comp, that shows he's talented, not trained. Something tells me that despite being a young-ish fit sportsman who had made a living doing his job in front of millions of people, Mark Foster would have needed considerably longer than 6 days to top the leaderboard. Realistically most people on Strictly who both like dancing and are naturally good at it will have at least a bit of experience somewhere in their backgrounds. If you pick something up quickly and you enjoy it, why wouldn't you give it a go?

Also, Michelle anyone? Still more dance performance experience than anyone else, even if it seems she's not actually all that talented at dancing. She still danced with her band for however many years. She still danced in a West End show. I'm pretty sure that's why everyone was complaining about her being a ringer before Saturday night. Of course it's a little harder to argue that the training is unfair when it doesn't seem to have helped her, isn't it?

Suddenly the thread is lifted to a whole new plane

Perhaps someone in the audience could give him a hefty whack in the kneecaps with their handbag just to even the field a bit

What's Tonya Harding's ex hubby up to these days?

I hope he doesn't get too much flack for this! It was 5 days of training 5 years ago, that's nothing!!

Nah - just put his head in a bag so he can't see where he's going.

What a nasty sh*t stirring little thread this is

has Matt presented the one show since chiles and christine left?..........this is to settle a friendly family argument

he certainly retains what he's learnt in the past; good luck to him!!

He presents The One Show when Jason is away at a gig - please can people drop this discussion about Matt's previous dance training - it was a Blue Peter challenge and that's all.

From Hayley

Well said!! Its obviously Matt's turn to take the flak this year. I can't see that anything he may or may not have done previously makes any difference.
He just seems to be able to 'get' the routines so far (he's only done the cha cha for goodness sake).
Anyway, Pamela (as far as I know) hasn't had any training and she seems to be picking things up really well and isn't far behind Matt! Same for Jimi and Tara!

This. They make it sound like this is his first trip to the big city. I was shocked when Claudia said everyone was surprised by how good he was. I expected him to be top of the leaderboard, or very near it.

'Tis fruitless to argue with the mighty Monkseal. One who can blog like that has the patience of God.