Am I missing something? Are there not going to be votes tonight?

I didn't think the dancing was as good as yesterday.

Me too! Pamela and James made me cry and Matt and Aliona were brilliant with a very hard first dance.

Bwhahaha!

Worth a few votes just for that Annsyre....Roll on the Jive....

Granted.

But whilst many would know a Destiny's Child song, a much smaller percentage would instantly think of Michelle when thinking of Destiny's Child.

She's not exactly the high profile Child.

She's the Howard Donald of Destiny's Child...or for that matter the Jason Orange...or even the Mark Owen

No voting this week, everyone will dance again next week, scores from judges from this week and next will be added together and then added to viewers' votes next week.

Thank you

Me neither.

Wrong thread.

I think people probably expected the better performances to be tonight - but it really wasn't the case!

The best one for me was Gavin!

Tina and Michelle were very disappointing, I thought Kara was overmarked (I didn't see any chemistry, just her grinning the whole way through), Peter was not good, Jimi was entertaining but lacked controlled and Ann...well.....

Still loving Matt from last night and Pamela.

Shame there was no dancing to Robbie and Gary singing.

Deleted.

I thought there should be really - the show's about dancing, not singing. Why not use the dance troupe?

Tina , blah , nothing exciting for me .
Kara , loved it , she is going to be good .
Gavin . Well I didnt expect that , he was good .And does Katya have a bit of a thing for him ?
Ann , better than hoped , but still woeful IMO .But funny and entertaining .
Michelle , very very surprised she was so stiff and stilted .Thought she would be great .
Peter . He tried at least and was ok ish .
Jimi , ok I suppose and should get better


Robie and Gary . I thought they were crap actually and I have heard better random people at a wedding .

Probably because it wasn't a very dancy song - it was the archetypal conversation song on stools

I don't think in the first week anyone should have an 8; 7 maximum.

I take it Kara's was to be the dance of the evening?
I didn't rate it myself tbh.

For me :
Best ChaChaCha - Matt & Aliona
Best Waltz - Gavin & Katya/Scott & Natalie

With a special mention for Ann & Anton - loved it!

Ok over the two nights lets see what items we can tick off...

Unfair, inconsistent and downright strange scoring - Tick!
Bruce being embarrassingly bad and unfunny - Tick!
50% of the "celebrity's" being so unfit and/or old to ever reach an interesting level of ability - Tick!
The new "pro's" not being a patch on those fired (a lot of who were actual past World Champions of course) Tick!

Still, despite that...how hot is Kara? More please!
Oh and I thought Len a little harsh slagging off the boy's routine. He looks about 12.

I would agree except I would substitute Scott & Natalie with Pamela and James.

Well tonight was rubbish in comparison to last night! I only liked Jimi & Flavia and surprisingly Gavin & Katya, who stole the show for me!

I felt sorry for Kara, but I think she was badly overmarked. that dance was not a 30-worthy dance, no way was it just one mark lower than Matt & Aliona.

Wardrobe department outdid themselves in the hideousness stakes tonight, only Katya and Erin looked good, Katya in particular.

Michelle and Tina were spectacularly bad relative to what they could have been. I haven't been impressed by any of the new pros, Robin did the best job of the 3 I think. I'm sorry for being blunt, but Jared was outdanced by some of the male celebs this weekend!

Ann made me smile, I really enjoyed her dance, so well done Anton!


Very disappointed there was no pro dance, especially since the girls had rehearsed one and it was a last-minute cut. Not happy about that.


So overall, in my opinion,

Best cha cha: Matt & Aliona, then Jimi & Flavia and Kara & Artem

Best waltz: Pamela & James, then Gavin & Katya.

Jimi I had expected to be better, but he did dance well, just not great. I had expected more of an improvement from the training video.

Peter was much as expected. He will need a lot of England football fans to be SCD voters.

Ann was maybe better than most expected - if they expected her to be terrible. But I think she did her best.

Michelle didn't have a great routine to dance to start with, and it all came over as a non event. I cant even remember what the dance looked like, because it was bits jumbled together. She has quite a bit of technique to learn.

Tina was a disappointment. I'm not sure we saw what the routine was supposed to be like, because I think she messed up and stopped producing the steps a lot. A real pity, because as the judges said, I think she can do very well.

Tara was unlucky to catch a heel in the dress. That's not her fault, and she recovered well. Dominatrixes dont giggle as far as I know, so she is going to have to treat it like an acting part in the future.
The routine I thought was great and Kara danced very well. I though we might see the best first week Cha Cha ever this weekend, and I think that could be it. I cant remember better one. Well done Artem.

Gavin was the surprise verging on shock. Great achievement by Katya to get so much from him. It just shows that some people keep things inside themselves too much and in Gavin's case he has just learned to take a chance and start to show the hidden Gavin - maybe even a dancer? I'm guessing people will like him more if he brings out more of his real character on the show.

Recorded tonight's show and whizzed through a lot of it so didn't really relax and enjoy it as much as the opener but it was still highly entertaining - especially Anne & Anton!

I felt Kara was a touch overmarked and Jimi a little undermarked.

The rest were about right.

In terms of likability, I thought Jimi, Michelle, Peter and Tina came across the best.

A foxtrot from Erin & anton would have suited

My 'umble thoughts (or who came aaaahht and who was a dance disaaarrrster)

Matt & Aliona 31
- His energy and finesse were jawdroppingly good! I was watching the whole dance on the edge of my seat - I just absolutely wasn't expecting it! He comes across as so shy and a little geeky off the dance-floor and so I thought he'd be similar on, but wow! His legs need a little work but he's definitely talented.
- Having said that.....oh Aliona. Just no. The gimmicks....please, no. Don't do that to such a good dancer.
- And the outfits were insane.

Pamela & James 31
- She looked good in the group dance during the launch show and this was lovely. Genuinely enjoyable, though I could do without the soppy beauty-queen-esque reactions to her positive comments.

Kara & Artem 30
- I really like Kara: she seems likeable and bubbly so why, why, did they dress her up like a goth hooker?? Plus those dresses with the dangly bits at the back have no purpose other than to eat heels.
- She looked good, as expected, considering her experience. Good natural movement, good energy. The choreography was a little disappointing for me.

Scott & Natalie 29
- I expected more from him, and from her routine actually. Her flashy choreography can occasionally veer on the side of the unattractive, as evidenced in this waltz. Not bad, just...odd.
- He's very stiff in the upper body and he needs to work on his neck and shoulders. Also, it might just be me but does he come across as a little arrogant?

Gavin & Katya 28
- Such a surprise! During the launch show he barely looked like he could walk without assistance, so this waltz was a fantastic surprise. Well done Katya.
- Though speaking of Katya... does she totally fancy him?

Jimi & Flavia 26
- I missed their dance, sorry. I expect good things from him though.

Michelle & Brendan 24
- Disappointing, messy, stiff. I think she suffered from high expectations though. Slightly odd choreography from Brendan (what was the hair shaking all about??) I don't think she's a natural latin dancer but I wouldn't write her off yet.
- Brendan looked pissed off at those comments...

Tina & Jared 24
- Another disappointment, but on his part not hers. I'm glad the judges picked up on the routine, which for me was terrible. It was dull, more strutting than dancing, lacked a lot of cha cha content and didn't show her off at all. I actually think she could be very good. Poor move on the part of the producers swapping in Jared for the more experienced yet alas demoted male pros.

Felicity & Vincent 23
- Ohh but I so wanted to love this couple and everything seemed to go wrong. They weren't as adorable as they seemed at first glance, I'm a little bewildered as to what's going on with her top lip, and that dance was stiff and clunky. The dress looked great on her though.

Patsy & Robin 22
- Poor Patsy - she looked like a bag of nerves. This is based on the evidence of her poor posture, messy footwork, and limp hold, and not her face, which I don't think is actually capable of expressing emotion anymore...

Peter & Erin 21
- Also missed most of this but the recap clip looked horrendous. Poor, poor Erin.
- He also seems a little full of himself: slight Craig-Kelly-syndrome.

Goldie & Kristina 20
- He looks like he can move but he also looks like he can piss off Kristina big time in training. The routine wasn't great either, though the judges were a little more snipy about it than I would have expected, If he can just knuckle down to some work he could be alright.

Ann & Anton 17
- She knows she's there for a joke, they'll probably be there for ages.... yeah, we've been here before.

Paul & Ola 16
- Not actually as bad as I'd expected it to be, but still, it's not like they're going places.

Robbie and Gary's duet
- Cute but...yawn.

So, all in all a good start to the series. I'm liking this one a lot more than the last two, though I do miss our demoted pros. Nice to see Bruno's as high as ever and Aleshababes is a waste of a chair as per usual. Len hasn't broken into full-on obnoxious diva mode yet, so we can savour that (though yer came aaaaahhhht has, er, come ahhhht at least three times already so we'd better get used to that one. Craig seems to have lost some of the motor functions in his face but his scoring is, as usual, I think the most reasonable for this stage.

Foxtrot is considerably more demanding than waltz, so I wish the foxtrotters next week luck. Salsa (or Strictly's own particular version of kind of salsa but not really) should be fun, if messy (think Ann, Peter, Gavin - he can't think fast enough, let alone move, surely).

Oh, and Bruce just needs to stop talking and have a sit down. Now.