Is that true?

I mean, Darren did a (bad) first dance cha-cha, and won series 3.

Ramps did a cracking first dance cha-cha, and won series 4.

Tom did an okay first dance cha-cha, and won series 6.

Chris did a fantastic first dance rhumba, and won series 7.

Whereas...

Ricky Whittle did a fantastic first dance, ballroom waltz, and 'lost' to Chris.

Austin Healey did an amazing first dance, ballroom waltz and flopped at the quarter-finals.

The only exceptions are the two Matts: Dawson, he had a disaster with his first dance cha-cha, but lost to Ramps (came in runner-up) in series 4, and Di Angelo did an average cha-cha as his first dance, and lost to Alesha in series 5.

So, will Matt Baker win or narrowly lose the Strictly title? As far as his first dance is concerned, statistically it's favourable. But he may be cursed by his name, in the sense that both the two Matts in the past came in second!

Okay, must sleep now. Nite nite!

Just a coincidence really. Darren only won because people wanted a male winner, and he had the whole "I'm a sportsman and I'm learning how to dance" storyline. this storyline has been repeated a million times since :yawn:

Ramps won because he was a sportsman and a decent dancer. It helped that he wasn't bad looking.

Tom won because of his showdance.

Chris won because he was popular. He wasn't a very good dancer at all. In fact, I found many of his dances cringetasic. The faces He did have his moments though. Ricky was easily the best dancer last year, but he just wasn't popular.

I think that Matt Baker might lose out this year (I hope so) if he continues wearing an old kilt cut up and some cushion covers!

I have to agree the costume is really very, very Blue Peter-ly. Quite silly really.

Colin Jackson did a very good Latin dance to start (better than Matt's IMO) and lost. Aled's Cha Cha also got high scores and he finished 4th (2nd on the leaderboard in week 1, beating even St Jill). Ray and Spoony both did Cha Chas that scored equal with Mark's in week 1 (although I would have said Spoony's was obviously inferior to both of them) and they both crashed out well before the final. John's Cha Cha topped the leaderboard for the men week 1 (although everyone was pretty crap on the men's side that week) and he also finished nowhere.

I don't think there's really a pattern. Men who do Cha Chas week 1 tend to do better than men who do waltz, but then up until Series 6 they always gave the cha chas to the men with potential and the walzes to the old farts. They are at least a bit more even handed now (although the two clear favourite men with viewers and punters before the first dance : Matt and Jimi, have been given the cha cha)

I agree that its more to do with the producers tending to give the duffers ballroom on week one, and if you can move, you are more likely to get latin.

I was thinking something similar.

Latin is harder for men than ballroom.

Someone has to be chosen to start off with the hardest dance.

Maybe it relects the producers' belief about who has bottle, and who hasn't.

The line the show normally takes is that it's ballroom that's harder for men, because they have to lead, and Latin is harder for women, because they have to dance on their own and be the focus. (Apart from rumba, which Len is convinced is harder for men for some reason). Although I doubt they actually believe this, given that the men are usually back-led through the ballroom and are pushed into BEING the focus of the Latin dances by the choreography.

Thank you for telling us why we voted for them.

Tell me again, why are we voting for them (them, as in who?)?

I don't know why you did.

I vote for Ramps because he was an amazing dancer.

I voted for Tom because I thought he was a great dancer and I loved his enthusiasm for dancing, and I loved his partnership with Camilla. I think he's incredibly underrated I think the only contestant on SCD that is a better dancer than Tom is Jill Halfpenny.

I voted for Chris because I like his dancing, his partnership with Olachops and the enthusiasm he had. He was one of the few celebs last year who looked like they were having fun.

Okay, I voted for Ramps, for Matt Dawson (not in the finals), for Matt Di Angelo (when he did that fantastic waltz after the week of disaster, and for his final showdance which was a 'wow' for me compared with Alesha's disco-ey rubbish), for Chris when he danced his rhumba, for Ricky when he did that amazing Quickstep, and for Tom when he did his waltz (not perfect but he danced well nevertheless) and the final showdance.

Hmm, I've lost you again...

I was voted for the girls (Alesha and Letitia) in series 5 and John Barnes, because Nicole is the best dancer I have ever watched on Strictly and JB's salsa was outstanding.

Funnily enough Tom's waltz I wasn't a fan of (I'm not a fan of the waltz) but I love his foxtrot and quickstep, and that showdance.

I liked Matt Dawson, his AS was amazing.

Never voted for Ricky but I loved his cha-cha.

I also voted for Chris cos I stuck a fiver on him at 16-1. So I was £85 better off when he won.

I did vote for Alesha, for her foxtrot and then found out she blag her way through half of it because Matthew forgot the steps. That was amazing.

You've won £85? Good for you.

I love Alesha's foxtrot, I won £30 when she won. I won money on Tom too.

Wow, you seem to pick the winner quite regularly.

Three series in a row.

Series 3 to 5 I put bets on the winners in week 1. Muffed it with Austin in Series 6 and didn't bother last year, although I did put some on Chris in the last few weeks when he was a shoe-in but his odds were still out at 7-1 to 10-1.

This I agree with - and I can't understand why so many think his score that week was undeserved.

Coincidentally the person who dances first on the first live saturday show normally ends up in the final and they all danced the cha cha

1. Natasha - Cha Cha
2. Julian - Cha Cha
3. Darren - Cha Cha
4. Matt Dawson - Cha Cha
5. Matt DiAngelo - Cha Cha
6, Tom - Cha Cha
7. The first dancer on the live shows was Rav - tango though the first on the Sat was Jade - Cha Cha and if she had not been injured who knows?