Judging by the dances so far the winner could be one of seven i.e Jimi,Scott, Kara,Tina,Matt or Gavin . This means we should have a far better contest then last year.

Is there ever a clear winner? Noone would have predicted Chris Hollins from the outset last year. Sometimes the public do peculiar things: voting out those with great potential (Gabbygate), voting in those who are so bad words can't describe them (Kategate, Sergeantgate) - Christopher Parker and Julian Clary both made the final for god's sake

Ricky Whittle was the outstanding dancer last year from the start and for me he's the winner.

Well, he should have been but, as I say, the public do some peculiar things sometimes

Last year didn't have a clear winner until at least Charleston week.

The ones I would say have a chance this year are Kara, Matt, Jimi, Pamela and Scott, add in Gavin if he can do Latin very well. I don't think Tina has a hope - if Jared can't choreograph an up-to-standard cha cha, he hasn't got a hope of satisfying Len's standards for the Foxtrot!

Jared did a good job tonight of demonstrating just how good the pro's who have been demoted to the 'troupe' were

C'mon, he's just a wee boy. Oh wait, he's 22. Hmm.

I hope he learns from his mistake and pick up from there and surprise us next week.

Give the guy a chance past his first dance! I recall Vincent being critiqued for his choreography well into his Strictly career amd he has survived OK. Kristina was also criticised last night so it isn't just Jared that came under fire this weekend.

True, I didn't rate Kristina's choreography at all (and i do like her). But Jared didn't even dance well, let alone choreograph a good dance. He does have a chance to redeem himself, but he needs to dance better than all the celebs, and in my opinion that didn't happen this weekend - his hands irritated me a lot.

In dancing terms it didn't have a clear winner until Chris Hollins won the SF and we knew the comedy vote would win.We also then knew the dancing competition was over because only one of the best two dancers had made it to the final and there was no way Chris could get near to Ricky . Chris didn't even dance the best Charleston - but he did gain the key comic momentum.

Matt's approaching 2-1 best odds. I can't remember anyone being such a solid favourite this early on. Strictly punters are notoriously stupid, but in this case I think they're right. Barring an injury I'd say it's an open and shut case.

The public simply had a different opinion to yours I guess .

Your right its going to be a tough choice, there is a lot of good potential dancers

Barring injury I think its a cert for Matt and Kara for the final. God knows who no 3 will be though...

(Matt has the kind of "good looking harmless boy next door" image that the Strictly demographic will LOVE!)

I love that there's quite a few who could win, but i think we'll have a better idea after next week as there are quite a few who i am unsure about, eg: Pamela, Scott and Gavin all did a good waltz but how good will their latin be? this especially applies to Gavin as he didn't look great in the group dance where as Pamela did and Scott looked half decent aswell.

I can't imagine anyone disliking Jimi so i hope he keeps up the good and entertaining dancing as i would like him to go far.

I think Matt will be just as good at ballroom as he is at latin, and most probably Kara aswell.

After facing the judges i am hoping Goldie, Michelle and Jared all took onboard what they said and we'll see improvements next week.

I think Felicity will be great at the ballroom and the Rumba but her cha cha disappointed me. If Patsy can get over the nerves she may be ok.

All of these have potential to go far (imo) but the loss of the dance-off is going to make it very exciting (and nail biting) indeed!

Don't think so. I think 6 couples all have a good chance and judging by the reaction to Ann W she will probably go on to win it, since there are no judges barring her way this time.

Who is the seventh?

I think it's way too early to be saying this. Even in the years when there emerged a clear winner by say the 3rd or 4th week, it wasn't clear in the 1st week, you know? I think based on dance talent and potential, there are 4 (maybe 5) who if the final was next week would clearly be up for it and for me those are; Kara, Pamela, the guy from Eastenders whose name I can't remember, the small girl from Corrie whose name I can't remember and MAYBE the black hole of personality that is Matt Baker. But it's just a little too early to be saying anything for definite.

I still maintain that Matt will be hampered by Aliona in the end. If Jimi has any king of journey then I think he might do it........Flavia's fans are a force to be reckoned with.

I would love for Flavia to win this show but I won't vote for them just for her. I think Jimi has potential but usually on first viewing you can tell how far someone will be able to go dancing-wise and I just don't think this will be Flavia's year

Think it will be Matt, would love it to be Kara and to a TINY TINY lesser extent Jimi though.

Gethin did a very mediocre Cha Cha Cha first dance and scored much the same as Jimi so I dont think your first impressions always works.

But IMO Gethin never became a good dancer. He was alright but never what you would call a dancer. People just warmed to him and liked/fancied him. But dancing-wise, he never deserved over a 7 for me. So my first impression of him was never changed really. I mean really, you can tell by the way a person walks whether or not they'll be a good dancer. It's that obvious. People can become more polished and accurate but they can't make talent where it doesn't come naturally. There's a difference between learning the steps, performing them with gusto and being a good dancer.

I don't think that's true at all - would anyone have thought that Chris last year would be able to do a very good foxtrot after watching his first week tango? And before I get a million responses saying Chris was not a good dancer, he was in comparison to where he started from. Good dancer does not mean 'the best' dancer, that is entirely subjective.

And how on earth can you tell someone's potential at Latin if they do a ballroom dance first? Cherie was brilliant at ballroom but she was not good at Latin, and you couldn't tell that just from watching her Foxtrot!

So don't write Jimi and Flavia off.

Well we will obviously have to agree to disagree then and I bow to your obvious superior knowledge (not)