So basically it's anti-American prejudice.

The judges were harder on her than on anyone else, and perhaps they thought she needed to be taken down a peg, or thought she needed to knew she'd have to work hard and dance well. I don't know, but it was out of line with how they treated everyone else.

I thought the judges were guilty of letting their preconceptions influence them.

They had decided beforehand that Michelle was going to be brilliant and Gavin was going to be horrendous. That neither celebrity performed as predicted seemed to lead to harsher treatment of one and over-praising of the other.

Michelle's Cha Cha wasn't out of line with most first attempts at Latin we've seen over the years.

Agreed Michelle's Cha Cha was average but not the worst either this series or any other series & although she has some technical issues she does have natural rhythm so it would be daft to write her off.

Gavin's waltz was a decent effort & as Craig rightly pointed out simple but effective. Praise to Katya for this & it should also help his confidence going forward but in reality it was a reasonably good effort but not outstanding.

I don't think it's just the judges that dished out over harsh comments to Michelle & over praised Gavin - many on this board have done likewise.

Michelle's a bit of an enigma for me. She says that she expects herself to get at least 8s (is she planning to push herself hard or being complacent and arrogant? Does she understand how our scoring system is weighted?) Her training VT shows her saying she's suffering under the weight of people's expectations and finding the routine hard to pick up (is she just whinging or genuinely worried?). She seems stand-offish and pouty when criticised (is she sulking or genuinely disappointed with herself?) She seems to wait for Brendan's approval at the end of the routine, and then when she gets it she goes bezerk, and yet in training she seems to treat him like a hired hand. She's very loud, and boisterous and confident, at the same time as seeming somewhat vulnerable.

She's seems like a complicated character, which is struggling to find expression through the show's editing (subtly she's been labelled a "diva" with the "partnership from hell" with Brendan before the show even starts). I think I want to see her last a while, to see if she can work on what they've given her to work on, and have a blessed j word, but I don't know if the public will give her the opportunity and it's probably only going to end badly.

Couldn't agree more!! Very arrogant in her VT, and v-e-r-y happy with her dance afterwards.

But: they are the ones to watch (or at least she said so herself )
Confidence gone mad

Um, how is our scoring system weighted?


I think a lot of it is that she's American. I don't think that saying that she expects herself to get at least 8s (for example) would be such a problem there.

I thought the same and wondered why they were so down with her

Just get the feeling, standing next to some females like Felicity and Patsy, her `loudness` won`t go down well with the public but as someone said, she has a vulnerability which comes through too so hopefully that`ll appeal to the GBP!.

Her legs are to die for and I`m looking forward to her ballroom routine this week

Heh, that's a point. I guess in my head I think the American system is weighted to give higher individual scores, because even with the generally lower standard of dancing people rarely get below a 6 from anyone. No Craig for a start



I've followed the US series on and off from the start, and up until a couple of years ago they seemed to have the same problem with getting females to the end as we do now. I think the game-changer is probably (perhaps unfortunately) that they got new male pros who did choreography that (or was perceived to) be of a much higher standard than anybody
else was capable of. I don't know that they're much kinder to competitive women over there either, or at least if they're not athletes.

I agree with OP. She wasn't fantastic but not awful either. I think the judges and us all had high expectations so we over criticised her. I do think she will improve.

I didn't have high expectations because her training footage was pretty poor. She didn't seem very focused to me.

I think that's a bit of a dramatic way of putting it. We aren't the same as America, and there's no point pretending we are. However, arrogance isn't really received well over there either. Confidence is encouraged, but not arrogance. I've been watching DWTS for quite a while now, and most of the contestants are savvy enough to be humble in front of the cameras.

The truth is that she just wasn't very good. She received the marks she deserved. I do think Alesha and Craig were excited about her performance; the judges would have given her good marks if she had performed well.

Only a woman could think those things are desirable. I found one when eating chicken once, I nearly choked on it.

She was shocking, obviously all her Destiny Childs stage shows and videos were heavily choreographed up to the hilt.

She wasn't arrogant at all. I saw confidence & a positive "can-do" attitude.

Im just waiting for someone to say the usual and predictable "she has a chip on her shoulder"

Heels too high - quite agree - it's the one thing I kept thinking about during the whole of her dance - would she fall over like a supermodel wearing those ghastly platform soles?

I also have a gut feeling that she won't ever take more than 30% or 40% of what Brendan says on board.

She said she wanted 10's in the VT. Bit ambitious for a first dance dontcha think?

She came across as thinking she's far more famous than she really is, a bit of a diva, and the best dancer.

All Strictly fatal mistakes IMHO

You sure it was a chicken and not an ostrich ?

Especially from a woman who is only 5ft tall

It's alright I found a use for them. Getting the little bits out from between my teeth.

It wasn't bad. I think we expected her to be great so it was more that she did not meet our expectations. When she said she does not want anything lower than an 8 I just laughed. This is England, people are harsh here! You can tell she was not happy with the marks and can imagine her having a bratty strop like a diva behind the curtains.