And I wonder if that is balanced out by the viewers they have lost because of the 2As factor! (2As = Ann and Anton)

Every year the dance purists complain about a contestant(s) they consider not worthy.

I would have thought the long term viewer would have caught on to the fact the longer they complain and the more insulting they are the longer that contestant will stay.

It's a TV Entertainment show, where the contestants are well paid celebrities who are chosen to take part. They are not taking part for their love of dance, they are in it for the money and to raise their profiles for more work.

This thread has really made me laugh.

Those of us who post on here represent a tiny minority of viewers/voters. My guess is that there are thousands of times more people who watch Strictly who just sit down with family at the weekend for a bit of light entertainment and a laugh. They sit and watch Ann and either laugh out loud or say "that was just ridiculous" and then get on with the next minute and a half of their lives. The number of dance purists watching and getting their knickers in a twist about Ann in comparison must be tiny.

Don't stop threads like this though, if only for entertainment value

Rubbish! Don't tell me I'm not a real fan. I watch avidly every year. I think you'll find that the BBC classify this programme as "light entertainment" well Anne entertains me. She bough a smile to my face and for me thats what it's all about. If I and thousand of others want to vote for her then why should'nt we? Our votes and indeed the money that we spend on them are as valid as any others.

What is "BIB" please?

To contribute slightly to the discussion, I do think it's worth repeating that message board posters make up a very small percentage of Strictly's viewers so the number of people who vote for Ann on the basis of other posters being rude about her is going to be proportionally miniscule. When the celebs were announced I, in common with I think many other posters on here, rolled my eyes at Ann's name because I do like watching good dancers and I knew already that there was no way she'd be going anywhere for a good few weeks. My more innocent housemate's response was: "Ooh, that could be funny! I hope she won't go out the first week, I'd like to see how she does." She is also convinced that Artem and Kara are together, Katya and Gavin are heading that way and has asked me if about 3 different people are pregnant thus far. Most regulars on here would probably roll their eyes at any of these questions/ opinions. Personally, I don't find Ann to be entertaining and won't be overly happy when she inevitably outlasts a better dancer or two. However at the end of the day she will be staying in because the voting public want her there, at which point much as I may grumble, I accept that I'm in the minority.

(Of course is any out of Kara, Matt, Scott or Pamela go before Ann, I don't promise to remain quite so level headed! Then again, that's why we're all here, isn't it? Because we have strong opinions about the show and will bore most of our friends to tears if we can't come and discuss the programme on here.)

Thank you! I was stuck on "bibliographic record" and couldn't get past it...

Well, she has certainly got people talking .... the producers will be pleased.

She can stay in for a bit longer for me, I found her to be much more entertaining than the likes of Gavin & Tina (IMO). We all need a bit of a laugh...so what't the harm. I still think the whole John Sergeant affair was ridiculous, he should have stopped in as long as people were voting for him..all that OFCOM debarcle - it's Saturday night light entertainment.

I don't noramlly vote, but passed one Ian's way this week - not because I thought he was best, but because I like him and wish he was back.... does this make me an idiot???

Blimey !..what does she think they have been up to ?
That would push up the ratings, guessing who will finish up the duff before the Christmas special.

Anyway, I think you're right. Nobody here really takes it as seriously as a few posters seem to think. We may appear to take it seriousy, but that's the nature of these forums. If I'm not working, I tend to drift around..football, politics, X-Factor, Strictly, tv and films, threads in the General Discussion section..anything that catches my attention really. It's not a major part of my life, I just like a bit of good-natured banter.

Didn't you see Fantasia as a child? I'm not having a go at you, I'm just curious. It's such a classic - it was first released in 1940 and has been rereleased many times since, both in the cinema and on video/dvd. If you haven't seen it before, then it's worth watching if you get a chance

Maths not my strong subject but until the beeb print the voting figures how do you manage to be in the majority, if you add all the votes cast together they (normally) outnumber those cast for any single dancer
If that is the case with SCD then Ann voters are the minority, but we will never know as the beeb are not a democratic outfit letting us in on the true picture

No, it means you have good taste

I guess we are mainly women on this thread.

Ann was so against women becoming ministers in the Church of England that she became a Roman Catholic. I have nothing against the Catholic Church as I was brought up as one myself. but she must have a very low opinion of women to take this stand.

I say - vote her out!

Can't agree with Craig, Ann's entertaining, even if that sounds cliched. If some people want to see a dancing programme only, then I'm sure there are many professional contests around the country. Is the prize a professional dancing contract? No

Even Tess sums it up at the end of the dances "to vote for your favourite...".

For me Ann isn't entertaining. She is a waste of space in this programme and if she stays in and a better dancer is voted out, I will be annoyed. Not that anyone but me will take any notice.

Personally, I want to scream and break the tellybox every time Ann comes on. But that doesn't detract from the fact that the so-called dance purists should be *grateful* to her. Without the odd joke contestant (and Strictly's had one just about every season), they wouldn't get dance on TV every Saturday night.

Don't forget her advocation of shackling pregnant female prisoners during the early stages of labour.

She is an odious woman who is doing a very bad impression of being witty. All well rehearsed ..... she almost falls over herself to get this week's witticism out of her mouth.

Her true colours may well surface if she gets some true comments....... but they all seem to want to walk on eggshells around her

Erm, I'm not sure your logic follows there. I believe most objections to female ministers are founded on the Biblical tradition of God's power being passed down through the males of the race (not that there aren't plenty of tough cookie ladies in the Bible too - just not as God's chosen prophets. If Jesus had been around today, I reckon we'd have had female disciples and ended up with a much more representative demographic ).

If Ann is a committed Christian, then it would seem quite possible that she would take this viewpoint and be against women joining the Church.

If, however, she was the sort of woman who believed that all power and intelligence resided in men, then I doubt very much she would have become a high-profile politician.

NB: I would like to make it clear that as an atheist and a rational human being, I have nothing against women joining the Church, nor do I espouse Ann's views on shackling preggie prisoners etc.

Her salsa was funny but her dance this week was just silly and why wasn't it shown properly if the producers weren't pandering to her? She obviously isn't trying to learn to dance, or to put on a real performance so it will be hard for those that are to go out to her who have been putting in an effort, however that is the show they signed up for. Last year the bloke who won was a pathetic dancer so they must have known what they were letting themselves in for.

Chris wasn't a pathetic dancer. He just wasn't the best. His Rumba, Foxtrot and Charleston were all perfectly respectable though.

As for Ann, I long to see her voted out because I find her and Anton tedious now - both in terms of the stunts they pull on the dancefloor and the rehearsed quips they trot out in their banter with the judges and interviews with Claudia. But Ann's trying. I'll give her that much. She is making an effort to learn the steps. She's just not very good at performing them.

Very. :yawn:

If she were trying to dance they wouldn’t waste as much time as they can doing stunts and having the camera focus on her partner and avoiding dancing. She is not trying seriously to learn, unlike Gavin and Michelle. They are trying, and improving, but are not very good, Ann is just using the show to boost her profile and get other work but is is too lazy to put in any effort.

Don't often read Sunday Papers but the other week read a columnist (think was in Sunday Moan) who said that it was clearly Ann's strategy to raise her profile in order to get people aware of her so they'd listen to her on other 'serious' issues. That seems believable judging by her overwhelming and obvious desire to be seen as witty etc etc as per one previous poster's comments.

Def not working for me though - I used to not care one way or t'other about Widdicome but I have seriously grown to dislike her since she's been on SCD and I just know others who are trying much harder will go before her !

Oddly, I think Ann actually does work hard at learning the steps she has to do, and does them with a reasonable amount of precision. She certainly doesn't forget great screeds of the routine a la Paul Daniels.

However, she definitely isn't interested in learning anything else about dance other than the order of the steps. Performance styling, line, extension etc. etc. etc. mean less than nothing to her, hence why she resorts to gimmicks to give the dances any flavour of drama.

She is pretty inflexible in the way she will perform the dances as well, and the dances are crammed into the 'Ann mould' and made into what she wants them to be.

And, at some point, assuming she stays in long enough, she is going to come crashing up into the faster of the Latin dances.

No, it makes you the recipient of my grateful thanks! (cannae vote 'cos am furrin)