I completely agree - much as I wish I didn't have to ...

The BBC is pushing Ann above all the other contestants. She is hyped pre-performance, post-performance, on ITT and she has her own column in the Radio Times. No other celebrity is getting the same attention. It is a cyncial attempt to recreate Jon Sergeant's stint on the show - the difference being that Ann will not leave voluntarily.

At the moment, she's there for comedy value, but I fully expect Patsy, Tina, Felicity and Jimi to fall foul of the Widdinator. Gavin too, although he will last longer even if his dancing remains poor, by going all 'little boy lost' like he did last Saturday.

I very much hope she doesn't succeed to do as much damage as that, but it wouldn't surprise me if she did. In which case, I'd predict a threeway final between Ann, Scott and Matt. Not what this series deserves, but it's clear that Moira Ross wants to keep Ann in for as long as possible ...

I couldn't agree more. Don't forget that she always goes on last or nearly last too to prevent people switching to the X-Factor, and she has, on the whole, been steered clear of the dances which would be the most cringingly embarrassing, such as the rhumba and the jive.

Len made a good point on DWTS this week, when Audrina, who was 2nd on the leaderboard, was voted out in favour of weaker dancers. He said (words to the effect) : "People in US & UK love the underdog, but surely they love justice more."

Good point I thought.

He used exactly the same line last year in the semis, implicitly trying to tell the public to vote for Ricky instead of Chris.

The tactic backfired and Ali left ...

I haven't seen much of DWTS this season but if Audrina failed to engage the audience with her personality as well as her dancing, that may explain her fate at the public's hands.

And the judges - including Len - went on at great length about her detachement and lack of connectivity in their assessment, so much so that she was tearing up in the piece to camera straight after.

Anne Widdecombe is to dance, what Maria Pracatan was to music, on Clive James' TV programme.

Hmm.. I wonder where the BBC got the idea?

True but she still ended up 2nd on the leaderboard, which if she wasn't good, suggests the others were even worse!

True - but it seems to be a case of the comments not matching up to the score. Bristol Palin was praised for her improvement and even given the encore dance slot all while being second from bottom of the board.

It could just be that viewers pay more heed to the comments than the actual leader board positions. Something for the judges to think on there!

Ann needs to go tonight or as soon as poss cos she simply isn't entertaining anymore (imo) i feel we're just getting the same things every week.

I agree with this, but she won't have the good grace of JS and resign....
I am totally bored with her (and have been from the start)

Oh the BBC PR machine is well and truly behind Anne. In fact her Paso was shown on BBC Breakfast this morning from start to finish, just the dance, not part of a SCD discussion or anything. In fact I think it was supposed to be news!

That man showed no signs of grace at all! I find the difference in opinion between Ann and John on DS strange- wasn't he popular on here at the time? I found him an egocentric, self-obsessed nitwit.

I think Scott might well go before Ann, he's this years Ricky Whittle. He gets 9's and 10's for completing the dance.

I think Ann will last another few weeks I think if Scott or Matt end up in the bottom two it might shock people enough to vote for the better dancers and get the horrible little woman out.

He gets 9s and 10s for completing the dance - so well!

He's good, absolutely ... but he ain't that good.

The scoring is starting to look decidedly iffy. Scott was good last night - but three tens? Sorry, but that's not what I sa2w (not least because the floor was covered in dry ice ).

I deeply suspected that John's resignation from the show was designed to give him the most publicity possible. There's an inevitable comparisonbetween him and Anne of course, but Anne has not been playing on the public sympathy the way John did. John was out to prove a point and to kick start his media career. I think Anne is just out to have a laugh. She probably won't last very much longer, but she's really enjoying it and so are most of us.

On the other hand, I do hope she goes before people turn against her. I turned hugely against John after he kept arguing with the judges and trying to tell everyone what the show should be about. I found him slimey, unpleasant and self-serving and I went right off him. I do not find Anne anything of the kind. Her self-mockery is just her, no agenda. She doesn't quite old cheese like "The public will save me". Oh John used to make me want to vomit when he did that.

I wonder if they actually want her to win to have an excuse to drop or make even more major changes to the series? After all it will have no credibilty as a dance show if that happens.

I'm getting a bit worried that she could actually win. On the bus I was on yesterday two dear old ladies were chatting, one was obviously a bit deaf as her friend was talking so loudly the whole bus could hear the converation. The conversation was all Ann. It was a nice friendly bus and other passengers joined in. Folks were saying stuff of the ilk that though they had never watched the show before they were now tuning in and would be voting for her. I tried my best to put in a good word for the lovely Kara but was mostly ignored! The word on the street is Ann, Ann, Ann. The BBC publicity machine is in overdrive and working well. How far can she go? I reckon she will get to the semi-final (at least).

Great post.

I'd agree with every word of that. Now that there is no dance off and given her relentless publicity machine I'm afraid her winning is a very real possibility.

I don't think that John was out to prove a point as such: the impression I got was that it began relatively innocently with him answering the judges back which secured his popularity with the audience. I think what happened then was that he got caught up in his own hype and 'The public will save me' rather reflects that (not that I'm defending him saying it - it made him look extraordinarily arrogant). But the judges (especially Arlene) and the anti-BBC media were as much to blame as he was for turning his appearance on the show into something that nearly killed it. I think the penny finally dropped for him and that's why he left (not to mention the speaking engagement on a cruise he already had booked ...).

Ann hasn't played to the public as overtly as JS did, but played to it she has, absolutely. She knows her dancing is pretty ropey and she is going out of her way to play the 'entertainment' card as much as possible (quips to Tess, answering the judges back, comedy routines that don't require her to do much). She may give the impression of being out to have a laugh, but it's just an act, along with the self-mockery. Politicians are a dishonest breed at the best of times and Ann is just saying what she thinks people want to hear.

What's different about her and JS is that she has clearly been engaged to perform in this way. She has been given a brief. I don't enjoy watching Ann but, at the end of the day, she is doing the job Moira Ross and her team hired her to to do. And it's this I have the biggest issue with: we are headed towards schizo Strictly, with all the other contestants inhabiting the programme as we know it (albeit served with lashings of cheese) and Ann the sole star of 'Let's Dance For Comic Relief' (except Ann is the only person benefitting from her efforts).

JS never had the BBC hype machine behind him when he claimed the public would support him. Ann does. And that's what's most worrying about all this. There is a very clear agenda to keep her in the competition for as long as possible. I just wonder who is going to let their discontent about this slip first: a celeb, or a pro?

Even with a dance off, it would be perfectly possible for Ann to reach the final. JS supposedly had a huge slice of the public support that would almost certainly have propelled him to the final, had he chosen to stay in the competition.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees this as a deliberate ploy by the BBC.

The fact that everyone involved has said the speaking engagement would've been altered doesn't make you think it had nothing to do with his resignation.

I think he got sick of the hassle involved, especially when his wife was brought into the equation.


Maybe the BBC are trying not to upset the Tory Party.

Yes, good point. She might never finish in the bottom two.