Agree

There may also be some Micky taking going on with the happy happy bit and the various James personae.

Regardless of anything else the professionals are used to competing in a serious way, which some may well be finding a little galling given some of the couples efforts.

Hmm ... might you be thinking of the same person I'm thinking about?

I see it pretty much that way.

I thought that James got a bit too serious about mistakes at one point in Foxtrot week and it took a while for him to realise that, and he is now 'swinging the other way' as a joke.

As long as James only sees mistakes as a source for a bit of friendly banter, they will both be fine.

Its interesting how many different views there are on what the problem is and how predictable some of the views are - all valid views of course because its all speculation.

They are 2 people thrown together for work purposes for very long stretches of time . Dont your work colleages annoy you occasionally?

All this talk of it being James or Pamela's fault annoy me, both seem really quite high maintanece I think both would be hard to live with after a while thay are having an off time atm and it is prbably down to both thier personalities.

We thought there was definitely some weird tension going on there. I can't see a good reason for the fallouts over the jive, then this polar opposite fake happy thing, which was how they themselves described it. I think Pamela's getting on his nerves.

Cherie had dodgy weeks dance-wise and James didn't go off her. I know he originally had the bad boy image, but I think that may have been down to a comlete personality clash with his first Strictly partner Georgina (someone off a soap I think, can't remember her full name). I don't think he's the type to get mean with his partner over one poor performance.

I haven't seen last night's ITT yet so can't really comment on that, but Pamela and James have always struck me as being a well-matched couple.

I do like James Jordan, but he has always struck me as being ultra competitive (even more so since his wife won the glitterball last year) and I could be wrong, but I think this is the furthest he has ever got in the competition? From what I recall, he only ever seems to last a few weeks before being voted out, no matter who his dance partner is.

I think the low scores for the jive and almost being in the bottom two shook them both up - it made Pamela realise that this is a dance competition and does need to be taken seriously after all and made James realise just how much he wants to be in it still and that he needs to up their game to make sure they stay in the competition.

Looking forward to their dance on Saturday - although I can't remember for the life of me what it is - salsa?

cha cha cha - I'm hoping it'll be a good one for them more like the salsa and less like the jive.

He got to week 9 with Cherie and week 7 with Zoe.

Can't see a good reason for the fall-outs over the jive?

I'll give you two good reasons: the dance was undermarked by at least one of the judges (which must have been frustrating for James, who put a helluva lot more jive content into his routine than either Brendan or Robin); and that ended them up lower down the judges' leader board and, therefore, in a vulnerable position.

So, although the public came to their rescue, it was a close shave. James, who is notoriously competitive, did not want a repeat performance and Pamela, who struggled with part of the routine, pretty much admitted she felt bad about cocking up.

Pamela hasn't suddenly started getting on James' nerves. They both get on each others' nerves because the nature of their relationship is, essentially, a power struggle. It's that oneupmanship - which is pretty good humoured most of the time - that makes them so engaging to many people. Pamela is not like Cherie, in that she will have an opinion and tell him so - and James, who likes being top dog, has more of a challenge than he did with either Cherie or Zoe.

I don't think it's worth mentioning Casualty's Georgina as, from what I recall, she wound James up in another way: she was lazy. Not a smart move ...

So I don't think there's any bad blood there - just Pamela giving James as good as she gets!

Agrees with Servalan!

James has tweeted that they have had a good week and there is a reason he hasn't been tweeting that will be revealed at some point.

i think that the Beeb are trying to create drama's with their editing as usual and people see what they want to see- it always was so and always will be!

I and a lot of my friends liked Pamela in the beginning but we're all in agreement that we've gone off her - can't put my finger on it, could be her fake smile which is very annoying or the fact that she took the criticism from the judges so badly, either way I don't want her to win.

Depsite being a Scot myself I cannot abide Billy Connolly these days, he was brilliant in his younger years but I think she's changed him.

I am not sure when she took criticism from tje judges badly?!

Maybe Billy just grew up! I don't think he is the sort of person you could change unless he wanted to change and grow and develop.

I am not getting involved in another Pam bashing thread- soon there will be as many of them as there are about Ann and the competition!

Your reasoning about undermarking and dance content could not be blamed on Pamela, so it wouldn't make sense for him to fall out with her for these reasons.


My point was, that regardless of previous poor performances from his partners, James has not typically taken it out on them afterwards except with Pamela after the Jive and with Georgina, who as you say wound him up because she was lazy.

Cherie and Zoe had weak dances but James didn't get funny with them over it. Hence why I wonder if James and Pamela aren't getting on.

Btw I never got the impression Cherie or Zoe particularly lacked in opinions, perhaps they just didn't make it all about a power struggle.

Sure, Pamela couldn't be blamed for the choreography, but she made the mistake that cost them the lower scores. She knew she'd done this so felt responsible. And who's saying they actually fell out? They both admitted it had been a difficult week after the jive.


Pamela isn't 'making it all about a power struggle'. The oneupmanship is the very nature of the chemistry between them. There are millions of couples like that, all over the country (I know - I'm part of one! ). It doesn't mean people hate each other or anything like that. Some relationships thrive on a little harmless friction - especially creative ones. It's not about being 'funny'.

And FelineFantastic is absolutely right: the BBC edit things together in a certain way to create 'drama'. If you want to interpret things one way, don't let me stop you. But don't expect it to go unchallenged by people with a different take on it!

It's not just about editing though.

Body language and the general vibe a couple give off can also give you an insight to their relationship.

Of course we're all going to interpret these things differently, but I sense more tension between Pamela & James these days. They don't seem as close or as easy with one another as they were at the start.

At risk of repeating myself over and over , you can only edit out and not edit in .As Sid said its all in the face and body language ,

I don't dispute the vibe has changed a little but I think that's purely to do with Pamela being on the end of James' competitiveness and the scare they both got in jive week. Plus the stakes are higher now - they want to be seen as contenders (well, James certainly does).

However, I thought they were both on good form on ITT on Wednesday and seemed less tense than the previous week.

And, let's be real, everyone must be aware of their potential vulnerability in the face of the deafening hype surrounding Ann at the moment - and the only possible means of saving themselves from the Widdinator is by getting good scores from the judges. Hence why, I would guess, James is a little anxious ... not that he'd ever let that slip, of course!

Do you think, I think the manic laughter from Pam was really quite scary and James appeared to me to want to be anywhere elese but in Pams company. It was after this programme that this whoel what is wrong between these 2 things took off for me.

Mind you I also felt Vincent was heartily sick of Felicity and Gavin and Katya were getting quite close.

Perhaps with Jimi going last week and the less than enthusiastic support they are receiving they may well be wondering whether the effort is worth it. James because he is a true competitor will still want to try. Pam who is not so competitive may be running out of steam - hence the apparent friction.

It could be Monaogg, it must be heartrending to really try your best and know that someone who is faffing about for comedy value and has invented and imposed their own dance rules will get chosen over you. It may well be causing tension in a few of the couples

Pamela - not competitive?? You must be joking.

Joking? Didn't you see? Pam going on and on about in the VT that the cha-cha-cha is SO MUCH FUUUUUNNNNN! *cues in scary smiles*

Not so competitive as James though

They are both as bad as each other on that front imo.

Pamela needs to step back from the flirtatious and sex references, I'm no prude but can only listen to so much.

How is wanting to improve after getting a lower score and still enjoying it no matter what taking criticism badly?