Even a score of one or two might mean difference of two positions in the leaderboard. Imagine Scott scoring 34 and Matt 33 for their Samba and somehow Kara only scored 36 while Pam did exceptionally well in the AS and equalled the score with Scott. This would mean Matt is two positions down compared with Scott and IN THE DANGER ZONE.

Or the reverse is true. Scott scored 33 while Matt scored 34. And the girls each scored 36 and 34. Scott will be in danger zone as well.

Matt will go for entertainment and seem quite pleased with himself.

Scott will do a technically sharp dance that has people gushing but somehow contrives to be bland.

Both will be out-danced by their partners, drawing eyes away from various lacks.

Craig will criticise some insanely minor point each time, then say a word in several parts. (Fab-u-lous, A-maz-ing, etc.)

Bruno will nearly fall over the front of the desk in his keenness to praise but will find some slight fault in Matt's.

Len will light up about whichever of them dances more like a man.

Alesha will 'agree with the guys' and say they really sold the routines.

They will be tied in the marks.

Ann will still not be in the bottom two.

Bristol Palin will win DWTS.

Are you writing the script for SCD.

This sounds rather on the mark, and I would not be surprised if they are goingt to tie Matt and Scott. I will also be so bold and say that Kara will get 3 tens.

I would have thought Kara might get the 40? If not - I'm betting she'll be top of the leader board anyway.
If the judges have any sense, they won't tie anyone...it's the best chance of getting she-who-shall-not-be-named out. But then again, they probably don't want her out. sigh.

Veri's summation is pretty spot on though

An interview in the Daily Heil with Ola has her saying that James designed (and bullied the designers into making up) the infamous black lace catsuit she wore when she danced with Andrew Castle. So now we know who to blame for some of her more outrageous options

Mystic Lorelei predicts a breakthrough week putting Matt over Scott, as long as he doesn't dance first.

I would tend to agree with you Cymrugirl ITT set up the expectation of a 40 at Blackpool with its VT's etc from previous years and the amount of tens given out there. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if it is Kara that gets this or if she is at the top of the leaderboard.
As for ties, the judges lack a lot of sense at times so I wouldn't be that shocked if there were a couple tbh.

Also, I don't see the need to compare the two dancers (and their professionals for that matter) and enjoy one performance over the other. Is it impossible to just enjoy both routines without criticising either professional I'm certainly looking forward to both doing the same dance as I hope this means there will be atleast 2 quality Samba's this year (and then Kara when she does it )

Sadly, even if they are tied, I fear the fans of Matt and Scott might still lock horns and debate their fav did better than the other.

I hope not though. Whoever's scoring the perfect 40 would probably be shot down in flames in this forums with the cry 'She's/he's overmarked! Crucify!'

Where in that interview did it say bullied?! He asked the designers if they would make it, they said yes. Would be a dangerous thing if asking someone to do something, with the choice of whether they say yes or not, constituted bullying....


It really should be Scott dancing first as he went last last week, although Ann has never gone first....

We haven't had one of those threads for a long time, that's quite different this year.

I think there might be a lot of overmarking this week, but I think it will be across the board. It's the atmosphere of the ballroom.

Have there been many Matt versus Scott fan arguments? I'm not spending so much time on this forum these days, so a lot of the stuff seems to be passing me by.

Actually it shouldn't be Pamela again, as she now has been dancing first twice in three weeks... Ann will never be first, she probably stipulated that in her contract.

BTW I think Lorelei Lee meant bullying more in a colloquial way (as in being very persuasive), rather than in the horrible way.

Yeah, if it's Pamela again I will get quite annoyed


And I'm sure it probably was meant in a colloquial way, but given the way James divides opinion on here anyway, just wanted to make clear so that people weren't assuming that's what he actually did

If either of the Samba's get a 40 I will eat all my hats....(rushes off to make sure she has plenty of chocolate to dislodge the wool from my teeth) whereas I could easily see Kara getting a 40 for her American Smooth.

In response to an earlier post saying Aliona hasnt chosen her outfits......I am not sure thats actually completely true I am sure the pros get a big say in what they wear even if its not them doing the first drawing....its surely a collaboration.

Aliona's latin costumes are just not to my taste....yes she has a great figure but then so do all the pros.....for me she just pushes over the line into tarty.

Sorry, lach doch is absolutely right (probably because I strongly suspect us of being the same person ) and I didn't mean to imply James was nasty or threatening in any way.

I DO suspect he'd have stated his requirements in his usual forthright fashion (and I say that from the pro-Jordan camp), but Sue Judd doesn't look like the type to take any s*** from dancers to me

I think a lot of the men in the ballroom world like to be a tad controlling.

I remember watching a short feature on Jason Gilkison and Peta Roby (Burn the floor peeps) who were just about to retire and he basically did everything for her. There was literally a segment of 5-10 mins of her describing everything he does for her; from designing her dresses to putting on her makeup and cutting her hair! All while set to a montage of him doing it! I felt sorry for her.

Not that I think Ola is a doormat but, after watching that feature, it doesn't surprise me that he has a big say on what she wears.

I would love Kara to do well and get the marks she deserves.

As for the judges, on the new micro-managed Strictly this year it would not surprise me if the judges were told what scores to give. It could explain why AW is consistently overmarked by Len, Alesha and Bruno. The Beeb obviously think it's in their interests in the ratings war, to keep the circus act in as long as possible.

I'm not disagreeing with you that the Beep are trying to keep AW in, however, it is a fact that she has been lowest on the leaderboard for most of the time (so the occasional overmarking hasn't made any difference), so it's really been due to the public that she has been kept in.

To be fair, the public do like the circus acts etc. (I don't watch x-factor, but Jedward and Wagner have been pretty good examples of this). I think now it will be getting more difficult for he to stay in).

I find the battle of the pros as interesting as the battle between Matt and Scott.

I expected Natalie to have gained a lot over Aliona after having a full year of experience last year, but Aliona has shown this year that she is very good at teaching.

Aliona seems better at Latin and Natalie at Ballroom, both in teaching and choreography, but Natalie tends to play it safe and Aliona doesn't - which may work in Natalie's favour.

Scott looks to me like he can do a cleaner dance, whereas Matt seems to enjoy the dancing more and usually has more to do, but not always fully finished.

Neither of them looked particularly good on ITT. Matt's hip action is too loose and Scott just looked pretty bad overall. I think Matt will probably do better than Scott tomorrow.

To be honest, from their training neither look like this will be their dance. Matt's backward hip movement is really good but his standalone hip movement and actual dancing of the rest of the routine is manic and messy and Scott's hips look stuck in concrete but his running promenade steps look not bad. So it might be quite iffy for them both

I actually feel the opposite. I think Matt is quite clean, almost bordering on clinical whereas Scott (especially in latin) can be more messy but it seems to happen because he enjoys it so much.

If Scott doesn't do a good Samba, then he could struggle with the Cha Cha too.

Maybe not. In the samba it's hip action combined with bounce action and it has to come from the floor. In cha cha cha, there's no bounce so getting the hip action from pushing off the floor is easier. For me anyway.

Matt hadnt sorted the hands out though.........think the American Smooths are going to trounce them both to be honest............Pamela looked good and we didnt see Kara but I wouldnt be suprised if she wasnt fantastic

I'm not sure I like the song choice for Matt and Scott's Samba.

Matt and Aliona song of Young Hearts Run Free is so cheesy and old fashioned.

Whereas while I like the song Higher and Higher, it's too slow for an samba and would not give Scott's dance the wow factor

Great song is vital. Can't enjoy a dance without it, no matter how great it is.

I agree. It's partly why I really haven't been paying much attention to Matt's dancing recently; his AT might have been really good for all I know, but the choice of song/music was completely stupid.

I hope we get something as good as this (and that's from someone who isn't a huge fan of Karen or her choreography).