Scott was overmarked. That is absolutely ridiculous of Alesha and whoever else gave the mark more than he deserved.

But I liked only spins in Matt's dance,other than that he looked very tensed or some emotion but didn't work well and Aliona outdanced him. They didn't perform like a couple.

spot on

Didn't like the dance, too contemporary for me. It still was probably the most technically correct of the night though and should have been first on the leaderboard.

Matt and Aliona's dance was good for me in every way, thrilling, moving and lyrical. Matt looked baletic. I think he could have been a balet dancer. It didn't look like an american smooth, more like a contemparay dance with a bit of american smooth in it, but I loved it anyway.

No, I dont agree that it was manic and erratic dancing at all

It was beautiful, the lifts were amazing and it was a very bold choice which IMO worked

And one for entertainment. Mind you what entertains the judges is anybody's guess.

Perhaps you would prefer the Welsh version, Newport State of Mind ?

"Someone's fighting bouncers, turns out it's Gavin Henson"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyoDUoH7BZc

What is she doing as a judge?

That was awesome.

If you listened to Karen she thought the judges did not understand the nature of dance they had seen

No change there for our female judge then

Would much sooner have Karen on the judging panel - she spoke a lot of sense tonight, it would be nice to have that sort of insight on a Saturday night

I didn't hear Karen single out Alesha as being the only one that didn't understand that dance.

Besides, anyone could come along and say but you didn't understand it, if you did you'd think it was brilliant! Yeah but if we don't understand it, it's not our fault, it's your's. Besides, storytelling is my least favourite part of dancing and means very little. I thought that the routine was woeful and being told by Aliona what it was supposed to 'mean' wouldn't change that. It was rushed and clumsy IMO. The lift was good and that was it. Hated the outfits, the expressions on his face, his running around her like the roadrunner and the feel of the whole thing - without doubt the most effeminate prancing I've ever seen a male celeb do. Very offputting. Matt could have danced a traditional AS very well (he's better at ballroom and that's three ballroom dances now that her choreography has ruined IMO). It was yet another opportunity wasted by Aliona to show off her partner in the best of lights. Shame.

Actually there have been many much , much stranger : bacofoil showdance , Chris Parker's paso , John Sergent's paso , anything of Ann's. etc etc

Can't bear the original and since Newport is very near home , this just finished the song for me

Mind you Goldie Lookin' Chain's reply was very funny if you know the in Newport jokes .

I thought the original Newport State of Mind had been removed .

GLC

Unfortunately bbc are selfish buggers, Alesha, Len and Bruno are all wasted on the panel. Craig is the only one I have any respect for whatsoever as he is not patronising if he knows they could do better. Karen is needed badly on the panel(fingers crossed).

I loved Matt and Aliona's dance. It was gorgeous and dramatic. Just goes to show it's all down to personal opinion, though, as clearly some people couldn't stand it. Aliona said she was trying to be more contemporary with it and that was fine with me - I'm surprised that a judge who is more 'contemporary', like CRH, didn't get that. Just an opinion!

I am not Gabby Logan - I can assure you of that. And yes I have got a skirt on today - even though it is freezing cold and snowing

I did not state that Karen picked out any judge but stated they did not understand what they had seen

Alesha often fails to understand across many facets of the dance she has just seen

Aliona struggles with Matt due to his previous dance history and his need to dance with Matt as the picture rather than him being the frame for Aliona
It is the single reason Scott is that much the better ballroom dancer, I.E he understands the male role in ballroom

I'm sorry is this a different version of Strictly where Craig isn't patronising?

Craig says it as it is with Matt, good or bad.

I agree with bacofoil but I think I was just so shocked at the strangeness because Matt's not a bad dancer, so I didn't see why she would put him in this routine that made him look so awful She makes choices that I don't understand. Maybe it's ignorance on my part, could well be but at the end of the day I still came away from it thinking W.T.F was that!?

He patronises everyone else.

I often have this problem with contemporary literature (I'm an avid reader). Not the writers' fault. Some people just prefer traditional and don't like the familiar boundaries to be pushed. I have the same problem with contemporary classical music. Don't understand it at all. Where dancing is concerned I like both, but can see it might be difficult for some to enjoy contemporary dancing if they are steeped in the traditional.

You could be right there. I never thought of myself as a traditionalist but maybe I am lol. I don't have this problem when going to see contemporary ballets but I do prefer the traditional ones more. I think my issue is that on Strictly I expect ballroom and latin and that didn't feel like either to me. Kara's AS was dragged over the coals the other week for not being strictly ballroom enough but compared to Matt's it was easily recognisable as an AS. Plus she danced it perfectly, which helped lol. But I just think Matt could have produced a good AS and because Aliona wanted to explore the boundaries, it all went pear-shaped. And that's a shame.

But it only went pear-shaped for some people, didn't it. Others, like myself, loved it. So it was a shame for you maybe, but not for those of us that really enjoyed it.