In other words she does'nt care what the judges say,she does'nt care if it affects her celebs score,i agree with someone else who posted saying Kara and Matt were equal last year and it came down to the proffesional cheo,Artem won hands down.
God knows what she will be like this year,having come second last year,because Matt was popular not because of her cheo,more zany routines i cant wait ,not.

It was nice to see Craig fall out of his panto villain role when he had the "F" mishap. I thought that was really funny to see him laugh and the other jury members as well.

Listen, I liked Aliona's cha-cha this season with Harry. In fact, it was so full of cha-cha content, no faffing about that he showed Harry's lack of hip movement. But it still made the dance very, very watchable. It was then that I was beginning to warm to Aliona's choreography. I thought she could do a proper dance choreography and still look hot/sexy/memorable IF she wants to.

As for her making Matt's dances FUN by making him stand out, it actually made him look funny (in a weird way) and stood out indeed - LIKE A SORE THUMB.

Matt was WAY more talented than those silly dolphin-like flips. He was not a circus animal, he didn't need 'tricks' to woo the audience. And Aliona got it ALL wrong with Matt.

And Austin Powers jive with almost no jive content? Look, Matt in his Blue Peter Days did a five-day jive training with Darren and Lilia and WON the amateur ballroom competition with Zoe, so Aliona had ABSOLUTELY not excuse for not putting any proper jive content in that routine. It was cute, though, Matt mimicked Austin Powers really well, but with no FREAKING jive content?!?!?! Abso-freakin-lutely unforgivable!!!

Is there the slightest possibility that Aliona has mixed up a couple of phrasal verbs in her second language?

Did she really mean 'don't take them on board', or was she trying to say 'don't take them to heart'?

It's a very small difference in terms of words, but a huge difference in terms of meaning.

I know it's easy to forget that English is not the first language for Aliona, and others, as they speak it so well. But it would be nice if someone actually asked her 'what did you mean when you said....?'

You don't know. She could have got it ALL right. I probably wouldn't have warmed to him if he'd been totally traditional and done nothing quirky or rebellious.

If he'd been a runaway favourite with the judges through conventional choreo people might have liked him less. Aliona's controversy gave him something of an underdog angle which could easily have fuelled support.

My feeling is that Aliona is popular with the producers because she creates memorable routines with impact. It makes good TV and as the GBP showed on the tour, her choreography is very very popular, even in comparison to Artem's with Kara, which is a very high standard to be more popular than.

I dont know, only Aliona knows what she actually meant and as Len didnt give her a chance to answer we may never know

I have just posted what she actually said in the interview - not taking a guess at what she said or taking what Len said that she said as gospel

If that makes sense

if that is how you choose to interpret what she said

I must say- although deeply unprofessional- I did quite like Len's laughing at Craig for his dismissal of Robbie- it made me feel warm in side that already we can see the typical strictly "journey" in Savage- perhaps all credit to Ola!
Also the "You stupid stupid boy" moment did make me chuckle- Rory was it? Again I couldn't help but agree because I think Rory and Erin are doing a pretty sound job- not spectacular- but very nicely indeed.

But yes- back to the original point- I really have to say that the judges are doing a very good job- not perfect no- but across the 4 of them, I think they pretty much position the couples correctly on the leaderboard. Aliona would do well to "take their criticisms on board", for Harry's sake, not hers! I don't think she could have saved Matt from the vastly superior Kartem Juggernaut last series, but this year she has a chance to get the glitterball- and she will only do that if she plays fair game, and with respect.

I think you have hit the nail on the head with the bit I've bolded Buddy

She's gunning for that trophy and I do think that we will see some sort of apology/appeasing Len's ego over this coming week by Aliona, as she will not want to risk low scores (as much as she may say she doesn't care what they think, if she's getting lower scores i.e 6's instead of 8's which end up putting her and Harry in more danger, she soon will care). Also, I think without a doubt this will be brought up on ITT to try and resolve the situation so it's not awkward for Harry (as much as I don't like her choreo at some times, tonight made for uncomfortable viewing as poor Harry took the bullet)!

Can you give me a specific routine that was 'great' rather than memorable?

Truth be told, with the exception of that silly back flips, Matt Samba was very, very good indeed. One of the best Samba for the celebs I've seen in SCD.

Matt's samba technique was amazing but the routine? Any specific choreographic moments?

Not just his technique, Aliona did a pure Samba routine (except that back flip) and I thought that was good of Aliona.

It makes perfect sense!

I'm sorry if it sounded like I expected you to know the answer :. I just pinned my question onto your post because you had quoted what aliona actually said...

I knew Aliona's choreography would become contraversial after her Quickstep with Rav - full of OTT gimmicks. I didn't expect her to be asked back onto SCD after her two week stint - thought she would be shunted like Hayley Holt.

She is obviously 'pleasing' someone at the BBC to have been kept being given good partners - she has faired better than Natalie who gets a lot of stick. I would have liked Aliona to have been paired with Rusell.

Like I've said previously, I don't think Matt really stood a chance against Kartem, but this year, Jason doesn't look to be as strong as Kara did at this stage- not saying he's bad in any shape or form- but he doesn't look infallible. This leaves the competition a bit more open (the final 3 were, in my opinion, always going to be last year, and yet this year, it's a bit more open), so if Aliona ruins Harry with her ego and self centred routines, it will be unforgivable. If she's serious about winning this competition, and putting the interests of her partner (who is, like Alesha and Craig said, potentially very very good indeed) first, then she has to sort herself out and get over herself! Letting Harry take the bullet from Craig and Len is NOT what a professional should do; they should protect, nurture and assist, and Aliona is falling way short of her duties after tonight's performance, and my heart really does go out to Harry. Aliona is, no doubt, an excellent dancer; but now she has to make sure she invests her talents in Harry- not her own personal story to attract media and the judges' attention to her! Not on. It's a show about the celebs, and NOT the pros! I think she needs to learn this, QUICKLY, apologise, and move on, and start taking their wisdom and critique on board, like I say, for Harry's sake.

Exactly.

I did not like that one bit. I thought it was quite insulting.

I just watched the interivew on youtube and typed what she said when Zoe asked her the question!!

It could be a language thing - who knows!!

Oh I agree- it really shouldn't have happened- but, as I hold a bit of a soft spot for Rory and (in particular) Erin- I felt it was providing my disgust in a bit of a funny way- but maybe Len shouldn't have done that. It would have given me the excuse to write an angry worded note instead!

If most people felt like you, rather than like some of the rest of us on here then wouldn't Matt have won?

The trouble was that Aliona polarised opinion, you either loved or hated her choreography, but she could have had her cake and eaten it too imo.

She could have had quirky, interesting choreography but she could also showed off her celeb to the "best of his ability" and cut down on the props/acrobatics/lack of specific dance content.

Just because a celeb can do something, doesn't mean you need to shoehorn it into every dance you can.

I appreciate that you loved Aliona's choreography, but for many of us, Aliona's choreography was about Aliona!

Craig can be quite harsh when he has one of his brilliant comparisons.

And then Len's there to mitigate it, but he could do that in a more decent way.

The thing that irritates me about Len is that he insults his fellow jury members. Craig or Bruno would not think about insulting Len the way he does insult them.

It's not the first time Len has lost his cool like that. They should have sacked him after that rant at Kelly Brook a few years back the week she didn't do enough practice for his liking only then to discover that she had spent most of it at the bedside of her dying father.

It is yes,her job is to teach her celeb to be the best dancer he can be,not to showcase herself.