Exactly what I said to my OH.

I think that's the issue - Holly was 'dancing' and moving to the timing of the music. I was all for giving Harry a 10 - yes he was that good! In hold - good posture, good timing, good movement in hold ..... and then ..... some bizarre free-style! It wasn't waltz! Harry was worth more than that Aliona! If Aliona had kept up the choreography they would have breezed to the top of the leader board - look at Chelsee, she 'danced' to the whole of the music.

Shame Len didnt pick up Brendan and Erin for using the stairs I dont like the fact he always picks on Aliona.

There is still too much faffing about for me for all the pros, but they have obviously been told to "up" the entertainment factor.


I hope next series we can have a return to technique, I live in hope

I think you are right and Len would love to get Harry to start arguing with Aliona - I think that was the whole point of the' I was going to give a ten' theatricals. I think it was preplanned before the dance started.

You say that but Harry got 8 for his, Lulu and Russell got 6, Holly 7! To be honest I agree with Len, and Alesha was out of order giving a 10! Whereas I don't go as far as James went today in saying not to criticise choreography when it's a massive part of the show, I can't allow her to disgard it completely just because it's Aliona's doing and not Harry's... It takes 2 to Tango! If i was a judge I would have gone for a 9 because I kinda meet Len and Alesha in the middle on that one... maybe they balance each other out?

However once again, Bruno spot on for me tonight!

I will also say- Aliona belongs in the doghouse for her complete disregard for the judges, I didn't buy her "apology" on ITT and she really has to rebuild her reputation... Harry doesn't need stair gimmicks, like all the judges said, he is a sensational dancer on his own!

How bizzare!?

Harry and Aliona the only one's criticised for using the stairs, when others did.....but getting the first 10 of the series.

Aliona is clearly very good news for this show!!!!!!

Yes I know what you mean about Anita, and I hope you're right about Len although I think her comment on ITT the other week wont be forgotten by Len for a while
Mwah to you too xx

I never thought about that, but yes, I can see how insulting that actually is to Aliona.

Brenda and Erin do not have partners of the calibre of Harry - he is far superiore to Lulu and Rory. Brendan and Erin used the stairs to 'use up the music' - Aliona did not need to do that with Harry.

I sincerely hope you're right, I couldn't have expressed any of the shared sentiments better! With the exception that I felt no pity for Aliona. Hopefully now, between Len, Alesha and Harry, she'll sort it out and become a proper Strictly pro, and not a one woman "look at me! I'm trying to do quirky" car crash...

[quote=GeekyGemini;53830805]I think Len is playing a clever game here with Harry in this case. As Harry is very competitive, with Len's comments about "that would've been a 10 if it wasn't for"...etc will play on Harry's mind and make him possibly ask Aliona to give more 'straight' to the rules choreo instead of faffing or at least make him have doubts about her choreo (if he isn't already doing so).

Harry will want those 10's and he knows with Aliona's choreo he's very unlikely to get one from Len You can see that Harry does listen to the judges and imo has some concern that Aliona may damage his chances (I'm not saying they don't get on etc, but as demonstrated imo by the fact he shushed her, when she was going to defend herself after Len criticised her choreo and him immdeiately trying to cover her flippant remarks on ITT etc) you can clearly see he's aware it could be detrimental to him.

Exactly - very well put!

People shouldn't under estimate Harry. Yes he is competitive but in a healthy way. He is also not a moron. He can see for himself the HUGE improvement he made from his last ballroom dance. He got 2 more points from Len than he did for the foxtrot. Len also gave him a list as long as his arm of nearly everything that was wrong with his dancing and to my untrained eye it looked like nearly every one of them had been rectified.
That is down to two things. Aliona's brilliant teaching and Harry trusting Aliona listening to what she tells him to do and working hard to get it right.
I really can't see Harry second guessing Aliona in a way that is destructive. They have to have complete faith in each other. Both listening to and trusting the other and based on what Harry produced tonight that is what is happening.

I agree that Aliona is risking a lot if she continues to choreograph for herself and not for both judges and audience. Its an arrogant attitude which could lose her the title which she could easily claim with Harry as a partner. This year she has some stiff competition - Chelsee and Jason to name but two - and IMO she should be a little bit smarter in the way she approaches the choreography.

Not true. Many awful dancers have stayed despite the judges comments. In fact, sometimes bad dancers get voted for more out of sympathy, like Gav last year.

Len just has issues with her choreography, it is unfair the way he picks on her for it.

Completely agree with this fatskia And the cynic in me definitely thinks it was part of a clever plan to undermine his confidence in her
IMO it was the biggest insult. Len suggested and implied (quite obviously) problems with the choreo, but Alesha was the only one to say I won't penalise judged on the choreo and also stated that the celeb can only perform the choreo they're given I immediately though wow the claws are out
I think it will certainly give Harry food for thought on the matter, not sure what impact it will have on Aliona. No, I don't usually mind when they just imply its because of choreo etc and skirt around the elephant in the room as it gives the pros the opportunity to ignore that and save some face, but blatantly stating it the way Alesha did was like acknowledging the elephant in the room and for me made things a tad awkward.
There was a reference on ITT also to Harry questioning Aliona (ITT didn't provide more details), to which she replied jokingly that it wouldn't happen again I'm not saying they don't get on or anything, but he's obviously quesitoned her on something, who's to say it's not those issues which made her work on them We don't get the full picture so quite a lot is possibly speculation, but imho, comments like that from Len will likely plant seeds of doubt in Harry.

Harry said he had questioned Aliona for the first time and then laughed and said never again.
That it took him 6 odd weeks to question her and that he was able to laugh it off shows his strength of character and how grounded he is.
I can only go on what I know of Harry from my years of being a McFly fan and im sure if as you say there are "seeds of doubt" then he and Aliona are more than capable of sitting down as adults and discussing it properly.

Harry's technique had improved immensely - worthy of a ten says Len. Len isn't going to turn round and say well done Aliona.

If it was someone he liked, he might - and even dig out the 'Sometimes to make a dance complete, you have to break the rules.'

Apparently last years rule of breaking hold during the dance still applies in other dances, so the issue was content - which didn't seem to matter as much in other dances.

I thought that was puerile from Aliona! If it was about the choreography then I hope she gets the message that he might have a point! I don't know how many times people have to tell her: THE SHOW IS NOT ABOUT YOU YOU PIG HEADED ARROGANT... she infuriates me with this perfection superiority complex she needs beating out of her!

I really don't see why Aliona should be in trouble this time, and I have certainly been critical in the past of her choreography for Rav and Matt (I think she might have lost Matt the title, he was sooo good... but I digress).

I just think it was a relatively small break in the dance (unlike Brendan's excursion - 15 secs is a long time dance-wise!), and was used to nice effect, to add to the story telling. I really don't see the problem this time

It was Harry who said he had questioned something - for the first and last time. He was seeing the humour in it.

He's very intelligent and he can tell how good Aliona is as a coach. He will also understand her approach to choreography. I've no idea how he balances different opinions on that.
He is a young man with a young fanbase - they may prefer the routines we have seen to the sort of routine that would please Len.

Craig understood and liked the choreography for the Waltz.

there is absolutely no need for that
As a McFly and Harry fan who didn't think much of Aliona work with Matt last year, believe me if I thought for one second his pro was doing anything to hold him back I would say. Aliona however is doing a wonderful job you only have to compare this weeks waltz to the foxtrot just 2 weeks ago to see what a great teacher she has been for him.

Improvement in technique I absolutely agree, Aliona will do that no end! When she and Matt were on it last year, they were fabulous (Samba, for example)

However, there is every need for shouting at her endlessly infuriating choreography. What need is there, in a ballroom dance, to break hold for a bit of unnecessary story telling, which they could easily have done in more dancing terms and gotten nearly exactly the same effect; not only that, but KNOWING that Len Goodman, a professional judge for many years, as he pointed out to James, and that it is well known he's a stickler for good old fashioned ballroom dances, is out there waiting to pick up on it. I remember on Dancing With The Stars, when Mario Lopez and Karina broke hold in the Tango he knocked them down 4 marks for it! Harry was lucky with 2 from him! I agreed 100% with him, without that piece of foolishness it was 40/40! THAT is why I'm furious with Aliona. Natalie was similar to her with Ricky (see excessive lifts in American Smooth, and her distinctly self deifying professional Quickstep choreography, as good as it was) and somewhat with Scott, but has slowly developed into a fabulous pro in the context of the show, her dancing with Audley this season has been nothing more than captivating and inspiring! Aliona shows no signs of giving up any of her misplaced arrogance!

I like Aliona's choreography so far this year. Her Cha Cha was a proper Cha cha cha and was one of the best routines on the night, as was the foxtrot.
The Jive may not have been full of Jive steps but it was very clever of Aliona.
As a simpler routine it gave Harry the opportunity to relax and master what he was give and dance as Aliona's equal (for me he looked like he could easily have been the pro last week) it gave him an enormous confidence boost, made him believe he could be a dancer and gave him a chance to work on the one area of his dance that really needed work. The performance.
and we saw the fruits of that in tonight's beautifully choreographed routine. Harry wouldn't have been able to get into that performance and the tenderness that it require had Aliona not taken the calculated risk she did last week.
You can't please all the judges all of the time, Craig loved it Len didn't. If you please one you piss one off.

I'm with Len on this one - I was thoroughly enjoying the waltz and then she puts something pointless in there that professionals with pants partners have to do to use up time.

I was glad Alesha pointed out that the celebrity shouldn't be penalised for the choreography. I hope it made Aliona squirm - in my opinion she deserved to.

What would she have said in her defence if Harry had not shushed her ?