...and I think it's Chelsee who is pulling in the votes; she has had a journey; the coupling is very popular; there are questions over a romance; she consistently puts in good performances and she's a shock for many people. But most importantly she has this forum's support - this forum is a much better guide to the winner on Strictly than any other reality show, even if the eliminations are a bit off at times. The likes of Tom, Chris and Kara had the strongest support on here and they won...and I expect Chelsee to follow this tradition.

But even if it's one of the others, I'm intrigued to whether another couple will be able to gain momentum to overtake the leader or whether it's a foregone conclusion.

Hmm... I don't know. In series 4 Matt Dawson was relatively low on the DS polls, yet the one week we were able to work out the public vote placings, he topped the public vote (judges has Emma top and Matt bottom; Emma ended up in the bottom 2 and Matt escaped it). Public vote was therefore Matt > Mark > Louisa > Carol > Emma. However this was the final 5 DS poll for series 4:

Mark and Karen 202 41.65%
Louisa and Vincent 99 20.41%
Carol and Matthew 71 14.64%
Matt and Lilia 67 13.81%
Emma and Darren 46 9.48%

In series 6, Tom Chambers' popularity was also underestimated here, although that year there was no clear favourite on our polls. This was the final 5 DS poll for series 6:

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=942620

There has never been a contestant like Harry on Strictly (active boyband, fanbase used to voting, good looks, can dance) and I think he is likely to appeal to the floating voters and people who only vote on the final show. It's very hard to call, and I think it'll depend on the dances on the night, comments, how they interact with their pros etc. I do think the momentum is on Harry and Chelsee, with the other 3 fighting for 3rd place.

Lol, this forum is an awful 'guide' to who is generally popular with the mass public! It's worse than random odds.

Saying that, I've felt Chelsea is likely to win it for a long time. She follows the formula of being a non threatening, but pretty female. Is slightly 'goofy' and can dance respectably.

I think you may be missing a vital ingredient - the McFly voters!

What romance? Have I missed something?

The very same that nearly had Dougie eliminated in I'm a Celebrity and win on a 5% swing

I think Chelsee's too much of a marmite contestant to win, you either seem to strongly like or strongly dislike her - Harry is a lot more vote-friendly, as he's devastatingly inoffensive and a tight dancer with good looks to boot. There is no contest IMO. (Sorry Chelsee fans)

This forum is hit and miss in terms of getting it right, but mostly hit.

Yet it can work the other way, sometimes creating an opinion is better than leaving no opinion at all. Really think it will be based on what they do on the night.

Chelsee has been topping the DS most fave polls for weeks now...and that by a mile.

I have been genuinely suprised by the Chelsee love on this forum. I didnt expect to like her or for her to even be around for the semi's.

She truly has been my suprise package this year. A very special one at that.

I would love Chelsee to win but I think Harry will. They are both fabulous dancers and both deserve to be in the final. I've warmed so much to Harry that I wouldn't be upset if he won at all. Plus, I've started to fancy him a bit.

I think Harry is the runaway leader. The harshest criticism I've seen is that he's a bit dull, but he can dance and he's handsome which I think is more than enough to counter balance any blandness.

I've seen harsher comments about the others, particularly Chelsee and Jason who I think are his closest competition - they're ugly, disgusting, tolls, smug, fake, had dance training before etc. While I think Chelsee and Jason also really popular, popularity isn't really enough when you've got passionate detractors as well. they kind of wipe each other out. Watching a lot of reality shows the winning participants is often the least offensive.

I think Alex has also got a shot too, though. She's not been in the bottom two even though she's been in the 'middle of the table danger zone' more often than not - maybe we're underestimating The One Show audience. Chris Evans is also backing her, so her support might include radio 2 listeners.

Chelsee is a marmite contestant - it's her accent that puts me off.
There is nothing to dislike about Harry - he'll win
I'd like Jason to win but he won't

Having dance training has not been a problem in the past unless they are balletic. Harry also is a musician and they usually can grasp rhythms and timings far easier than other groups (bar Michelle Williams).

It will just be who delivers on the night and make people to want to pick up the phone, it really is that simples

Agreed on all of this. I supported Tom, and I was always baffled by how underestimated he was on here, because I just knew he would be at least the Top 2.

And yes, Harry is still in a boyband that is still active, and I didn't realise how massive the McFly fanbase was until Dougie won I'm a Celebrity the other week! Both shows get a similar target audience to one another.

I think its a given that Harry will win. He's nice, good looking, inofensive and can dance well which is more than enough for the primarily female voters to vote for him, he'd certainly be more deserving than Darren, Tom or Chris were.

For a woman to win strictly they have to be outstanding and very clearly the best dancer like Kara, Alesha and Jill* were to win and even then they have to have a great personality (just look at Rachel). Whilst I think Chelsee is the bes dancer this year (mostly because she can be great at both ballroom and latin whereas Harry is only really great at ballroom) it's much closer this year than last and while a lot of people find Chelsee endearing others find her annoying.

*In Jill's case I'm talking in comparison to the men in that series, personally I was always more of a Denise fan

I think Jason has suffered the most from people saying unpleasant things about him. Its mainly just mannerisms that people seem to find reasons to get upset about.

Chelsee has had some unpleasant comments - again about trivial things, but she has also had floods of praise from new supporters who have grown to really like her.

The forum and Twitter are not big factors in the voting for who gets threough or wins IMO.

Exactly you can have very strong non-vocal groups (e.g. backing Alex evidently last week) You can also have very vocal groups with few members

Probably says more about you than about her!

I think that a lot of people think that Harry is the runaway winner, but I am not so sure to be honest. Everyone talks about the 'fanbase' which is obviously high but I was heartened by the fact that the voting figures for I'm a Celebrity didnt reflect a runaway win for Dougie. Whilst Harry ticks many of the boxes for a Strictly winner, I felt that Matt Baker did even more and he didnt win. Chelsee started off as the contestant that quite a few people (including me) thought they wouldnt take to and I think in terms of 'engaging with the public' that Chelsee & Pasha are streets ahead of the rest of the field. So I personally think its still all to play for. If Chelsee and Harry are the final 2 in this competition next week I think who wins will depend a lot on where the votes from the person placed 3rd go.

Are you really saying that Chelsee's accent would prevent you from voting for her, despite her amazing dancing ability?


I think your summary of Harry is very accurate, but inoffensive is the problem for me: no passion, no characterisation skills, he looks exactly the same whether he's dancing a flamboyant latin number or the dreamy VW. imo the only finalist to have shown the ability to embrace the role of the dance throughout this series is Jason. Last night, at last, we saw Chelsee lose her inhibitions, 'act' the part and the result was sensational.

But was it? I'd have voted for anyone other than Mark Wright, because I couldn't stand him, and once it was DOugie against him in the final, alot of people who shared my views would have voted for Dougie simply to ensure the meat head from Towie didn't win.

I get the impression that Harry is getting a big public vote, but we don't know for sure. He and Chelsee have been at the top of the leaderboard so much, you can't be sure they are also pulling in the public vote.

I will actually not mind who wins this year, I've liked all those who got to the semi-final.

I don't think she's the runaway winner by any means (although I wish she was!)

I genuinely think people are overestimating the 'McFly' vote though, the thing with Harry is that he's good looking and good enough to have people vote for him who wouldn't be able to pick McFly out of a line up

I personally find him a bit cold and clinical but it's a matter of preference (a little like Matt last year actually). I'd rather someone made the odd error and gave it some welly

I was prepared to dismiss Chelsee at the beginning with her dreadful promo images, and her stupid "I'm single and ready to mingle!" punchline that she kept spouting. Since then - I have come to respect her as she has proved to be a fantastic little dancer,

Harry - we knew he was good from his CIN appearance with Ola - but as someone else said his ballroom is great but his latin not so good - and he was really let down by Aliona's wacky "showdance" choreo which didn't allow him to really show what he can do. I think both he and Chelsee have been slightly overmarked most weeks to keep them safe.

Jason on the other hand is for me the runaway winner. He has been unfairly marked on several of his dances (I personally thought his rumba was just as good as Harry's but one could do no right the other could do no wrong...), particularly on his AS last week - the judges couldn't seem to find any fault but yet only gave him 9s.... Likewise he was booted out of the swingathon too early to push him down the leaderboard.

Alex has been in my bottom 2 for a while - her ballroom is OK but her lating is dodgy and she has more than her fair share of frock disasters.... she is definitely the weakest of the final 5 and in fairness ought to go. Holly seemed to only wake up last week with the Paso - but was very Meh! laast night. He Black Swan AS was brilliant too but she needed to be more consistent

TBH I don't really mind who wins as all of them have merit for one reason or another.

What would you prefer? A cut glass home counties accent a la BBC announcer 1950? Ruddy hell, if we are going to judge contestants by their regional accents then let's all give up now.

So do I and depending on your favourite, there are 3 to choose from

The campaigns start in earnest now