I always vote for my favourites, and Anton is one of them.

I never said that though did I?
It just seems to me that there are some very unbalanced views expressed sometimes and not just about Anton. His latin isn't as good as say Vincent's but its a damm site better than mine and I daresay a great many posters on here his ballroom is one of the best AND he doesn't sacrifice his celebrity in order to look good so overall I don't believe the amount of flack he gets is justified
Of course people can criticise but if you are going to be critical about one facet then you should balance it with praise when due. It all gets very tiresome when people focus on one aspect in order to justify thier views.

Maybe a saunter is all he could manage...

Problem is not that Anton is compared with the average Latin ability of a SCD viewer, but that he does not compare well to his fellow professionals. Who after all are what the average viewer is watching and comparing.

Because he's so popular - build 'em up then knock 'em down.
I have always been baffled at the negative and just plain rude posts on Anton, just can't see what he's done to deserve it.
Sid did make a constructive criticism when he described Anton's Latin as 'old fasioned & naff' - I'm not able to say whether it is or not because I usually just enjoy his dancing, with the exception of his partnering with Ann Widdicombe evenso, Anton did his best with a difficult partner and I actually enjoyed their Charleston! But I loved his Charleston with Laila too, and wonder if he did the Charleston with anyone else?
But fair enough if you recognise that a particular dance is not up to scratch, it's the unwarranted personal attacks that we can do without.

Yes to all these. I was sorry Jerry got the resident funny guy.
I don't know enough about technique to know how good or not Anton is; what I do find is that he invites ridicule on his partners, and that I find that ungentlemanly, the work of a bounder.

[quote=Iphigenia;61157213]Yes to all these. I was sorry Jerry got the resident funny guy.
I don't know enough about technique to know how good or not Anton is; what I do find is that he invites ridicule on his partners, and that I find that ungentlemanly, the work of a bounder.[/QUOTE]

On the contrary, he plays to their strengths.

Not sure why you think I am being hypocritical? The discussion had moved on from the OP and I was just saying my bit on that basis.

I find Tony Berk to be an odious little man and I was so sorry that Jerry got landed with him.

He thinks he's uber funny and in the Tesspit he constantly talks over her. He was incredibly rude to at least two of his recent partners, in fact he took the p!ss out of Nancy all the time.

His Latin is beyond awful too.

In answer to OP it is rumoured that Anton and Erin will never win because they don't do the Strictly tour and us public like to see the winner dance with their partner on the tour.

I'm not an expert but Antons dancing skills are wide ranging.

But let's be honest Anton does usually end up with the ones who are ripe for a bit of ridicule and when you are "dancing" with someone who quite clearly is not that good what is left in what is esentially an ENTERTAINMENT show other than try to be entertaining, yes he does fail spectacularly at times in that but he doesnt ever make it all about him.
That said sometimes he can be very annoying but no more than some of the others who take it all personally

I have never found Anton to be annoying.

Sorry, perhaps I should have bolded the particular bit I was referring to. Anyway, it was this bit - "I don't care for some of the pros but would not dream of disparaging them as rudely as some posters do about Anton".

Considering the OP was disparaging of Jerry, I just thought it hypocritical that you would complain about people being rude to Anton while ignoring an equal, if not greater, injustice.

Anton is a gentleman and deserves a chance to win. Simple as that.

He's had chances to win - Lesley Garrett (I suppose it's ironic that he ended up being beaten to a final he should have reached because of the public choosing to save somebody who clearly couldn't dance), Patsy Palmer, Laila Rouass.

And irrespective of how much his fans defend him - he isn't a good enough dancer to win.

Arguably, he doesn't need to be - neither do any of the other pros.

To stand a chance of winning, he needs the right partner - just as all the other pros do. And as I'm sure you aware, what constitutes the 'right' partner is very much a moveable feast.

Well said.

any gentleman would not behave as he did with Nancy last year

She was not able to dance very well, did that mean she invited ridicule, no gentleman would have thought so.

he was appallingly rude to and about her

Absolutely. Plus the fact even though he and the Great Tiited Trout got on like a house on fire personally, he did make her look rather stupid every saturday night. I also seem to remember a lot of puffing about and eye rolling on his part.

I'm not even going to go into detail about the furore surrounding Laila.

Gentleman ? I think not.

As I'm sure you are with Anton

If the Latin is dire, it will probably be down partly to Jerry's lack of rhythm. But I bet Anton's teaching & choreography will play a part too (going by his track record). He shouldn't get all the blame but nor is he entirely blameless. It's too much of a coinicidence that none of his partners have been good at Latin. And I don't think he's treated some of them respectfully either.

In my opinion, he should have bowed out after Widde.

I find the jokey role that Antons been given tiresome . I was disappointed last year in Nancy and her lack of dancibility . I just hope Jerry is a better dancer and that they both take the competition seriously and not behave like no hopers from the start.

Really? They must have changed a definition of who gentleman is. It didn't used to be somebody who ridicules their partners

Be due for more flack today after his comments in the Sun. Personally think that anything the Sun prints should be treated with disbelief anway.
Utter rag.

That will never happen after he blotted his copy book with the Lailia debacle.

Perhaps to help the celebs they have 2 Pros! One for latin and one for ballroom. The celebs could then get the best teacher to be their partner for that week. Totally inpractical, I know. However, most of the Pros have improved whichever is their weaker skill - eg. Brendan.

I would like to see Anton improving his latin routines as they do seem dated. Jerry has a wonderful figure and I hope she is properly showcased. I would love to see a wonderful rumba with her. This is Anton's chance to show us what he can do and he should be positive about partnering Jerry.

My major gripe so far has been the negativity from some of the Pros regarding who their partner is. Some egos are getting out of control. I think this has not been helped by the over use of props and susequently less dancing. Also there are some Pros who believe they should have a 'contender' each year, but EACH and EVERY Celeb is a contender and it is up to the Pro to make them that.