Colin was on TV ON Sunday morning talking about the carnival band thing. He said he dances while walking backwards & the others copy his moves.

I don't care who has experience & who doesn't. For me what's important is the improvement the celebs make over the weeks. Someone who is magnificent to start with is hardly going to improve much & therefore won't win. Most of the viewing public like a journey so it doesn't matter if there are alleged ringers or not? People will vote for who they want anyway.

Fair point apologies to John, Widdecombe was a nightmare in her very own league

Spot on!

I remember saying this in another thread a while back, but my brother trained in a drama school and, for his sins, had three years of dancing lessons. If he were ever on Strictly (not likely, he is no longer a professional actor and never was in the least bit famous, not even in his family), there would be people ready to give him ringer status for having had the training, while his family would fall about laughing, knowing full well that he shuffled along at the back, keeping his two left feet carefully out of view of the audience.

Public appearance. We were accompanied by a responsible adult who would have lost no time taking the opportunity to lecture us about manners had we attempted to invade his privacy.

Now this is something with which I agree entirely.

John was a phenomenon; a one off - the like of which SCD had never seen before and is unlikely to see again. He did nothing to manipulate the support that gathered pace week after week - it just happened, it was a roller coaster ride and oh what fun we had.. He didn't have a natural aptitude for dance but he took it seriously; he tried and with Kristina's clever choreography produced some charming routines. Yes we all laughed - but we laughed with John not at him - especially when, with his unparallelled command of the English language, he took the judges apart.

If I named that awful woman who attempted to artificially emulate the Sarge I fear I would have to wash my mouth out; suffice to say I squirmed at her abysmal, staged attempts to manipulate the audience. the rehearsed quips that didn't quite come off and that awful voice went right through me. John didn't need to do this - those of us who supported him loved him because, although he would be the first to admit he can be waspish, he displayed a razor sharp wit.and because without even trying he left the judges fuming over their inability to dislodge him thus depriving them of what they saw as their God given right to dictate the outcome of the competition.

So yes put that awful woman into a category of her own; most hypocritical, most manipulative, most irritating, (further epithets are welcome) but give John his own special category too because long after the 'dancers' are forgotten the Sarge will be remembered.