Yeah, it's a great environment if you're actually there, but there are far more people watching at home. The camera-work was dire, the singers were awful. In fact I've just heard that due to a technical error, they couldn't provide the singers with in-ear monitors, so no wonder they were so bad. It just doesn't work. That was proved last year, so why go back again?

Slightly confused here, but isnt the final at Blackpool?

If it is then presumably its because its a setting fit for the final-having a mid point show there would just devalue the significance.

We have ten weeks or so of the intimate studio experience-there is room for a couple of weeks difference imo.

EDIT:

I can answer my own question here, because its not (although not ruled out for 2013),

Looks like all you anti stadia types will have your intimate final

You mean the mantelpiece!!

Just rewatched Kimberley. The vocalist sounds like Steppenwolf or Gogol Bordello at the end

Please can we go to Blackpool next year? Donkeys, ice cream, rock, bouncy ballroom floor, tradition, smaller space with a great atmosphere.

Yes please! Blackpool brings out the best; Wembley brings out the worst.

Craig's head must have gone shaky if he saw a double bounce action in Lisa's samba. And he must have, given the points he's given her. He's losing a credibility in my eyes and he's like the rest of them now. Only he's mean, too.

This may well be true, but I just get the impression that some people are just watching with a hugely critical mindest and looking for faults, I just let it wash over and for me it was a big brash colourful energetic 90 mins.

I knew it would be awful - and it was.

Some of the dances were lost because they weren't dancing on the mantelpiece and as for the camerawork - poor, poor, poor.

At least it's over for this year.

Not the case for me, I was really looking forward to it. Seven of the nine couples looked good in training; none of them impressed me on the night. The common factor? Wembley.

There was too much going on. You couldn't see the dancing for the lights, props, back-up dancers and military bands, It was especially bad during Michael and Natalie's number. Sometimes less is more. The singing was dreadful and the costumes weren't much better. Please let this be the last Wembley.

[LIST][*]The camera work was dire
[*]The sound was wrong
[*]The special effects on the floor sometimes clashed with the dancers
[*]The lighting was weird a lot of the time
[*]Worst show in ages as far as the production goes
[*]Every dance would have been so much better in the studio[/LIST]

SCD is about details and nuances in the dances which does not mix well with a vast space and an audience of 6000.

Also too much arena reverb bleed on the sound front.

I thought the worse feature was the sound. Denise's dance looked great but I couldn't hear her music. So it lost some of its impact.

It's galling that all this week we're going to continue to get the 'Wembley was awesome' nonsense on ITT.

On a couple of occasions I completely lost the dancers.

It was like looking at a kaleidoscope at one point and I could see the dancers!

I'm giving ITT a miss. It was bad enough putting up with that dog's breakfast tonight without being told how good it was for another 5 days.

It didn't work for TV this year either, but the music choices were better. The songs did not come across well on the TV though and the sound seemed bad in terms of balance. That version of Walk Like an Egyptian was a poor choice.

I did like the idea of Erin's Island and the dolphins and turtles swimming around it.

The dances all suffered when they were stretched out.

Lisa didn't dance a Samba.

Whoever wanted Louis's gymnastics in the AS was wrong.

Victoria's Paso was a bad concept from start to finish.

There was no light and shade or connection from the music in what was otherwise a good Quickstep by Vincent and Dani.

That was Louis's worst dance in many ways and the whole thing didn't gel at all.

Nicky's dance would have had a better chance if they had just done a routine on the plinth.

Denise's Charlston was good but not a 10.

Kimberley's Samba was OK and a huge amount better than Lisa's.

Richard's Salsa had very little content and wasn't danced well.

Michael's AS was simple and danced Ok but not special - its just most of the others were not good.

Nice to see Aliona back again.

The highlight was the dolphins and turtles - sort of sums it up.

Yes, I am not a fan of Wembley at all. The camera shots were atrocious. I want to see them dance up close. I don't tune in to see people dancing on the bloody horizon. The arena itself may be fantastic if you're there but on the telly? It's far too big. Not a fan. I hope they don't go back.

it was bloody brilliant

Horrendous

1) sound like it was coming from a half empty Iceland warehouse

2) horrible overhead shots of people supposed to be DANCING

3) revolting light show made dancers hard to spot somewhere on the multi coloured football pitch

4) music not from the decade the dancers were supposed to be representing in most cases

5) music not suitable for the dance being performed (well done James for such brilliant choreography to overcome that problem)

6) barely a glimpse of the feet of many of the competitors in a DANCING contest

7) was there a monkey at the board selecting the camera shots at random...if not whole thing totally under rehearsed

8) Wow Victoria on a bike on wires whoda thought of that...nice homage to ET I thought...and lets face it he might have made a better stab at a Paso as well

9) Were the crowd a left over rent a mob from the last Boylifealoudspice concert?

10) costumes by Primark

"Mark my vords, if any of you celebrities do not big up zis vembley experience to ze maximum, I vill haf you shot" - The Strictly Commissar

I agree with the comment that Wembley is too big a floor space. If they think they must do Wembley then why don't they just decrease the size of the floor and increase seaing capacity (if they want the large crowd experience).

I don't mind Wembley if they re-organised the staging becasue the floor is too big if it's not being fully used. At least with Natalie and Michael's dance they had extras dancing and adding to their performance instead of jst haning around as pointless backdrop props.

I agree that the lighting made seeing the dances very difficult at times and the camera work was awful - changing too fast, too many remote shots.

Believe me, it was better without the music.

In fact it's way better if you put some 'real' charleston music on to listen to and mute the sound on the visuals.