From the beginning of this series people have been saying/suggesting that Louis is the most likely to win SCD series 10.

But for week after week now we've had lacklustre marking from the judges. Tonight they were third from the bottom on the leaderboard, below people like Lisa and Michael, 2 people who CLEARLY cant dance as well as Louis.

There are some posters who've said that the judges are not overmarking Louis as they dont want to lavish too much praise on him at an early stage and therefore make the show too much of a 1 horse race.

... and yet, I dont recall them holding back on previous strong contestants theyve loved, like Alesha, Ricky Whittle, Kara. So I dont quite buy that argument.

We are now more than halfway through the series and I wonder if their lack of enthusiasm for Louis will damage his chances of lifting the trophy? Also- who would take his place as the male celeb dancer in the finals if he doesnt make it through to the end?

Well, I actually thought the judges got the marking right! I didn't think there was enough smooth in it, he was out of sync with Flavia a couple of times and for me he doesn't have that wow factor. I think he's a great dancer but for me he's a bit bland and I'm getting a bit bored of the tricks he does in virtually every routine. I still think he could win but there are quite a few people left in who could as well so it will be interesting to see what happens in the next few weeks.

I think the judges fear louis talent because he can do things they can't.and the pro's

I'd say at this stage, being undermarked is an advantage. It always makes me send a couple of extra votes to that celeb.

I'm convinced Louis is topping the public vote, based on all the people I talk to about the show, he is the most popular.

I think it's a tight race this year for whoever is going to be in the final, but I'd say Louis is a dead cert to get there

It will also depend on who is saved by the judges in the dance off. Cant see Louis ever being in the dance off.

I've no idea if he will win though, too soon to say.

It's only really Craig that's been giving him consistently lacklastre marks - last week he got 3 nines from the other judges. This week was a bit of a disaster, but as long as he & Flavia learn from it I don't think it will dent his overall chances too much.

I really think it's in his hands. He's talented, fleet of foot, agile, quick to learn, strong, super-bendy and, in an odd way, charismatic (a zombie tango way). But he has to care. He has to feel it and show he feels it, and he needs to work on the dopey little things like thumbs. He is hugely popular. It's up to him to have the drive to really deserve that support.

Michael would replace him if Louis doesn't make it.

Why? How is Len going to be challenged at his age??? In what field?

I agree with the bit you wrote about Louis, but I don't agree about Michael. He's got a horrible run of dances left - 4 Latin, tango & VW and of those he has left I think only the VW will suit him. He's good at the floaty ballrooms, I'm not sure about the tango.

But making the final is up to Louis now. He has to come out and smash one performance, like he did with the tango r I sense people will start to drift away from supporting him. I think he has it in him, depends on how much he wants it and how much he's enjoying the whole experience.

This is why I'm crap at Strictly stuff!! It didn't even occur to me to look ahead at Michael's dances.

Is there a list somewhere? What has Louis got left?

I just think the judges no how good he is but don't like to show it

Louis has rumba, charleston, jive, FT, QS, paso, AT. He's leaving AT until the final, if he gets there, I think and I wouldn't be surprised if he dodges the rumba. He's due a Latin this week and I think he might go charleston if he survives, but I might be utterly deluded.

The dances that are left for each Celebrity will be allocated in order of how the producers hope that the Celebs will stay in the show (for rating reasons) although the return of the dance-off does allow for certain public vote rating errors to be re-aligned (ie Kimberley last week).

Yep, he has no competition.

I'm not a fan but that aside.....

People find him attractive
He's an Olympic 'hero'
His competition namely Denise and Dani will not attract anywhere near the amount of voters that he will.

I see him as a Harry Judd mark II. Sure he can 'dance' but I don't think he can perform. It's also extremely rare to find anyone who actively dislikes him compared to some of the hate the likes of Victoria, Lisa and Denise attract on here.

Mark my words, Louis will win the show.

So, so agree with the second paragraph. I'm a complete fan of Louis but I hated the beginning of the show - he really didn't engage or seem comfortable on the big stage. All the other contestants were 'living the dream'.

Didn't enjoy the choregoraphy, I agree with Darcy, Flavia showed all the tricks at Wembley but the dancing didn't match in quality! So it seemed unbalanced.

Louis knew before he went to the judges that he'd blown it. He seemed defeated and a little lost tbh.

I really, really want him to kick-himself in the butt and buckle down next week. At this moment, I'm not sure whether he will or not.

If he can't produce the "flamboyant" personality/perforamnce that guarantees him the glitterball, his fans will forgive him. But, I can't forgive him lacklustre routine/technique as well ('cos then there's nothing tbh).

I think he'll win. I hink that maybe the producers are trying to make it look like a contest but that the voting is probably overwhelmingly in his favour,

Still think he'll win, but producers needed to create doubt.

Doubt has been created. Hurrah.

No he won't be allowed to do so.

They want someone let's say, like a westend star with full stageschool training lots of showbiz connections.

Louis does some moves tonight that he is good at and gets slapped down for them, yet DVO puts in all her training and nothing gets said.

This show is getting more fixed than the X Factor and look how that has gone downhill because people are sick of the blatant manipulation.

How long will this fixing go on for then as they have crippling him every week now apart from one.

Just back from Wembley myself and if the cheering is anything to go by and especially when the warm up guy asked people to yell who they wanted to win an overwhelming amount of the crowd yelled Louis so going by that I'd say that yes Louis will probably get to the final unless he is in a dance off with someone like Denise (or even possibly Lisa) as I can see the judges being a bit bloody minded and trying to engineer a girl celeb winner if they can.

But agree he does need to buckle down and give a wow dance/performance.

If only he had gone to stageschool instead of wasting his time representing his country at the Olympics.

How did his dance go down in the arena, please? People seem disappointed with it on TV...

It was good live although it was a little weird in places. I think it would have come over a bit better if more of it had been on the plinth stage.

I think it suffered from its order just after Denise. It was much better than Nicky's jive content as well as competency but scored the same and was same or better than Lisa's which scored 2 more points. If it had one later in the dance order it may have scored more and come over better on tv.

Suffice it to say I've watched it back on tv and i must admit that it looked better on tv thn I expected it to be.

The sound for the most part seemed better overall than last year I thought.

I didn't like the choreography tonight at all, and there is still so little chemistry between them as a couple. But he's obviously very popular, though perhaps not quite as popular as he appears to be here on DS.
In my opinion Louis and Flavia are still favourites, but no longer the certainties they were a few weeks ago.

That routine would have worked better in a studio. I quite liked it, it was a interesting piece to an odd song. I hope Louis gets to the final.

I don't think Louis is topping the vote every week, the first 2 or 3 yeah but since Dani and Michael have improved so much and from what is only a presumption they have shot up in public admiration because they are within good partnerships with good chemistry.

I just do not get Louis, he seems quite laid back but I always feel he does not wanna be there and him as a partership with Flav in my opinion (mainly on ITT) is horrible to watch, so no, I don't think he will win.