Yep, agree with you Wingi. And seeing his sitting with her friends in a onesie having a girlie night was funny. Even better if they'd been messing about with make up!

Don't give them ideas!

I'm looking forward to KartemAddict's screencaps of his eye rolling

I loved the VT last night. It hardly shows Artem as a stud!!! It shows he has a sense of humour.

OT. Robin and Davide have split.

Yes of course senior moment rearing its head apologies all round think the onesie offended me so much I sort of lost the plot .

Lol! They are grim things, aren't they?

Denburn quiche. And fridgesoup. At least the cow onesie did not have a fake udder!

This dance competition will of course evolve, and lots of celebs will learn a lot as the show moves along but I'm afraid Natalie and Artem stand out like the EiffelTower would if it were set in the French countryside. That rumba was absolutely stunning! The choreo breathtaking and the dancing perfect. I am looking very much forward to that couple's Foxtrot, Quickstep and AS (needless to say they are my favourite dances). I don't like Rumba, except for the famous pink/white one and this one. Yes, life is good.

As for the other couples I have to admit I haven't watched them all, but did enjoy

Alley/Alyaz - she looked a bit slow, not quirky enough, but she looked gorgeous, loved the hairdo/make up and the dress, I like this parnership

Susanne/Kevin - good waltz, I seem to have a maternal sweet spot for Kevinfromgrimsby and Susanne really enjoys dancing

Ashley/Ola - he's good, I quite enjoy watching him dance, but I'm not always fond of Ola's choreo

I'm happy that Ben received good remarks, you can tell he's a competitor and wants to do good, which is a trait I can appreciate. OH is totally in awe with Kristina's 'persona' and I can't blame him for that

I have never heard anyone say 'Pasoe Dowbelay' the way Dave does. Hilarious Lips remain sealed concerning his dancing.

Hiya Tangy, Mayadewi and Nina-s!

Lor, it's taken me all day to catch up.

Here be my thoughts.

A new addition to Strictly viewing, I mute Tess now too…the way she treated Alijaz like a performing monkey, ack! I think Bruno is making really sound comments this series…after he's finished with the innuendos, that is.

Abbey - A wee bit samey throughout I thought and really lacked energy in the second half. I'm getting less interested in her.

Patrick - once again I'm struggling to see what the judges see. I thought this was clunky and sluggish, almost as if he was walking through the while thing.

Dave - Blimes…what can you say. Totally barmy, nuts, My-Little-Pony leaping, weirdly adorable Muppet-like and …blimes.

Rachel - thought she looked fabulous. A bit awkard and gawky. Not a natural. A bit vacant (I'm guessing botox)

Mark - I love Iveta, she's so clever. Not a wow performance, just a bit of pedestrian.

Ben - strongly sexy. Still a bit athletic but such an improvement. His best performance. Kristina was mightily bodacious and loved the way he carried her at the end as if she was light as a feather.

Sophie - Very nice but not that Latin and a bit too languid. Could the music have been a bit faster?

Susannah - Love Kevin. Thought Craig was spot on but I do enjoy watching her. She could let go a bit more.

Vanessa - oh dear. Stompy.

Ashley - I thought the music was far too slow, perhaps didn't help him. I never really feel embarassed when he dances and that's a huge plus.

Natalie - Very lovely but I wasn't emotionally involved. I'm going to say that I bliddy hate BOTOX and wish to G** that everyone on telly would stop using it because there is such a vacancy of expression and having a frozen forehead sort of doesn't work well in the 'performing' arts.

Deborah - Got to agree with the judges that her love of dancing is very appealing. I'm liking her a lot.

Yes, a tad over-generous. Not sure why really. Perhaps because she does most to the steps most of the time.


Hilarious. Loved this.


Brill, thanks Soupy.


Ooo goodo.





Me too, I'm really looking forward to seeing these dances especially the AS. I'm sure a lot OH viewers are attracted by Kristina's 'persona'.

Me too Nooney! I was just about to type up my thoughts when I read yours and you echo mine so much that I'm going to just bold the bits I agree with (lazy moo that I am)

Edit: Sorry, my comp crashed halfway through bolding. I've finished now

Abbey - time wasting on the wall with Abbey legs akimbo trying to hide her knickers wasn't a great start. Loved the dress, hated the socks which just drew attention to her feet being less than flicky. Still think she's going to do well.

Patrick - should have been wonderful with that music, but he so ...tentative?...anyway, I don't believe he's leading (or faking it very well) and his bum sticks out.

Dave - Oh, Dave! A pony jumping paso!! Awful. Loved it!

Fiona - nice lady, quite nicely danced. Um, a tad boring??

Rachel - looks lovely, but I watch her though my fingers thinking something awful is going to happen. I don't know, is she even that bothered about it all? Maybe she's just uncomfortable with the whole experience...

Mark - I think he has quite nice timing and musicality and Iveta makes the most of what he can do. He's growing on me.

Ben - he's not great but I love that he made a big improvement (thank goodness) and Kristina choreographed a nice rumba (tho I could have done without the undressing)

Sophie - lots of content and some (to my eyes) good technique on show, but I wished she could have found some abandon. Oddly 'contained'.

Julien - begrudgingly I'd have to say he made an improvement - at least in his performance if not massively in technique. It was quite fun...

Susanna - I like her and TwoMinuteKFG, but although this was pleasant to watch, it didn't have any wow factor and her frame looked wrong. I thought it should have got 7s and 8s, not 8s and 9s.

Vanessa - dire and I wish she would just shut up at the judging (although it was nice for aperçu to get an outing on a Saturday night shiney floor show ).

Ashley - I'm afraid I do find his dancing a bit cringey, noonster. He's all floppy and mincey, but I can see he has timing and musicality, so there's hope. The side by side bits were good. Wish Ola hadn't put in a floor spin :yawn:.

Natalie - I thought it was exquisite in every way (Wren, you were right, she did get her heel caught, but she just dealt with it )). Bruce saying how nice it was to see her being pleasant made me cringe . Artem's having a great time

Deborah - Robin's campy solo at the beginning was so inexplicable and incongruous for a QS I laughed out loud. Really nice dance and great dress on her, but her frame was poor. She's growing on me .

Sorry for hacking your posts to pieces, but had too many images.


With a cucumber salsa I hope.

Best football grub evah is at Rochdale. They call the pies Growlers and they're full to the brim with melting steak and kidney and come with mushy peas and gravy - oh my paws and whiskers!




Same here. I wanted to be Darryl Rivers and I can remember that the uniform was brown and there was an orange band around the hat. And there was a natural seawater swimming pool formed from the rocks.

I'm a product of 'sarf' London, so my reality was a million miles away. Maybe that's why I loved the books so much. Anyway, checked on Amazon and you can buy the whole series - seriously tempted!



Don't think I can read any more of these. Sounds like they were written by someone on work experience - OK I'll get back in the knifebox!


Bwah hah hah


Umm well, her 'persona' seems to be universally popular with the OHs for some reason!

Oh, me too!! Oh, The seawater pool!!!!

I gave the books to my niece. Her verdict (A'right) trampled on my youth


(Meatpies = growlers Lol! )

Re Vanessa. I don't think the most beautiful woman in the world could have carried off that hairstyle. She must have seriously annoyed the hair styling team. I did fear she would have a major melt down on being voted out but was pleased to see both she and James were gracious.

It was like something from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

Hi Mayadewi

can you please give us a brief synopsis of the Daily express interview with Kara? and did she say anything of Artem?
Thanks in advance

OK, I’ve shamed myself into writing up my thoughts on the couples. So here is what I wrote down earlier:

Abbey - Dreadful socks! Did her no favours whatsoever! Did like the dress though. He out danced her the whole way through. She ran out of steam towards the end.

Patrick – Totally underwhelmed with his dancing still. I’m not sure why, just no spark perhaps. Those shoes looked ridiculous, should’ve been black.

Dave – I’m afraid I didn’t enjoy it this week. Cringy without being funny. I still like them as a couple though.

Fiona – V e r y s l o w Waltz! A bit meh I’m afraid. She had a little stumble again.

Rachel – She definitely not a natural. I do think she’s trying but it’s not working too well still. Mind you, she’s had two latins in a row which is tough.

Mark – It was a gentle routine rather than a glitzy AS. I was a bit disappointed to be honest.

Ben – Quite a tender Rumba, not as bad as I thought it might be. I could have done without the undressing and hair loosening. Just looked silly.

Sophie – Horrible frock! I thought she did ok, but it didn’t feel like much of a party dance. I thought she was a bit disconnected with it all somehow.

Julien – I thought this was going to be awful, but it wasn’t bad at all. I love the song too which helps!

Suzanna – It was weird, it should have been a good dance, but to me, she looked to be struggling and uncomfortable throughout the whole thing. Maybe it was the dizziness. It was way overmarked imo.

Vanessa – Stompy!

Ashley – I thought that was a good attempt. A bit mincy, but then I think that the Samba tends to be a bit like that anyway.

Natalie – Just gorgeous! I’m afraid I’ve watched it on the BBC website umpteen times. Fantastic choreography by Artem and she danced it beautifully and Hayley sang it really well I thought

Deborah - I enjoyed it. A bit messy in places but her love of dancing is shining through.

I very much liked Aliona's and Alyaz' dance to the Bocelli song. The dance looked very Cyd Charice-like to me, very classy. And I admit I'm an Aliona fan. Think she's one of the best female professionals.
Also enjoyed the professional opening dance as well. It was a good show and the right celeb has left.

I like your comments a lot, Wren. Thanks for them. The only thing I'm not really agreeing with is Susanne. I liked their waltz a lot. About the others A OK.

Good night

Yes, me too on all fronts

I think Ben's lovely - I'm willing him on to be a good dancer. (The man cooks, cleans, campaigns for gay rights, gets on with everyone, comforted Natalie when she was getting emotional....and those arms!!!! )


Was lovely

G'nite BV Sweet dreams xx

Good-bye Vanessa - aftershow clips

I love it that we all have different opinions on here I loved Suzanna and Kevin's VW and considering it's only week 3 I think she danced it beautifully. Her frame needs work but I thought the choreography was lovely and fit the music really well. I'm really taking to Kevin, I hope he stays in the show, his choreography has been great so far.

I'm not sure why I'm not connecting with Natalie One of the wise posters on here mentioned the use of botox by the celebs and they might very well be right about that. The rumba was beautifully choreographed and excellently danced and yet I didn't really feel anything emotionally about it. Very strange. Maybe it's because she's so very much better than the others technically? It could also have been something to do with the hideous dress she was wearing. Far too slutty, should have been more elegant imho.

Out of the rest of them I'm really warming to Deborah and Robin. The sheer enjoyment she's getting from it is really lovely to watch and she is getting better. I hope they stay for a while. I thought Ben improved tremendously this week and his rumba was far better than I was expecting.

I know most posters have remarked about overmarking this week and imo the two this applied to the most were Abbey and Sophie. I wasn't keen on the choreography for Abbey's jive and it looked like she wasn't either Sophie just looked too relaxed and a bit "above it all" throughout her samba, which was a shame because I thought Brendan's choreography was really good again this week. I don't mean this to sound as nasty as it probably will, but imo Abbey and Sophie looked like they weren't really trying this week. Do you know what I mean?

Still enjoying this series though