I fear it will, as it is almost every year. It exposes all their limitations.

I don't think so, I don't think Ben will go out, there's too many dancers more unpopular than him and they dance as badly if not worse than him.

I thought Ben looked OK in that training film tonight. Perfectly OK to get through another week at this stage. He might be better off than he is with fast Latin or in hold. And anyway, I think the Strictly audience forgive a good-looking man with lovely arms if they aren't that great at the rumba. I think Ben is a bit dull (when dancing) so far and a bit of a disappointment, but he is good-looking, and seems a lovely bloke. I think there are a lot of celebs (probably half the celebs still in?) that are likely to leave before him.

I think rumba's reputation as a bad dance for male celebrities is way over-stated.

1. Only two men in 10 series of it being danced have been eliminated on a draw of rumba alone - Paul Daniels and Jason Wood. By contrast in the same period, 5 men have gone out on the cha cha, and the same amount on the samba.

2. Most (not all, admittedly) of the strong male dancers did at least a decent rumba. In some cases (Harry, Colin, maybe Matt Di Angelo) it was their best of the latin dances.

3. Whenever I think of a car-crash rumba, my mind goes to Letitia, Georgina or VORDERUMBA, rather than anything any man did (except maybe Ricky Groves)

4. I'm fairly sure Ben's limitations have already been exposed.

Depends. But Ben will need to find some hip action from somewhere (same too with Ashley if he gets to do it before he goes). If Ben looks as rigid as he did in his CCC then he'll be lucky to get even 5s. But he seems to be trying hard and at least doesn't have a defeatist attitude towards it (what with it being deemed as a banana skin dance which, let's face it, can be any dance if you're not very good at dancing). If you're a good dancer then 8s at least should be achievable.

I feel really sorry for the celeb males when they do the rumba. They either look very effeminate or if they try to act butch, they just look really stiff and awkward. It seems such a difficult dance to get right.

I blame the show as a whole, especially the judges, who right from the word go have emphasized that rumba should be sexy. As soon as they hear that, the celebs (male particularly, but female as well in some cases) tend to seize up.

Rumba doesn't have to be sexy at all; it is a dance of love - as is the waltz but no one seems to have problems with that! It can be flirty, or light and playful. But there should be movement at all times - even when the feet are still. It's a beautiful dance when done properly; unfortunately on Strictly it seldom is.

Rumba is very slow, precise, and your body must dance it as well as your feet. That's why it's tough for the stiff people - the people that don't understand how to isolate parts of their body. Women walk differently to men - women tend to use their hips and sashay, whereas men generally walk from their shoulders, hence why rumba is a more difficult concept for them. But it's not harder for the men on paper. As usual, it's the female that has the majority of the steps. I think rumba is nowhere near as difficult for men as say the samba is. Samba is tough for everyone. It's the foxtrot of the latin world.

They do. They tend to move like stiff metal tubes awkwardly sliding themselves automatically into place in a Strictly machine or like fish desperately struggling for breath on a nearby beach whilst still attempting to move sensually.

Let's face it, none of the celeb males are going to remotely manage to pull a decent one off (ooer missus).

That said, as has already been stated - however carp males are, they don't tend to be voted out. It's a bit of a free pass.

It's a weak year for men all round, but even the only decent ones look like they're going to struggle (if Ben gets above 20 for his rumba, even with Len's handicap for being a SPORTSMAN, I'll be flabbergasted).

No, because it's obviously sooooooo hard for the poor diddums male celebs to do the Rumba. Like it's that easy for the female celebs to wrap their thighs around some dashing, gaydar-scrambling love god in front of millions of live viewers, after they've only met a few times in the Romford Leisure Centre. The Rumba tends to be a free pass for the guys.

Let's face it, it's the naffest dance of the lot and unless you are seriously gorgeous and bendy and can dance the socks off all the others, you will look like a prat doing it.

Half the pro woman look like a desperate lap dancers when they do it. No one really wins.

Ben, Dave, Mark and Ashley will look embarrassed and Patrick - although he is capable of making it look sexy - will look like he wants to be somewhere else.

BIB I agree, we are much more forgiving for the guys, but tend to sneer at the celeb ladies' attempts unless they are really good (as I hope Natalie will be).

I doubt that any of the guys will be knocked out on a rumba bar maybe Dave, but I can't see any of them scoring highly with one either.

Ben looked pretty poor in his rhumba VTs. He still has little movement in his torso and nil hip action to add to the problem.

I think Patrick will be able to rhumba.

Ben, I take everything back. That rumba was so much better than I expected! Wow!!

Loved it! Ben surprised me!

nope lol

Added to which it must be extra difficult for the married men or men with partners to get so down and dirty with a comparative stranger.

Hope you are truly flabbergasted - I thought Ben did a great job!

Ben wasn't as bad as I feared, although when Kristina got the handkerchief dress out I did get worried!

Ben was the most improved this week for me but it helped that he wasn't excruciatingly embarrassed by the rumba like most male celebs.

Think he'll be getting great scores from Craig from now on too.

Bruno too now he has stopped being embarrassed he could do a lot better

Ben did well imo. Much better than I expected and kristina didn't have to pose about half as much as I expected as a consequence