Hi All

Just seeing her from week one there is no way on earth she has learnt that core strength, timing, line finishing, spin rotation in three weeks, all that rubbish that she hadnt done ballroom, it appears they brought in a ringer!

I wont be voting, to top it off she has no chemisty with artem, im sorry maybe she should be on DOI of Im a celeb?

It must be disheartening to the other contestants who know this,,,

She is very good but it is a bit of a given, seeing as she trained as a dancer until she was 19, whereas the likes of Mark Benton have never danced in their lived. I wish they’d bring in a no dance training rule to make it fairer to those who have to try so hard to achieve.


http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/s...gumede-2246729

There has always been good contestants on SCD but Natalie is clearly far too advanced and far too trained to be a valid "learner". I agree with everything you have said. At least she's admitted that she was trained until 19, making her ringer status partially cleaner that it would have been.

Thanks, if she denied it which she has been saying doesnt help... does sound stupid, we are not idiots!

Err..

This is a Saturday night entertainment show, "disguised as a dance competition," not the Olympics or even a professional ballroom dancing competition.
If some have a distinct advantage, then that means we'll be enjoying a better standard of dancing.
I really don't enjoy the performances of the John Sergeants and Russell Grants of this world, who are only included for a bit of schadenfreude.
I really don't mind who wins that tatty looking trophy, I just look forward to a bit of entertainment on a Saturday night, there's little of that otherwise on the BBC.

I probably would of agreed a few years ago, but now I just go with the flow its a given that in the end it only works against the trained celebs anyways, and she's great to watch you have to admit. Even if shes in the final she won't win.

I wouldn't be surprised if most of the female celebs had dance lessons as teenagers. Susanna was a child actress who had dance lessons as was Fiona. It wouldn't surprise me if Sophie and Abby had lessons too.

Plus, if you look at past series of Strictly then you see that they always cast people with dance experience (Alesha, Rachel Stevens, Denise Van Outen, Jill Halfpenny). It's the same story every year.

Till they were 19 and listed on the proffessional cv dancer?

Natalie's had enough mud slung at her to warrant my vote.

its like someone going on DOI and skated since they were three, to 19 would that be fair?

It's going to get boring giving her 9s and 10s each week.. she will have raised the bar too high and peak too early is my prediction.

Yes, I've voted for her 5 times

She's a cleaner ringer then DVO

Seriously. She's coming in with a handicap created by people like the topic starter. More reason to vote for her.

I agree! They should only allow on fat hairy bikers. And Clarissa Dickson-Wright.

This thread has just inspired me to throw a few more votes Natalie's way.

So what?

But none of this is new. She's made it clear that she has training. If we have a no-dancing rule, then we rule out Susanna (CiN), Ashley (pop), Sophie (pop), Mark (Hairspray), Fiona (ballet)... And that's just off the top of my head. I believe I read something about Julien doing tap when younger. It also isn't ruling out those who may have tried dancing very socially, who took lessons knowing they were doing SCD, who dabbled a little when they were children.

To be honest, as long as she's being honest and not claiming she only sat on a chair, I don't care. There is no way to have a level playing field - fitness, performance background, flexibility, musicality, memory for choreography are all factors and were we to preclude any of these, we'll just end up with some very mediocre dances. There is pleasure to be seen in someone improving and learning, but there's also a pleasure to be seen in a beautifully choreographed and performed dance. The joy of SCD is seeing all levels, stages of improvement

Chris Fountain did.

Where does it say she was trained in ballroom dancing?

A handicap?

She was in the same starting line-up with Tony who got out of breath tying his shoe-laces. Natalie is hardly at a disadvantage.

There is a difference between having dance lessons as most girls have done at some point in their life and having actual proper dance training with a view to doing it as a career as appears to be the case with Natalie.

If the report is correct perhaps it is a tad unfair for her to be on SCD. I have no objection as such to contestants having some previous experience it's how much training/experience they have had and whether they are open about it or not. My issue with DVO last year was the denial about having danced as I feel it did a huge disservice to those performing in shows in how she described it but didn't have an issue with her having experience.

To list herself as highly skilled Natalie will have had to have had a lot of training. Not holding it against her as such as she has been honest but do feel a bit sorry for those who are starting out as complete beginners who may feel they stand no chance because of the high standard that has been set that is not perhaps a fair starting point.

He didn't win either.

Strange we didn't get all these new threads screaming "RiNGAH!!!" in series 2, as Jill Halfpenny's CV was identical. Which ought to have immediately invalidated her "best dance ever" jive. Was it really fair to have Jill and Julian Clary on the same show?



Quite. The way people go on, you'd think Strictly was a real competition with strict entry and exclusion criteria.

As did Ray thingy who won the entire thing.