Gosh, if that is considered black sheep!

I think it will probably come down to Susanna and Ashley at the end:

Abbey - clearly capable, but bottom 2 appearance doesn't bode well.

Natalie - again clearly capable, but a 'ringer' and hasn't really given a 'wow' performance as yet. I think she'll be around the middle-lower end of the public vote.

Sophie - one 'wow' routine, but sinking faster than the Titanic. She needs her Argentine Tango to be a good one otherwise I think she'll land in the DO soon.


Susanna and Ashley both seem to be very consistent, and showing signs of improvement. I think Ashley is more likely to get to the final at the moment, but if Susanna continues to improve then I don't see why she couldn't get there too. It depends who's in the final I guess.

The last couple of series have not been won by the best dancer and probably half the series overall were not won by the best dancer. One was won by someone who as probably the 6th, or therabouts, best dancer.

Someone has to win. Abbey has a major vote problem. Like Sophie she may be too quiet and reserved to cultivate a vote. Natalie lacks charisma, and a journey story, and her experience undermines her achievements. She comes from an ITV show, and has half the internet fanbase Rachel had. Either Abbey or Natalie might win with the right choregraphy, or if the voters are told they should win and believe the judges.Sophie might win on musicality, and agility with the right dances, but has an issue with too many dances at present.

Susanna has obvious enthusiasm and charisma and is pretty consistent - where other's have notably weaker and stronger dances. She comes from the same fanbase as Chris Hollins.If she produces some really good dances, at the right time, ,she will have the series journey and achievement story.

The judges may push Natalie regardless, , and its debateable whether votes will follow this slavishly, or react against the overhyping. in recent years, the judges have overhyped whoever was looking like winning in the vote anyway so this may not prove a decisive factor either

I love Suzannah and Kevin. She really sells each dance with
personality and they are a lovely couple together. I never
get why people dislike people they have never even met!

Suzannah is my second favourite after Abbey. I see
Karen Hardy said of IT2 last night that Suzannah should have
got a ten for her charlston - she thinks she is great.

I don't think her partnership with Kevin will capture the audience as much as did with Chris and Ola, so I think she'll need to rely on her dancing to try and grab the audience more (imo). She's a nice person though so maybe she might make it to the quarters at most (depending on a variety of factors). At the moment she doesn't look like a winner to me, but I said that of Darren Gough, Tom Chambers and Chris Hollins and they all ended up winning despite not being the best of their bunch, so anything is possible on this show when the final ultimate result is down to the public.

huh? Why would viewers care about something like that?

I don't need to have met Susanna Reid to dislike her. She is a personality on TV and it's this persona I'm judging. Every programme she appears on causes me a lot of irritation. Ridiculous facial expressions, lazy body posture on the Breakfast sofa.... Just something I can't quite put my finger on. Fast forward her all the time now or go and put the kettle on if I'm watching her with the wife!

I think I may be the only person on the forum who has no strong opinion on Susanna in one direction or the other. I'm far too haphazard and chaotic most mornings to sit down to breakfast TV and whilst her hammy style isn't really to my taste I'm surprised by the level of vitriol she can inspire. I'm strangely indifferent towards her.

Can she reach the final? I think probably yes. I have a feeling out in the real world she's quite popular. Can she win? Not in my opinion. I imagine Kevin's showdance will be terrible and full of messy, weedy lifts that look horrendous.

I would say she's more or less near the top of the public vote week on week, she's basically a dream contestant ('Journeying' having a bubbly personality, largely popular because of Breakfast and people taking to Mr From Grimsby :P) I think she can win, but she has to pull out a bit of a spectacular dance to do it (If we look at the realistic alternatives of Abbey,Sophie, Natalie or Ashley Abbey doesn't have a fanbase (As evidenced by the dance off this week), Sophie has had some woeful latin dances (and her ballroom can be a bit wobbly too) Natalie is a bit class prefect and Ashley isn't putting the hours in so I see no reason why Susanna isn't at least in with a shot of the glitterball )

Other people have already clarified for me but I just to confirm: I wasn't questioning Kevin's technique. I don't enjoy watching him dance or appreciate his style of performance but that's a completely different matter. I don't doubt his credentials. The thing is that while he's a professional dancer and can deliver a full on performance while still being accurate, Susanna has been dancing for 10 weeks and cannot.

I remember after their Samba Kevin said on ITT that the Samba is such a difficult dance to master that he focused more on delivering a fun performance than getting hung up on technique. I understand where he's coming from but I felt Susanna could have danced a better Samba and a lot of the messiness of the dance was actually caused by Kevin pushing her around with manic force (like the weird aborted Samba rolls).

Basically, I thought it was admirable when Susanna just threw herself into the dance when she danced the Jive in week one but the fact that she's still dancing with that same untamed enthusiasm makes it feel like she hasn't really progressed much.


Good lord. I hadn't even thought of what their showdance might be like. Thanks for that terrifying prospect. Could the lifts be worse than Pasha almost toppling over during his showdance with Kimberley?

Pasha always messed up his showdances! With Chelsee and the same with Kimberly.

So, now I know form this post you don't rate Susanna's dancing. What do you think of her VW btw?

I think you could be right.

I don't actually have very strong feelings about Susanna. I think the only negative thing I've ever really said about her personality is that she's a "total Hermione Granger" (but then I like Hermione, so not really negative). Though I do understand why people find her a bit fake as she seems unable to switch off her presenter persona.

As for her dancing, her Latin is a bit full on for my tastes but I've found her ballroom perfectly pleasant (though lacking a bit in finnese). I think she has potential to be a good dancer but isn't quite there yet. Maybe it's her schedule. Maybe it's Kevin's teaching. Maybe she takes a while to pick up the routines and they don't have time to polish technique. Who can say?

Although I wouldn't go mad like Karen Hardy and declare it worthy of a 10, I quite liked her Charleston. Sure, it was a gurnfest but it was cute, suited her vivacious approach to dancing and I liked the drive-in movie/teen wolf theme (even if Hair and Makeup made it a bit more Teen Worzel Gummidge).

I see, frankly I liked their partnership and have yet to be wowed by their dances. I take to Natalie and Artem's partnership but I had been wowed by almost all their dances so far. Like you I did find Susanna's ballroom dances less messy than her latin dances. She has a LONG way to go in terms of polishing her moves. Can't comment much on Kevin's teaching methods as we don't see much of their actual training VTs, which is a pity, not just with Susanna and Kevin, but the rest of the remaining couples...

I don't mind Susanna and I like her partnership with Kevin. She hasn't wowed me with a dance yet but with the exception of Sophie's Charleston, I haven't been wowed by a dance by anyone so far this series. I find her dancing enjoyable enough, more so than most, but I'd find her a slightly surprising winner based on what she has done so far.

As far as her persona goes, I don't find it as irritating as others do even though I can see she's clearly "on", and tbh judging by the hate and bile some Strictly contestants are receiving, it's probably quite sensible self-preservation to keep the professional image in place as a mental barrier against some of the nastier comments.

make that 2 people

Of course she can. All the top six probables have issues. Nobody has universal personal appeal and only Natalie is a stand out dancer. Susanna always underrates her own performances, always extols the virtues of the others, tries her best, gets on with her partner, is good at both styles, brings joy to their performances etc. Isn't that a blueprint for a winner?

Yes, she has as much chance as anyone else

Dear God....

Quite possibly that might be in part because she does that very job for the very same channel. Or maybe she just wants to keep her private self more guarded, I don't think she's the only one there.

Just like Natalie who appears to remain quite guarded but friendly and professional. They are the same, it's called self-preservation.

I agree, in fact I said it way earlier up in this thread.

So good, bears repeating. But copyright is yours I must thereby emphasise.

Actually I would have a problem with her winning, not from her personality though she is a bit "on" all the time but from her dancing.

I often wonder if I have watched the same dance that the judges have I find her messy and heavy footed.

NOT fat it's just that she seems to land heavy footed and as such it spoils the look the dances for me.

I would have a real problem with her winning as I don't like watching her dance so I would prefer someone else win rather than her.


I know the best dancer doesn't always win, but I would really prefer someone with such a messy heavy footed style not win.

I probably wasn't the first to say something similar.