Think I'm with you on this. I really admire that she enters into the spirit of each dance with enthusiasm and works hard. But all her dances look stompy, inelegant and slightly uncoordinated to me. I also like Kevin a lot as a personality but as a couple dancing together they don't gel for me - they look like two people who happen to be dancing at the same time on the same floor but otherwise barely know each other!

I wasn't criticising her for it. It would be naive to think that we're seeing anyone's authentic self on a celebrity reality TV show but Susanna makes herself an easy target for accusations of "fakeness" (the word "fake" is almost as synonymous with Susanna as "smug" is with Natalie on this forum) because she's so obviously still in presenter mode on Strictly.

No worries. I wasn't making any judgement on your observation, I was offering a possible explanation.

I bet on Susanna at the start believing her combination of reasonable dance ability (viz. Children in Need) and popularity might do the trick, thinking that the other four likely contenders, Natalie, (Ringer), Abbey (No fan base) Sophie (no fan base) and Ashley (good looking, decent dancer but lacking enough support) would fall by the wayside for those reasons.

I still think Susanna is a definite contender but Abbey and Aljaz now might be the ones, becoming increasingly popular (women will vote for Aljaz). Natalie is, and undoubtedly will remain, the best dancer by a mile but won't get the votes due to her experience.

Except of course, Abbey was in the bottom two only last Saturday, so I am not sure how popular she really is at the moment. She might get a post bottom two rebounce this weekend, but after that I am not sure. She might be the Kimberly Walsh of last year, where she was in the bottom two and then never in that position again and went to the final, only to lose to a bare-chested ovary-stealer gymnast.

public can be unforgiving and I think the past will affect Abbey def not as popular as her dancing should make her

Think that Natalie's only chance of winning is against Susanna and Ashley in the final (assuming a three person final). Either of them would struggle to pick a dance to rival Natalie in the final.

Despite this forum, I think that Sophie and Ben are very popular with the public. And Abbey would be a very attractive alternative against Natalie (especially as Abbey is coming across very well, much more natural).

Or to a bare-chested BIG BEN or to a highly entertaining Charleston by Sophie

I agree with you hun, she reminds me a lot of last year's Dani Harmer. Very stompy and leaden-footed. She's also a very messy dancer, messy arms, messy footwork, messy choreography, messy frame but I think if she could refine everything she could make the final, but I don't think she'll have a wow dance.

Hey, don't wind people up, I implore you. I might be implicated.

Dani was only stompy in the tango

Sophie is very popular; very, especially outside of this forum . She's the most popular of the female celebrities left; her dancing is not improving as much as I would like, but people will still vote her through .
Ben is a lot more popular than Ashley but Ashley is the better dancer. I'm more confident of Ben making the finale than Ashley.

If we have a 4 person finale, the finalists will be : Natalie, Sophie, probably Ben for the guys and another female celebrity (either Abbey or Susanna ).

Dani was another one of those marmite contestants. I liked her until she was like Chelsee, i.e. she became overwhelmed by the finals and was messy at the last hurdle.

However, Dani did a good mesh up of charleston and quickstep. She was quite short and stumpy in physique so there were a lot of bile in this forum about her weight and making fun of her tattoos and all those nasty things said here. Sad really, this year someone also mentioned somewhere that Susanna was fat (!)...

I'm not winding people up

Anyway, Susanna imo has a very good chance to make the finale. Could she win? It's possible.

Okay.

Depending on how popular Sophie really is and how well she dances in the following weeks, and how much Susanna would improve, I still think the top girls would be Natalie, Abbey (if judges keep saving her in the bottom two) and Sophie.

Otherwise, I suspect it would be Natalie, Abbey/Sophie and one of the guys, either Ashley or Ben in the finals.

I think Susanna will get to the semi-finals at best, looking at her standard atm...

Yes! that's it!

Dani *was* stompy - her quality was heavy-legged, no matter how fast or nimbly she danced (and Dani was neater, niftier than Susanna) Susanna has that same heavyfootedness, as if she were dancing in diving boots.

Fat is a bit of an exaggeration! She does IMO look a good two sizes bigger on SCD than the Breakfast sofa; I can only put this down to what she wears for each, and that in the latter she is seated all the time. ?!?!

If Saturday' s waltz gets the judges' thumbs up and draws the emotions of many viewers, it will help her on her way.

I find her heavy-footed as well and lacking grace. She can dance, but she doesn't seem to be improving, so for me, it's a no.

I'd love her to win, fo Kevin's sake. I think it unlikely. As others have commented there's a distinct heaviness in her legs that spoils, if I may describe it so, her 'bottom line'. At times her top line is off kilter too and I suspect this is what makes her look messy. Ironically she sometimes looks better in the training footage than on the show.

The other draw back for me with Susanna is that I've yet to see her power and passion. There was a little there in the tango but not enough. This may prevent her having a wow dance because she presents only one side of an emotional spectrum.

Susanna has lots of good points as a dancer though so I don't wish to sound critical and nothing more. I don't think she's anything like Dani Harmer who had dainty and precise footwork.

I would be OK with a Susanna win Poppysinbloom.

She doesn't seem be favoured by the dress department.

It would be a shame if she won because she's not exceptional or interesting to watch, and there has been no noticeable improvement in her dancing, their partnership or the choreography. Zero fire, zero style and no spark.

I love to see someone find hidden talent and start to shine. This simply has not happened with these two - Kevin and Susanna. She remains heavy footed and stompy and he continues to come up with lacklustre routines and bursts of manic over-dancing, which makes me wince.

I find them both very, very boring to watch. At best one could describe them as inoffensive, but not much else.

Dani was my favourite contestant last year and I'm glad she made to the final - such a shame she messed up once there.

Ironically considering jibes about weight directed at her and Susannah - Mark is actually my favourite this year although I don't think he either can or should win - I'm willing him every week to perform well and stay in. As longer as he outlasts Dave (and probably Fiona) I'll be reasonably happy.

I am not sure where the accusation of fat has come from

I said not fat when I mentioned that I found her heavy footed, I was trying to make a seperate distinction.

She lands very heavily with every step rather than skip or glide acress the floor. I find it quite bizarre that such a dainty person has this problem, where as when Ben does get moving he is quite light on his feet.

Perhaps someone could explain to me what it is that she is doing wrong and whether it is correctable?

Is it that some people are heavy footed by nature or that is something they have to be taught to land gracefully?

Me neither.

I find Mark very light on his feet too.

I don't know if it's the fact that she's flat footed and so is landing with the whole of her foot rather than going from heel to toe as her foot lands.

She's very enthusiastic so maybe it's that? She throws her whole body into the performance which can be fun but she's just gallumpy (is that even a word? )