There are a lot of casualty fans who will certainly vote for him.

I'm loving this thread. It's great to see a positive buzz around Patrick. Still haven't seen tonight's show but I agree that Patrick is easily the best of the men. Most of all you can see he has a joy in movement and an ability to lose himself in it -- and he really gets his music.

I only clicked to see if you were going to do an again!!

Moi?!

O
:sleep:

I agree

I think Patrick is by far the best male dancer, and has been all along, although Ashley is doing well too, and starting to catch up.

Patrick looks the best at the moment. People keep saying this a bad year for male celebs but they don't seem so bad right now and they have plenty of weeks to get better.

Sorry but i prefer Ashley, for me i thought Darcy over marked Patrick a 10 should be for perfection and i don't call nearly dropping your partner perfection.

Patrick absolutely IS the best of the boys so far!

Patrick dances with his whole body, from the top of his head to the tips of his fingers and toes, everything, responds to the music. Yes his early routines lacked impact, but I suspect Anya is one of the pros that truly teaches the basics first and as the competition progresses builds on that foundation, allowing for real progression.

Ashley clearly picks up choreography quickly, but Ola has not built that same foundation so nothing seems properly finished. His feet flap, his chin still drags his eyes down (sometimes he remembers and temporarily corrects but it slips again quite quickly) and I can't help but think that he could be performing to any song, because he lacks any natural response to the nuances of melody or narrative and just seems to count the beat.

I'd much rather dance with Patrick.

Why, because he is half Patrick's age?

You clever monkey, you.

Having the utmost respect for your opinion, I never totally discounted Patrick. Plus this pic totally sold me on tonight's performance, hours before the show was live. Is it not the best show pic ever? gotta be a wallpaper.

Patrick was my early pick from the launch show, showing natural rhythm in the group dance. He dropped off my radar in the first few weeks but hes definitely right back up there now..

I've always thought he was the best male dancer who wasn't fulfilling his potential and i'm so pleased for him that hes beginning to really shine. Well done Patrick and congrats to Anya who's doing a great job.

Totally agree.

Seems Patrick has the nod from TPTB - he has done more ballroom than Latin - and his Salsa got him into the DO.

Not arguing about his prowess in ballroom - he is very impressive.

Are they keeping him out of DO by giving him more ballroom, as he is clearly a "ballroom boy" as per Michael Vaughan last year.

Interesting to see if and when he gets the Rhumba - usually curtains for most males.

From the start, Ashley has been my favourite, he still is, but I really like Patrick too, loved his dance tonight, but I still think Ashley's still got the edge - just!

I don't understand this post at all. Until he did the QS last week, the general consensus on the board (which I agreed with) was that Patrick's ballroom was a bit rubbish and that he was one of the few celebs who was better at Latin than ballroom. Until tonight, his average across the two disciplines has been very similar, with his Latin actually scoring slightly more highly.

The AS obviously pushed his ballroom average up but then he did that bottom two salsa with an impeding injury so that would have pushed his Latin average down.

"Clearly a ballroom boy"?

I have no idea where this rather strange statement comes from.

Smokey, that pic is gorgeous. Both their expressions are rapt; their feet, their arms perfectly matched; her dress, his tails, his height -- all is sumptuous. So pleased for them. It was good to see the exuberance of the dance carry over into his face afterwards. They were bouncing like young 'uns

I think at the moment Patrick and Ashley are battling it out for the title of best male dancer, Ashley seems to have too many work commitments to take it atm. I agree with OP I cannot warm to Patrick, I never look forward to seeing his performance and actually thought the show was over tonight as I thought I'd seen all the dancers perform then discovered he was on last. For some reason he isn't memorable for me. I did however enjoy tonight's dance.

At the moment I would say Patrick is the best male dancer - which is what the judges are saying (& they do know what they are talking about). At the beginning of strictly, he seemed sluggish, old, a bit disinterested and he was complaining that his joints were creaking & going to fail him ... & a few weeks ago he injured his hand. However he has improved a lot & he does have a natural smoothness & musicality to his movement.

Ashley seems to put little effort into training and it is showing. He has a lot of energy & he is a good dancer ... but he lacks a bit of control & his posture & shaping needs to be improved.

Watching his AS back... I don't really see where he almost drops her near the end TBH. It's the second lift that seems to nearly go wrong.

I can't talk on the technical side, but in terms of who I enjoy to watch I think Patricks fast becoming my favourite of the male contestants left. He has been growing on me slowly as the weeks go on. I think he may be my favourite male pro left (Although I do have a soft spot for Mark). From my limited dance knowledge I think only Ashley could really compete on the same level when it comes to the male contestants at the moment.

A few people have said this but aren't they both working at similar jobs at the moment? Ie acting in a soap?

Is it because one couple keep bringing it up as an excuse?

Until this week I'd have said Ashley was better than Patrick and I think he still is - just.

Anya has clearly been working on his posture and I don't know if his tail coat was hiding a sticky out bum, but all of a sudden he's starting to look much better.

Ashley needs to sprint ahead if he doesn't want Patrick to pass him very soon.

I love watching Patrick and Anya. Even when his technique wasn't so good. As someone said earlier in the thread it is clear Anya is teaching him the basics over flashy moves and that will take a few weeks to shine through.

Last night was gorgeous though. The pictures Smokey posted says it all for me. Such joy!

He is so elegant and a joy to watch