What strategy is that then? Please tell.

Having been someone who has defended Len in the past, I cannot disagree with any part of that post.

For a judge who has pushed the technical aspects of the dance so many times to consider that Dave's DO effort was by far the better dance shows that he has indeed lost the plot

Dave was the right person to go - worst dancer left in the competition (nice chap though, I see why people like him). Mark, as much as I like him, was next one in line this week, not a good rumba, so I think for once this was the correct DO with the right person eliminated.

Agree with all this, Dave actually did some dancing, Mark stood there like Iveta's pole and posed his hands a bit but it's obvious that Mark is an overall better dancer, I do wish that the dance off was judged on the specific performance as we'd get some interesting results but hey ho

Nope there was bitchiness in his remarks - I think Len has his pets and he likes to feed them regardless of anything else. Dave entertained him - Mark didn't.

I'm not totally convinced that Dave was never better on that dance alone but then I'm a Mark supporter and even I'm staying there wasn't an awful lot of difference in quality between the two performances. The rest I totally agree with - as I know about the meltdown as I was the one of the fools who went critical - sorry about that

Ever year I promise myself that I won't let it get to me if someone I like goes out before what I consider to be their time and every year I lose it and end up bitching at a person who stays at their expense - sometimes my sensiblity gets the better of my sense - I'm proud of it but there you have it.

I thought someone similar on Saturday, Mark remained seated for a long time then seemed to only take stand or walk as Iveta danced around him. I know the female professionals tend to do a lot of the dancing with the poorer male celebrities but this seemed to be taken to a new level. He should have been sent home rather than Dave who did at least seem to make an effort.

I think Dave did the better dance on the night but Mark is the better dancer overall so I don't think he was robbed.

I think the judges (bar Len) were so pleased to see him finally in the dance off they could not take the chance on letting him through in case he didn't end up there again!!

I like Dave as a person and loved his friendship with Karen. I found his "dancing" entertaining at first (I cried with laughter at his Cha Cha) but for the past couple of weeks it was just the same old thing over and over and I was thinking his time had surely come.

No. He was not robbed by any means. As others have already stated this complete fake should have lost weeks ago.

The public have been completely and comprehensively hoodwinked by him and the other Hairy Biker.

As for Len, I think it's time for him to go as well. His decisions are becoming very erratic.

Personally I think both Daves and Marks dances on Saturday were equal - equally poor - with little to choose between them. If any of the judges felt that way they would have to use other criteria to judge and make their decision by and that may well be past performances. So no I don't think Dave was robbed.
I also think Len was totally out of order being so nasty to Mark, a very bad tempered display from him. His argument should have been with the other judges not Mark - it was their decision to put him through. They both made mistakes he obviously just preferred Dave but was outnumbered three to one - that's how it works. He should have accepted that with better grace and just said he disagreed with them, he could have given his reasons why of course but not aimed so angrily at Mark. .

Two things:

1) There aren't meant to be lifts in the rumba. I think it was meant to be a variation on the step where the fella swings the girl round with one foot touching the floor. It's invariably messed up on Strictly because the celeb (male or female) doesn't have enough control to keep the foot in contact with the floor. Mark's effort there, although admittedly a bit slow and ponderous, did at least attempt to keep foot and floor in conversation.

2) To this poster and all the others slagging off Mark's rumba for being a load of arm-waving faffing - you have seen male celebs do the rumba on Strictly before, right?

I actually thought, as ever, Iveta had been really clever about it. Nobody was ever going to buy a straightforward sexy rumba from Mark, so building a character where he could be dominant but not smouldering was a great idea. And Darcey was actually right in that his arms did hit the odd nice position. OK, his feet were still pancake-flat, but that's been an issue from week 1.

Do I think either Mark or Dave is a particularly talented dancer? Nope. Would I rather watch Mark's brand of 'entertainment' than Dave's? Yes yes yes a million times.

I'm inclined to shade the D/O to Mark based on the fact that what content he did was actually semi-OK, rather than wrecked like Dave's content. But then I'm biased.

Just some random thoughts.

Speaking as a generously upholstered person, I avoid those sorts of swivel chairs Mark was sitting in like the plague - not a good sight seeing him getting out of that chair and it didnt get much better.

On the marking only Darcey scored Mark and Dave equally (6) - the others (including Len) scored Mark a point higher. As far as I could gather Mark's DO performance had more movement and there was better hand-shaping - so where Len's outburst came from I cant work out - his comments to Mark earlier about the difficulty of getting the mood/movement right seemed of generous spirit - maybe they had a tiff in the break.

I think both dancers have been well past their shelf life for a few weeks - the one good thing about the result is that Dave (as with all this year's leavers except poor Tony) have gone out on a high having done justice to themselves in their final performance - that's no bad thing.

Wozzy buggry. Len's just being Len, he's a crowd pleaser. Ironically, he's the least qualified on the panel and ridiculous in his use of the scoring system - yet, because of his age, they made him head judge.

Mark is also a bad dancer, just not as bad as Dave.

Point 1) Fair point, it was late, after a long weekend, and i didn't formulate my post very well. I maintain the move looked clumsy and ugly thoiugh.


Would I rather watch Mark's brand of entertainment?
Not really. There's not much in it though. I think i just find Dave's puppy dog enthusiasm a bit better than Mark's brand of overacting..


Mark's DO i don't think was technically much better than Dave's and given that there was so much less content, i think Mark could have gone in Dave's place without any grounds for complaint.

Me too! I'll trade in either of my neighbours!! Well, one house is currently empty so he can go there. Better still, I'll get a houseboat and move in next to Dave.

Lovely post Cressida. I completely agree with everything you say. Dave is a gent in his slightly surreal way and I've really enjoyed his humour and the essential kindness of the man. Never watched the Hairy Bikers but I might look out for them now.

I love Mark too. He has given me one of my two top moments from SCD this year -- when he raised and looked at his empty hands. Because typically he inhabits the dance, it was the right decision over all. (Though his rumba was horrible)

I wonder if in a cookery programme Dave would say to a contestant "your food tastes terrible and is badly presented but you are such a laugh'" no I am sure he has too much integrity for that and wouldn't be so patronising.

Robbed? Hardly.

Bottom with the judges and too few public votes. I didn't vote for him this week whereas I have done previously.

The only thing I would say in his defence is that I do think his final tango was a lot better than Mark's effort. If you based it purely on the dance-off I'd have had to put Dave above Mark even though Mark usually dances a lot better.

But on the basis of the dance-off then maybe the OP has a point.....

Dave has lasted longer than his dancing deserved. Mark and Fiona should be the next two celebs to leave.

I did think Len had a point about the errors - if you look at the two performances on iPlayer, Mark does appear to hesitate and/or lose arm movements and placing at a few especially early points in the DO compared to the original performance.

This.
IMO Dave made no attempt to try & dance & deserved to go weeks ago. And as for Len saying he would've saved him- the man's lost the plot.

I think it's actually good for Dave to go now where he can be remembered as a good laugh and entertaining guy because had he stayed and started knocking out genuine contenders, I think the mood towards him would have changed. Now, I think Dave will generally be remembered with fondness and a smile.

Nail on head.
BTW it is not saying anything terrible about someone to say they just can't dance. Credit for all his effort and for the spirit and charm he showed.

Well it's one thing to say he couldn't do it.

Another to say he did not try.

(As the poster you were replying to suggested).

It doesn't suggest anything at all about trying - the word isn't mentioned.

My bad, you are right, it was another reply to the same poster.