I don't know how she is surviving, she and Anton do very boring dances and I find her insipid and boring , unless she is being critisied when she looks as if she is sucking a lemon.

She does not like being told she is not wonderful.

For me now Dave has gone she is occupying the slot of the person I want to go next and if she stays and Mark goes I will be really rather sad.

Mark has entertained me most weeks, rumba was so not his dance, but in addition he is dancing, maybe not enough , with grace and commitment , something missing in Fiona's dance

I look of reward to seeing him each week , I don't with Fiona

Why shouldn't people like Fiona? She trying her best, she's well spoken, has a sense of humour, brings some acting to her performance, she's enjoying herself, and so on.

Mark's routines (apart from that dreadful rumba) have been very entertaining but the truth, loath though the endless critics Anton seems to attract on here may be to admit it, is that Fiona's routines have all contained a lot more content than both his and Ben's, so I have no problem with her being in thus far. I have even thrown a vote her way most weeks because I think the middle aged women have a tough time getting votes - she is criticised in comment after comment of being bland or boring ( a comment seldom made re, say Ben, who mostly stands like a totem pole for every dance ). On ability, Fiona should be in danger of going this week, although she has drawn as good a dance as she could with an AS. And I agree with DD23 - Anton's QS was a masterpiece of choreography for an older, unfit celeb with memory problems in a fast dance - also, I might add skillfully danced by him concealing a plethora of her errors with clever angles.

Welll I wouldn't want to go down the pub with her. She appears (to me) prim and boring, and can pull some really sour faces in the Tesspit when other dancers are being praised.

Oh, and her dancing's not much to write home about. It's not an age thing - I'm 10 years older than her and my middle bends just fine thank you.

(I could go down the pub with Ben though )

As far as I know she is neither unfit or having memory problems due to her age.
Matt. D Angelo was one of the younger contestants when sat on the side for half a dance having completely forgotten it

She also did ballet in her youth , some people don't cope with the pressure well , Anton forgot the routine last week.
Alesha famously forgot half of a routine, Scot was dragged through one of his by Natalie Lowe.

Dianie the bending thing does not generally happen unless you are generally chair bound and loose propreaceptiion. Generally association with advanced altzheimers.

Glad you haven't got that

I think a lot of people think because she's been out of the public eye for such a long time that Fiona is not a well known celebrity but I think to a certain age group she is. I wouldn't say I'm very old but I certainly recognised her name when she was announced in the line up - she was a familiar face on tv in the past and was a great beauty in her day and IMO she still is a very attractive woman - so I think she would appeal to a certain section of voters.

She hasn't really lived up to my expectations as a performer on strictly - I had a her down as a possible Cherie or Pamela and as a personality I'm finding her a bit irritating but she seems to have bonded well with Anton - and bar the judges comments which she often seems taken aback by, she seems to be enjoying the experience. The celebrity I'd compare her to is Felicity Kendal - I remember she had a problem remembering a few of her routines but she could ultimately sell them because of her acting experience.

Not all of us viewers come from the professional dancing world. As a non-dance world person (my "thing" is classical music-making) I find she is only a bit vague, but not as awkward on the dance floor as a stream of feminine celebs before her. And loads of people still supporting Anton as far as Blackpool.

Post-Blackpool will be another story. That's when the going will get tough,and the tough will get going and, ....
sorry Ms Nat-partnering-Artem, but big hair and a fainting fit doesn't do it for me. In previous series we've had reallyinjured celebs coming back to dance with strapped backs, ankles, feet and wrists. So the tittering replies on the phone to former contestant Zoe Ball in IT2 that "the old body couldn't take it" will have lost her a lot of support.

True re the competition getting down to the nitty gritty post Blackpool.

It will be interesting to compare the AS dances this week if they both go to plan as the one Kristina does for Ben I imagine everyone expects to be of the more "spectacular" variety and based heavily around lifts. (Fair enough play to your strengths)

I wonder re Mark as he had certainly been unfortunate with the jive although bottom two and birthday bounce shouldn't be underestimated.

These mentioned are being almost universally touted as the bottom three and next to go, but others could easily fall into that mix.

Sophie was better in AT least weekend but if she produces another jive standard performance she could be in jeopardy. Likewise I wonder if Ashley's lack of hours could catch up with him.

Then we have the GBP to consider.

Chris thingmy and Julian(maracas) both got to finals.

I think all of our remaining bottom three are better than they were.