You seem to be unacquainted with the concept of healing - are you a real doctor?

1. Not sure whose idea it was but I quite liked the supporting dancers.

2. Mark actually did quite a good Jive.

3. Loved Sophie's long hair. Liked her dance, too, and I thought she was under-marked, possibly as a result of going first.

4. Susannah's now better than I ever thought she would be.

5. I'm beginning to form a slightly negative opinion of Brucie.

1. Blackpool spectacular was disappointed for me by the incessant over marking.

2. Think Mark will be in the bottom 2

3. I liked Fiona & Anton AS, didn't deserve the overly harsh comments from the judges.

4. Artem showcased his partner Natalie perfectly he is a great dancer and choreographer

5. Sometimes I felt the stage was too big for the dances

Probably been mentioned already but
1 what the hell are giant teapots doing on a dance floor
2 what on earth are backing dancers doing joining in on individual dances?

1- marking was shocking, eights for Ben and Mark are ridiculous
2- as much as I do adore ben cohen, I am sick with his 'dancing', he's probablys danced the same amount of content as others do in one dance!
3- I did not enjoy Natalie, and she did not deserve the same score as Susanna
4- I grow to love Kevin more and more each week, I love how he choreographs traditional propped routines!! He and Susanna are looking strong atm!
5- I loved the solo part of Fiona's routine, she tends to show glimmers of ability every dance, yet never fully shines, it's frustrating

All in all I enjoyed Blackpool!!

1. Almost everyone was over marked, but Ben most of all.

2. Artem & Natalie's charleston was in a different league to everyone else - it looked like a Broadway number.

3. Susanna's paso was very Benidorm, but she did dance a lot more of it than the naysayers would have it. Probably not helped by the camera focussing on Kevin: I thought Strictly was about the 'celebs'?

4. The judges must be marking Aliaz, not Abbey.

5. Mark might not be the best dancer, but he's still the most fun to watch. I hope he stays in longer than some of the supposedly "better" but overrated others.

Great venue tho the best thing about Blackpool is Lytham at one end and Bispham at the other.

Loved the start, very Danny Boyle.

Take Natalie out the equation and a real front pack emerging - getting interesting now.

Ben is a lucky lucky guy

Beeb owe a duty of care for Bruce - he really enjoyed himself but disarster beckons the longer this goes on.

1. The marking was all over the shop. None of those dances were worth 10s

2. Bruce needs to shut up. He's not a judge

3. There was something missing in Natalie's charleston for me

4. Fiona to go for me, she's just meh

5. Kevin is fast becoming one of the best choreographers on the show

1. Am I the only one who understood and loved Ashley and Ola's Paso Doble? Brilliant performance and story telling.

2. Only SKFG would get away with having his celebrity standing still for 15 seconds of the dance. Overall it was good but not a masterpiece for me.

3. I assume Bruno and Len were confused by the bigger ballroom and got stuck in Dancing with the Stars mode with the marking. I'm not sure what Darcey's excuse would be.

4. Sophie and Brendan were undermarked; going first hurt them both.

5. You could have driven a Blackpool tram between Abbey and Aljaz so how was that worth 10s???

1. Loved Ashley and Ola's Paso theme.

2. Great content in Abbey and Alijaz's QS although too much gapping and more deserving of 8's/9's.

3. OTT reaction from Susanna after the judges scoring.

4. I'm giving up on advocating Bruce's presenting status. The man now has to go.

5. Natalie and Artem's Charleston started well but fell flat towards the end, and didn't deserve 10's.

1) Scoring was insane - truly. Dances that deserved 8s were getting 10s. At this rate they are going to have to introduce '11' and '12' paddles.
2) Why did they give 3 x 10s to what, at best, was only the 3rd best Charleston this series?
3) Susannah & Kevin. Wow. Spirit, snap, energy and drama. Head and shoulders above the rest, making the gross overmarking of Natalie an even bigger injustice.
4) Sophie shockingly undermarked. Very nice dance.
5) Fiona now out of her depth even in an aeroplane. Shame, but it's getting obvious.

1. 8 for Ben, 7 for Sophie? - Craig's evidently back on the meds
2. Loved the opening dance with the older dancers and the youngsters - brought a tear to my eye
3. Len's comment to Anton re: lifting Fiona "you needed a block and tackle to get her up there"
4. Kevin rocking the guyliner almost distracted me from those terrible red trousers...
5. Director's mistake to put Natalie's dance last - it felt flat after the excitement of Susanna's paso

1. Ashley's Paso was amazing. Cowboy Paso wouldn't be to everyone's tastes but he played the character he was given well and danced with great power and style. Dance of the night for me.
2. Natalie's Charleston just felt wrong. I don't know if it was Artem's stiff neck, her back/exhaustion, her hair, the music or just the dance not suiting her? It just didn't do it for me.
3. Loved Mark and Iveta's Jive. So happy that Iveta put in the dinosaur for him. He was never going to do a light and quick Jive but what he did was fun and captured the feeling of the dance.
4. Poor Anya and Patrick. Two dances in two weeks hampered by wardrobe issues. Apart from his small mistake their routine was fantastic and they both coped so well despite the foot in dress moment. Pure professionalism.
5. Infuriated at Ben getting 8s from everyone (especially Craig, how was that better than Abbey/Sophie and equal to Patrick???) for about 30 secs of dry ice covered 'dancing'! Kristina spent far too long faffing with the help, yet received no criticism despite a warning from Len only 2 weeks earlier about time wasting.

1. Campest, technicolor opening. And the pro/celeb male line-up was like some weird alt Village people .
2. Scoring was predictable but wtf.
3. Not really wowed by any of the top dances(good but not great), though I begrudgingly give Kevin & Susanna top marks for all-out OTT .
4. Nice to see Deborah in audience, though would have preferred her on dancefloor.
5. errrr....that's it.

1) I didn't realise Mark's dance was supposed to be a jive until at least half way through, but somehow it didn't matter, I really enjoyed it - probably the music.

2) Susannah totally scorched the floor, what a fantastic performance, and what a difference the real music makes!

3) Natalie has a back problem? And what did they do to her hair to make it all disappear?

4) Fiona seemed heavy somehow, and nothing to do with the lift she did so inelegantly.

5) Bruce said 'cr@p' on a Live show!

I thought it was only me seeing it. I've thought him flatfooted right from the start. His shoes always seem to have incredibly flat soles which doesn't help the situation either.

Lol to no 2
Sort of agree to no 3 but I feel Austin and Erin paved the way - there was an audible gasp when Austin did his opening ole - to better acceptance of joyfully overacted campery in ridiculous costume. I for one am glad Austin was not robbed in vain!

I mentioned this last night. I've been trying to figure out whether or not it's just that his feet are very big? He puts me in mind of Denise Lewis who had very large plates of meat.

The more I fixate on Patrick's feet, the more they start to look like a pair of flippers.....

Ah - memories.......

1) Bruce we can see that Mark is overweight so there is no need to make references to it which he obviously isn't going to be thrilled about.
2) Blackpool 100% better than Wembley - hope we never have to put up with the latter again and having Blackpool mid series works as opposed to in the final.
3) Brilliant idea with the opening dance of having the kids and the elders which really made the show symbolic and 'Strictly'.
4) Susanna's Paso was fantastic and rightly deserved to be at the top of the leader board - no way should Natalie have been joint.
5) Still very much an open playing field which makes a nice difference and the final stages of the competition should be very interesting viewing.

When Strictly went off to the Seaside

The Dancers specially hard they all tried

There were 10s in abundance

Poor Fiona did her last dance

“Blackpool is brilliant” everyone cried

Haha.

1. Poor Anya hasn't had a great couple of weeks - almost dropped (twice!) last week and gets her heel caught in her dress this week. Still, I'm starting to like her more and more - amazing dancer, good teacher and a sweet and earnest person.

2. Not the wow dance I was hoping for from Sophie but I'm glad she's moving in the right direction again.

3. Susanna was amazing!

4. I think Artem tried too hard to create a cool charleston and the whole thing felt a bit flat.

5. Are the judges just going to award 10s for any old tat since Darcey gave one to Patrick last week? Susanna thoroughly deserved hers but no one else did.

1. Abbey and Aljaz's quickstep in Edwardian dress with its references to the great hey-day of the British Seaside was a perfect tribute to Blackpool.

2, Susanna and Kevin's Spanish display was a reminder of who has usurped the Good Old Times in Blackpool - a sock in the eye, unfortunately.

3. Where was the Wurlitzer?

4. Loved seeing the children and other locals dancing.

5. Sad that Craig had to sour so many otherwise perfect scores.

I've only just caught up with this thread but no.4 needs sorting out in this early post - by "gaping": do you mean gapping? (Of course I have not failed to notice a lot of silent gaping by men whenever Abbey appears.)

About the gapping, Abbey would have to thrust her tummy region a further distance than most women because she is so slim, so surely some (just a little) allowance can be made for her?? No? Thought not.

1-I thought I was getting a workout just from watching Abbey & Aljaz QS . That was so fast , very energetic and so much fun . She looked like she was having a brilliant time out there. I loved it

2-literally everyone was overmarked Saturday. I love Abbey but yes I admit that 3 10s was generous but Craig 7 was very harsh. At the most it should have been 8 10 9 10(or 9) but Craig very harsh 7 balanced her overall score so why are people still moaning about it especially when most couples were overmarked ?

3-Natalie was overmarked as well and I found that performance lacklustre; I don't know, I was expecting a bit more. It's my least favorite routine from her so far. Artem is an amazing choreographer. Congrats to him for having his highest score in the Charleston. A dance he hates

4-well done to Susanna for having the performance of the night. She's not my cup of tea but that paso was pure brilliance . I think that she solidified her place in the finals with that performance. Great job to Kevin as well for a stunning choreography.

5-I'm really starting to like Patrick & Anya . Blackpool was amazing