And they too would have been more entertaining to watch than Fiona.

Lovely lady though.

Because, as usual, he did almost no dancing, although at least this week his feet actually moved, if not in recognisable Jive steps.

Excellent post. Its a pity some posters on here dont have the same views. I think Mark expected to go this week and its not his fault that he was saved by the judges. I wonder who these people will turn on when Mark goes - probably on Saturday - as they are never happy unless they are slagging someone off.

For me Mark projects confidence as a performer which makes him very enjoyable to watch. Fiona, on the other hand, always seemed to lose her way every week and I would sit here waiting for the moment when she would screw things up (I think Bruno nailed it in his critique on Saturday). I don't think Anton choreographing safe, Shirley Temple-esque routines helped her much either.

And the silly people still think it's a dance competition.

Fiona would have gotten the judges decision had she delivered a reasonable dance. She left them with absolutely no choice after she butchered her dance in the dance-off. She let herself down imho.

Mark is worth it because he entertains ! and his dance was fabulously entertaining. And that is a big part of the essence of the competition.

As opposed to recent years when he has tried hard? I believe Fiona would have done a lot better with a different professional as Anton really is in it for laughs now.

What strikes me about Fiona is she walks the dance steps (very like Lynda Bellingham did) instead of utiIising her whole body for expression - her feet and hands are all that move.

BIB - totally agree Jan.



I say something similar every year.
The winner will be 1 out of 15 and was never going to be either Mark or Fiona (although I hope he is in the Final for variety) so 14 will be eliminated this series and so far, bar one, they've gone in a predictable order.

It was enough to outlast Rachel so Fiona fans can hardly complain.

Because Craig tends to score down this can give the impression that he is being objective but as the other panelists have said very few dances even when performed by professionals are perfect. It's always possible to find fault if you want to do so. Increasingly I'm aware of how Craig overlooks faults in dancers he likes and emphasises them in others. If this isn't bad enough he isn't even consistent - his marking criteria seem to change according to the mood he's in or the role he is asked to play by the producers! I still like him but I don't think he's particularly better than Darcey and Bruno. Len? Yes! Poor Len has become a caricature of himself although to be fair Strictly tends to do this to all its judges

Is there a problem with an opinion on whether the judges were fair or not? No, thought not so don't be rude.

End of....... No, sorry just can't allow myself to respond like a 9 year old so will have to finish the sentence; End of subject.

I agree completely with both of these posts. Both are lovely people and there is no need to be rude about either person. I thought we were judging the dancing?

If Mark had left there would probably have been a thread crowing about how the judges did the right thing instead.

If someone is a fan of Fiona then it's understandable that s/he thinks that she 'was robbed' but the reality is that Mark danced better in the dance off as evidenced by the reception he and Ivetta received after they finished their dance and the fact that three out of four judges voted to save them.

We even had the "Was Dave robbed?" thread last week.

Wow! so an overweight guy gets put through and the program still gets accused of being ist - lots of older ladies win DOs live with it.

During the Dance off , Mark performed to the best of his ability - Fiona didn't.

That's it really....

And in the previous dance off, Dave danced to the best of his (very limited) ability.

And yet Mark is still there.

I got the impression Fiona had mentally left the competition as soon as she heard she was in the dance off, whereas Mark came out fighting. It was the right decision in my opinion.

Fiona did well to get as far as she did. She's an okay, but not great, dancer and she wouldn't have had a fan base as most people would either never have heard of her, or only vaguely remembered her, when she started the competition,

Look the point is she's a better dancer than Mark.

When Mark is saved over Fiona.. people claim its because he danced to his potential whereas she didn't, seemed resigned etc.

And yet the previous week, when Dave danced to his potential and Mark danced even more poorly than usual, seemed resigned, etc its allegedly STILL right that he stayed despite the situation being the mirror of what is stated above.

A lot of the moves came straight out of the Hairspray routine, as I remember it. He was in time with the music and completed the dance to the best of his jive ability whereas Fiona, I feel, had given up and jus went to enjoy her last routine -and promptly forget great chunks of it. I don't
Think it was nerves, I think Len was being kind when he said that, it was oh good, I'm going home.

I get your point and if you remember, if the judges had been split Len would have saved Dave & Mark would be gone & this forum would have exploded. It's sad for Fiona fans but it was only a matter of time for her & for Mark too for that matter.

I agree. I think Fiona realised that the gap between her and Mark and the other dancers was really widening and she didn't want the embarassment of being bottom of the board again next week. I imagine she never expected to win and her attitude now was 'I've had a great few weeks, but it's time to go home'. She didn't look the least bit upset when she realised Mark had won, and I thought she seemed quite relieved when she was doing her final dance at the end.

The difference? Mark did not give up even with his rumba routine and gave it all. Fi seemed to have already got her taxi waiting for her during DO...

Indeed, but the arguments here as to why he should have been saved have flipped a full 180.

And Len was vilified last week.

Gave it ALL?! That Rumba? Standing still and occassionally wafting an arm?

Good grief.


The arguments here completely flip flopped in the space of a week. If he went out and stood stock still next week i guarantee there would be people defending that too.