Mark
lovely guy, seems to work hard, has a cracking relationship with Iveta, some weird and funky latin dances from them both but also graceful ballroom - I like this partnership and I hope they last abit longer

Abbey
Never heard of her before Strictly but when I heard she was a WAG and a model I thought I would dislike her, how wrong was I! Lovely lady and a wonderful partnership with Aljaz, would like to see her win

Sophie
I was very excited about her partnership with Brendan and they havent disappointed me so far, loved her AS last week, loved her Charleston too

Ashley
havent been wowed by anything he has done but that is probably due to the repetitive, samey choreography that Ola churns out series after series, not expecting great things from him either which is a shame because I think he has the potential to be fantastic

Ben
ah Ben, great guy but not a great dancer, shame really because I think with a different pro (Natalie) he may be a better dancer than he is

Patrick
didnt really notice him up until he kicked off the Halloween show with his QS, great parntership with Anya, I think he might be the dark horse of the competition, he is good at both ballroom and latin and he is really beginning to shine

Susanna
I cant help it but there is something about her that I dont like, yes she is a good dancer, yes she has a wonderful partnership with Kevin but there is just something, cant warm to her at all

Mark Absolutely adorable and he can dance but obviously with limitations,I love his relationship with Iveta and though he is funny and he brings comedy to some of his routines I dont see him as a comedy act.

Patrick He is just not doing it for me at all,I find his dancing too frantic and disjointed and I do find him very dull, not in the quiet sense but in the dull and boring sense.

Abbey I liked Abbey at the start but over time I find her personality very grating and insincere.Some of her dances have been poor and the rest just pleasurable in a very average sense, Aljaz's choreo just does not do anything for me so far.

Sophie Sophie is a lovely young woman and I had high hopes for her and Brendon after that Charleston, however since then she has been disappointing though I thought she raised her game last week with the QS.

Susannah Didn't like her at first but enjoyed her waltz and thought her Paso was rousing and traditional so have slightly warmed to her.What puts me off her is the over promotion by the BBC.

Ben Lovely Man but though there is some improvement from just standing still he still cannot dance...I do like him though.

Ashley I like him and always thought he would be a contender for the win, however he seems to have drifted into the background and thats maybe because the producers dont have a storyline on him and one could forget he was there.....I do think he would be excellent though if he had been able to devote more time to the training....shame

Natalie Saving the best till last Sorry but I disagree that she should be excluded from this discussion, no matter how much people want to airbrush her out she IS there and is part of this series. Anyhow I think she is Fabulous and her ability for dance is awsome....I do think it a shame that what should have been a wonderful experience for her has been somewhat spoiled by her injury/illness and of course all the hate directed to her on twitter and other social network sites.

Great! Third page!

Does that mean we are allowed to mention the unmentionable?

Shall you go first or shall I?

Mark-- Love him and his partnership with Iveta and is a good dancer

Sophie -- Really nice and improving her but there is one thing about her that im not a fan of anbd that is Brendan

Abbey -- I dont like her or Aljaz havent like any of her dances but have to admit shes a really good dancer just not my cup of tea

Patrick -- My favourite male dancer and like his partnership with Anya. My second favourite this year

Susanna -- Really like her and Kevin and after the dance this week I feel she will be the winner this year

Ben -- . He is lovely, but isnt the best dancer and should be in the dance off soon but wont be.

Ashley -- My third favourite and I feel sorry for him because he is really good but doesn't get the credit he deserves

The person who must not be name in this thread is my favourite

Oh f***** it !!! I'm a rebel

Natalie : she's a very good dancer and will probably go down as the best or one of the best celebrity dancer we ever had on this show.
I don't really get her and Artem as a partnership and , I tried. I think that they have a good working relationship but I don't see a chemistry off the dancefloor like I see with all the rest of the couples.
She's a beautiful dancer . My favorites routines of hers are the waltz, chacha and the rumba

Oh and I love Artem

She conducts herself with a lot of poise and class imo and I wished most of her fans would have an ounce of her demeanor.

The unmentionable is already mentioned.

I think you'll find that most of her fans (or certainly me) hardly comment on her at all for being shouted down and having to listen to the same arguments about why she's not liked, all perfectly valid of course.

I love her, love her dancing, love her partnership, but I'm not going to change anyone's mind, nor am I trying to and the arguments get way too heated and personal, so I just don't say much at all about her. I think that happens with a lot of other Natalie fans too, although she does have a few vocal defenders.

BIB Then you are one of the rare exception Alli because most of them are not like that.

Mark - Best partnership of the series. He tries and loves dancing when he is happy with the music.

Sophie - Lovely person, somewhat oddly hampered by the great Charleston so early on.

Abbey - Seems very hard working, but does seem to be over-praised by some judges.

Patrick - Best all round male with choreography that suits.

Susanna - Dances most ballroom well and improving. Latin still seems a little lumpy (Paso excluded). Dreading the thought of a Rumba for these two.

Ben - Bless him. Strong masculine dances he manages well when allowed. Trouble is most dances need more grace.

Ashley - Poor lad, I do tend to forget him and the pivots & knee slides. Really hampered by lack of training time.

Last one left is a beautiful all round dancer who needs to just say to her partner, stuff being great let's just have fun.

At least most of us do not keep saying nasty things about other forum members which are not true.

Fools rushin where angels fear to tread Buddy (hey - how are you?)

Ok I'm a fool - Natalie transports me to a different world every Saturday night.

Pass the hairbrush.

Ahem - sweeping statement, much? (Again! ) Most of the people who post in her appreciation thread barely comment on the MF for the reasons Alli gave up thread. It's too exhausting and mostly pointless. (Best to stick to commenting on the show and not other forum members, eh? )

Natalie Natalie Natalie Natalie Natalie Natalie Natalie

I feel I am doing exactly what was required


And once more Natalie

Well someone had to. Fair play,

Mark - he is just such fun. Beautiful partnership, lovely personality in every dance (except the stupid producer-required rumba), shows just how much you don't need to be young or thin or athletic to produce great dancing.

Sophie. When she's "in" the dance, she's wonderful. When she's "too cool for this dance", she's not. Has suffered from shameful undermarking and overly harsh criticism relative to many of the others. Love her personality.

Abbey. Just can't warm to her. Dances nicely if subject to recent overscoring, but she's just not doing it for me.

Ben. Shamefully and shamelessly overscored every week, which ultimately isn't doing him any favours. He seems a nice enough guy but frankly he doesn't deserve to still be around and certainly not to be getting this free and easy ride.

Susannah. I like her (and love Kevin!). She's going for it, loving it, and obviously having a lot of fun along the way. Really don't understand the hatred. Would not surprise me if she won.

Ashley. Feel some sympathy for him because like Sophie the judges have been very hard on him sometimes for dances which were way better than others they gave nothing but praise to (Ben!). OTOH they're also helping him improve. Given how little training time he has, he's amazingly good. If he put in the same time as everyone else, I think HE would clearly be the best male dancer.

Patrick. I love his natural rhythm and suppleness of movement but I wonder if there's a hint of the Fiona lack of focus in his dancing sometimes. Judges have been overgenerous for a couple of weeks and (again) that's not doing him any long-term favour.

That's all the dancers except for the pro's, yes?

I'm another lurking Natalie fan who doesn't post. I'm not going to be persuaded to change my view nor do I want to try to change anyone else's. that's all really. Back to lurking.

You mean the one who used to play the trumpet in Eastenders and partnered Vincent in a previous series? She had an odd way of moving her legs (a bit splayed) but I remember Len commenting on her perfect footwork in the Foxtrot Reverse Wave (funny the things you remember )

Or Ian's Strictly professional partner?

Nope, sorry, can't think of anyone in this present series. Have I missed something?

See you like Natalie, that's great, I don't but I'm not about to rubbish your views as they seem reasonable and you're not saying anything outlandish like Ben is technically a better dancer than Natalie.

I can be guilty of over defending and have to reign myself in on occasion but what I find the more ardent supporters of whatever celeb do is rather than defend their favourite, they're disingenuous and rubbish the competition and pro's instead. I don't mean the odd post but a whole days posting on one pro on a thread. I wonder if they would welcome a Susannah supporter who rubbished Natalie or Artem or whoever in the same way?

Better to come out and debate IMO.

For a lot of Natalie supporters, the problem I think is that if they say that Natalie is the best dancer there, they are seen as de facto rubbishing other celebrities. I'm not even her biggest fan, but I have seen this, and it's no wonder that Natalie fans have given up in face of the tirades of abuse directed towards her and them - especially because when saying Natalie is the best, they're telling the truth, and most are not trying to undermine her competition.

There are some brilliant Natalie fans and they should be able to post their opinion without being shouted down.

For me she is the best and/or talented technical dancer but I don't 'feel' her so overall she, in my view, may not be the best all round dancer.

I've not really seen a great deal of negative Natalie threads but I wasn't here for the first weeks.

I hope that came across properly.

Well this thread hasn't exactly met its objective, has it?

Abbey - she and Aljaz look so beautiful together, and they've done a couple of very nice dances, but nothing has lived up to the promise of that opening waltz. Even the most non-dancing armchair-bound Strictly fan would have been screeching 'GAPPING!' at their quickstep. Come on, Abbey, still waiting to be wowed again...

Ashley - what a nice chap. Always puts in a performance, always has a smile, but I feel the smile is through increasingly gritted teeth these days. He still needs to deliver a WOW dance to advance, methinks, but I suspect he has a lot of public support.

Ben - another lovely bloke and I'm sorry, but I just don't see this much touted improvement. He is still a breeze block being used in Kristina's pole-dance (block-dance?) routines. Eventually the Great British Public will see through the artificial smoke and we'll wave goodbye, won't we? Prolly not.

Mark - I am officially in love with Mark Benton. My favourite male celeb and by far my favourite partnership. He has musicality and rhythm and, as has been stressed elsewhere, he really gets dancing. Actually, I think Len said this, which makes it the most sensible thing he's said in years... However, despite saying all that, he lacks technique and won't make the final, nor should he, IMO. Well done, though, on getting this far.

Natalie - she who should not be named. Why ever not? A lovely, lyrical dancer who is utterly focused and professional. And that's the problem - she really should remember that this is a pantomime and somebody has to play the baddie. She should try for a bit of thigh-slapping and jolly japes, making her the principal boy rather than the wicked witch of the west. Prolly too late for that. She'll make the final, but she should have studied Gabby Logan and remembered that we don't like our celebs to be competitive.

Patrick - ah, I have Jason Donovan flashbacks with Patrick. Sorry, but he's over-earnest, over-praised by the judges and is beginning to believe his own hype. Sorry, just don't get the Patrick love.

Sophie - I love Sophie, who's too cool for school and is unlikely to progress further unless she can really let her hair down. But if she let her hair down, she wouldn't be Sophie, would she? So stay true to yourself and bow out gracefully before the final. And thank you for 'I'm 34, Brendan' . <3

Susannah - to be honest, I love Kevinfromfukcniggrimsby more than I love Susannah. I'm absolutely sure she's going to win, having had her 'Team Cola Charleston' moment at just the right time with her Blackpool paso. That's okay - I don't mind her at all and I've got to admire her work ethic, considering how busy she must be.

The final? I'm betting (if I were a betting person) on Susannah, Ashley, Ben and Natalie.

There was a page three amnesty.

Just want to make something clear in the light of some of the points... The thread wasn't meant to be anti-Natalie or anti-Natalie fans. More anti-Natalie as sole topic of conversation. Was reading in the Mark has damaged his ickle knees thread but it was all Natalie, Natalie, Natalieeeee! Broke my spirit, it did!

Thank you everyone or all the really interesting responses about the whole lot of 'em. Lots of good perspectives and a good non-combative tone, so that met my objective really

ETA sorry about the muck spreader but it was fun to drive... Wonder if I'd get away with one in real life???