Natalie is the best dancer but I don't think is popular enough
I think the same is probably true for Abbey.
Sophie seems to be the most popular but is her dancing good enough to win? Maybe, Tom Chambers beat Rachel & Lisa.
I think that Ashley is very consistent and also probably quite popular so he may have a chance.

Natalie all the way.

Still think Susanna, Sophie and Ben - DESPITE tonight's farcical scores. Ben if he can keep getting through could steal it with an amazing show dance in the final and only the public vote. If he doesn't I think Suzanna will edge Sophie

I agree, I enjoyed his dance the most this evening - real connection between him and Ola.

Perhaps Ashley, as both Susanna and Natalie took a major hit tonight (Natalie in particular seems to have lost it after her fainting).

Agree!

I think it's between Ashley and Susanna - can see Natalie finishing third like DVO <or was it joint runner up >

Oddscheckers tonight

Natalie 7/4
Susanna 9/4
Ashley 13/2
Sophie 13/2
Abbey 9/1
Patrick 12/1
Ben 40/1
Mark 100/1

I thought it was a bit of a lacklustre night really. Natalie was probably the best technically, but there was no "wow" factor there. I enjoyed Sophie's rumba, despite the judges remarks. Susanna and Abbey were ok, nothing like as good as last week though. Patrick the same, two good weeks and a step backwards tonight.
Ashley might be the dark horse, don't hear much about him on DS but he quietly gets on with anything that's thrown at him, and he could be the last male left at the end..always an advantage.

he kept feeling her when he was talking to bruce and tess... did anyone else notice?

I wish. I really love watching Natalie and Artem but do worry that their public support is not great.

Susanna is slated for the final at least. She is in line for one of the presenters' jobs.

Realistically it's still between Susanna and Sophie.

Is she? What makes you think so ? (What have I missed?)

Bookmark this post and one of us will have a smile in six months ...

Tonight reinforced my opinion once again that Abbey is the 2nd best dancer after Natalie . That paso was very good despite the dreadful music.

Abbey is a much better dancer than Sophie and Susanna . She would be the one to beat if she had a strong fanbase like these 2 but unfortunately she doesn't.
Things can still change a few weeks from now but IF she makes the finale, a big IF, she deserves better than 4th place imo but unfortunately I see her being the 1st one to be eliminated if she makes the finale.

With that being said, imo Susanna and Sophie are the ones to beat mostly because of their strong fanbase.

It's interesting though. Susanna and Natalie are the most "Marmite" characters going by the polls and threads. Sophie is safer in that respect, but has she got the widespread support to win ?
Ashley rarely tops any polls, but he's also not widely disliked either. That could prove decisive as we near the final and viewers start spreading their votes around. We've seen often enough with X-Factor that it doesn't pay to polarise opinion.

Uhmmm.......I still think that they rank Natalie a bit too high. She won't win and that's one thing I'm sure of. It's going to be either Sophie, Susanna or Ashley.

I totally agree.

Could we have an all female finale this year ? I hope so .

I think it's close between Natalie, Susanna and Ashley. Natalie will always be the best dancer of the season but the best doesn't always win. Despite her Cha-Cha, Susanna has been gaining loads of momentum and was the one to beat last week (esp. with those odds sites) and next week she could really make a strong comeback. Ashley has always been getting better and very consistent each week and is slowly but surely becoming a frontrunner.

Others I feel are not popular enough to win (Abbey, Patrick) or their dancing or performing isn't strong enough to win (Sophie, Ben, Mark).

Why? Because she's the best technical dancer?

Many seem to find she over performs, many don't connect with her and quite a few think her dancing isn't quite as good at the moment. And many would agree with you.

A bit strange to make a blanket statement though when no one dancer in this series seems to be ticking all the boxes for everyone.

I think Ashley is the one who is showing consistent upward momentum the last few weeks, but I still don't think he's well known enough to win at this stage without a really jaw-dropping routine where he blows everyone out the water. Natalie is consistently great and Kevin had that great performance in the paso so Susannah has that to fall back on, but Ashley hasn't really had that yet.

Personally, I've enjoyed Abbey and Aljaz more the last few weeks than anyone else, but I don't think she can win.

Some people tend to forget that the best dancer doesn't always win most of the times. This show is a popularity contest.

I agree with the bit about Abbey & Aljaz.