Seen a couple of negative threads about Mark and the dance off, and wanted to readdress the balance.

I thought Ben had one of his best dances this week, and improved a lot in 'dancing personality', and good for him, it was great to see. But, saving Mark was the right decision.

1) Ben made quite a few very obvious mistakes in the dance off, much more than Mark.

2) They are pretty comparable technically speaking, both having different strengths and weaknesses. For me, Mark has the edge as he has natural timing and rhythm.

3) Mark generally does more dance content than Ben, and generally dances it better. Most of Bens routines consist of throwing Christina around and being a prop for her to distract the audience.

4) Mark actually does an 'ok' job at basic footwork. I've not seen Ben attempt much footwork.

5) Mark does 'dance personality' better than anyone in the competition, imo. He always makes me smile.

I've never understood the Ben hype or his scores, but he seems like a nice bloke. Mark looked more shocked than anybody to be saved. Ben was gracious is defeat.

Well done to both of them

How dare you make such an assumption you're clearly not a bored sexually frustrated housewife/gay man who appreciates that muscle and sexiness should always trump any other criteria.






BTW I'm gay before people bash me for that comment.

This is how I felt, but far more eloquently written than I'd have managed.

This is exactly how I feel, very well put.

Could have gone either way, I guess, though Ben's mistakes and out of synchness during some of the little dancing in the Kristina-tossing skit, sealed his fate.

I enjoy Mark and Iveta's routines, not least because they're clearly well thought through to put Mark's modest abilities up front and centre alongside his undoubted stagecraft and big personality. Already looking forward to Musicals Week, suspect it won't be Fred and Ginger, but if as widely predicted, it's Mark's turn to go, expecting a humdinger of a performance.

Bens mistakes nailed it for him methinks

I thought Mark upped his game - he incorporated more swing or sway as he was advised to do - really enjoyed his dance.

Although I was a fan of Ben and Kristina I thought Ben was a bit heavy on his feet.

I think the correct one was eliminated in the end. I liked Kristina's comments about Ben, thought they were very sweet.

It makes no real difference to me as neither is going to win but that was one of the most touching eliminations I've ever seen.

Ben so gracious, Mark so sad, Iveta flabbergasted, lovely hug between Ben and Mark and Iveta and Kristina. Kristina speech so tearful, Ben choking up when the celebs joined the last dance... The whole thing was adorable.

My only concern is that Mark will be training for yet another week in which he suspects he will be in the dance off. That would be four in a row. How is that going to affect him and Iveta this week?

He has looked worried each week for several weeks now and seeing his expressions when others have gone out when I suspect he thought he should have gone, he looks upset that they have had to go.

By some quirk he might yet stay in much longer, but from now on, it's going to get messy with the bunch of remaining similarly talented celebs going out.

I agree - too many major mistakes from Ben.

Ben seemed to resign himself to losing the dance off and danced accordingly. It was the most touching elimination for some time. Mark looked shell shocked and both Ben and Kristina made moving tributes to each other.