Agreed.

Ben did mess up in the dance-off, sadly.

I agree. On their first performances it was almost too close to call, but Mark was clearly better in the DO.
I don't know why people are making such a fuss really, there was no doubt about the bottom two, the only slight surprise was that Ben didn't get enough public votes to save him.
As it was, there wasn't much between them, but Ben made a couple of big mistakes in the DO. Simple as that, in my opinion.

Totally disagree with all of the above comment. Craig hates the lack of action and precision of Mark's footwork, so would never have chosen him over Ben. Ben's dancingwas commented on by 3 people who are supposed to know abit about dancing and who had seen the first round only a couple of hours earlier (as we all know , don't tell the BBC), and they voted on the basis of what they saw.

Yes, Mark may have been marginally better in the dance off but Ben was under marked and should not have been at the bottom of the leader board..

Saw Craig tonight and he said that both made errors in the DO but that Ben's routine had more content which was why he voted to save Ben. Craig was spot on with that assessment. Let's be honest in saying that Mark does so little in the way of difficult steps that it is almost impossible to make a big mistake.
As far as the other three judges were concerned I was amazed at how they all used almost exactly the same words in saving Mark. It was almost as if they were using the same autocue.

Always nice to have a bit of controversy isn't it.

Shame Zoe then skewered him over his ludicrous claim that Anya's feet were off the ground at the end of Patrick's VW. Poor lad should have had his cataracts done at the same time as his hips, maybe.

And who do you think should have been there instead - really? I'm interested to know! Ben wasn't a terrible dancer but it was s bad dance and he was one of the two worst in the competition last Satruday so ergo the right two were in the DO - sorry my friend your justification is clutching at straws. Why shouldn't he have been in the bottom two - because you don't fancy Sophie or Susannah or Patrick as much or because you're Kristina and I claim my five pounds?

And had more of the public actually voted for him, he would not have been in the bottom two.

So the public "undermarked" him as well.


Which perhaps says that he was not undermarked at all. And that his place in the bottom two was because he was one of the two worst dancers on the night.

The choice of Mark to stay in was farcical.
Both he and Ben are not good dancers but Mark is atrocious.
He can't even walk across the floor properly.
I'm sure that he's a nice,genuine guy but as a dancer he's poor
For pros such as Len to say he dances correctly is as laughable as the comments Darcy makes about loving his performance.
I wonder what Len's peers in the dance world think of his ratings and comments such as "Gie it sum welly", "Yer pickled me walnuts" .But then the show's not about dancing it's about "FUN,FUN,FUN"

Mark is not atrocious - he actually moves pretty well for an overweight guy with bad knees and people with greater dance knowledge than I have praised his timing and his musicality and ablility to capture the mood of a dance - I will miss him when he goes because he always danced with charm and I think might have had a reasonable jab at a paso had he not be saddled with a theme that worked against him. Actually the last of the completely useless dancers went with Dave and we are now working our way through the ones which aren't hopeless but aren't serious contenders to lift the glitterball either. When Mark goes next week - which seems almost ineviatble given his continued presence in DOs over the last few weeks and the fact that everyone else left in the competition is a serious contender for the glitterball (the only person I can see him win a DO against would be a Sophie crippled by performance anxiety and I think she's too well liked to end up in the DO) then after next we'll have the interesting situation of a fight between the people who can actually win it.

Craig is the first Judge to say that Dance is about performance aswell as technique, and Ben had absolutely none in the Dance Off. He completely gave up before it had even started, and it was surprising to see for a former top flight sportsman who thrives on his competitive spirit.

Mark always gives a performance and interprets the dance, which is half of what it's all about - either professionally or in a TV entertainment/comp like Strictly.

Yes, if anyone is in doubt simply compare the start of his routine where he looks at the camera, gives a knowing wink, and an OK sign. There, the DO performance was half-hearted to say the least.

Indeed, any of the top 6 could stop half way through their routine and they would still have done more steps and scored more points for movement and acting than Ben or Mark have in a routine. The difficult choices this series have largely been avoided because Deborah and Rachel went out to top 6 dancers - who shouldn't have been there. Rachel v Mark or Ben would have been more difficult to weigh properly on difficulty attempted and achieved, and potential, and effort to try and master the steps, versus avoiding them.

I don't know about Len but Darcey looked positively distraught at having to give that verdict.