When English is your 2nd language it must be hard to a) understand all the jokes and b) show a dry, subtle sense of humour, but she certainly does. I really enjoyed watching the whole "grape-wine" clip on ITT and her comment about what she thought she'd heard Craig say about Mark's dancing. I thought I'd mention it now, since they're probably going out this weekend. It's also lovely to see the 2 of them get along so well and in a very un-showy, un-luvvie way.

I agree OP, she makes a great team with Mark!

She is a breath of fresh air & love her partnership with Mark.

Every time I see her I think of her saying "It's my job to be highly maintained" just love her sense of humour.

I love her too. Of this years crop of newbie girls she is the one I most hope we keep.

I suspect I am not the only one to vote for Mark to help keep Iveta in. I wish they would let her do a professional demo in ballroom with Brendan.

Iveta's a real find, and it's great that she and Mark have been able to get this far - nobody else would've got him into week 10 (okay, maybe Natalie but I don't know how the height differences would have worked out). I hope she gets the RINGAH next year.

Nice thread OP
I pretty much agree with all of these comments . I like Iveta and I will miss her and Mark.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Iveta is Anton's new ballroom Queen John.

I love Iveta, for the same reasons that she is funny and I've just warmed to her a lot. Really hoping next year she's back (which I think is highly likely since she made it to the later stages of the competition even with a below-average partner and she seems well liked by the public) and I hope she can show her true potential with a good partner although I have a feeling she might turn into a female Anton with regards to always getting older/not as good partners

There's some youtubes of Iveta showcasing latin (including Samba) - I doubt Anton could keep up.

Also, in some interviews online from early days, Iveta's speech seems much less heavily accented (she's been in the US for about 20 years) - so the ice queen is a bit of an act, but very, very funny.

Iveta is a treasure, BBC would be silly to not keep her.

I love when Mark takes her off !!

Ha yes! "Iveta Lookypoopy" haha! And Iveta's "Just do what I tell you", really straight faced. I love her humour.

I don't think Iveta has a below average partner in Mark. Below average dancers don't survive three dance offs in a row. Sometimes the public will keep a totally shite dancer in up to this point in the competition (a la pussy lover Widdy) but someone like her would never survive a dance off. Mark is an average dancer and could be an above average one if he shed 30 - 40 kilos.

Agree Iveta was wonderful last year with Johnny Ball and even better with Mark. They could be the new Morecambe and Wise ( just kidding). I've loved their fruit fights, their Dino moves and the new dance move Iveta has introduced i.e. the grapewine.

Agreed but I do think that they are likeable both invididually and as a partnership helped them a lot as well - people voted for them both during Halloweon despite a fairly dire spaceman paso. Nor are the two mutually exclusive - part of the charm of their partnership is the character and fun behind a lot of their dances - that is as a result of Iveta understanding and playing to Mark's strengths without patronising him by dancing around him all the time - she does mostly attempt to give him some actual dancing to do. It's why Mark's outlasted Rachel who was also an average dancer.

Aliona had Johnny Ball last year.

She's lovely and the partnership with Mark has given her the chance to show that. If I edited ITT, when they do leave, their highlights would be the whole half an hour.

I'm the sort of person who never wants any of the pros to change, I don't like to think of any of them losing work and I am very fond of them all, but I think all the new pros have added a huge amount to this year. They have all brought such fresh energy and joy to the show. They make me realise that some of the other pros are getting burnt out (understandably given what a hell of a difficult job it must be).

I think Iveta took over when Aliona became injured.

I totally agree, Iveta is such a fab dancer and teacher and their partnership has been brilliant to watch.

Brendan is much better at ballroom than Anton, in fact he is the best in this show. This is ironic since he was originally
introduced as a latin dancer, the latin champion of New Zealand.

Anton has a stiff expressionless style and does not seem to have heard of the word "sway".

What a nice thread.

Yes I'm an Iveta fan too. Hope she stays in for many more seasons and gets a good partner so that we can enjoy her.
My guilty secret is that I vote for Mark and Iveta each week, even though there are technically better dancers, they are my favourites and bring a smile to my face

Iveta is a future champion of Strictly!!

I actually hope Mark gets saved this week to keep her on the show!

My adoration for Iveta only increased when she said 'I was lucky to get him' to Mark on Saturday. I believe her too, they are having a blast. Mark & Iveta will be one of my favourite couples ever.

I agree, I love Iveta. Really hope she's back next year. Her partnership with Mark has been one of the highlights for me this year.