That actually annoyed me to an extent but I've found myself watching her Charleston constantly to cheer myself up - at how good it was and probably did deserve 40.

That fusion though was really another story - deserved 7 at best and was messy.

Did not get that 40 at all!

I was the other way around but I was so wretched sick of overmarked Charlestons by that point in the series I think I'd lost all perspective on the matter.

Course not but I'm sure as in any job it works the same and he is due it. If there's going to be an Osborne central storyline towards the resolution of the current it won't necessarily involve Ashley's character Darren at the start.

They'll probably say on screen that he's gone off somewhere and they're not sure when he'll be back. Darren is the sort of character whose wounds are easy to see and he wouldn't like to be seen in the village licking them. That would easily explain his time off screen and give him much wanted time for a well earned rest and time with his family.

I don't think she was in any danger of winning though. Louis was always going to win and didn't he win the tour as well? (every show, well apart from the rigged LR win in Manchester).

Sometimes the awarding of tens seems like the judges tactics to keep people off the bottom. Like this w/e for instance. Patrick and Abbey both ridiculously getting 10's.

It seems the bookies like him, he's above Patrick in the winners odds. I suspect he would have quite liked to have gone this week, next week will be very tiring for him with a dance and swingathon.

I doubt they could do that though since the current storylines with the Osbourne's revolve around Darren, or at least the two biggest ones do; Toms disappearance and Sienna's lies which are both kind of reliant on Darren been there to see the fallout.


OT - I think Ashley needs to come back with a bang next week, produce a wow routine and get a higher score than 35 which he's been stuck on for 4 weeks or he's a cert to be back in the dance off, since I'm expecting the judges to get rid of him first in the swing-a-thon. Which upsets me because he's my fave

I see your point. It does seem a pros safe haven though my issue was that I watched both Kimberley's fusion and Charleston on limited sound the first time around.

The thing which annoys me at the moment is what annoyed me last year - couple X (Factor) get into bottom 2, they get saved and automatically average dance equals at least one more mark than normal per judge. It happened last year with Kimberley. How the hell can the judges "favourite" dance leave the couple concerned associated with the dance off yet they'd handed out 10s to her like confetti ever since she ended up there? It just doesn't make sense at all!

Couples deserving 10s don't get as many IMO and Ashley should have got one by now.

I was saying earlier I think the swingathon should just disappear. It's boring and pointless and everyone's already too knackered to do it. Waste of their energy and training time.

[quote=StrictlyDownton;70087856]I see your point. It does seem a pros safe haven though my issue was that I watched both Kimberley's fusion and Charleston on limited sound the first time around.

The thing which annoys me at the moment is what annoyed me last year - couple X (Factor) get into bottom 2, they get saved and automatically average dance equals at least one more mark than normal per judge. It happened last year with Kimberley. How the hell can the judges "favourite" dance leave the couple concerned associated with the dance off yet they'd handed out 10s to her like confetti ever since she ended up there? It just doesn't make sense at all!

Couples deserving 10s don't get as many IMO and Ashley should have got one by now.[/QUOTE]

I agree, he's a better dancer than Susanna and Abbey. He must be feeling pretty deflated tonight. Will be hard for him starting a new week I think.

He is a good dancer and could probably have improved a lot if he had been putting the hours in, had the motivation, and (sorry Ola fans) was with a pro who didn't always choregraph the same old same old. I felt I had already seen that rumba numerous times. Yawn.

What I'm saying is once that fallout happens (which is unlikely to be before he's done with Strictly whether he makes the final/wins or not) is that he'll likely be given at least a month to six weeks off!

I also agree that Ashley needs a wow routine combined with a wow song which will help. The swingathon - the judges will dispose of the boys quickly I'm afraid especially if Ashley does wow and say Sophie or Susanna don't - say Ashley bags himself a 10 for a Charleston and gets 37 and Sophie just 33 for a Salsa yet in the Swingathon Ashley is judged as worst and Sophie second - suddenly they both have 38!

I care! Really sad to see Ashley in the bottom two, but he survived...thank goodness. Hope he can come back with a bang next week

Ah I see what you mean now, sorry

Yep.. at the end of big storylines that have been running for a long time the actors do usually have an extended break. Think Ashley's definitely going to need it after his schedule the last few months I was just thinking the other day that Darren's been in basically every episode since mid May when the Sienna stuff really started and he was featured heavily before that with the miscarriage and Oscar etc. I expect he'll be glad to have a break.

[quote=karina_;70087929]
Susanna's not only an awful dancer she's insincere and came across as fake as ever this evening. I don't buy her routine at all ...

... and her dances with poor Kevin are even worse!

No problem at all, I'm not the greatest at making a point first time around.

I'm just going off how long his on screen estranged wife Jessica Fox was off screen for. We were looking at about 6-8 weeks if I remember rightly.

He does deserve some time off though - especially as his second son hits some formative points. He'll be 3-4 months by then so looking at genuine smiles and the like. That'll be so nice to properly get some time together at that point.

I find him fairly bland to be honest, I keep expecting to see great routines from him as I think he has the ability but they don't materialise. Conversely, I never think "that was utter crap" either, he just seems to be fairly middle of the road-ish.

Thing is, with a lot less training opportunity, Ola and Ash produced a very good Rumba. Better than Susanna's dance and arguably as good as Abbey's.

When the training time is taken into consideration (and the producers interferences, eg. the cowboy Paso) Ola and Ash are doing a good job.

I like Ashley and Ola, I think they suffer from the judges inconsistent marking at times. For example Ashley got an 8 (can't remember from who, Craig maybe) Mark a 7. He was miles better than Mark. The judges were too excited about throwing 10's about for dances which weren't technically perfect either. They over mark some and under mark others is my point and he suffers from being marked harder for his mistakes than others would appear to be.

I'm not surprised he was In the BT. None of his dances are that memorable for me, I'm struggling to remember one where after it I thought 'that was def Ashley's dancing moment' which is what I think all the couples need at some point to make their mark on the show and competition (and for some it will then be like a spring board to start to really perform better and better, as the sense of achievement will feel addictive). I take into consideration his work hours, but some of the others work full time too and also have young children to give attention to amd need to travel abit between shows, so he's in a shared boat. I don't think Ash deserved to be in the BT this week, but I'm not surprised he was in it. Just my opinion.

yep - have to agree as I've pointed out in other threads. Ashley is marked per dance to the letter whereas some others get the benefit of the doubt or marked much loosely therefore his deserved 8 and 9s pale in significance to Abbey's not worked for 10s.

I don't care about Ashley. He's quite boring, insipid, nothing striking about him at all. He looked daft floating about on that carpet, and almost embarassed with nothing to do but put his arms out and waft them.

He doesn't seem to move his body beneath the waist, and his head does sort of just hang there as if it doesn't belong to his neck.

I can't help feeling slightly sympathetic at the way several of the judges have made it clear they prefer Patrick (whom I think is as overrated as Sophie)

That's not to say that Ashley is that great himself - it's been a weak year for males - but he's judged on a tougher marking scale.

Agreed - would love him to get a break from the judges - possibly put their rose tinted glasses back on when judging Ashley instead of seemingly getting tired of them part way through the show when it suits

The defining thing will be to see if Ashley will care enough to get right back into the competition. Abbey shed tears. Patrick came back with a wow. Mark obviously cared. Four DOs and he kept trying. Will Ashley continue to do his utmost or -- with a busy career, new baby, long journeys -- will it be easier to throw it?

Good point - will be an interesting test to see what he actually entered Strictly for.

Hope it was for the right reasons ...