If Beth ever gives a performance worthy of a 10, I'm sure she'll get it. I'm sure I'm not the only one who predicts the scores each performance will get - and gets it right more often than not - and not once have I ever thought "I won't be surprised if she gets at least one ten for that". No, I'm usually thinking "Hmm. 7.5 to 8.5". She's so mechanical, you can practically see the cogs going round in her brain as she thinks "Right, now I need to spin. Now I need to put my hand there. Now I need to put my left foot here. Now I need...." and so on. Ill or not, her solo skate last week, judged in terms of what it could and should have been, was possibly the worst I've ever seen.

Then you're clearly not as knowledgeable as you think you are.

Are you saying you thought it was all it could have been? That's even more damning than anything I could say about it.

Its always nice to receive a 10, but surely its how you're points add up and what position you end up in the leaderboard that matters. I'm presuming Beth supporters feel she should be much higher on the leaderboard? I like Beths performances, but for me, the only skater where its debatable who is better would be Hayley ( with those prefering skating prefering Beth, and those favouring performance might go for Hayley) but I don't see much in it. I think Sam, Kyran and Ray all performed better though, so her position on the leaderboard was about right for me.

My sentiments and feelings exactly.

I like Beth, and she's a hard working perfectionist, who started her series as a non skater, and ended up winning, because the judges insisted that a hunched over show off was a more deserving winner......

Yes - I know it's a sort of two fingers for the judges, but it's my little protest. In a skating competition I'm looking for someone who can skate first and "perform" second. If Beth had as much time to work on her performance as Hayley does, she'd come on in leaps and bounds... As it is, that is crippled by the fact that she has to spend her time learning all the new lifts and tricks that T&D give her.

You would think that they as choreographers would listen to what the judges are saying, and work more with her to overcome those weaknesses... Instead they just give her more and more new stuff and don't help her with the performance side at all. Mind you - it has ever been thus...... In series 1 the panel were all telling Bonnie she needed to skate more, and Bonnie is the sort of person who was more than capable of doing more skating had they asked her to - but T&D kept piling on the lifts and tricks - simply because she could do them so well - but then Bonnie could "perform" as well so never really got marked down for her lack of skating (pretty much like Hayley) as much as Beth is marked down for lack of performance!

I am voting for Beth for all of the above reasons and agree about Ray, but I wouldn't have a problem with Beth winning overall either!

Ill or not it was still miles better than Hayley's pathetic & pedestrian solo routine

Not at all - quite clearly had she been fully fit her solo skating would have been even more impressive ... but ... the worst you've ever seen? Try watching Hayley again.

In my opinion, Beth is the best. I prefer the style of performances that Beth gets rather than those Ray gets.

I fully understand that Ray is better than Beth, but when I compare their performances, I'm more likely to prefer Beth's than Ray's. She skates just as well as anyone else on the show, with the bonus of impressive lifts and tricks.

They all lack something, for me:
Hayley can't skate anywhere near as well as the others.
Sam is just very dull/forgettable.
Ray tends to get stuck with the same choreography every week, lacks lifts and tricks.
Beth isn't as good as a performer as the rest of them.

Weighing them all up, Beth comes out on top. She's performed three routines very well this year, in my opinion. Considering she's only performed seven routines overall, that isn't too bad.

Then, of course, you have the judges behaving terribly towards her and not giving credit where it's due... That just makes me support her even more.

So, for me, Beth is the best. However, if Ray were to win over her, I wouldn't mind. I know he's better than her, but his 'style' isn't to my taste. Beth will go home this week if she's bottom of the leaderboard, so I'll be cheering Ray on in the final... although, the childish and bitter side of me would love Hayley to win after all the undeserved praise she's received. It would show the show up for what it's been these past few years - a farce. Ending on that note would wrap it up quite nicely, I think.

Whenever Jason feels that someone is getting put through on reasons other than performance, he tends to get wound up about it and becomes even more harsh with his marks and criticisms which can get quite personal. If he really wants people to vote only for the best performance, he should just give Beth better marks and nice comments as one of the factors in a lot of Beths votes seems to be coming from their annoyance at the judges marks and scores. Its quite ironic that as much as he seems to be complaining about Beth, he actually is one of the reasons why Beth is still in the competition.

Brilliantly summed up and agree entirely, although Hayley to win I am not so sure on that one! Ray fine with me, but would love to see Beth win again! Can you imagine the judges' reactions if she did?!!!!

During the first half-dozen weeks or so of Strictly, Louis Smith could do the steps in a way that suggested he is a perfectionist, but he failed to be able to emote any feeling or personality into the routines, something - if I remember rightly - all the judges kept slating him for. Then he had a breakthrough. With the Charleston something clearly clicked and he not only did the steps perfectly but he did so with verve, enthusiasm and great personality, and became hugely enjoyable to watch.

Like Louis, I would imagine Beth is also something of a perfectionist; she does the 'steps' accurately, never makes a mistake, but unfortunately, unlike Louis she hasn't had the same personality "breakthrough". If she ever does, she will be a formidable contender, but until then I'd prefer to watch Hayley, Sam and of course Ray.

Beth is not a stage school trained actress and I dont see why she needs to give performance to the same degree as the other trained actors. Hayley doesnt skate much but smiles and makes faces as does Sam. The only one who does both acting and skating is Ray. I like Beth and I think the judges are unnecessarily hard on her. She never argues back either.