Cannot believe some of the casual fans on the FB page obviously thinking he should've had a 10, they think their the experts and can manipulate the judges how they want em to be like.

Personally I felt it was pushed into the "wow" category by the ability of his partner rather than anything Jake did. Otherwise it would have just been a fairly ok dance with the good use of hips at the beginning.

I'd think the lifts were quite demanding, psychologically too. Although I wondered how strong Janette's legs were. In that part where she was bending in her knees (it certainly has a name) and was moving slowly down towards the floor. I am sure she could crack a coconut or two between her thighs, too

What is he supposed to do for you?

I don't fancy him either. And I am not an EastEnders viewer.

Just seen it again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPj2Kk2TaTE

I really like the Ramps + Karen salsa but this was the best ever Salsa (show-dance) on SCD. Janette's specialty is Salsa of course. Jake spent time under lifts and on his knees but he could have done more footwork if required.

As Antrho has pointed out there are no lifts in social salsa. That would be dangerous.

That body of hers is something else. The sheer strength of her stomach, thighs and lower back - oh, and her bum.

Amazing. I hate her.

Yep, while watching their routine I was thinking how is she doing that? He was good, but she was ay-may-zing!

Might be a tactical error though to have delivered so much so soon though.

Looking forward to their show dance!

The producers chose the dance for her in the second week. Salsa is her dance so she would have wanted to show off.

Looking forward to their salsa in the final. Oh it will be exactly like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My1zQjqXjkw

Apart from which people don't understand what a ringer is.
I once attended a job interview which involved lots of group tasks. It turned out the employers had put a company employee amongst us - a fake applicant! That person would be classed as a ringer. In what way is Jake a 'ringer'?

The term actually comes from sport and most dictionary definitions are quite similar.

The one quoted below is from Collins :-

"(US) a contestant, esp a horse, entered in a competition under false representations of identity, record, or ability"

Hence the use of the term in this thread, and others in previous years, where the poster feels the contestant has considerable dancing ability before entering Strictly.

I would think anyone who does not support people getting pilloried for experience would consider that something of an improvement.

Ringer or not, he was awesome!

OK so she's done it before, but it's still an amazing physical feat, plus she managed to train Jake to perform the man's part in 6 days.
Respect!

Having just watched it back I would agree with you

Yes, the lifts were impressive, yes, that drop thing that Janette did and Jake supported her on was great, yes Jake had great hip action in the solo bit at the beginning but that was about it - his footwork was very basic, there was a tiny amount of armography and very little else

Agreed with both. Wait for it in the final. It will be even better. And hopefully with decent salsa music.

He could clearly have been up to doing more dancing given time. He has a sense of rhythm.. There was very little Faffin Abaht and that was inserted by the producers.

she's also tiny which helps

That's because there's a significant difference between contestants who have been to stage school or had any kind of formal drama training (too many contestants to list here), and your 'certain Female Dancer' who specifically trained as a dancer and who very clearly had abilities way beyond those of any other Strictly participant, past or present …

Just watching it again I noticed how good his timing was throughout. There are couple of transition points where he could have got moving on the second beat, but he hit that first beat every time. His level of concentration is superb.

It doesn't have the same joyous feeing for me that I get watching the Ramps version (which is still my favourite - just!), but it is by far the best Salsa I've seen a celeb do on the show. The build up of WOW factor is fantastic. Well worth a 9.

Agree.

*waves hello*

At 5'6 (apparently) she is taller than many of the female pros. I wouldn't even regard her as "short" never mind "tiny".

http://www.buddytv.com/info/janette-manrara-info.aspx

Its more complicated even than that. One winner had a long term training in, interest in, and experience dancing, precisely what he did in his winning show dance - he "only" went to drama school for 3 years. Where does he fall on the spectum of trained a bit, to trained too much? He was up against a pop singer who had just done some videos, and was seen as too experienced by some for that. We just don't know who did what , and how well, in the past , or what carries over to SCD dancing. Even within the same pop groups, you can have people who got criticised for doing videos, or going to stage school beforehand , and other people who were dance specialists, some with dance teaching qualifications. Thats true of both S Club and the Spice Girls - where we have never had the really good dancers (Tina and Mel C) on SCD, and the two singers with much less dance training were seen as too experienced. There's also an issue when age, or injury, turns training into a much less useful factor.

its fine, until the voting gets skewed by the spurious arguments- that X is experienced - when they are not, or Y deserves it because they have a journey - when they don't, or Y is less experienced than X- when its the other way around. There doesn't seem to be an answer to this problem. They could give out better, fuller, CVs - but people would still get the wrong end of the stick. .

Massive assumption there that he will make the final!
As I posted before, the voters tend to want someone who progresses rather than a good dancer from the start.
We have yet to see his ballroom as well

The problem isn't the mark. Its that if the judges gush , but don't say what little is wrong with it , people inevitably ask why it wasn't a 10? I suspect the policy is no tens yet too - so there's even more question if it would normally get at least one or two.

*waves back to her online twin!*


That's true, although the habit of over marking even the worst performance makes it harder as the performances get better during the show. For me Craig would have been the one to say what could have been improved, but it was one of those rare true WOW moments on the show (standing ovations a 10 a penny now) and I doubt if anyone wanted to spoil the party.

They don't have that on offer. He's too far ahead of his male opposition, whoalso look weaker in one area if fairly strong in another. There's 3 very good females and one male. There's no Mark or even a Chris, or a joke candidate to compete with him for votes.. Its going to be difficult too for the girls to get ahead of Jake so they look more like the finalists (as last year) He should have an EE vote anyway, and he's better than most males who fall to females in the SF. The 3 way vote split between the girls should also work for him - possibly till the end.

Tiny can relate to frame, not just height. I can't think of another female pro with as tiny a frame as Janette.

Not buying the 5' 6" though. Here is a pic of Janette with Aliona and Karen, who are both listed as 5' 5".