Ditto. I voted for Darren too. I liked Colin & Erin, but never warmed to Zoe & Ian, although with hindsight she was very good too. Back then the show was still quite original and I'm sure I was not alone in enjoying Darren's journey as the man's man/Yorkshire cricketer falling in love with learning to dance.

I remember Arlene saying the origin of Colin & Erin's routine was the old music halls where you could see all sorts of variety acts. If the public had twigged to why Erin chose the dummy routine as their show dance, I think it would have bought the house down. Instead it was a jaw dropping shock of the wrong kind and rather sad to be honest.

I think Series 5 was when the show peaked. It went right off the rails in Series 6 and was never the same again.

Hi Buddy. Nice to see you still hanging around!

You too nancy - not many of us oldies around these days!

Oh I know but we hang grimly on!

Well as I quoted your remarks about voting for Darren's journey then I don't see how Ramps comes into it

My remark was however partly inspired by my later experiences with Zombie Smith and Flouncey Clancey.

Muggsy- I can't thank you enough!! I have been looking for this for years- literally. I may wear out the replay button.

Edit: I've now watched it three times in quick succession and I'm grinning like a simpleton. Just gorgeous. Nice to see Bruno before he became a caricature of himself too.

I don't know about that - I think that the eventual semi-finalists all had strong support and were all very good - but I do think she deserved a better crack at the whip and I would liked to have seen more of her dancing. She certainly deserved to outlast Kate Garroway and her husband - both of them would freely admit it. I think she certainly would have made the semis on raw ability alone.

Series three should have been won by either Zoe or Colin but at the end of the day Darren Gough is wrong about what he said in a recent final - plenty of people remember runners up and 'losing' finalists or even people who did one brilliant or just hilariously bad dance.

Kimberley Walsh and Denise Van Outen were robbed. Louis Smith only won because of the Olympics. his show dance was dreadful. Kimberley was the true winner that year.

Say what you will but at least Matt DA was a public's choice to go through to the semi's Lisa Snowden wasn't and her latin was consistantly poor possibly ccc aside and I'm still not convinced it was all that - Matt DA had one bad week although it was spectucularly bad and a coupe of so so ones - one of which dumped him in the DO and one was week one.

I'd say the two handsome chaps of series five both had a lot of support although Matt DA was always more marmite so it's hard to say who had the most public support - hubbie reckoned that the series five final would have been more interesting with three people there - just to see which of the lads would have gone first or not possibly if Gethin's fans were right about him being more popular than Alesha which I don't believe. I thought the series five final was fantastic and the right person won but I fail to see how it could not have been even better with Gethin there too. So I'd blame the system that didn't have a contigency for someone dropping out.

In fact I blame the system (well that and Brendan - who annoyed the bejesus out of me that year but whose hubris did for him with Bacofoil dance and who I have since forgiven for being grace under fire with Lulu) for Austin too. It still does annoy me that Lisa and Brendan got away with just being good on the ballroom side as the DO was done on the best dance which meant effectively they could concentrate on just doing a good ballroom dance in the two dance stage knowing they could survive a DO - it should be done on the worst because that's the one that in theory dumped you in the DO to begin with. Hubbie voted for Gethin and wanted him to win - but I was an Austin supporter the following year and he was a Tom supporter so I guess he got the last laugh in the end.

I liked Louis showdance and I think it at least deserved credit for trying to do something other than lets bung as many lifts and as much acrobatics as we can throw at this. I thought Kimberley's showdance utterly meh and Denise's though impressively performed was of the very example I just quoted. I have to admit the one contestant I really liked that year was Dani Hamer but her and Vincent blew it with the showdance - the other three all had their moments but no one really blew me away - Denise and Kimberley both had previously dance experience and were at times over-marked.

It was always a public vote in the final, wasn't it. A majority of public did not find the loser vote-worthy for whatever reason. An excellent dancer is only a part of the equation. I really hated it when Chris Hollins had won, but what could I do. It's a reality show where people's opinions and emotions could become more important than an actual skill. Nobody would watch it if the main criteria was the dancing. They could cancel the public vote and have judges decide.

They'd have made Lisa Snowden the series six champ possibly - not taking that risk buddy - Anne Widdlecombe proved that even without a DO the public will eventually flush a turd so to speak even if they do leave it hanging around the bowl for far far far too long.

Why the hell should four people I don't know decide who wins? Their opinion is no more important or valid than anybody else's.

It's our show. We pay for it.

I love the phrase True Winner.

Keeps everyone happy

Although I've never supported celebs like AW or JS, the emotional element is a big thing for me. I voted for winners of the first 7 series because I loved watching the joy of the couples - but particularly the celebs - dancing together. The winners were not always the best dancers, but they were still pretty good - even Chris Hollins. It's not about emotions becoming more important than actual skills, it's about the right balance between the two.

I love that dance.

Me, too--WTF was she thinking?? I still mourn his loss as SCD Champion as he was sublime!

Hmm--I personally think 'turd' is too good a comparison with Widders in this show. It wasn't her lack of ability but her total refusal to commit to practice, advice, the joy of being PAID to learn to dance from a consummate professional, and snidey-ness that was so appalling. Bad dancers with keen, appreciative, embracing attitudes and RESPECT for their Pro's go way further and gain kudos from it--e.g. Russell Grant, Lisa Riley. But snooty, dismissive, only-here-for-the-wage/publicity, won't put in the hours types are VILE. As a turd performs a useful and often neat function, Widders was BEST used as a 'floor polisher'. Even John Sergeant seemed to spend his Training Time, reading the paper--hence, those Old Style Training Room videos served a REAL purpose in judging the less talented.

Allegedly, dear Matt DA 'advised' Jake beforehand that 'If anything goes wrong during your dance, just give up and sit on the step--worked for me!!' which was hilariously self-deprecating [I HOPE] !! Yeh, am still irked Austin didn't get further as he was fab, and Gethin wuz DEFINITELY 'robbed'. Funny how so many of us remember the Also-Rans more than the Winners. Zoe & Ian should've been in the Final 2....

Noch einmal. Apparently it's not just dancing people consider when voting. People decide whatever criteria they like. So talking about being robbed makes no sense. Better dancers just did not offer what the others had, they were lacking something important. So I wrote that if this should be about dancing only, those judges can do it more competently, why drag people into it at all. That's what I meant.

I don't think the the whole thing should be decided on the show dances though. The only show dance i've ever liked was Tom Chambers.
Kimberley scored the first 40 of that series with her fab fusion,(THAT should have been the show dance) and her charleston was the best overall of the whole thing. Louis showdance was just gymnastics which considering her is a gymnast came easy. You can hardly use the 'Kimberley had previous experience' argument when Louis won by doing gymnastics!

how can he have been robbed when its a public vote? the public clearly preferred Darren Gough therefore he won

I've been watching since series 2 and my favourite has only won twice. So I don't really expect to agree with the favourite and I am happy to accept the public opinion even when I passionately don't agree with it. I only get really get angry when the judges manipulate things so the public can't save someone (Gethin, Austen, nearly Tom). But then things work out - I could say the lowest point of the whole show for me was Austen going out to Lisa Snowden, a decision I will never understand - but if that hadn't happened we wouldn't have Lisa's showdance, so you know perhaps it's all for the best.

Agree jt. Though re Lisa's showdance, I would still much rather have had Austin's AT.

What a stupid series that was.

There is a differance between someones favourite and who the best dancer is.
My fave last year was Ashley, but i know he wasn't the best dancer.
I still believe the best dancers should win, not peoples fave celebrity.
I've already read people on other forums saying 'I'm voting for XYZ' even before they have danced!