Please celebs and dancers can we stop with all the crying. You are being paid to dance, I get that you put a lot into it but FGS.

Why does it bother you that much? Honestly, just asking because I'd like to know.

Can you imagine what Mark is going to be like at his wedding?

TOWIE bloke = The One Who Is Emotional.

I think the BBC pays extra for crying. I can cry on demand - with tears. I perfected it at primary school.

I love all the soppy stuff! And I think the crying is genuine - it must be a mixture of relief, tiredness, excitement - I am glad to think the contestants invest so much emotionally into their efforts.

I do a lot of dancing (only showcase and medal comps in past) and understand how the celebs feel. Less so the pros. There is a lot of emotional investment that goes with all that work, plus rhe fact that you get the adrenalin going before the performance and then have to wind down.

I could understand why Mark broke down like that. Nice to see they all care so much.

It's Mark Wright and Christina that get on my goat the most. When you leave or win you can blub as much as you like but just because your name is not called out first. Man up get some dignity. Thom and Yvetta had a lovely leaving then you see Simon blubbing.

See me I'm more cynical. He will have more family on next week no doubt crying

One of the things I always preferred about SCD to Simon Cowell's Sob-Fest was that the whole thing wasn't as emotionally OTT.

On X-Factor everyone is in such a highly charged emotional state all the time and it's all just too much.

SCD has always had more perspective - That at the end of the day it's just a silly dance competition not life or death.

But increasingly emotions have started becoming heightened which I find kind of Ugh...

Just because they are being paid to do it doesn't mean that they don't come to really love being part of the show and, therefore, feel very upset when faced with having something that they are really enjoying taken away from them. It must be very hard to work your guts out all week only to then face the realisation that your efforts have not been appreciated by the viewing public.

It's getting tedious now. I loved Judy's face when Mark was crying.

I don't have a problem with it. I think it shows that they are trying and hoping to get further and/or win the show. I dislike Mark Wright, always have, but I felt for him tonight and Simon.

I'm like you diyqueen - no doubt we'll see his 'journey' at some point too before he rose to 'fame' (in the loosest of terms!)

I can quite understand why Mark was emotional, it was cruel to leave him waiting right to the end, especially after his dance off last week.

This isn't a particularly new thing. Lisa Snowdon was a constant snivelling wreck (and very irritating it was too). Perhaps people are more surprised/annoyed by a man who seems to cry easily?

On X Factor, the contestants' future careers are at stake, and getting booted out early really could be the end of the dream for them.

To be fair, for a serial reality tv person like Mark, he probably is pinning his career on a successful run, but that's exactly the problem with having someone like Mark on.

I've always found Mark Wright to be phoney and him crying yesterday hasn't helped me alter that opinion. Whilst I understand his relief at getting through to next week, at the end of the day, SCD is a light entertainment show and nobody wins anything other than a glitter ball. Excessive displays of emotion and playing up to the cameras belong on The X Factor.

I think if you have an ounce of empathy, it's very easy to understand why and how the participants sometimes become emotional.

They're outside their comfort zone (for the most part, anyway), which heightens stress.

They're constantly being exhorted by the judges to "don't just do the steps, lose yourself in the dance" and "find the connection with your partner" ie encouraged to engage their emotions in the process.

They're in various stages of physical and mental exhaustion.

Post-dance they're full of adrenaline which has to disperse somehow.

They know, as much as anyone, that this is a popularity contest as much as it is about dancing. They've put themselves out there, not just in the 90 seconds of the dance but in the ITT interviews, the training footage, effectively saying "this is the real me...like me!". Each light going off around them while they're getting closer to the dance off must feel like a little segment of the audience saying "nah...don't like you".

Given all that, I'm amazed that more people don't cry, male or female!

I can sort of understand crying as emotional release. But I really don't want any more encroaching 'journeys', 'personality-plus', kids, babies, nanas, ad nauseum.

Just dancing please.

I am a self-confessed cry-baby and I hate myself for it but I can't do a thing about it.

The tears flow even when I try very hard not to. Maybe Mark is the same.

It's always been part of Strictly, just not quite in the same "I'm doing this for my dead dad" way as X Factor. Tom Chambers's wedding, Alesha's nans (who set the nan-bar higher than any of this year's lot can reach, triple nan or not), Letitia Dean's 40th birthday, the celebrations for which went on until she was 42, "I just wanna get to Blackpool", showmancey are-they-or-aren't-they, Louis Smith finds his long-lost personality down the back of the Charleston sofa....we've had them all before. Every contestant with children wheels them out at some point, hence the BABY WARZ! comment that you sometimes see. It's done with a lighter touch than most reality shows, that's all.