Thanks for that. I think he was bullshitting personally. I still can't see how he combined 8 years at theatre school with being in Tottenham's youth academy until he was 18.

The Degree Steve took was English and Theatre Studies. Exeter University doesn't have that course now but this is an example of the subject from Warwick University.
Seems to me its a course on writing about Theatre.

http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/study/unde.../#course-tab-2

There is a youtube video that I'm sure could be dug out where you can see Steve dancing in tribal paint with great naturalness and elegance while enjoying the effects of a hundred or so bullet-ant stings. I don't know if this was before or after he broke his back and ankle though so he may now have lost the skill.

Thank you Pet. Thank you.

I distrust any degree that has "Studies" in its title.

What's wrong with "English and Theatre"? And why not "English Studies and Theatre Studies"?

They are called Bullet ants because the sting of one feels the same as being shot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VarqiOM4-Fg

Really? Was that helpful info?
I'm still glad to be thanked and called Pet, mind

That course is the "I'm a treeeeeeeeeeeeeee" version.

As opposed to the French "Je suis une aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarbe" version

Lol - I don't know how you got away with that! Me and another poster got rounded on by Mark fans on another thread for suggesting that his emotional outburst last week wasn't entirely genuine

Thanks for all those who posted their views on this thread - even the ones I don't agree with - I'm glad it remained civil and didn't descend into pointless bickering. I found it an interesting read

I guess there's just a big question mark over what he did at Sylvia Young then - in the interviews he doesn't make clear if he was full time or part time. I think he is most likely to have studied acting there because I read in a Daily Heil interview he wanted to be the next James Bond lol..........I dunno.....I still think the dance 'novice' storyline stinks!

Was he rude to you backstage or something

Mark's big problem is that he is in the wrong partnership, neither him nor Karen are much loved (in general) and with another pro (ok, except Aliona lol!) he could have softened the blow.

Doubtful that he will do a full Abbey, as Aljaz is much more popular then Karen (which is also part of the reason that in the end Abbey had the edge).

Very good.

Me neither - and I guess he hasn't cracked Hollywood yet.

I don't mean Mark any harm but he is a phoney. Any kind of theatre school teaches you movement. For some reason he and Scott are the only two I have really disliked this year.

I usually get annoyed if anyone has had some kind of dance training, but not this year - except for Mark. He needs to tell the truth about what kind of theatre school training he has had. He also needs to stop putting on the waterworks.

I get irritated to by all this "Show business" nonsense. If you have ten years training in tab and ballet (which are the dance skills taught in stage schools) you have a HUGE advantage. Look at Frankie, she has had YEARS of ballet training, it is obvious by her beautiful arms and body frame. We get half truths, no doubt Mark would say he has never danced BALLROOM before!! Same with Denise last year, drove me mad the way she was presented to us on SCD as a beginner when she had been in West End musicals.

X factor does the same thing. Remember that young boy who was singing Valarie and asked by Simon to sing another song, amazingly he sang a Michael Jackson number and was fantastic but it turned out he had been in a touring show as Michael Jackson for over six months!!

I really think these TV producers feel they can get away with these stories cos the Great British Public are daft!! Charming.

Generally speaking, many of them are. I mean, why else would BB, CBB, TOWIE, Geordie Whore, Made in Fulham, etc etc get the audiences they do if the GBP didn't wan't it. I've also seen teh trailers for the ITV Bee channel. Seriously, W. T. F? Same with those awful magazines. One reaps what one sows

Rant over

And relaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaax

I'm actually really interested in hearing how people know which pros are popular and which aren't. I haven't really seen anything negative about any if them in the press, but I might have missed something.

oops. wrong thread!

I think some of the perceived Karen dislike is because she was reported as having been rude to Ola backstage last season. I can't remember the details but I know there was some palaver about it on here at the time.

Despite all the anti Mark posts, he is still the second most popular dancer in the Forum poll, and 55 votes ahead of Jake.

So I guess someone apart from me must have voted for him.

Oh, ok. I read about that. IMO the public shouldn't have known anything about it, leaking it to the press crossed the 'fourth wall' a bit. Every job has some arguments between employees, and as I understood it was handled by the bosses. The press and public need to be left out of it.

What makes you think pointing out anomalies between his current story and the story he gave to the press are anti Mark posts?

Attending Theatre School does NOT mean that one is a trained ballroom dancer. You will notice that there is no mention at all of Ballroom or Latin in their dance curriculum. "http://www.syts.co.uk/page/?title=Dance&pid=65"

She might also do well just to dial down the ... enthusiasm ... when being called safe a notch. Or two. Couple of people I know just commented that it seemed a bit ungracious when others are still waiting to hear. There's a difference between being relived and, well, that

Deleted - posted twice

As far as I know nobody has suggested it has - what some of us are saying is if he attended Sylvia Young school full time then he would have had to attend dance classes and therefore he can hardly be called a dance 'novice'. Training in dance whatever genre will give you skills that you can use for other genres.

But Bruno stated in the Sunday results show that "this guy has never danced before", not that he's not a trained ballroom dancer.