He and Ola are probably best to ignore it because as soon as they make a comment then that will be twisted by the tabloids.

I seem to remember that on ITT two weeks ago there was a whole training VT about Ola being "a bit of a drill sergeant". Given that Steve has admitted he hates being told what to do he probably finds her a bit hard to take at times. However, I don't believe that he would make an official complaint or that, given what he has done in his life that he would so badly affected by her alleged behaviour.

Although I agree that even the Mail would not print an article unless they thought there was some truth in it, I would imagine that the source could easily make their "facts" sound authorititive enough to warrant the paper printing the article. The Mail then takes some old quotes and twists them around to make Steve seem even more of a moaning wuss. It's not true that he has no life outside Strictly - Steve was at Buckingham Palace earlier in the week attending a dinner with some very eminent scientists and last night he was out to dinner with some of the Strictly gang.

When I last looked at his Steve's twitter he hadn't commented on the article although he may be consulting with his management on the best response. My take on this whole business is that Steve is getting a much higher than expected portion of the public vote and someone is doing their best to scupper his chances. The timing is certainly very suspect - however I shall continue to vote for him.

Admittedly Steve is one of my favourites this year, but something does feel a bit - I don't know - engineered, perhaps?

It all feels very odd.

Yeah I try not to be swept up in the conspiracy theories but the timing of this story is quite odd. Someone said maybe he is getting too many votes and they are trying to push Mark and his journey so released this information. Who knows. As I said I don't usually buy the conspiracies but then again reality tv and talent shows are very engineered a lot of the time.

I don't know whether to believe or not believe this.

I had noticed that he seems very flat in personality on things like ITT and stuff, and you never hear him saying that he's loving the experience like you do with Judy and Alison. He seems quite different from the man one is used to seeing on Deadly in that sort of life and enthusiasm respect. I had kind of interpreted that as he wasn't particularly enjoying himself because this is just not his kind of thing and that perhaps he'd assumed he would be voted out reasonably soon and he wasn't expecting to still be here after this many weeks - and that he was secretly hoping to be in that dance-off each week!

But I can see if the relationship with Ola isn't good, that would also explain his demeanour a lot.

Certainly I agree with the people that say the tone of article and comments that assume a man is a wimp for being bullied - and that a small woman is automatically innocent - are certainly very wrong and that kind of prejudice is very unhelpful to general life, regardless of the facts of this particular case.

Also, having had experience of bullying at work procedures, remember in real life tackling a problem with a third party mediation can actually be the most sensible and successful way to deal with problems. That doesn't make it a formal accusation of bullying. Often this kind of thing happens when a person doesn't realise the detrimental effect their manner has on another person, and for the other person to raise it directly with them can actually have a worse result than taking a less personal approach. Think marriage guidance. I would interpret the mention of a "chaperone" as being very much that type of thing.

I have absolutely no time for people who leak these stories, whether endorsed or not endorsed by the BBC. If there is a problem, it makes it so much harder to recover from it when it is full view of the general public.

That's the problem with the press. Once you start to play the game with them, you have to take whatever balls they throw at you.

James, in particular, seems to think that life as a sleb and sidebar of shame regular is something to aspire to and be encouraged, but once you start then it's a slippery slope. One week it's a nip slip and callendar advert the next it's a nasty bully story. The press don't care, it's whatever works best for them in terms of publicity.

Wonder is Karen leaked it after last year ... pay back

I once confided in a friend that there was something I wasn't happy about at work and she, kind-heartedly but naively, passed it on to someone else in a slightly exaggerated fashion who then used it to make a different point of their own to management and within days it had blown up out of all proportion and that I wanted to leave- which I didn't. I wonder if something similar happened here,
Thank god newspapers weren't involved in my own case!

Woo, having read the article now... If he actually said that about not having time to date outside of the show, then he has taken a right tumble in my books - soz but he is paid for his time and other contestants get on without whinging about it. I don't believe this is a conspiracy to bolster Mark's chances though - the GBP are not stupid/inclined to enjoy over-gushing, and he will be sent packing soon IMO. *shrug*

Who knows the truth of this but I have to say that both Mr and Mrs Jordan are far too full of their own importance.

SCD has survived well without James and hopefully Ola won't be back in 2015 either.

I don't know if article true or not but did think Ola was not her usual self lasts saturday

Whether this is true or not, I think the voting tonight won't be voted by their dance now, it will be whether the couple themselves are liked or disliked which is a shame.

I saw this article when it first appeared last night and thought the board would go ballistic with more negative posts about Ola and by extension James. At that time most of the comments below the article were critical of the DM, positive about Ola with some negativity towards Steve. This surprised me because the DM has chosen Ola (and James) and Kristina as this year's targets. But now in the cold light of day, the comments are mainly against Ola and often mention James. Although as the day goes on, I think that's what will happen on here., it is nice to see so many people not automatically believing the story (I had thought I would need my sparkly tin hat today).

Given what we've see of Ola over the years and how well liked she is by her partners, I find it very hard to believe there is any truth in the bullying allegation or that a complaint has been made. So many people on here acknowledge that's she's one of the better teachers on the show for getting the best from her partners.

On ITT I've seen absolutely nothing that indicates they are not getting on well. This week Steve was still down about what happened last weekend, but he explained he'd got uptight about their performance after the problem at the dress rehearsal and that it was not anyone's fault, whilst Ola was being very supportive.

I hope we get a tweet from Steve telling us the article is rubbish.

Ola is a far better dancer (Ballroom, etc.) and I can well believe tempers get frayed amongst the pros, but as far as last year's spat between Ola and Karen, I'd believe Ola over Karen any day.

It's uncanny

So, as far as I can tell, you don't believe this bullying story and you believed last year's bullying story based entirely on your subjective feeling for Ola Jordan?

The story is a tissue of old quotes taken entirely out of context and the 'insider's' words, which are sometimes, as in the subheads, misaligned to look like direct quotations from Steve. Original article that those comments were from was someone asking him about 'female attention' from the show, which led to his jokey disclaimer.

As I understand it, apart from going stir crazy with spending too much time indoors, he is as determined as Ola to work hard at each routine. Not his fault that he's crap

A skeleton of her usual self

I think Ola can be the right teacher for the right person but I remember when she was partnered with Andrew Castle. I know a lot of people don't have much time for him but I remember their VT's in training and he was trying his hardest but she was snapping and talking to him like dirt in parts, it was an uncomfortable watch.

I don't nessecarily think she's a bully but she's maybe more suited to someone who wont take that talk to heart, like Kenny Logan, i loved them together.

I agree. I actually thought about the few DM stories that were leaked last year, it was absolutely unnecessary to invite the tabloids to that, and it's coming to bite Ola back a bit.

The thing is, in various articles I've seen, Steve has said this umpteen times about his day job as well.

I'm guessing that given his age and single status it's a stock interview question which is fielded with a stock answer - possibly just tweaked slightly to make it current for the circumstances.

I don't understand why the readers/audience get so about them tbph. The issues that arise following publication of one of those stupid stories says as much about the audience as it does about the journalists who write it.

Mail writes contentious story which may or may not be true. The world keeps turning on its axis

I've just re watched their ITT interview on Thursday this week and the body language between them looked good. Sitting close together, looking directly at and listening intently to the one who was talking, etc.

Sunetra and Brendan's interview last interview, on the other hand, was sending out loads of negative vibes.

Why would the producers bother trying to bolster Mark's (or anyone else's) votes? It doesn't actually matter who wins in the end. It's just a glitterball trophy and a few weeks of publicity after all...hardly life-changing.

I want to add though that I think whatever is going on this is a real shame. I wanted Steve to be top boy, i just find him more likeable than Mark and Jake.

Never liked Ola. As despicable and attention seeking as her awful husband. Hope she doesn't return next year.