I think that he peaked with that salsa.
Granted the rumba is not easy for male celebrities BUT I had high hopes for this one .
It was cringeworthy , lacking in proper technique and I didn't like the choreography .

He reminds me a lot of Sophie last year who peaked with her Charleston.

That's what my daughter said, with the same example too. : )

After such a dynamic start, it was bound to be difficult to maintain the standard

Heightened expectations. And not every dance he does will be good

think if the dance itself had more rumba basics in he would have been so much better

Have many male celebs done a good rumba? I can't remember

He did a great dance at the beginning but not much since ....over hyped imo.

I remember Colin's rumba with Erin. Arguably the best male rumba on this show.
Ben Cohen surprisingly did okay with his rumba last year.....

I loved Chris Hollins and Ola rumba as well

It's the curse of Sophie Ellis Bextor! Peaking with the knock-out dance of the series in week 2. I only hope he gets one step further than her and gets to reprise it in the final.

I think Jeanette needs to kick him up the backside and wake him up, he seems to be disinterested in the whole thing for me.

Definately not his best dance, for me he has flatlined now.

He is getting worse. In a few of the dances he doesn't seem to get much to do. Needs to step it up. I don't think he will be in the dance off this week though.

I'm wondering if he's short of training time and can only learn the steps each week with no further improvement in technique. He didn't even walk up to Janette properly in the first 2 seconds and that's surely something an actor would sort out if he time to polish the routine.

he was such a ringer at the start that im a little bit pleased he has been caught up with and overtaken by most of the others

It just wasn't his dance. I think a lot of them had so-so dances tonight and the marking is sooooo all over the place and too high

I think he reminds me of Scott Maslen. I worry for the dance where he may just peter out with exhaustion.

I think he cares but it strikes me that he is overthinking the dances and what was once natural to him (the salsa) seems more laboured.

He is such a good actor that he can cover this performance wise but he can't technique wise and that is letting him down. He needs to stop it going from a bad week to a rut which it now has the potential to do and he may get in the dance-off this week.

I thought he was a cert for the final but Mark is moving past him, Simon has had a resurgence and Steve is popular so he does have to up his game. He's good, in fact he can be very good but the final is going to be Caroline, Frankie, Pixie and one more. To make sure it's him, he needs to step up another gear.

I think tonight was his low point and he will be back on the up and up from now. Believe he will still win. Dissapointing tonight smacked of family man (in a good way) not wanting to raunch it up, But one more tip top latin and he will back imho

It just wasn't his dance - it is a very diff dance for the male celeb. I would really like to see him in the final but am worried now. I want to see his Charleston as that could be really interesting and fun. Finding Pixie painfully smug at this stage

I think it's Janette and her choreography that's letting him down.

This.

Yeah I feel like Jake is getting worse each week and he's losing my interest, sadly. He drops down my ranks and I become more interested in others as the weeks goes on.

I also think of him as this season's Sophie who has that amazing mind blowing Week 2 dance and then falters with dances after that. Hopefully he can pick up some steam before it's too late, like Sophie was able to. Although she never topped that Charleston, she did deliver some really good/great dances on her last few weeks. I think Jake could do the same.

I agree with this, although would add her teaching in the mix as well.

Definitely. She is letting him down badly.

He is getting worse and that's also down to his partner who I think is too complacent with their early success...wonder if she's simply counting on those EE fans.

I think Jeanette is a rubbish partner to Max, I mean Jake. Jake isn't exactly improving on a lot of technical issues - with his posture, his hands, his feet, his top line...so yeah Jake is getting worse unfortunately.

She should be tough and always address Jake's weaknesses which she doesn't. The other thing I noticed is that Jake seems to be too laid back like he doesn't really care.

Compare to Mark and Simon where their improvements are so evident every week.