You could be right bornfree, I have experience of this problem too unfortunately.

Im wondering if TPTB have left off the Charleston and Samba for later when he might need a boost with some return to Salsa happy clappy routines. It does look like from training that this could be another brooding affair but hopefully some impressive lifts will help...

Don't think he's getting worse; he's just had a tough few dances.

I absolutely LOVED that. I dunno about the technical angle, but, by the stars, that's one I'll be re-watching on Youtube, and I don't do that often with many celeb routines. I think he's great as mean and moody.

Oh, so no, I don't think he's getting worse.

That's my favourite routine and he played it to perfection

I so hoped he'd be back to his opening best, but I thought he was pretty underwhelming tonight, despite the extravagant score. Janette did most of the dancing and he looked stiff.

^ agree - jeanette was marvellous. he was underwhelming, again.

agree - Janette and the back up dancers did most of the work tonite imo

Great routine but NOT enough dancing on his part ; I thought that 4 9s was way too generous but then again almost everyone was overmarked tonight......

Loved the blackpool performance but i don't think he actually danced much...

He was overshadowed by the backing dancers & Janette

It was about the most static, jerky AS I can remember - all I recall is him standing there, occasionally shoving back some other male dancers, moving for 2 seconds, then standing again. I'll have to watch it back to check but it didn't really look like an AS, or anything really.

tbh I'm wondering if they really have that much time to train compared to the others. His vt was the only one that didn't require going somewhere else to do nonsense, as it was just, 'Look at the ballroom! Let's practise some steps here and get in the mood!' so perhaps Janette is limited in terms of how much she can choreograph.

I loved Jake tonight and my jaw dropped watching Janette, what a beautiful dancer.

I was surprised by his scores tonight as well. When one of the judges said that he looked better than the backing dancers it made me laugh out loud because it was just so untrue!

Why do so many posters think that Janette is holding Jake back when she seems to be one making Jake look good? Is he short of training time?

That's what bothered me. He's got enough ability to get there. He shouldn't need a routine that hides his faults to the level that Janette and the backing dancers did. He needs a routine that improves on his natural ability and gets him dancing more than just a couple of bars of a promenade.

That was a very poor routine imo and I'm saddened as I've always enjoyed Janette as a dancer that hasn't changed, but I've been a bit disappointed with what's the final product come Saturday night bar, of course, in her forte, salsa.

I think that the pros are more equipped than any of us to make the right decision on to what works for their respective celebrities. it is very easy for us to get to uninformed conclusions without having the right amount of information on what the actual weaknesses of a particular celebrity are. Jake is not the best dancer on this show, I like him because he is just a regular folk with whom I can relate, but technically he is not at the level of Pixie, Frankie, Caroline.

I think that Jake without Janette's amazing Salsa routine would be lost in this competition, it was that choreography and Janette's incredible bravery that put him in on the map.

Because his technique isn't improving as much as Mark, Frankie etc.

I think Janette was very clever tonight though, she made the most of the Blackpool theatricality (whether you like said theatricality or not) and as a result it showed Jake in a good light in terms of performance, even if the technique and in fact the foxtrot content was a bit lacking. It was the same sort of risky choreography that Aliona did in her AS with Matt, and even really Artem with Kara in terms of stretching the rules to their limit and beyond (though Janette benefits from the rules seemingly not existing this series), and as a result it was always going to be polarising, but for me it was a refreshing take on the dance.

He started so well, but the rest have caught up to him, and in some cases gone past him. I had to laugh at his lack of excitement at seeing the Blackpool tower for the first time.

Maybe he has been up The Shard?

That sounds quite painful.