Frankie's great imo. I think she definitely deserves to be in the final.

I like Pixie but I think she rests on the "I can do ballet!" thing a bit too much. I think her latin (other than her paso doble which was amazing) is not very strong either. I'm in the minority which hated her samba. She should be in the final as well though. For the third finalist spot I'd say either Simon or Caroline.

I'm sorry but I think it fairly clear that Pixie has had the most previous experience. That doesn't make a difference to me at all, I've voted for Pixie the last 4 weeks. Your last comment about Frankie I don't agree with at all, she's not my favourite but she seems to be working hard and has visibly improved since week 1, same as Pixie.

Love Camilla. Loved watching her compete with Brendan. All their dances were great but their rumba was outstanding. Thoroughly lovely lady as well.

Jake is a one trick pony. His dancing is like his acting... All on one not (aggressive), with no light and shade.

Frankie actually has improved especially in her ballroom, she's not the best every week but I think that's a good thing.

Given his earlier promise, so was I.
But there again, Louis Smith never got it right on face and some posture until a couple of weeks before the final, and he won.
Of course, the competition wasn't as sharp that year and it had been the Olympics...
But I feel that at this stage there is still plenty of 'refining' to do all round and even then, we have the much larger GP vote over the last couple of weeks....

That was just another example of Len in pantomime mode.

I think Kevin did exactly the right thing with the Quickstep choreography. Another bad routine after that disastrous Samba may have shattered Frankie's confidence. So he dumbed down the choreography to a level that didn't challenge her.

All four judges would have been aware of that. And it didn't help Frankie's cause that Pasha threw the kitchen sink at Caroline despite the blow to her confidence from being in the dance-off.

In all fairness, an unchallenging routine performed well shouldn't be scored as highly as a challenging routine performed well.

Craig is the only oen who scores fairly!
All the others dishing out 10s when none of the dances were 100% perfect.

I agree too- Pasha's choreography this year hasn't stirred me to re-watch their routines. But it did with Chelsee and Kimberley. Even Rachel Riley's were entertaining if not especially well danced. I wonder what's changed?

I think Bruno - although the worst offender when it comes to awarding 10s for less-than-perfect routines - is less guilty of tactical scoring than the other three judges.

Caroline's Samba illustrated the point. The fact that it was allocated the fourth-from-last slot suggests the rehearsal didn't go well.

On the night, what was supposed to happen was "Caroline, you've taken a step back" - followed by "Scott, you've improved" - followed by "Mark, you're actually looking like a contender" - followed by Frankie's triumphant finale.

Caroline wasn't SUPPOSED to come out and nail a Samba.

Nobody before her in the history of SCD had ever done that. Ignoring Abbey's abomination, only two celebs (from memory) had managed to score 38.

Craig stuck with the plan and gave Caroline a 7.

Len just delivered the comment he'd already prepared - "It wasn't your best dance, but it certainly wasn't your worst".

Bruno gave her a 9.

Had Caroline been given a different song, and had Frankie in the final dance of the evening nailed a Samba to 'Le Freak - it would almost certainly have been awarded four 10s.

I'm not sure what you're getting at because Caroline didn't nail her Samba at all, and certainly didn't deserve four 10s for it.

Thanks for the correction. Obviously Pasha doesn't know as much about dancing as you do.

Right back at you (you were the one implying it should have got better marks). And Pasha isn't a judge...?

I'm not sure what you meant by that. But Pasha certainly isn't one of the four people who, in the Final last year, awarded perfect scores to a Week 1 routine.

I said it because you were originally talking about the judges' marks, and then you jumped to Pasha, saying I don't know as much about dance as him (which is true).

All I was saying is that Caroline's Samba wasn't perfect, and I think that you're idea that the judges pre-planned their critique was incorrect. She was still fourth on the leaderboard, which is amazing, and probably where I would place her as well.

And are you talking about Abbey's Waltz? I'm not sure why you're talking about this now...

Caroline's samba wasn't perfect perhaps... But it is still better than any other dance on that show or any other samba danced so far this series. The judges critic of it was as unconvincing as any I have ever heard on the show. So I suppose that does raise eyebrows.

I completely disagree - Pixie's Samba was the best of the series (and one of the best of all time) for me; it blows me away everytime I see it. Pixie came out and had fun with it, really putting effort into the steps. Caroline's looks like she was just at a disco, having a laid-back dance with a friend.

Another vote for Pixie's Samba; It is certainly up there as one of the BEST samba this show has ever seen;
She made a VERY, VERY difficult dance look easy ; captured the spirit of the dance and still maintain the double bounce action..it simply brilliant....

Caroline's Samba in comparison wasn't that good imo and I completely agreed with the judges comments on it.

Well that's what having an opinion is all about

I seem to remember the judges saying it was too perfect? You agree with that?

I wouldn't say "too perfect", I'd say "too careful/clinical/placed".

I disagree about Frankie- no way will Sunetra overtake her, her and Pixie shoe ins for final, as are probably Caroline + 1 of the men. I mean, Frankie's Samba was only marked down because of mistakes, not because of her inability to do the steps, which on the whole she performed well!

Jake, on the other hand, is having the series everyone expected, good but not great. His Salsa was an exception.

I do dispute the idea that Janette is responsible, especially for all his ballroom dances being dark and sultry. I'd argue that Jake just isn't a very good actor and only has one dimension... (I mean, he's known for being in a soap so he's not really an actor, but even so, he should be able to muster more than one emotion!)

Oddly I saw jake in a film last night called The Illusionist. Small part.

that's fair enough. I disagree, but a lot of that type of criticism is interpretational rather than technical. That's the point I was making.

Jake and Caroline seem to have stagnated the most, particularly Jake who has not progressed anything like Mark and Simon have. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Jake go out before Mark or Simon. No doubt he'll throw himself back into contention this coming week, but he hasn't shown enough in my opinion. He comes across as being a little too dour as well.

Caroline has the potential for a final spot, but I do think Pasha is letting her down. He gets a free ride on this forum, but he's let his partners down in the past with too much content and his clinical approach.

I am really enjoying this series though, I feel it is one of the best yet as far as dancing is concerned.

Probably famous last words but I *think* its safe to say that Frankie and Pixie are virtual certainties to reach the final. Unless they have a DO against each other. But it's unlikely. I assume there are 4 in the final, with one elimination in the first show of the evening. The question is who will be making up the third and fourth. I would not be surprised to see Simon there over Jake. I think Jake is battling with Janette's routines as well, which aside from the salsa, I don't rate at all and she doesn't have any charisma to me.

Caroline is competent but I don't think she has the star power to get to the final on audience votes alone. That, and I don't see much magic with her and Pasha.The routines have been curiously uninvolving.

Back to Simon and Kristina. I think it's a race between him and Mark for a final place. A lot will depend on whether they are up against each other. I would put as a couple Simon and Kristina higher for me now, as they do seem to have a good connection and Kristina has sharpened up her choreography. He has also woken up since his DO and become interesting to watch. If they can keep up the momentum of the AT then it's possible for them to make it. However, I cannot see him winning against either of the two girls.

Mark? His hyping by the judges as a journey man (laughable when he went to Sylvia Young, he isn't a novice) makes me wonder. He really isn't that brilliant, good yes but not brilliant, but unfortunately a lot of the audience might like his cheeky chappy persona.