For a lot of the pros, English is not their first language and they do not understand the UK ways of thinking as well as Anton. Plus - even compared to the likes of Brendan an Kevin, Anton has a quick wit and can come up with a funny one-liner. Who else could have schooled Donny Osmond like Anton did?

Tristan is the only one who can compare to Anton for that.

Anton is getting long in the tooth for the dancing though. They could do with finding a 'young Anton' if the show is going to last some years yet.

Probably, but personally I hope she goes to Pasha. We will get to see how he interacts with someone slightly older and she will have someone who can push her a bit as she seems to have some potential. There is probably a 'Rachel Riley' amongst the other women who could go to Anton, then we could see how he deals with someone younger. I'm not sure he would be quite as awful as everyone expects, as I remember really enjoying his paso and Charleston with Laila before it all went pear-shaped.

Isn't Pasha on the short side? (I could be confusing him with another pro.) Carol's quite tall.

Exactly. Pasha is the same height as Carole, so she needs a taller Pro. Even Anton may be an inch or so too short but he coped with Jerry Hall.

Ah, OK.

I couldn't agree with you more on all points!

Anton's reputation for being the 'master of ballroom' only started because, at the start on Strictly, he was the only ballroom specialist on the show. Most of the others were Latin specialists. That doesn't mean he was actually that good, and as you say, others are superior.

He not only doesn't like Latin - he never did - but, what is worse, he doesn't have any respect for it either. He has made no effort to improve his Latin, despite it being part of the job he is being paid for.

Compare him to others, such as Brendan, who as a Latin specialist when the show started, worked really hard on the ballroom, and has now overtaken Anton.

There have been quite a few needless height mismatches on the show (Kristina/Colin, Brendan/Lulu, Artem/Holly, Artem/Natalie etc.) so I'm not too worried if it means we finally get to see Pasha dance with someone over 50

ETA: I just looked online and there are several pictures of Carol with Chris Hollins where they look pretty much the same height (while she is wearing heels). If he is 5ft 8 then she would be an ok height for Pasha (Rachel was about the same height as him as well).

I'm not the worlds biggest Anton fan - but I think the difference is that Brendan still hopes to win whereas Anton doesn't - and also realises that if he should ever be in that position the dancing will be a small part of it. Given his partners for the last few series what would have been the benefit to spend time on it when all he had to do was unclip a harness and hide behind an iceberg?

When he needs to, he can produce a serviceable enough routine. It might not be the best or flashiest - but its adequate enough.

The fact that he keeps being rehired suggests that he and the Powers that be know what his job is, and he is fulfilling it,

TBH Carole would be better paired with Aljǎz height wise. Then have Katie with Anton, musically they are a better match too.

Isn't Aljaz tall though?

Actually, I do not form part of your Royal "we" - neither do thousands of others. Speak for yourself.

I like Anton, but... no. Katie looks to have some rhythm, give her to a newbie like Gleb or Giovanni (maybe Gleb on height).

The point is Anton gets the duffers because he can't/won't work with the celebs. He proved that with Leila, who ended up dancing Latin, especially the jive, a darn sight better than Anton did.

And yes I think Anton isn't bothered about winning - to have that ambition requires Working, and why would he bother to do that when it is so much easier to give his poor partners a load of daft moves?

I am always amused at the nonsense that is talked about Laila's natural dancing ability being hampered by Anton. Laila was attractive and younger than most of his celebs and could strike a good pose; she also had absolutely no natural sense of rhythm. Here is her jive - she is completely off beat for almost the entirety of the dance, with Anton very obviously trying to compensate and get her on track. You cannot seriously suggest she is dancing better than Anton here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w5tJOFQOuQ

[I will say in defence of both of them it was a tough track to dance a jive to]

I'm not saying Laila's jive was particularly good, she could, after all, only do what she had been taught. Tony's lack of technical knowledge (ability or whatever) is painfully obvious with incorrect flicks & kicks and those ridiculously huge back steps. He can't teach what he hasn't bothered to learn.

So, yes, I am suggesting, given her lack of experience compared to Tony's years and years, that she is dancing better than him.

Each to their own - I tend to think keeping in time to the music is a precursor to dancing and, in Strictly, remembering the routine also helps. Neither of which, sadly, Laila was capable of doing (this jive is by no means the only example). I still maintain that Lesley Garrett and Patsy Palmer were far more naturally talented than Laila and the best 'dancers' Anton has ever had on the series. In the circumstances, I think he did well to get Laila as far as he did (semis?) - especially given how untalented a teacher a few vocal critics on here claim him to be.

Middling to poor dancers? That's putting it kindly.

I think Laila's Latin would have been better if she'd been paired with someone else. Not amazing, but better than it was. If your teacher is crap, then you have no chance.

I agree with missfrankiecat that Laila's biggest problem was her lack of rhythm, she just couldn't get on the beat, let alone stay on it.

She forgot the steps in almost every routine too (to be fair so did Patsy, but not to the same degree), although this might be down to being constantly aware she was out of time. In fact, it could easily be the reason for most of what she got wrong, probably forgetting what she had been taught with the stress of it all going so badly.

I remember them being on ITT the week they were dancing the Jive and they were laughing about just how badly training was going. There was an element of despair from Anton that we never saw with AW or Nancy.

I can easily see Anton having to settle for her getting two out of three things right just to get Laila's through her routines. She's one of the celebs with the least amount of natural ability to have done SCD. She's a beautiful woman and it doesn't sit well with a lot of people that she couldn't dance for toffee. She had one reasonable dance in hold where Anton got her through it.

I'm glad he doesn't dance Latin pro routines any more, but he can teach a bog standard Latin.

.... untalented a LATIN teacher.....

Her jive was memorable for being awful .I'm not sure how Anton could have helped the fact that she messed up . All the choreography in the world can't make a person keep in time , so Anton is not at fault on this one .

Laila is a long way from being the most talented dancer on strictly but to say she couldn't dance for toffee is far fetched imo. Do you really think she had less natural ability than the likes of Rav Wilding and Joe Calzhage? They were contestants around her age in the same series and were eliminated well before her. She could perform the dances well enough because she was an actress, it's true she didn't always remember the steps, however I think she was a decent enough mover. I recall she was mostly praised for her ballroom - latin was a problem but even then she performed a decent enough Paso and Charleston.....whether the problem was her or Anton it's hard to tell, especially as he hasn't had anyone that can be described as a contender since her.....I have to say though, his attitude to Latin sucks....he treats it like a joke and he apparently said the samba wasn't even a dance!

My opinion of Anton goes up and down frequently but I find him outdated and the jive routine for Laila is proof of that. Leaving aside her abilities, Anton himself lacks flair in that jive and he and his routine look like a blast from the 1970's. I agree that he occupies a niche that not many other dancers would be willing to embrace and I find his ballroom and paso doble dances to be ok. If Anton has to go then he needs to take Brendan with him; the latter has a better standard than Anton but his complacency on the programme manifests in his attitude of entitlement. At least Anton has developed graciousness and where he can't exercise grace he jokes. Brendan's a sulk.

That's my opinion, I started watching series 4 and I started of liking him even though the buffoon act sometimes grated but during series 7 with Laila, I went off him in a big way. I'm pretty neutral about him these days - he might not be my cup of tea but I know he appeals to a lot of viewers and even though I suspect he's not a great teacher especially in Latin he seems to put most of the celebs he's had at ease and gets the 'comedy' duffer acts further than they deserve.....I wouldn't mind seeing him with a contender though, even an older celeb just to see what he can do with one.

I think the point is that noone ever suggests that Rav or Joe's chances of learning to dance were sabotaged by their pros incompetence whereas Laila is frequently cited on this board as a talented (in fact 'the only talented') dancer Anton has been paired who had potential to win which was scuppered by him, particularly in Latin. In reality, she got at least as far and probably much further than her ability suggested she should. Her Latin was very poor because she could not move in time to the music, pure and simple; she had no sense of rhythm and looking at almost any of her dances with an objective eye it is plain to see. She also couldn't remember routines, which was much easier to camouflage in hold, so that her Ballroom (and she had natural poise which helped here too) was much better.