I have just watched some clips on you tube and stand by my comment, I realise she came third but Chistopher Parker came second. She appeared to be better at ballroom than Latin, but then you know Anton !

But even her ballroom would be week 1 or 2 these days hideously messy feet, no pointing, and an awful hold.

I don't think Carole Smilie had any dance background and she managed about week 8 or 9?

Week 9. It was a shorter series too.

Good post. Let's wait and see.

Well, you are a better person than me - because I can honestly say Widdy could have turned out to be a better dancer than Cyd Charisse and it still wouldn't have meant that I either changed my opinion of her non-Strictly persona or voted for her.

Absolutely I will . She is young and fit and dainty and should do well and will look stunning . Unless she turns out to be a real moaning minnie with a diva attitude I'll be cheering her on .
More often than not (though not always ) I tend to defend anyone getting severely bashed by people with agendas and I hate gang mentality , so bring it on .


Well done you ! Everyone has a bit of dance in them and I think it deeply unfair to imply that some people are not worthy of teaching , when in reality they just learn at a different pace and are just as deserving of the lessons as that wonder-kid who knocks your socks off after just 3 lessons and nets every trophy available .
If everyone had that attitude (not worth bothering with that pupil) then there'd be no paralympics for goodness sake .I mean why bother (rolls eyes) .

I find that sad . I understand not liking a contestant , but credit where it's due is my motto .
For example I watched Jamelia in the Bear Grylls series and disliked her intensely . Amid many claims to camera of being a strong woman she moaned and cried and huffed and puffed and complained and was truly terrible .But in the Strictly group dance on partnering night she was jolly good , so this is more her thing and I'm happy to forget the Bear Grylls stuff and give her a clean slate . Same with them all really . Day 1, no past transgressions taken into account .

I'm afraid that, for me, sometimes their pre-Strictly persona is so strong that nothing they do on Strictly can ameliorate that. They are still the same person, just now able to dance a bit and while I've the choice I'll either vote for someone else or not at all.

One of the things I enjoy about the show is it's ability to change my mind about someone. Watching people learn, perform, build relationships, compete etc over a fairly long period is quite revealing. It's one of the reasons I miss seeing proper training room footage. In the early days, I think we saw a much less controlled/contrived version of events.

All that said, I agree with you about Widdy. There's not much she could have done on a dancing show that could ever negate what 'went before'.




Edit: I'm actually struggling to think of anyone off the top of my head who completely turned things around for me though (unless they were people I didn't know much about to begin with).

no way that Georgia is a diva, she's a sweet, honest and down to earth person, and thank you Heather

Chelsee for me - when she came on the launch show saying she was 'single and ready to mingle' I remember thinking 'Oh God, hopefully she'll be first off' and she and Pasha went on to be one of my favourite couples ever - just loved them. But I suppose that was just a superficial bad first impression, not based on anything, rather than a long-standing objection to someone's actions - with someone like a politician it is different.

I completely agree with you on the training footage - the celebs are much much more protected now, we never hear if they ran out of the room in tears or got cross one day or anything, and I suppose they prefer that, but I think it makes my sense of my link to them much more superficial because they all seem blander. I never blamed them for finding it tough, I liked that.

Very good but no.

I'd be more likely to see Katie Hopkins compliment Alison Hammond on her gorgeous figure.

Great post. Pasha is paid to get the best out of his partners, and I have no doubt he can and will do that with Carol, whether or not it meets the standards of others. I doubt he wants anyone's sympathy about it either.

Dead right. You always talk sense aggs.

My teachers scared the hell out of me - and I was the better for it. Complete discipline and bloody hard work.

No one asked you to debate with me. You waded in on your own. I'm not sure you understand the nature of forums, or the fact that people will not behave the way you want to them to - and they will have opinions that differ from yours.

I also have no idea what your last post means but it's really not a big deal. We can simply ignore those we wish to and I certainly do!

Well, he's an electrician I hire to fix things and pay by the hour. I have no idea if he is multi-talented or not. You'd have to ask his wife. I still call him Mr Harris and his well into his fifties. Maybe he's good at fly fishing? I wouldn't know.

You really have to get over yourself. I am sure you're good at something or other?

Really ? I'd never subject any of my kids to a dance teacher who "scared the hell" of them . But each to their own .

How do you know? That's a lot to get from a video

I think she's a gorgeous looking girl, but not the sharpest tool in the box and she needs to work on her leg strength.

She looks good with her partner, the Italian pro. I hope she can focus long enough to work on what she's got.

Is that the one size fits all school of teaching methodology? I expect your methods might have become a little more sophisticated if you'd have taught for any length of time, but as I recall you taught for two years, was it, starting while you were still in your teens and finished at 21?

I do have a very retentive memory and I'm pretty sure I recall the last time your teaching creds were subject to discussion that that's what you posted. I do apologise if I'm mistaken.

Actually that's a lot to get from a brief first steps video and 10 seconds of rehearsal .

There you go again being judgmental and rude. That is what my last post meant. Ignore it, I'm not bothered.

[quote=Heatherbell;79788774]Actually that's a lot to get from a brief first steps video and 10 seconds of rehearsal .

Very true.

And again. Why don't you get over YOUR self.

Great post, and it's great to hear you've done so well, best of luck to you with the teaching too.

Oddly stalky post.

Really this forum is exactly that a place to discuss things I wasn't aware it was a gang up on others.

Many people will have different ideas and we are all allowed to state them.

I find it really odd that there are a few people on here stating everything is sweetness and light, when I am sure they get equally irritated.

As for the person who brought in the para olympics, shame on you. If you can't see the difference you really don't know much about disability.

Just for your information that are irritating disabled people and some of them would not be able to dance because of their attitude rather than their disability.