Considering how a fair few had Anita in their "first out" pool, have opinions changed now? Could she be a contender? Or do you think it'll be a momentary "Rachel Riley was also fairly passable week 1" blip?

I think Anita is a contender and miles better than Rachel Riley. Rachel's legs didn't seem to be in contact with her torso, whereas Anita has natural rhythm.
My favourite dance of the night.

She wasn't in my ' first out pool ' at all, in fact who would put her in with Carol / Daniel or Jeremy ?? I expected her to be good actually, and she certainly disappoint. Great arm and foot placement, hip action and rhythm. Much better than Rachel Riley who was very stiff and self conscious. I think Anita will go a long way in this the competition !

She did not strike me as first out material when I watched her at the launch and was very impressed with her last night.However I will save judgement on her until after she does a ballroom dance, where I feel she will not be as good.

She'll go far, she seemed very natural and ready to throw herself into the while experience

She's enjoying it and it shines through.

Was my favourite of the evening by quite a long way.

I guess its' because she doesn't have the same background in stage school/ dance school/ drama school that a lot of the actresses have.

But for all we know, she could have done lots of dance classes as a child because lots of females do, without having formal training.

My favorite performance of the night also

Thought she was undermarked

I was hoping someone would bring this up.

I have seen a few comments on here writing her off before she has danced ( apart from the launch ) and I had a feeling she might be a dark horse.

Really enjoyed her performance and looking forward to more.

I can't understand why anyone ever thought she would be a dud... especially after the launch show when I thought she was one of the main stand-outs. Her performance last night was very good, about what I expected of her and I'd say she is one to watch!

Anita really surprised me. I didn't think she'd be as good as she was. I knew that Helen had the potential to be good because of her stage school background, but thought that Anita did really well in her first dance.

I thought Anita was excellent. Did anyone else find it strange that Tess and Claudia were doing their verbal ogling of Gleb (bad taste alert producers if you're listening/reading) and then suddenly we were introduced to Gleb's wife?

I had a feeling she might be a dark horse. One of the nicest surprises of the weekend

Anita was the biggest (and nicest) surprise of the show. She performs very well and can move well.

Gleb has potential to work with and I think Anita also has a personality which people will like now we seem to have moved on from' inni gorgeous!'.

I DID have Anita down as one of my first boots before the Launch Show because she described herself as "not a girly girl at all" so I thought this whole glittery Strictly world would be too far out of her comfort zone. I also considered the fact that she may have not have the fan base of other potential duffers like Carol & Daniel.

However, she came across brilliantly on the Launch Show and followed that up by being the biggest surprise of Week 1. I'm liking her more and more and am hoping for big things fron 'Team Glita'!

I thought she did great and whilst she may not have a dance background she is very much an outdoors person and does a lot of physical stuff for Countryfile so I would imagine because of that she's pretty fit. One of the strongest parts of her performance was how she maintained the energy all the way through IMO.

Maybe it's something in the air where they film Countryfile? Matt Baker was a real shock too!

Very good dance. ..pleasantly surprised BUT Gleb needs to engage more with her on the dance floor. ..re watching it seems like he was there and wasn't there at the same time. ..while she was giving it her all.

I certainly think that Anita is a real contender, and I do hope that Tess and Claudia grow out of their puerile behaviour (regarding Anita's partner) soon, rather than later.

She was fab! Sassy, confident and looked like she thoroughly enjoyed herself. Shes in my top three with Helen and Peter, with Katie and Jay close behind

I watched her training video and immediately thought, 'hey girl, you can dance'. She's a natural and she is also focused, a hard worker AND has a sense of humour. Vital for a dancer.

So delighted for her. She'll work really hard and prove to all those who said she'd be bottom (yes, really - fools) that they were wrong and should never be silly enough to judge someone on what shows they present and the fact they wear wellies!

Someone even wrote her off because they claimed no one would know who she was

That was me.

First of all, I'm not a "fool" and secondly, I made that comment because fan base IS important. Despite the fact that Daniel & Carol are the nearest to duffers we have this year, they will stick around for a good few weeks, like it or not - and that is unlikely to be because of their dancing ability. Proof of the pudding - Daniel is running away with it in terms of Youtube views. So., I still maintain that Anita is one of the lesser-known celebs this year (along with Katie, Anthony and Georgia) - something which I thought, might sadly count against her

However, she let her dancing do the talking and good for her. The fact that Anita shocked me has been my most memorable moment so far - such that Team Glita became my Week 1 favourites.

I think Matt's background as a gymnast helped him out quite a bit too. I remember he was very athletic in his dances.


I don't know the exact figures but I would imagine Countryfile has quite a big audience and Anita is a regular presenter on there. Again, I don't know what the overlap is between the Countryfile/Strictly viewers but if it's large then she would have a pretty big fan base I would think.

She's my female favourite and second fave altogether after Jay.