And clinch the glitter ball, see if we can get katie and anton to make it all the way to the final.

I'm with you OP ...

anyone BUT Jay and Daniel to win this year.

I really love to see Anton lifting up the glitterball, I have this gut feeling this will be his final series.

We? We who?

we haven't seen their Samba, Cha Cha, Salsa, Rumba. so don't put your high hopes up yet.

no thanks but good luck

Why?

If he deserves to get thereby virtue of enough people liking him & Katie and their dancing then he will.

Many people have their personal likes and dislikes but I would prefer for them to vote for them due to their personal wishes and not those of others. It really is a tad early to start with campaigns. Let's just enjoy the dancing.

Anton and Katie are not really one of my favourites but I don't seem them leaving in a hurry in any case.

I would love to see Anton with a glitter trophy at last.

Something you and I agree on Terry.

I want to see Katie win as much as Anton. If she had been with a different partner, I would still have wanted her to win (without Anton), and that would have been instead of Anton (and whatever other partner he had, hypothetically.) But fortunately, they are together.

Me too. i really like Katie. Funnily enough, Anton has gotten on my nerves a bit in previous series but him having a partner who can actually dance for once has made him a very happy bunny indeed, which is a joy to watch. I think Anton's lighter approach is good for Katie and their partnership is such brilliant.
I would be so happy for them if they got to the final.

Agree

I actually believe Katie has a decent chance of winning this! Most of the money seems to be going on Andre, O'Donnell or The Wanted guy (forgotten his name and I am too lazy to search at this hour!) due to the fact they probably have the biggest potential fan bases out there.

However, I think there are a decent few out there who would like to see Anton do well and this might well be his only chance at the shot of the title. Also, Katie is very likeable and has the 'journey' potential. She's not quite as polished as Andre and I believe will show clear improvement as time goes on. With Andre, his potential to grow will be limited as he's fairly decent to start with.

There's also a fair amount of people out there that aren't particular fans of theirs and as the competition whittles down their votes will go to whoever they are up against. So if Katie/Anton can make it say to the quarter or semi final, they might pick up a fair amount of votes from people who really don't want to see Andre/O'Donnell win.

What works well for Katie/Anton too is the fact the judges, Claudia/Tess are all hammering home the point that FINALLY Anton has a decent enough partner to do well with. He had a good partner in Laila Rouass but her Latin was weak, Katie seems more rounded and has the potential to do well in both Latin and Ballroom. I also think if they did make it to the final, Anton has the potential to pull off a Camilla/Tom type dance which could win it for them.

Katie is now 3rd favourite with oddschecker.com to win the whole thing and an outsider for elimination. Very happy over that.

I don't find Katie likable at all. She's far too 'head girl' for my liking. I will admit that she is a better dancer than I would have expected her to be, but | would never vote for her.. Do people really vote for the professional dancer?

Two voices of reason in harmony Paul.

Methinks Katie has the maturity to pull off an excellent Rumba and Cha cha, and Anton will get choreography help with the Samba and Salsa (other couples get choreo help all the time) - so I would not rule out their Latin.

Only the Economist has them lower in rankings than the quarter finals.

I think this year Katie and Anton will get votes from curious wellwishers to see "how far they can go".

It is time people stopped seeing Strictly purely as a popularity contest and based on size of fan bases. Popularity will win votes, certainly, but the dance-off sorts out the lame ducks from the flying swans.

I agree. They have cha cha this weekend, while there are still a lot of couples in and Anton alone has enough goodwill to see him through another round or two, irrespective of how good his partner is.

I also have a sneaking suspicion that Katie will do a really good rumba. She is a classy lady and unlikely to produce a sleaze-fest type rumba. And that isn't Anton's style anyway. I think he will choreograph some thing simple, elegant and romantic and she can pull that off.

The salsa - well SCD don't give an ess aitch one tea about the salsa, In all these years we have only seen 2 or 3 salsas that looked anything like the dance they are supposed to be. (and Mark and Karen's, brilliant dance though it was, bore little resemblance to a salsa). So the salsa, if done early enough is almost a by to the next round. All they need do is give it energy, wiggle and wear big happy smiles it seems.

The samba could be his Waterloo. But it has also been Brendan's and Brendan is, I gather, is an all rounder/international 10 dancer.

I am not sure I buy the Anton is rubbish at Latin/choreographing Latin. He has had some shocking partners and has presented them quite cleverly I think. He does classy well, he does cheesy comedic well, but he doesn't do raunchy. But is raunch an essential requirement of any dance? I know many say he has let down some of his more able partners but who knows if they were really able or if his choreography was making them look as good as they could possibly be.

I know he kind of looks wrong doing Latin but that might be only because he looks so right in ballroom. He has a certain style and it is that of gentlemanly refinement which can look a incongruous Latin. But lets be honest his Latin is still better than 99% of the world's population of 7 billion odd people.

I am certainly not going to write him off although I acknowledge that an over 40 year old winner seems impossible.

The Economist publish rankings for Strictly? Gosh.

Who is this we you speak of?

I think Anton and Katie have made an excellent start but I do object to fans of any couple holding out the begging bowl for votes.

Those who like A&K will vote for them and I think they could go a long way this series - however others have their own favourites and become irritated when hassled for their votes.

This ^^^

I'll vote for whoever I feel dances best. I do not need to be told or cajoled by others.

I hope that if Katie & Anton make the final it's for a better reason than "Let's see how far we can get Anton". From what we've seen so far, they stand a very good chance on their ability alone.

Hollins was 38 and I think it was their partnership that won it for them, so I can see K and A having a chance and Katie has more talent too

I'm pleased Anton has a decent chance this year. But Katie should win only if she deserves it.

Surely the place for this type of thread is the appreciation section?