Nicole Kidman was on the Graham Norton show this week taking about her stage fright.

I think there's room for everybody. My votes went to Jay and Jeremy two extremes as far as talent but I enjoyed both dances for different reasons. My only gripe is really with the judges when they mock the contestants with no experience. I have said before when they laughed at Jeremy week one it annoyed me and that's when I feel it gets unfair. This goes back as far as Mark Foster. The dancers starting from scratch are not there for the judges to belittle. I have no problem with previous experience but treat the less talented dancers with respect too. Maybe the BBC need to decide what they want from the show because as it stands for me it leaves a sour taste to see people who are giving it there best laughed at.

I found her very interesting .She was rooted to the spot and shaking like a leaf on her first few nights on stage in the West End . As she put it no two moments on stage are the same and being out of her comfort zone affected her quite badly

Darcey Bussell is a trained dancer but not trained in latin and ballroom as a professional. Are people saying that if she were to compete in Strictly she would have no advantages over Ann Widdecombe?


I agree with you that any sort of dance training helps you to do any other type of dance. Also most dancers don't only learn one type of dance, they will have their main type of dance that they perform, but will probably have done classes in other forms, even if they are only in beginner level classes.

Oh I just thought of Anne Widdecombe when you said that , sorry but we had to laugh...

A chest of drawers would have advantages over Ann Widdecombe.

That's probably something to ask Daniel as well - seeing as how he has admitted he was so terrified he couldn't speak.

I guess live, Saturday night, flagship programme tele is enough to given even the most seasoned of performers nerves.

It's have a better bra for a start

Totally agree. Last night the unkindness in their comments to the beginners compared to the front runners was very noticeable. It was bad enough when it was just Craig but I think Bruno is getting meaner as well and his laughing at Daniel came across a bit like a school bully. I know they have to be honest but I think they could be a bit more encouraging with it as it must be hard enough to stay motivated with the huge gulf between them and the people with dance experience (who I don't mind either BTW).

Hopefully it would also keep its legs covered.

What also will have been good for Jay last night was his music, theme and costuming was not a hindrance and Aliona choreographed it fairly authentically. Add that he has natural ability and some training in forms of dance and it was a recipe for success. No need to bash him for it though IMO. He clearly had worked hard and put in a great performance.

Who gives a .... if he had some ballet training when he was 13
It was the Best dance of the night 😄 And that's what you want
to see on Strictly he was Brilliant 👏 👏😄😀😀 He can do no
Wrong 😀 Can't wait to see next weeks dance....
By the way I played hockey extremely well when I was 13 no
way could I do it now 😜
Jay did not train in ballroom or Latin 😊

Before I go any further, I don't have any favourites, so there's no subtext to what follows …

Was Jay's jive impressive? Undoubtedly.

However, for a contestant to get a '10' in Week 3 is, as I recall, a first in SCD history. And, probably not a good first.

Of course there are people who have had some dance training taking part in Strictly this year. As there has been previously.

But, as Craig pointed out, to be that technically good that early in the competition is something that hasn't happened before. And it creates problems, on a number of levels …

First of all, the competition is suddenly skewed in a way it hasn't been before now. Jay is clearly technically competent in such a way that can't possibly just have come from his training with Aliona. He is significantly more advanced skills-wise than any other celeb. Where does that leave him to go? If Jay can deliver a routine like that now, what's he going to be like later? It's hard to escape the answer: we already know.

Moreover, how can the producers now escape the sense that the competition already has a winner? There is zero tension/drama if one contestant is so far ahead of all the others that we now already know that his performances will be of this standard or similar (i.e. he will look like one of the pro's). That's a problem for them, as one of the central planks of any reality show with a public vote is that there's unpredictability. Now, with one contestant, there isn't any - unless the public take against him (à la Lisa Snowdon), we already know he'll be in the final.

Beyond that, this creates a problem beyond this year's series. Strictly is not only one of the jewels in the BBC's crown - it's practically its one and only in-house success story in entertainment. And, given the talks about the future of the BBC - in which SCD has been referred to (in both positive and negative ways), this series has to be absolutely flawless and scandal-free. The public has got to unequivocally love it. And the chances of that happening will diminish with a contestant who's apparently massively overqualified. All it takes now is for The Sun, Telegraph or Mail to start digging into Jay's experience, and use it to trash Strictly (and the BBC). We've already had an example of how low they're prepared to sink in the last week with the Mail, which tried to link the Leeds-based winner of GBBO with the 7/7 bombers. So using Jay's experience (whatever the details are) to rubbish SCD is certainly not off-limits.

Unlike Mark Ramprakash's, Jay's nerves are not a narrative. If anything, they are in danger of looking disingenuous after a near-perfect performance, and he won't be able to get away with it for long.

I suspect the coming weeks could create drama of a kind the producers weren't planning on …

BIB - it's actually a third - Louisa got one for her jive which was her 2nd dance and Frankie got one last year in week 3 Movie week for her paso.

But i agree with you, as a Jay fan myself, i am worried about where he can go when he is already so good. I can't see him doing a couple of the dances (salsa, samba) well, so they will be the interesting ones to watch for me.

Peter Andre 's court case is much more likely to be a problem for the BBC than Jays dancing and as you pointed out the best dancer doesn't always win.

In fact for 3 weeks of the GBBO everybody thought it was a foregone conclusion that Ian would win.

Thank you - I might have guessed my memory would have failed me on that front!

But I still stand by my comments - as Craig said, Jay is technically more precise than either of them.

I think the point is that Louisa didn't win and Frankie didn't win and Sophie didn't win despite her Charleston getting the most fuss for any single dance that year and Jake didn't win (or get to the final) despite his Salsa getting the most fuss of last year. Tactically it was probably a huge error for Jay to dance that well this early, it will see so many people doing their best to come up with reasons to hate him, and will set him up as the ringer that some journey contestant, probably Peter, will beat. But I don't care because I wouldn't have wanted to miss that jive and because I think the show only works if you enjoy the dancing and ignore the rest of it - as best you can.

Ah sorry I don't think I was clear in what I mean - i.e. emphasising the wanting to dance because she missed it having being injured while on the path to becoming a professional dancer.

She did mention the injury from the off but I don't think she made as big a deal out of missing the dancing itself, does that make more sense?


No the first series had Claire Sweeny in it it's never been any different, people just tend to gloss over that.

Certainly would give a more polished performance

Well they had her contemporary Mel B on Dancing with the Stars and she was awesome but still didn't win and neither did Emma Bunton on Strictly


According to his biography he attended after school dance classes at the first place (the dance academy) aged 13 where he was bullied for liking ballet, then went to the stage school place from there and left, aged 16, to audition for and eventually join The Wanted.

are we talking Queen Anne furniture now?

There is bound to be a duff week, music or choreo is a bit off, he has an off night, theme does them in, gets a dance that least suits him, a less flashy dance when others have flashy ones, music or theme is against them, or something. Poor beggar might get ill or injured, God forbid. It is very unlikely to be all plain sailing.

Because the producers don't vote for the winner, the public does and there's absolutely no way to guarantee them doing it.

Oh I see no worries

There is some irony in him coming from a band of that name reading some of the posts about his background.