You can only vote once on the tellymix vote 😕

That was ridiculous. More fodder for the paps to salivate over , and they bring it on themselves .
Anyway they messed up in a dull routine so the scores were right .

Loved Georgia! Craig's score for Jay, a 6?
I agree. Totally scripted! To be expected at this stage.

I don't think he's remotely likely to be in the dance off. In fact I think it's pretty clear that he'll have an awakening like Louis Smith did and according to the bookies he's pretty well nailed on to win. Only GG come close.

What annoys me a bit about the judges remarks concerning Jay's lack of expression is the fact that the worst offender ever for this was Louis Smith, yet Craig and Bruno still praised him to the heavens because he was muscular and took his shirt off a lot.

They obviously don't fancy Jay.

I think Jay, like Helen, is a great dancer but lacks in personality. They are both very bland and boring! I only liked Jay's jive. I would like to see him do the Charleston, because he might lighten up a bit then, but it shouldn't be like that. You can't blame the dance... you blame the dancer. You make the most of what you are given. Other people aren't having these problems.

I like Anita and Georgia They are good dancers and come across as nice people too... humble and down to earth. They don't have a sense of self entitlement like some of the other dancers. (Kellie, Helen).

could Georgia become the favourite now , she is performing to a high standard each week . Jay journey has stalled , ne needs a good week at Blackpool ,

I'm not sure that he is safe !!

I'm not sure Jay is safe either, despite lots of people here stating he has a massive fan following. After tonight's diabolical under marking for his dance from the Judges I wonder if they are trying to set up a 'shock' dance off for Sunday night?

He may have been the bookies favourite to win at the start but I wouldn't be surprised if Georgia hasn't taken that title, or if not she soon will do. She obviously has the Judges won over and is a good dancer for sure, I just don't think the Charleston she did tonight was worth three 10's, especially with Darcy saying she made a mistake or two.

just checked odds checker , it is a 2 horse race , the odds between the 2 are quite close

hope the golden couple don't fall at the final hurdle

The lack of personality thing is a bit troubling.

I didn't like their Foxtrot at all. The basic steps were there and they were done more or less correctly footwork wise, however there was no smoothness, no linear swing, it was very steppy, no rolling through the feet to gently rise, too much rise and fall....however he seems to have a huge fan base so should be safe. I so enjoyed his Jive but I've been disappointed since. I hope he has a good dance lined up for Blackpool.

I do find it interesting and, if I'm honest, a bit puzzling when people say they're influenced by what others think or say about a contestant or how they're "liked" or "disliked" on various social media platforms.

I like Jay because he dances beautifully and comes across on the show as a fairly quiet and shy bloke. Before he started the show I knew nothing about him, I looked at his Twitter feed and found he was amusing with a droll sense of humour and his first Cha Cha I thought showed he had promise but was clearly affected by nerves.

His Jive was a perfect storm, the right music, styling, dance, and it all came together into a brilliant routine. Since then he's had a few small errors but his dances have still been beautifully performed (I don't give a flying fig what his face is doing when his arms are so lyrical, his footwork is exceptional and his central body core is strong and flexible).

He doesn't always grasp the essence of a dance - the AT is a perfect example - but he always has routines into which Aliona puts plenty of basic and difficult choreography and he manages them well in the vast majority of cases.

I have also enjoyed Georgia's routines more and more since the Halloween Tango and I find myself looking forward to watching her also.
Other contestants have had great routines one week and so I've voted for them (on the polls here, I don't actually vote as I'm usually watching on catch up). I don't vote for Jay automatically.

Thank you for this intelligent and well written post - makes a lovely change to read this after some of the vitriol that we get on here when Jay's name is mentioned (mentioning no names.....!)

I too like Anita and Georgia, their great personalities show in every dance they do. Jay is so boring and bland with no charisma at all.

Thank goodness for someone who writes without any bias and shows some common sense. I do not care who wins but Craig's 6 for Jay was a total disgrace. Apart from one small mistake it was beautiful. Georgia was fantastic and deserved to be top of the leaderboard. I did not enjoy Kellie and Kevin at all and was astounded by Craig giving them a 9!

Sadly Jay's grandfather has just died.

Yes very sad for Jay. Perhaps all these people remarking about Jay & Aliona's closeness might now realise why she was being so attentive if his Grandad was ill and now feel silly.

I'm very sorry to hear that

Blame the 20 years as a journalist where my editors repeatedly drilled into all of us that we had to be unbiased in anything we wrote to look at the whole picture and ensure each party had a fair hearing and chance of being represented.

Sadly the industry is not the same now and I'm so glad I'm not a part of it any more. Modern journalism is a joke and unfortunately the rise of social media has directly contributed to that.
Anyone's able to call themselves a journalist/reporter/writer now, blogs are read as fact (and in some cases they are but a lot aren't but get treated as gospel), quotes are lifted wholesale off Facebook, Twitter or forums like this one and no-one gets off their backsides and actually gets out and speaks to people and persuades them to add their name to their comment.

In my day the only time we ever printed a comment without a name attached to it was for personal safety or job security (i.e. whistleblowing) reasons and even then we had the person's details and phone number and their quotes in a dated notebook which we got them to sign as proof they'd said it!

Sorry for the rant, it makes me so cross these days, I loved my job but those days have long gone and it's now nearly 10 years since I left the industry.

Really haven't seen any evidence of a sense of self entitlement in Helen. Quite the opposite in fact.

If he knew something on the Saturday, it would account for his reactions and also some of the Pros, not just Aliona - noticed Aljaz hugging him and Brendan looked concerned.

It is amazing how people are using the word 'bland' since Craig used it - (he used other words which were very inappropriate in their timing as it turns out) - Note the others judges completely disagreed with Craig on that point. The FT is not a WOW dance - Jay is anything but bland or lacking in personality - if he stays in the program me -( I hope he does - and am sure SCD producers do also - but up to him in the circumstances), he has some of the more fun dances left which allow him to show his fun side, something that is evident in his interviews, particularly on ITT

I thought that too ... no mention of 'bland' until Len used it last week and now it's in everyone's critique!

Jay is anything but. A bland person would not be attracting the levels of support that he and Aliona are getting or get the response he gets when walking out onto the Strictly dance floor each week.

I'll take Matthew Bourne's word over Craig's any day of the week!

You may be right but it is just what I see. I rewatched his dance from last Saturday and it really did nothing for me. I see no joy when he dances and as I do not know enough about dancing to comment on his skills, I have to judge on what I see. His facial expressions seem to stay the same whatever dance he does.

He does need to step up his game now because Georgia is catching him up. Some called her bland and still are, now she is anything but bland. She is a joy to watch.

Charlestons are pretty much always crowd pleasers. That one was entertaining for sure but it had mistakes in it and was over-marked. I'm glad you find Georgia a "joy to watch" but I would suggest that isn't a universal opinion.