No, you're right with cop onto yourself. Up North it's 'wouldjever catch yersel on?', which is the same thing, just a different accent

If I were Tess I would be highly annoyed that I'm not considered good enough to hand over a tacky bit of plastic.

I had my work Christmas meal last night. When I got home I asked my OH who won and he told me. Consequently, for the first time ever - and I've watched every programme from the start in 2001 - I haven't been @r$ed to watch it....

Most zlebs want to get as far as Halloween so that they can be dressed as a zombie, and discover that make up department saves time by making Brendan look like a palid undead vampire by putting LESS make up on him than usual

I wish DS would hurry up and give us the promised 'like' button!

Well the good news is as it's christmas we can get away with daytime drinking to rid ourselves of the memory of Never Danced BefORE winning last night.

It was our office Secret Santa today and someone jokingly gave me a mug with his face on it. I wanted to smash it over their head.

It's a shame but nothing to be done about it. It takes all the enjoyment out of the series when you have a fair idea of the finalists at week 1.

Jay, I think was unique as far as strictly goes. I honestly think he would have won if he'd sat on the floor and Aliona had dragged him about a bit. He was definitely a marmite contestant, either loved or hated, both extremes being more than a little scary.

Maybe TPTB were determined that wouldn't happen again. There was, to me anyway, apart from Ed's comedic value, no real stand out personality this year. JR had potential but never really got the opportunity to use it apart from a coupe of mild snarks to Craig.

Danny, at first, appeared to have no personality at all, but a lot of talent. He grew on me as the series progressed and whilst never flamboyant, was quietly snarky and perhaps a little cynical about the whole thing, genuinely pleasant and sportingly gracious in defeat. Huge talent I hope for great things for him for the future.

He and Oti made a killer combination, but I agree that the show dance should have toned down the killer a bit, perhaps to minor injury, to appeal to the casual watcher,

A meh year really, I'm not sure, apart from the odd excursion into here, I'll be watching next year. I dislike the manipulation.

Ha, ha, ha, ha

Jay's not the only one to have won before the final though. Harry, Chris, Mark, Tom, Jill, Louis all won comfortably. This year was a bit different - I suspect all of the finalists may have topped the vote at various times, with there being no real favourite - actually, no, I'd lay money on Louise having a high vote throughout, but it either didn't increase or may have even fallen away in the final.

Ore never lost the presenteritis for me, and so never seemed sincere, but it cannot be denied he has charisma. I wonder if the BBC will try to scale him up; I was completely unaware of him beforehand and would rather it stayed that way, I don't want him popping up on things I do watch, even with his charisma!

I'd be waiting for him to keep mugging to the cameras and whip out the odd kleenex which would distract from the presenting.

I'm not so sure about Tom. He may well still have won but we all know his main competition was eliminated in the quarter finals. A Tom/Austin final would have been fascinating.

I have to admit, as a Tom fan I had very split emotions about Austin's departure - I was disappointed about the manner of it but I can't help admitting part of me thought it was good for Tom as it united the anti-judge vote.

Despite the "Austinwuzrobbed" feeling about series 6, I always felt Tom was the more likely victor. However, I feel robbed that I never got to see the public's fight to its conclusion. Tom and Austin were obviously way ahead with the viewers. They should have both got through to the final to give the audience the real "people's champion".

I think Austin may have nicked it; I was prepared for it and I certainly wouldn't have been so disappointed with the decision as I was this year. Well I hope not anyway!

The ridiculous thing was they nobbled Austin then proceeded to try and screw Tom over in the semi final; that or it was a brilliant bit of subfertuge to get all three through. The series was in a mess after series six and series 7 hardly improved it. It had a total revamp in series eight which probably, in the long term, saved it.

It's worth watching Danny & Oti's showdance, which was amazing. And Kevin & Louizzzze's for the factor. He's channeling Bacofoil, but a low-rent Bacofoil. Greaseproof paper instead,maybe. The Greaseproof showdance.

True, I did question whether to put Tom in as I think Austin's vote was at least as healthy for lots of the show. But I figured, once the semis were over, he had it won, so included him for that reason!

I would have. I am not as nice as you are.

I agree that Jay was unique in that there was intelligence and naivete, wit and insecurity, talent and fear of camera. I found the combination of his personality, talent, and erudition to be very appealing. While Danny is not so intellectual, articulate and funny as Jay, he is very talented, endearingly humble, and kind. I preferred Judge's and Ed's wit in the interviews but on the dance floor Danny knew no rivals, male or female. If the program were strictly about dancing he would have won.

I think Chris also emerged relatively late in the day as definite winner (started with Charleston, but I think he was an "anyone but" winner). Tom was only definite once Austinwuzrobbed got knocked out. Don't know about Jill's year.

I don't know how often performance on final night actually swings it. I think it's only when popularity is relatively evenly distributed. It would be interesting to know how many people voted in any given year.

ETA: I don't know if I would describe Jay as "erudite" but yes, he did have that combination of wit and foot-in-mouthitis!

Now I'm the other way. I think Chris (and Ola - I definitely think this was a partnership win), captured the imagination of a lot of the viewers early and never lost it. The charleston only stamped judges' approval on what the public had already decided. I think the decision to get rid of the semi-final dance off was to prevent a public lynching (there had already been huge disapproval with what had happened in series 6 and 5) because of how popular Chris and Ola were. They had the momentum throughout the series. Ricky was too competitive and Ali too wet. Nobody else was remotely good enough to challenge to popular Cola juggernaut.

From BBC Breakfast looks like Danny is going to be in a stage version of Sleepless in Seattle.

It's started already - he was mugging away during SPOTY last night and faux crying

I would like to unappreciate the fact that were no proper interviews after the final. It's like ' there's your winner. We're over it, BYE!'




Good for him. If it comes to London, I will go and watch it.

TBF - would you really have wanted an interview with Tiny Tears and Jwann afterwards - she'd have been manically screaming and he would have been fake sobbing all the way through.

Ore wasn't my winner but I didn't dislike him. It just seems a bit over and done with too quickly. Plus a bit more of Danny and Oti is never a bad thing.

So Dannypet is in a musical version of Sleepless in Seattle. Brilliant for him. I think he'll do well in it and he came across lovely in the interview. I think he genuinely didn't expect to win and so it didn't really bother him that he didn't.