Do we have a DO in semi final week? Surely that means the Judges "pick" the finalists not the voting public which is surely unfair

Yes there is a DO in the semi-final, so public votes are really important to save your faves / tactical votes to get shot of those you don't like (if you happen to be that way inclined )

This is the impression I have too. Georgia -- of all the contestants -- hasn't really got a hook to rope in a regular reliable vote. Jay has his woobie appeal. Plus he is the only remaining contender with bollocks. Anita has Never Danced Before. Kellie has her feisty, fighty, come-back-kid appeal. Helen has her weepy faerie land thing and the question Is She Too Fragile For This World? Katie has Anton on possibly his last year.

All of that is peripheral and completely separate from how they dance on the night but in the cheap and cheerful world of a one-hour package it helps to give kerb-appeal

Anton will be unbearable if he and Katy win - even more deeply in love with himself....

Exactly. And before anyone cries that ordinary Joe Public doesn't know anything about ballroom technique, it's not hard to spot a stumble, lack of balance or footwork corrections.

This is the point in the series where I always despair that popularity beats talent. It's crystal clear that the vast majority of the public don't give a damn about whether a celeb is actually a great dancer or not, otherwise Katie and Anita would have been the bottom two (and Katie would have been there last week too). The public seem able to turn a blind eye to some people's mistakes and not others.


No, not everyone does at all. That 6 was the only accurate mark for that dance! I like Anita but she was dreadful this week from a dance point of view, no matter how good the performance factor was.


That in itself would be a reason to want her gone - I dread to think what Kevin will choreograph this year!

preparing myself for a social media meltdown !

Sorry for doubting the mole

I don't understand why the judges are saying Helen and Alaz shouldn't be in the bottim two considering they put them last but one from the bottom. You can't have it both ways!

I find it so irritating when the Judges come out with that statement........... it is unfair to those who have just got through to the following week.
Whoever is in the DO is in the DO, that's it

If the Judges feel it is so unfair, then perhaps they should petition not to have a public vote at all .........and watch the viewing figures and their salaries drop rapidly

I'd much prefer it without public voting. Relying on experts never hurt One Man and His Dog, Great Pottery Doodah or Gareth Malone's franchise. Voting is pretty much a boring chore and ridiculous when you know nothing about dancing

I for one won't have a word said against Anton. He is the most lovely man, my elderly mum (87) is totally blind and used to love ballroom dancing. When he was opening our local flower show we approached him to ask if he would dance with mum (explaining the situation to him). He bent over backwards to make it possible and treated her so so delightfully - a perfectly wonderful man in my eyes as he could quite easily have said no given the amount of requests he must get

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Last edited by Lordsally : 06-12-2015 at 20:34

That is so lovely!
My mum at 85 is the same - she was always mad about ballroom dancing ever since her teens.

What is a woobie? I may be one and not realise it!

It's not that, no. Whatever you're suggesting!!

Imagine a toddler reaching out his hand to take the best ice cream ever and... he drops it!!! That face, lip just starting to quiver, the big-eyed look of immense and yet pathetic tragedy, that is the Woobie.

This is not to say Jay is all woobie (he clearly isn't) but he has been somewhat Woobified by his support

Gotcha! Thanks. I certainly ain't one of those. 😂

Judges 'playing' with the scoring to get their desired result. They wanted bottom Anita and Katie. Over scored Kellie and put Katie mid table. It backfired on them.

One thought, Kellie, Georgia and Helen are all soap actors. Is the soap fan vote spread too thinly to keep them out of the dance off? We're now left with two soap actors, one not band singer, one radio/music presenter, one general TV presenters. Wouldn't be surprised to see one of the actors go next week. However, we know from what evidence there is the voting numbers increase enormously toward the final stages, so previous lack of voting support may not be as relevant as some seem to think.

That's lovely Tango Trish - there are so many anti-Anton people on here, but all the anecdotal stories from the GBP seem to suggest that he is actually a very nice man.

Here we go again. Conspiracy theory with no evidence to back it up. The judges can never "play" with the scoring to get their desired result. They can't ever be at all sure which way the public vote will go.

Never mind 9 times out of ten a lower score, a bit of critisism, a low place on the leaderboard usually produces thousands more votes for that person, regardless of how well they've danced.

That is wonderful. I also have met him on his tour. I had a question to ask for the question answer session and was going to put it in the box. He said hello and I said about how much I like watching him on Strictly ect and when he saw me walking to the box he said to give him the question and he said he wanted to read it to make me happy ect and before he moved onto the next one he made sure he had answered it the way I wanted and he took his time with me. again with the amount of requests he gets he could have not bothered with the question or just rushed an answer but he didn't. going to see him again next year. A supprise for my 21st in October. But backing what you said I also think he is a lovely person and doesn't deserve the amount of negativity that he gets.

Thanks for sharing that story, John! I love hearing all this about Anton - people talk about him laughing AT his partners, along with us, but sometimes I think that's his role, and Judy Murray for sure seemed to adore him, in such a situation. Maybe if the person doesn't have a sense of humour about herself it doesn't work out - but sometimes, when you're just awful, it's the best way to go - for the show, for the audience, and if you can go with it, for you yourself. What if Judy had believed she was working hard, doing a good job, and therefore didn't deserve any criticism? It would have been dull and made us uncomfortable (or annoyed with her).

I was lucky enough to meet him at the Strictly Christmas Special taping a couple of years ago and he was charming both to me and the rest of the people I was with

He was one of the only pro's to come into the crowd and shake everyone's hands during the breaks in filming

Not unlike the judges then.