A nice thread to start, and (BIB) I was surpised to see not much in the way of comment on here. I know Anita has a lot of support on this forum, but I was surprised not see more threads about Helen's exit and what a loss she will be.

I liked her as a person, but I didn't always like her dancing. I think she has the jive listed on her CV, so it's a shame we didn't get to see that.

Yes, it's frustrating when one of the more capable dancers is sacrificed on the altar of public opinion.

Given her position on the leaderboard I was expecting her to be in the dance off but against Anita not Georgia. Against Anita she would not have been eliminated but sadly fate conspired against her

I don't know the technicalities of a paso doble, but to me their dance seemed really stiff. And I know Helen isn't in charge of the song of choreography, but I felt even some of her own moves seemed to not quite fit the music. Also this year they've had some slightly dubious looking padded tops on the women and I found it a bit distracting in that dance
Helen was obviously good but I don't think she was as good as she thought she would be. I didn't see much improvement to be honest. She was better than Anita though.

Agree!

Helen and Georgia obviously struck up a very close friendship during the course of this experience so it was sad to see them have to compete against each other but Helen was very gracious and it is a shame to see her go

She produced some beautiful dances and is a lovely lady

Wasn't expecting her to go this week, think she deserved the semi final at least. Thought she fell foul of Craigs attack on Anita which may have prompted a few votes for her and the wave that Anton is perched upon-viewers want to see him get as far as possible this time I reckon.

That might be true in respect of Georgia but illogical in the case of Helen as they marked her in the bottom two. They may have wanted Anita there with her but it was extremely disingenuous for Craig to say it was the public and not them who put her in the Dance Off - I really don't know how the celebs and pros stand there so graciously and listen to such cack without answering back!

This!!

I don't really think it was public opinion, so much as the paso doble not working with the musicals theme. The trouble is with having one dance at this stage, is that it's much easier to win a dance off with a ballroom than a paso. If it had been the other way round and this week Helen had had her VW and Georgia had had her paso, Georgia would have gone (and that would have been equally sad).

I think Helen has been lovely throughout the series - her dancing, just as herself, and her partnership with Aljaz. I'm very sorry to see them go.

She didn't quite fulfil her promise to me.
I'm not saying she said to meet me at the back of the bike sheds, but she was uneven and made clear mistakes in a number of dances. She never left her ballet habits fully behind. Whereas Georgia only ever seems to be on an upward trajectory.
She did do some fine stuff though and is as beautiful as any Barbie doll you'll ever see. Loved the kick in the farewell dance.
She could have easily been in the final if it weren't for the clueless not seeing Anita's AT for what it was(n't)

Mr Cobblers and myself both commented on that.

Craig, you, the judges had Helen bottom two and therefore in the dance off. Please do not accuse me of doing this myself

I thought her ballroom was exquisite, and I find myself watching her Halloween Samba a lot too. I loved that number. I really wish she hadn't gone tonight. She was very gracious

Wonderful, beautiful dancer and person.
Sorry to see her go.

This is quite nice to see as they only really showed Jay's comment on Helen's exit at the end of the show.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/strictlyc...9-d7184c2f8eda

Apparently she was too much on the front foot and not enough bending of the knees - this caused a general instability and limitation in her movement that was most noticeable in the Latin dances. I don't know why Aljaz wasn't able to address it. It was said it was to do with her ballet training and had to relearn a looser more stable dance posture. Much of her dances she had Aljaz to hold on to.

Also she often tends to dance by numbers - remembering the dance routine - rather than performing the dance routine. This also tends to be where Jay falls down as well.

Also given that she is an actress I found it surprising she wasn't able to really act the dance roles. She doesn't seem to be a "natural" - it seems her success is mainly due to tremendous effort and will power.

I'm sad to see her go when there are 3 much worse dancers left but still, as someone once said about the Americans, "no-one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the GBP" (paraphrased)
I hate the Paso though, if she was going to go then that was the dance.
It was also interesting to see that only Jay mentioned her in the interviews, the others were way too self obsessed.

She seems popular all of a sudden now she's gone. Bit like 'lizard man' Jim Morrison now she's been shown the doors.

Wrong song wrong dance and wrong opponent what shame a lovely lady and a lovely dancer, even if Georgia wins I feel Helens VW will be remembered more in years to come than any of Georgia's dances.

I hope she gets a career boost from this show and does well

As well as those that claim to be more intelligent than the riff-raff which some use as the alternative label to the GB Public.

Personally I think it's more of a shame to see Aljaz go.

But I'd much rather Katie, Kellie or Anita went.

Did you enjoy sticking the boot in when the girl is down. I agree with nothing you have said and consider your remarks to be very bad mannered

Lovely. Good to see when the professional dancers remember their fellow pros too in those comments.

Mostly I agree with Katie. It was crazy to see Helen go. It was a crazy bottom two (even if with a reality tv head on, you could predict it from the leadeboard and judges' comments).

Both Jamelia and Peter were robbed. Anita should have left years ago. Did you see that American Tango - if you look at her feet you see it was a clear 8 degrees out of alignment. But then the audience gave her a standing ovation and the biggest applause of the night. But then what do they know about angles. Riff raff the lot of them.