Gutted she was in the DO
Gutted she was in the DO with Georgia
Gutted she's gone

In defence of Helen I will say she had the most complex, unmusical choreography to perform, she had to perform it all in high stilettos (forcing her body weight forward - which contributed to her instability) and she had a puffed out dual layered skirt to contend with.

Basically she probably drew the short straw in "musical week". I am going to say musical week threw in a random element into the mix and maybe was inappropriate for a quarter-final. So yes it was a shame for Helen to go out as she did in this week.

I am not sorry to see her go sorry ; She was my least favorite left. I never looked forward to her dances...in fact I cant remember ANY of them except her VW and Paso (because I had to see it twice ).

I just couldn't warm up to her

She seems lovely and I love her camaraderie with the rest of the cast . I wish her the best .

MinaH, the American Tango is a queer beast indeed. We were all watching Anita do an Argentine Tango.

You conveniently forget that she lost a lot of rehearsal time this week while Gleb was getting over this allergic reaction of his. She did what any professional performer would do and projected the spirit of the dance with all her might - even though she had not had time to rectify the footwork. She needed one more day in training.

Many people, including some from that odd societal pot-pourri called the Greater British Voting Public, feel that Strictly is as much about entertainment as about dancing - and Anita entertained. At least to the Studio Audience, who went bananas. Oh sorry, I forgot. The studio audience are "riff raff", apparently, so they obviously don't count. Neither do people who sit on sofas to watch Strictly, nor people who are eating nibbles while watching Strictly - hopelessly riff-raffy, that. They should so totally not have voted.

Just caught up on the show and very sorry to see Helen go - she was my favourite dancer, not always perfect in her technique but very compelling to watch, felt she totally committed to every dance she did which was very generous of her. Produced the only truly breathtaking dance of the series so far in her VW and I'm sorry we won't get to see her in the semi/finals.

I don't think she deserved to go, but equally at this point it gets harder to predict / judge. I would have saved her on overall merit, but can see that Georgia was better on the night, and arguably better overall, just didn't have the wow factor for me.

Think Anita is now my favourite, mainly for having to put up with gleb, and anyway I like her cute turned in bambi feet.

But you are not her teacher nor ever have been, nor ever will be, so to list a whole load of things you consider wrong with her dancing, when the thread was to say sorry she has gone is rude and lacking in manners, and to everyone else saying they are glad she has gone, she was cold etc, it's still bad manners in this particular thread.

I suppose whoever some people just enjoy kicking people when they are down.

As for the ballet stick, such a load of twaddle always was, her stiff back was the problem always was and that has diddly squat to do with ballet.

In my opinion, the reason why Helen did not get higher marks from the judges is because she did not project her character strongly enough in the Latin dances, (whereas Anita can and does). I think they did not put her through in the dance-off because Georgia manages to meld into the scene on stage more and become part of the performance, while Helen is a different kind of actress. In the scene from Les Misérables, Helen did not meld. It just wasn't her dance. If done in an earlier week, she would have gone through.

I adore Helen, this was not her week to go, but sadly this is the stage of Strictly where it does get down to being a popularity contest.

I agree with Primer's post.

Don't be surprised if Katie Derham is pushed into the Final. Just saying.

So sorry to see Helen go I loved her dancing,I was expecting to see her in the final ,thought the judges were over harsh with her and Len has been quite nasty in the past,but it does all seem to be about Anton and Katie who is overrated and for some reason doesn't have to do Latin?Mind you Anton is rubbish at that and judges gush when they're on,they don't deserve to be there,but they are

Really gutted to see Helen go. I always looked forward to her dances and she was my favourite, along with Georgia and Jay. I wanted to see her in the final. She seems like such a lovely woman, and I wish her all the best for the future.

I must admit I will miss Helen.

I never really got her throughout so based on that, I'm not that sorry to see her go. I will miss Aljaz though.

I think, for me, what was so strange to see with Heken was that for an actress she very rarely seemed comfortable playing a character in the dance. Even last night it all felt very forced.

I thought she was much better in the dance off though and if I were solely basing it on that, I probably would've saved her. But I've loved a lot of GG's dances, so I'm glad they saved them.

I have always though Helen is a terrific dancer and Aljaz was the perfect partner for her. Georgia is also very good & the judges had an awful job. In my opinion both deserved their place in the final. Sadly at least one if not two others that are clearly not of the same standard, will be their instead.

I think when it's a dancer's natural time to go, they know it and expect it, and it might hurt, but probably it doesn't hurt as much. You hear that phrase a lot. It was my time to go. Leaving ahead of their natural time is more upsetting both for the contestant and for the audience. Not because of judges or public votes or any of that stuff, I feel. It's more the sense of wasted opportunity and of not being prepared for it to end.

They're not daft. It's only TV and not a whole new career for them but on the other hand SCD takes a genuine toll on them -- all the training, the aches, the hours, mental tiredness, physical tiredness, emotional ups and downs, the intimacy of this new relationship they have to make work for long hours and all week. I'm not surprised or offended that they get upset.

To read this forum, well, parts of it, you'd have expected Helen to break down utterly and Georgia to dissolve into tears. Full credit to both women. They were absolutely strong and generous to the occasion despite the emotional nature of it. Kind of impressive

Completely agree, I've voted for all (in the DS polls, I don't vote as I watch the show on catchup) of them as my favourite on at least one occasion bar Kellie & Kevin, who I've had in second place a couple of times, so it was a difficult choice.
Of the two in the DO though, I think the result was fair and Helen was utterly gracious in her exit from the show.

I don't understand why, but people were against Helen. I found her fascinating and gorgeous

Well people obviously didnt vote for her. But she should still be in.
I think Katie and Anton should be out now. She was better than the judges comments IMO and I have always supported her. Anton let her down with the choreography in the Cha Cha Cha but she is out classed now. Anton had to drag her round the floor but the pace was very fast for a foxtrot anyway.
I just hope another good dancer doesnt get shooed out now.

Anita has always been my favourite. To say she has never danced before, she is amazing. Also to put up with the very demanding Gleb.

I have loved some of Helen's dances. Her VW was sublime and I will watch it again and again. But others weren't so good. I didn't enjoy watching her in the latin dances at all.

So while it's sad she has gone (I'd have liked all of the last 6 to go to the final ) it's not a complete shock.

I was really sorry to see her go. But as soon as I heard she was up against Georgia I knew she'd had it.

It's unfair, as she definitely deserved to be in the final. She's a much better dancer than Katie, Kellie or even Anita. There were some nasty rumours spread about her in the early days, saying she was a snooty diva. They were strongly denied by the other celebs and Jeremy Vine even wrote in the Radio Times that it was rubbish and she was actually the shyest of all the female celebs. But I think it put some of the public off her and stopped them voting for her. It didn't matter most weeks, but this week she was relying on the public vote. Nasty stuff by whoever started that rumour.

By the way, Len's comment that 'it wasn't the judges that put you here, it was the public' didn't make any sense. The judges had her second last this week.

Sorry, it was Craig's comment not Len's.

Agree, so was so so good, I voted for her, she had the highest overall points so far, but the public didn't vote for her, a shame, she was so good.

It does make sense - first of all, on Craig's marking she wasn't bottom 2. Secondly, he was referring to more people voting for Anita and Katie than Helen.

I think it's such a shame she's out - I was looking forward to an Aljaz ballroom showdance (I presume they would have done one) and a reprise of their stunning VW

As a general rule I want the best dancers to make the final, and that won't happen now, but Georgia did deserve to go through and hopefully she and Jay will fly the flag for the best dancers now!

Thanks for that.
I thought it was a bit weird that they only included one tribute to her. Obviously they never include all the comments the couples make, but they usually include at least two mournful comments (whether genuine or not). It didn't really do justice to how close she obviously was the others, but I suppose production felt hyping up the semi-final was more important.

Interesting there was such a feeling that she should have stayed in - notably from Gleb(!)
I can only agree.

Yeah Gleb's comment surprised me - he seemed most unhappy that she had gone, not bad for someone so self-obsessed eh! Part of me wonders if he'd rather Anita had gone as I do get the feeling he is a bit sick of her, yet at other times he seems desperate to go through... really not sure what to make of him.