I'd have him vying for third with Harry. Harry was a far superior ballroom dancer, with Jay being clearly the better of the two out of hold.

Kara and Jill are still the top two IMO, with Kara probably being No.1.

I've forgotten most of them except in the final, when it matters. Mark Ramps, Jill halfpenny, Lewis Smith, and he should have won colin jackson, Jill was the only reason I started watching and in my eyes is the best.

Thanks for an interesting table.

Only 2 male winners actually headed their final leaderboard, and if I recall, 4 came 3rd when there were last 3 competing. I don't think its charisma or personality - Rachel and Emma have massive success and followings. The simple answer is its almost certainly just sex appeal - to a predominantly female electorate.

Jill is a bit difficult as the marking scale probably dithered then. She should be higher.Otherwise its about the right order for the winners. .

Tom probably beats Jay on any fair mark - as he could act - albeit it cheesily.

Zoe would be above Tom on this basis. . And Ali would be above Jay. Rachel would be second overall. That looks a far more accurate ranking of the best performers ,than those who happened to win for any reason. Fans of Gethin, Ricky, Matt B , or Austin might like to note where they would fall too.

May I suggest that, if you have the time, as I did last night, you rewatch some of his dances (I actually watched them all!)? I am a 50+ year old woman with a son the same as Jay, so I cannot be accused of being a boyband follower (Take That excluded). Without exception all his dances were beautiful to watch, especially if you admire elegance and charm, rather than "in your face" exuberance. For those who describe him as a "one trick pony" I hope you would be pleasantly surprised.

I think the top two are right though I would have liked their overall markings to be closer. Alesha and Kara had nice personalities, were good dancers but made errors and had nice rapports with their partners. I found both exciting to watch and enjoy re-watching their dances now. Harry Judd I've sort of forgotten. I can't believe that Abbey and Caroline rank so highly; an example of how the judges are more liberal with their scores in the later series over the early ones.

I'd say overall Jay is the best winner we've had, despite Craig basically saying he was Chris Hollins! Craig needs to remove his head from kellies ar@s pronto.

He will always be remembered for the jive, with none of his other dances in later weeks quite living up to it, but with a few coming close (tango and charleston).

Somewhat consistent dancer throughout the season. But a pity his performance in the Final wasn't up to par. Based on the final performances, he was outshone by Georgia and Kellie.

It depends a lot on how much weight you give to selling a performance which I would suggest was not Jay's strong point.

Obviously he 's considerably skilled but, for some reason, didn't manage to translate that into dominance as Natalie did for example.

Jay's high was very high but too inconsistent to the point of looking clumsy, a partial return to form before that godawful showdance, doesn't put him much higher than the Hollins/Gough/Clancy group in my hall of fame.

When Jamelia's air quotes is the iconic move of the series, it's got to go down as a pretty undistinguished vintage.

I loved Jay and thought he deserved to win (Georgia and Kellie would have done so too. )

I would say he is in my top 5 of winners.

My Top 5:

1. Alesha
2. Jill
3. Caroline
4. Jay
5. Abbey

Jay was and is a LOT better at dancing than Chris Hollins but I don't think Craig said that did he now?

Point of Order.

Can I just double check that the OP is saying annals?

If he meant the other spelling then Jay ranks behind Peter Andre and a few others I can think off but can't remember all the names.

He's easily the best male Latin dancer for me, and it's a shame he never did samba. Harry beats him in ballroom, though Jay's tango and waltz were both good.

I agree with all of this, his highest point being the jive from week three, even after his win on the red button the judges and others were still talking about that. It makes the decision not to do it even stranger, if he had of done it, he would have finished the series with the dance of the series, instead it was way back in week three and everyone talking about how he won it in week three.

On the night Kellie and Georgia out performed him, which I always think is a shame for the winners and especially from someone like Jay, who actually had the potential to be the best every week with his talents.

Even in the finals where the best dancers do not win the trophy, they still have one of the best numbers, like Tom with his showdance, Chris with his charleston, which were both the talk after the final. As Jay didn't have his best night in the final, the talk afterwards was still of his jive.

I don't think the score averages have any weighting at all given the judges used to think a 7 was a high score in the first few series' of the show.

He's probably the most trained winner, but the marks may still give an accurate impression of his relative ability.

Except that would suggest that contestants like Jill, Zoe, Colin, Rachel, Ricky, and even Tom and Alesha, were undermarked compared to what came since - as well as scoring higher averages on the marks they did get. . Jill I agree is undermarked.

I think the balance of marking has moved around, but am not sure if there's a trend, There's less emphasis now on technique unless your name is Anita, and bad acting has variously been penalised, ignored , seen when it wasn't there , or deemed succcessful - as with Chris Hollins and Louis . That also doesnt really impact the general picture - that the best dancers were seen some time ago, and most male winners were not the best on their marks - indeed it probably reinforces it.

Based on the current way the judges score yes lots of those earlier series' were undermarked if we're comparing like with like.
We're not really comparing like with like though either as some of the earlier series' didn't last as long, there weren't as many dances performed and in those days the couples actually danced the dance they were supposed to be doing in direct comparison to each other in the same week.
All of which I think made it not only easier for the judges' to score more realistically but for the public to be able to see any given dance style performed well or badly in the same show.

I don't think I've ever enjoyed watching another male 'celebrity' more.

I really looked forward to his dances each week. Apart from the Jive I particularly loved his Tango and Salsa ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and the Rhumba, Paso , Charleston and VW. In fact just about everything.

Who's Jay? I forgot already.

i think he was technically the best male ever but he just lacked a little bit of charisma needed to make him the whole package.

I didn't rate Jay as a champion, imo he had two outstanding dances, as did four or five of the other contenders. I think SCD is getting more of a personality show every year....

The best technical male dancer by some way in my opinion, which he should be with the amount of experience he has had in the dance studios - Great wafty arms, lovely spins and pointy feet. Aliona certainly played to his strengths in that respect.

Oddly though, and on the whole I was left a little underwhelmed by most of his routines.

Scurrilous as ever. Please don't change.

Me too. I'm obsessed