Of course they couldn't. I've just been trying to point up the silliness of comparing dance newbies with ringers in terms of dance quality. Helen and Aljaz' gorgeous VW is gorgeous because Helen spent years in dance training when she was young (and because she has a dancer's physique), not because of the week spent with Aljaz learning this VW and the weeks spent performing it on tour.

I understand what you're trying to say, but it rather dismisses all the work Aljaž and Helen put in over four months. Helen has poise and elegance in abundance, and clearly that will have helped her in ballroom especially. Her dance background will have helped her too (and we saw how in the latin dances it may have hindered her), but you almost suggest she just needed a quick run through with Aljaž and ... Bob's your uncle. We've seen plenty of people with previous dance training, but very few of them have been able to produce a VW of that quality.

I think it helped her with that dance but not with others. Besides, I refer to my earlier point. There are some complete novices that have become some of better ballroom or Latin dancers in the show. Case in point Harry Judd even Mark Rampakrash (though I don't know that much about him).
I compare not Helen to Anita in just technical aspects, but overall. Yes Anita is better at performing but Helen is a better dancer so they should at least be awarded equal scores, not higher Anita.
You enjoy her dancing, am just saying even for a complete novice five months ago she isn't that good as others have shown much better improvement.

(Apologies if it sounds aggressive, it's not meant to be!)

I really think Georgia and Giovanni would win most of the tour dates, how wrong was i! But it seems once anyone sees Jay's Jive it's a done deal!

I think people put off voting for them since they keep flaunting their relationship around, it was nice at first but it's bit much!

Jay and Anita shared runner up/winner every night except the one Anita didn't compete in, when Frankie and Kevin were runners up, so it wasn't just Jay's jive that kept GGs from a win

I really doubt that the relationship stopped people voting for Georgia. I just think she was unlucky her dances didn't translate to the arena setting as well as others. The TV loved her charleston, but the big stage didn't. She was also first up and playing to a 'cold' crowd, so it was harder for her to make an impact.

a) I don't think Georgia and Giovanni's relationship had a flying ***& to do with the overall results (I like their relationship - I think it was probably inevitable, the only thing that was possibly ill-advised was the "these rumours are offensive" interview and I'm sure she'll be wiser in future).

b) The jive is performed minutes before the votes close. If you think that hundreds of people are waiting in the audience until the final performance finishes before voting then your thoughts on how the tour voting works are very different from mine.

I'm not sure why you thought Georgia and Giovanni would win most of the tour dates but I'd be interested to find out. I never thought they would although I did think the tour wins would be more evenly distributed than they turned out to be.

Looking at the last few years, a runner-up seems well positioned to win on tour (see Natalie and Simon) so I can see why Georgia might have been expected to do well... there could be many reasons why it didn't happen. Having seen the show, Georgia was very good but I felt she was overshadowed somewhat and I'm afraid I can't remember a single thing about her second dance. I found the likes of Helen, Jake and Frankie much more memorable.

Indeed, I agree.

Winners of the tour - position of the series:

Matt di Angelo - runner up
Rachel Stevens - runner up
Austin Healey - quarter / effectively semifinalist
Matt Baker - runner up
Harry Judd - winner
Louis smith - winner
Natalie Gumede - runner up
Simon webbe - runner up
Jay McGuiness - winner

Rachel Stevens who was a finalist as won the tour with a significant margin over the to series winner Tom Chambers as well as other series winners. She is the only female finalist to win the tour over a male winner.
Or the case of Matt Baker who won it with a significant % of wins against Kara, who is regarded as one of the most popular and technically good winners.

In fact the only winners of the tv series and of the tour are Harry Judd, Louis Smith and Jay McGuinness. The tv winners that did the tour following the tv show and didn't win their tour are: Tom Chambers, Chris Hollins, Kara Tointon, Abbey Clancy and Caroline Flack.

So that is four finalists that have won the tour against the tv series winners (Matt di Angelo won his but Alesha didn't do the tour ), so it's I suppose a strong argument to suspect that finalists could win the tour or a few shows at the very least.

Oh I know all the arguments and prior evidence for a runner up winning the tour, I just wondered whether they were the reason the poster above thought that Georgia and Giovanni would win most dates or whether there was anything else in their mind. I do like seeing the statistics in black and white though - thanks for that.

And I still don't think G and G's relationship had anything to do with their lack of wins as such and neither do I think the jive was a particular vote grabber given where it was placed in the programme.

personally I think Georgia and Giovannis dance choices were wrong

I wouldnt have picked their charleston (as good as it was) but it kinda fell flat with me as I had seen it so recently on the show

I would have probably gone with their paso and their samba or jive

personal choice

I knew you knew! But I think you know me by now. Lover of lists, averages and percentages!

I agree, dont think their relationship had any bearing on the lack of wins.


I agree Katt. Their charleston didn't work, their samba would have been better but I suppose with two salsas and another samba that would have been an overkill of party latins. The jive was a week 1 dance albeit a good one but also would pale in comparison with Jay's.

I will go against the popular opinion, but I don't think the dance type was well selected overall, except for Jay and Anita. There were three tangos, two salsas, and a similar samba, a VW, two VW AS... felt a bit samey.

I dont think the dances were well selected either - so many of the same dance and I felt for Jake doing a samba AND a salsa - there were soooooo samey!

I think G&G showdance from the final would have worked well

No problem, I love being able to share Strictly experiences on here as none of my friends or family IRL are into the show.

I wonder if people vote for one show stopping dance such as Simon 's Argentine tango, Jay 's jive or Anita's paso doble. Arguably Helen, Georgia and Caroline lacked that one defining dance.

I just think they vote who they like from the TV series and it's deserving as well, like a runner up that was very good (almost/equally/more than the winner).

IMHO Helens VW was stunning both on TV and on the tour, in fact aside from Jays rumba and jive her VW was the only dance that I truly loved on the tour all the others were ok but not great. The argument could be made though whether a VW is a show stopping but I suppose that depends on tastes.

Georgia's Charleston was showstopping and very very memorable on to. On the arena, going first and her being a tiny thing, not so much.

Caroline had a Charleston and her showdance as defining dances on the to series.

Also, Jake had an iconic and showstopping (and still the most watched dance from series 12 on YouTube) dance, his salsa and that hasn't help him win any shows (though in his defence touring a year later does not do any favours).

I also think that Jake and Frankie would both have done well last year, if circumstances had not prevented them from taking part. Remember Frankie got a second place on the night that Anita didn't compete.

Caroline wasn't dancing with Pasha ... I do think that makes a difference, especially as his replacement was Tristan who wasn't that well known to the (UK) Strictly audience then.

Wonder if the crowd goers also go outside bb studios too?

Haha! I doubt it. I reckon the average age was about 30 years older .

The night I went the audience was mostly families or elderly 70+ ladies. Hardly anyone in the 20s/30s age group.

I went on the Friday night to Wembley and there were loads who looked to be aged 20-40. Just very few men under 50.

I have no real theory on why GG didn't win any tours (despite probably coming 2nd on the show, but hey- we will never know *shakes fist) but what I can categorically say is that I quite forgot about them when telling a friend about the show a few days later. I counted off the couples on my fingers and struggled to recall who I'd missed. And this was despite being a fan of theirs on the telly and voting for them on several occasions. I totally disagreed with posters on here at the time who found them "unmemorable", and yet found myself of the same opinion after the live show.

Interesting, this mirrors me but for a different couple. I thought Jay and Aliona's dancing was magical and mesmerising on TV but felt like they were a damp squib on the tour show.

Given that Jay& Aliona won the series I'm not surprised they won most of the tour shows

Came 2nd?????

Yeah- based on nothing better than K&K's lack of popularity here on the DS polls (they regularly came towards the bottom of the "Who's your favourite couple" weekly polls). Personally, I quite liked them.

Who knows what the wider public thought of them. All we know is that K&K and G&G were both in Dance Offs prior to the final. Anything else is pure speculation or based on the small sample of the people you know IRL. Not exactly statistically viable.