I've got 'I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper' stuck in my head now. How did Mark keep a straight face during the first part of the routine

Agree with you about her partnership with Thom, I remember questioning some of her choreography for him. I did like Iveta though, she was lovely with Zoe's Dad Johnny too and hilarious on ITT.

I had high hopes for Thom but found him a bit wet to be honest. Iveta is hilarious - she and Claudia were brilliant together. I'm delighted for her that she's expecting a baby but a bit sad that Strictly will be a no no - certainly for this year.

I changed my mind about Harry Judd. Thought he was an uninteresting boyband member, but his ballroom dancing turned out to be really good. Great posture.

I made a big mistake last year Ann. I tweeted Aliona and Harry and said that their quickstep at the Tower Ballroom was one of my favourite dances. Harry must have been having a VERY boring five minutes because he replied and said he'd loved it but had been very nervous. "Ah, how nice" I thought before I was then bombarded with follows and replies from McFly fans - eeek. That went on for weeks!

Lucky you!!!. I am a big fan. He is the whole package. Good looking and genuine. Ahhhh Harry ............

Brilliant! The second part a little scary

Ha ha! Love it! I loved his QS too. It really moved across the floor.

I know! I was amazed and touched then scared witless I hadn't realised quite how intensely some fans watch Twitter and Facebook accounts. I still get the odd (operative word) follow now!

Imagine if you had said something negative, you will be living in a bunker now.

Oh Dear Lord, I hadn't even thought about that!

In tribute to your tweet Lou. Thank you for reminding me just how amazing Harry and Aliona's Quickstep in the Tower Ballroom was, they fly!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvYeIphDidw

EDIT: Right link posted second time

Thanks for the link - quite breathtakingly good !

Does remind me how glad I am that Brucie finally retired.

Thanks Ochre. This is one of my all time favourite dances (and I absolutely adore Aliona's dress)

It's gorgeous and I love the look on Aliona's face as they finish the routine. Pure joy and pride in Harry

I know, just lovely. I will miss her

Someone else I changed my mind about what Holly Valance. I thought she was going to be an airhead (not that I am quick to make snap judgements) and I actually really loved her laid back attitude and her wicked sense of humour.

Like OP I was prepared to really dislike Chelsee but I was voting for them and their Shrek Jive is one of my all time favourites.

Judy Murray was another one I thought I'd dislike but I really warmed to her.

On the other hand - I really liked Iwan Thomas when I'd seen him on tv The One Show etc but I truly truly disliked him on Strictly

That jive was fantastic! I also like their Quickstep. Chelsee bought out a really nice side to Pasha as well I thought (I think he can be a bit of a grump at times).

Also really liked her Paso:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDFaUCdS0Z0

For me one of the best latin dancers the show has ever had. Still rewatch all of her latin dances (and the QS). Usually everybody has one bad latin dance, but she excelled imho in all of them (even the early CCC and Salsa which the judges said were too manic).

For instance, I was also a fan of Alesha but her samba en paso were very mediocre.


Speaking of Sophie, was never a fan of her in the past (we are about the same age, and she always came across as a bit cold and offcourse that infamous NMTB episode), but she did manage to come across well on the show.

My choice for her would be the Foxtrot, as it is a dance that can be very boring (from my other favouries over the years, only Rachel S. did an excellent one) but she did an good job in one of the earlier weeks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yKgabkdkcw

I was watching some of the behind the scenes VTs back and wished I hadn't seen Iwan describing the character he was channelling for his Week Two dance. Riccardo the sexy Cuban man Like you I thought he'd come across well when I'd seen him interviewed prior to Strictly but I was glad he left early if I'm honest.

Oooh I'll watch Sophie's Foxtrot when I get back in later, thank you

Thanks for that link, I loved their foxtrot. Sophie was so elegant. I know what you mean about how she could appear a bit cold but I think that is part of her nature which is fairly reserved - even when she is performing.

I know I'm probably alone in my opinion, but I always thought Rachel Stevens was just a manufactured girlband member (well I guess she was) and over rated in the looks department.

However, I thought she was breathtaking as a dancer and I was gutted when she didn't win. I was not a fan of Vincent before his pairing with her, but she changed my mind and I grew to love him.

I thought they were both gorgeous on the dance floor. Utterly FABULOUS.

I also loathed Tom Chambers so that didn't help when he won!

Am TOTALLY with you on this one. I thought Rachel was going to be dull as but her dancing was absolutely beautiful and hers and Vincent's rhumba was the only one I have ever fallen in love with. So much so that You Do Something To Me was one of our wedding songs

Rachel should have won that year IMO and I blame that ridiculous voting fiasco. Grrrrr etc. (Although in fairness Tom and Camilla's show dance was pretty good and memorable which few of them are).

To be fair to Tom, he'd won the series from the minute the judges voted to get rid of Austin. Everything that happened after that for the rest of the series and series 7 was a grumpy power struggle between the judges and the viewers/voters with the PtB trying to bridge the gap. There was no way either Lisa or Rachel were ever going to win - one or the other of them had been in the dance off every week for 5 weeks. One trip to the bottom 2 is get overable but so far not 2 or 3.

If anything is a poster child for ditching the dance off when it gets down to 4 or even 5 couples it's the bad feeling that surrounded the end of series 5 and the out and out war of the latter half of series 6. In Strictly terms there is little more frustrating than knowing it doesn't matter how much you vote, or even if your favourite is towards the top end of the public vote there is nothing you can do - mathematics and the judges are against you and they are going home.

Although it did give us the legacy of The Snowdance - and a world without Bacofoil would be a bit duller - so, swings/roundabouts.

I loved Rachel and Vincent too, but as aggs wrote, they were never going to win after multiple dance offs.

She was another celeb that suffered from the " no emotion/expression" myth from the judges, and the "dead eyes" comment from Arlene still shocks me.