I would like to have seen Aliona with a Michael Vaughan type, a journeyman. She either had contenders or complete no hopers. Not really her fault of course.

You can't rewrite history. If you had Jay this year, you wouldn't have his partnership with Aliona, so the concept is not one that can actually exist. So many other things would also be different.
Jay won. Anyone unhappy with that can't change that - except in their imagination.

If Jay was paired with Aliona this year, he might win - I don't see any reason why not.

Jay has natural abilities for dancing. That's not an unfair advantage - he was born that way.

Also he had some training, that helps as well. No slight on him as that happens every year.

The fact that this is hypothetical is not lost on anyone. And though that is the nature of this poll, the supposition you detail above is a correct one (ie IF he was partnered with Aliona this year).


BIB, surely, by your reasoning, Aliona made very little difference to his win due to the fact that he had "natural abilities". Therefore, he would likely have won this year in Aliona's absence, being born the way he was an' all?

And no wonder last year was wrapped up so quickly. Being born that way meant it was in the stars that one day he would win a popular dance competition hands down!


This is an excellent point Chris. We never truly saw her with a 'middler' or journeyman...

I think just a lot of things clicked in week 3. He had the dance experience and natural dance ability to be good, but with him showing his nerves in the first few weeks he got a lot of people backing him, willing him to do well so that when he did the jive, he didn't lose support as many do when they produce a very good dance, as he still had that vibe of being an underdog because people felt he wasn't confident enough. So I think a combined feeling of wanting/willing him to win, liking his personality combined with the jive (not just because it was a great dance, but I think a lot of people enjoyed the 'break-through' of him overcoming his nerves as they saw it) made him a peoples favourite. And being so invested from then on in, with him and his partnership with Aliona they loved every dance from that week onwards and were going to back him from that week onwards too, regardless if he danced the best or not, I think. He was a a very good male dancer (I wouldn't agree he was the best overall dancer on SCD that year, but thats just a matter of opinion) but of course I didn't get the 'magic' bit myself - not to say they didn't have it of course (as the majority people seemed to think he did).

Yes - he had, and there have seemingly been many with similar amounts of training - including this year.

Not so. Natural ability just means that the teacher has more potential to work with. The student still has to be taught and the better the teacher and choreographer he has, then he should become a better dancer - in proportion. There are other factors, such as the 'chemistry' the couple can generate on the dance floor.

That's why I voted for Jay to have taken part this year

I am glad Jay was in 2015 because I would have to choose between him an. I think Anita would have won last year if it wasnt for Jay.

Chuffed that scd got Jay in last year instead of this year simply because I don't think Aliona would have sticked around another extra year. She is the reason why I watch strictly so her being paired with a guy who looked so nervous during the launch show made me feel excited for the journey ahead and for their supporters it was quite a journey.

Same! However despite starting last year as an Aliona fan I definitely became a fan of Jay too, which didn't happen with Harry and Matt, although I liked them both well enough. I've always loved her "whacky choreography" but Jay really was her perfect partner.

For me it was one of those random things where the partnership clicks. If Aliona was still here and paired with Will, Danny or Ore I would of course support them, but I doubt they'd capture me as a partnership the way J&A did.

I'd like to see jay every year!

I'm the opposite. I prefer to move on to this year's celebs. Jay's had his moment. Time for another journey.

Same here Cat09 - for a lot of reasons I am glad that Jay was in last years line-up - the wonderful dance partnership and friendship he had with Aliona last year provided me with great distraction to other things at that time.
It felt like magic and for me it wasn't the JIVE but the Waltz on Week 2 is when they captured my heart

if neiter was an option then I would've gone that but I went 2015

Agree for me Jay made a difference to strictly due to his personality he was endearing something I haven't seen in past strictly contestants, they were either loud and in your face or just hard to connect with. Aliona I feel made a difference to strictly as whole, her choreography and teaching was genius and refreshing something that I thought the show lacked, Artem was also a pro who I liked but not loved lol his choreo was different and actually impersonated what the dances should look like. Aliona produced for me the most memorable routines from Matt bakers samba, Harry's vw, AT to their perfect quickstep now she's done it again very recently with Jay providing us viewers with their magical routines.

Harry's VW is amazing still one of my all time faves, and I'm a fully paid up member of the Hoo Noo Yawk American Smooth being BRILLIANT!!

I think the Chunky Monkey would struggle in this years line up.

Surely if you are born with the natural ability to dance you'd have tried that before your 25th year?

When he first started dancing he wasn't the fittest however dancing and getting through each week plus the challenging choreography helped him become a little more fit. Yep that's what weeks of vigerous dancing can do to a person.

You should have insisted that the option was added. I'd vote that way too. It was extremely distressing the way that one good dance in Week 2 gave him carte blanche for the rest of the competition, the way it's always distressing to see people hypnotised and having taken leave of their senses! Gives me the shivers just talking about it now!

Well he did he want to this place http://maddcollege.co.uk/home/

Look who the dance patron is. But I doubt he did Latin or Ballroom there. If he had he wouldn't have been on the show.

If he was in this years I don't think we would've won. He was good but there's better dancers this year

I concur and therefore I politely didn't opt for either year .

I'm indifferent to Jay. I neither like or dislike him, which means he did not wow me last year for better or worse.