I love Tameka. Maybe my fav star this year. She makes me smile in a sometimes not too smiley a world

Last week she could hardly speak following her routine even when at Claudia and I think the wheels could really come off her Charleston if her lack of stamina kicks in mid-routine (as was shown in one training vid).

I then think 'oh she's so popular' the public vote would save her but in the lower echelons Naga, Lesley, Ed etc could well prove just as 'popular'. If she then misfires in any DO she could go home.

Does anyone get this or am I deluded?

Cue 20 smart ass yet very funny one word 'delude' replies he he

Forum thoughts...?

I think it depends how quickly her "personality" naffs off the non-soap watchers. This might take a couple of weeks.

I think everyone is assuming Ed will go, but I don't think he will. It's fsr more likely to be Melvin, Lesley or Naga I think. Would be very surprised if Tameka went tonight, she's not brilliant, but she's not rubbish either. Definitetly a middle of the roader.

I think she will be safe, there are at least two worse then her and even if she got in the dance off, - unlikely with five million EE fans, - I can see the judges voting for her and not the others.

I have always said the only change to SCD I would make would be in the first say four/ five weeks, have the top say four/ five dancers by judges marks, " safe" from the viewer vote. This way the public knows who is at risk. It will stop shock exits and keep better dancers in and edge it more to a dance rather than personality led competition.

I wouldn't think Tameka would be in trouble tonight, even if she does run out of steam towards the end of the routine. Isn't she in Coronation Street or East Enders? Whichever, she will have a fan base big enough to keep her in whatever she does. Plus, viewers generally like to see a tryer, which Tameka seems to be.

EE fanbase didn't help Kellie last year.

I'm not fond of her but she looks very competent in training. Sometimes these clips are misleading - she could have done the full routine multiple times before that was filmed.

Aren't the middle of the roaders usually the ones in the most trouble? They don't get the sympathy vote like the bottom lurkers (unpleasant ) and are presumed safe but their position on the leaderboard means they're not safe.

Yeah but while I really liked Kellie and thought she was a more worthy winner she was/is a more serious actress . In EE she tends toward serious storylines (rape etc) , while Tameka is a little firecracker of fun for the most part and is a complete nutter both in EE and in life .
I like nutters . Yes yes, I know, "takes one to know one etc" , but I can't be arsed with people who take things too seriously or use feminine or boyish wiles to trundle through the entire series dancing mediocre routines (or good routines in mediocre fashion) . Just give it some welly and have fun while doing your best and never mind tactics .

ETA . I think/hope Tameka will be fine tonight . She looked great in rehearsals , plenty off oomph .

I think she has a big enough persoanlity that she will be safe for a while even if her dancing is middle of the road. The likes of Naga and Melvin will be at risk of leaving imo

I'd be amazed if she found herself in trouble tonight

I'd be amazeder!

Ermm...she got to the final

In my case that took the launch show, I'm already FF'ing any time she speaks.
BUT I'm happy to watch her dancing for as long as she's there, doubtful she'll go tonight unless she's in the DO with one of the top few dancers IMO.

Difficult to say, no one knows who is popular or not at the moment.

Melvin may have an army of KISS FM groupies voting for him. The only one who I think I could say is popular at the moment is Judge Rinder, just from the response of the first dance. So if he is in trouble I think he will be saved.

Getting to final and then runner up - how is that not having a fan base.

The final does not "count" due to the fact that the X-Factor has finished so all the tweenies vote in the Strictly final - but have no idea what has happened before - so it is all stereotypes.

Last year's final
First out - Katie Derham - presents classical music on Radio and TV.
No 14 year old girl has ever seen anything she has been in

Kellie Bright - "she's this really old lady in Eastenders"

Georgia May Foote - "she was Katy in Corrie OMG I SO wanna be like her"

Jay McGuinness - "OMG he is SO hot - he is amazing"

The tween vote decides the final - the regulat Strictly vote decides who gets there

Until they start counting all votes cast in previous weeks towards the final vote - it will be the X-Factor viewers who decide who wins.

Um, the fact that she fell into the dance-off twice, once from a position of relative safety, and there's no evidence that her public vote was ever particularly strong? (She was also really unpopular on here.)

Only with the judges help and if Tameka is put in the same position, the judges might not save.

Hi Heather. All good fun, time will tell. She will either blow the routine and be in trouble or more or less polish it off without much ado in which case she won't be in trouble.

However in no way did she look great in rehearsals, at one point completely losing the thread. But rehearsal clips can be notoriously misleading, so let's see.

And Kellie had one disadvantage less.

Though I do think that Tameka will be fine in the Charleston, but probably not as well as Kellie due to her build.

Think that Tameka will be (a bit) less divisive then Kellie, who had Kevin as her partner (and not a smouldering and quiet Latino).

OK, granted "looked great" is not very accurate , but I mean she was giving it some welly , trying to get the moves down and going for it full pelt . I suspect the first few days in rehearsal are a matter of getting the basics right and slotting it all together will come later in the week . Hopefully stringing it all together should polish it off if she can keep on track . Anyway I'm really looking forward to her performance and I know she'll go for it 100%. No relying on her womanly charms or her mod-el figure .She's not afraid to pull the necessary faces or do ridiculous stuff that's out of her comfort zone and that counts for a lot in Charleston .

I had no idea who she was before the show and my goodness she irritates me. Also the Charlseton is one of my least favourite dances so I'm not really looking forward to it.

It is just about conceivable that there would be a 'Charleston-off' in the bottom 2 if it were to be Ed v Tameka. Which frankly would be very very entertaining. And I think Tameka would edge it over Ed.

In a Tameka v Naga bottom two, I think the judges would save Tameka if the dances were very close in standard, not least because Gorka, as a new pro, may well be given a chance to try again the following week.

She can't be, I haven't seen enough of that masculine dance partner of hers yet.

Tameka is probably safe for two weeks at least. She isn't just a token large size lady. She can dance and she has the sort of personality that usually gets votes in the early weeks (but can't sustain a whole series).