He did Britains got Talent about 2 years ago with Chloe - made it to the Semis I think.

They've shown us behind the scenes of Pros picking from three songs and they've also shown us how production have mixed/cut the song. You don't have to buy it, but I've seen it. We won't know what A.J's hand in the song was, maybe he didn't have any on that score.

As has been stated above, Matt and Aliona danced a Samba to the same song, plus the Pros danced a Samba to it in Blackpool and neither times were their issues of the song's speed in relation to fitting in the Samba dancing.

They "show" you a lot of stuff, "you may have seen it, but you don't have to buy it."

If it were a production decision and I don't believe it was, the way he was talking, if A.J. had any sense he'd have said to them that they shouldn't expect a teenager of 4' 8" with no previous dance experience to cope with a dance tempo 20% faster than of Matt Baker's.

She didn't.

Jesus, we're not living in Communist Russia, not everything they show is a lie. Plus plenty of Pros over the years have mentioned the song choice question, so what, they all lie over and over again.

A.J. may have sense, he may not, and I doubt he ever thinks of Matt Baker or any other previous celeb when choreographing for Claudia. He thinks of himself, what he can create and what he thinks she can do. Plenty of Pros have made errors with music and choreography in the past (and lived to improve, or repeated similar errors), Jesus give him a break.

I really don't know what you're getting so irate about.

I could have just as easily have said "Jesus we're not living in Communist Russia," because you implied, "it must be right because they told us."

As for the choice of music, with which I had no problem, just the tempo, we've never, ever, had a straight definitive answer over the choice of music, from anybody.

I suggested he got this dance wrong because he wanted to show how "good" he was..

You just didn't like it.

AJ is young, he doesn't have the maturity or experience. But he tries and maybe he thought he was doing it right. I personally think Claudia is good for him because she is more mature and used to performing in front of thousands of people. I hope AJ does well.

As it's AJ's first year as a pro I'll give him the benefit of the doubt (especially since Claudia's not in any danger of getting the boot). If next year he makes the same kinds of mistakes, then I'll begin to wonder whether he's the right choice for 'Strictly'.

Not in the true sense of the word he isn't!
He turned professional less than 2 months ago purely because he was offered Strictly.
He was an amateur, danced well but others did his choreography and he and Chloe were on the Open Circuit
There is absolutely no way that he would have turned pro if he hadn't been asked and other amateur dancers think it's a joke!
There will be trouble if he and Chloe try to revert back to amateurs after Strictly (which he could be entitled to do)
The whole thing is a farce, he is simply too young with zero experience of teaching or choreography.

I don't think he is playing to her strengths (and she has a lot). However it may be lack of experience and maturity rather than his ego. Hope he listens to the advice and takes it constructively because she deserves better.

I wonder if he's going to become another jared murillo

Incorrect.

As others have said, other pros have had errors in judgement or indeed not choreographed well. There was nothing wrong with the content, just the speed. As others have said we've seen Joanne go overboard on faffing about - lack of content, Kristina similarly blamed for that in her routines and who can forget Erin and the puppets in Series 2!

He is learning what works/ doesn't from the show as other Pros have done in the past.

Also this 'zero experience of teaching' I take it you have proof of this, given he comes from a family of dancers

eh? You mean someone who didn't choreograph content into his dances and have a pontentially good celeb go early? I doubt it, given the fact he has already been credited of pushing/ putting sh!tloads of content in there.

The speed/ music was the issue - not the content of the dance. Plus we've already seen AJ and Claudia outscore (by quite a way) Jared and Tina. So we already know the answer to that one

Agree, it is not the content that is the problem just being a bit too enthusiastic he needs to learn to just tone it down a bit and remember his partner although talented is a beginner

It can difficult for a new pro to pitch it right I remember in series four espeically with a celeb where you have to try and work out what they can or can't do - Ola got crit'ed for not giving Spoony enough to do in their first rountine and Vincent for putting too many steps into Louisa's samba even Karen Hardy got it in the next for making a foxtrot too difficult and it was her second year.

Maybe he thought she could cope with 'fast' as she's a gymnast.

And, from a viewers point of view, the faster it is the more impressive it appears to be (even if fast= more errors)

Yep agree, AJ is a bit like Vincent ten years ago, in that he is excited that he has a partner with potential but she is still a beginner. Better that though then going the other way and not pushing her enough.

For me they must doing something right because I've voted for them twice....week 3 and this week.

I think it's good that he is pushing her- but that dance was a step too far. All the other routines have been good from them I think.

It's a shame really, because I feel like these two really need to be making an impact in their Latin dances (this may be why he crammed so much content in, and made it ridiculously fast), because their ballroom is always going to look a little awkward due to the height difference.

Totally agree. AJ's had the opportunity of a life time and looks to be enjoying every second. He's enthusiastic and driven to make Claudia the best she can be. He may not always get it right for the reasons outlined above, but it's early days and I personally think that overall he's done brilliantly with her so far. It's nice to see that most people are willing to give him a chance.

To be honest, I think it's quite courageous of AJ to take on the responsibility. He himself is so young and still learning the ropes of teaching somebody to dance. He's obviously doing his best. I imagine he will soon realise that you cannot please all of the people all of the time. You will never please both Craig and Len with one performance and frankly this time he was told not to overstretch his partner - so he'll maybe cool it a bit - only for Darcy to tell him his girl is good, he should pressure her more. Can you win?
At some point I suspect the celebs and pros "listen" to the judges' comments but as it's impossible to do it ALL right, they no doubt just do their thing anyway. How can you, as a learner, remember
the steps
to hold the rhythm
to keep up with your partner
your posture..

and each time slight changes, or massive ones, bcs it's a new dance? I know I would never dare do what these celebs let themselves in for, so I admire their nerve.
I hope Aj stays.

He's a good dancer however the fact that he is a newbie I think he is dancing for himself really. Almost as a way of showing off to the British public that he is this new, young, cute, great dancer which is his priority and his partner Claudia is just a prop.

Don't get me wrong I like this kid, I think he's a good addition esp that it seems Anton and 1 or 2 other are not going anywhere anytime soon.

Yep, you're right. He wouldn't be the first to over estimate what his partner was capable of. She seemed overwhelmed even in the training footage this week and her little legs just couldn't keep up with AJ's long legs. He seemed to be taking really big steps, too 😬 . This week was a misjudgement, but overall, I think he's shown Claudia off really well. Hopefully he'll learn from it and move forward. Claudia's a competitor - I'm sure she knows how to put a poor performance behind her and get on with things.

When Claudia was announced, there were a lot of comments saying she had it in the bag before we'd seen her dance a step. Luckily for her, I think she's having a j*****y and improving a little each week (or most weeks ). Hoping to see these two in the final.

I did get the impression last night that he wanted it that fast, not that he was given it that fast in the first place. Just an impression, I most likely am wrong.

But the pros do get a say in how fast the music is, I remember Anton last year saying something along those lines and someone else, can't remember who, who wanted 8 bars in the middle of some dance changed in style to fit in with her choreography. But AJ is new to the show and finding his feet. And also not that young, he's only a couple of years younger than Aliaz when he started, wasnt he 23 when he joined Strictly??

It's not like AJ has had a disaster every week choreography wise either. I mean if this was his bad week, he's really not doing that badly.

He was on Britain's Got Talent with Chloe.