It appears you and I are not allowed to give our opinions which I find very strange without getting criticised.

He obviously has a LOT of support and good for him and his fans. If DS is a "bell weather" he could actually make the final!

Doesn't stop me giving my view though that he's "dancing" is terrible and the sooner he's out the better though!

Just seen an article and poll on Metro - he is scoring over 90% in the popularity stakes.

Ed and Katya may be unstoppable - sorry to those who think this is a travesty. I can remember a time when I used to get enraged by the joke or merde dancers, but I have since come to terms with Strictly being light entertainment and not a dance show and like may other FMs, the slebs that arrive and can dance very well from day one just bore me. Ed is bordering on being a national treasure.

BIB. Ain't that the truth! And I say that as one who couldn't bear him as a politician. I cheered when he lost at the G E. Now I see a totally different person, and I like what I see.

I totally agree with this. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching Eds journey.

If we don't have competitors like Ed, the thing could be over in the first week...just give the glitter ball to Danny and go home.

It's people like Ed who make the show fun...and this year, he is delivering in bucket loads!

I don't mind people having different views. I just have an issue when anyone implies a celeb is not trying. I think people are so used to seeing stage school celebs that they underestimate how much effort it is for the average person to even learn a routine and perform it, let alone acquire the underlying technique. In fact I would say Ed is above average as he has a good sense of rhythm.

(I'm not denigrating stage school celebs btw. I'd be very happy for Danny or Louise to win.)

The problem is that some people think it's a dancing competition. It clearly isn't.

If it was a dancing competition there would only be celebs who would appear to have the potential to be good dancers - slim, young, fit, used to performing - and bore the pants off the majority of Saturday night viewers. For the minority who can appreciate the finer points of dance, it wouldn't be on on a Saturday prime time slot - it would be at 9 or 10 pm on a weekday, and if you want a completely serious competitive dance programme you should be lobbying for one.

Saturday evening is for the whole family from young children who are fans of a particular celeb and include everyone of every shape, size, age and ability including something to entertain the dad dancers.

It's time people accepted that not everyone has the same taste as them and that some part of Strictly appeals to different people. That's why it gets the ratings it does.

Those who are entertained by Ed are just as entitled to enjoy what he does as are those who enjoy only seeing celebs like Louise.

I agree with all of this. I haven't voted for Ed and I won't be voting for Ed. But I think he is the perfect comedy contestant because not only is he funny, he is also genuinely learning to dance. He's doing routines with a lot of dance content and achieving good timing and a performance level, although technique is dire. In the time he's had and given he is a middle-aged man with no performing experience at all, this is commendable as well as funny.

As to how far he should get? It's all a fine line. I think the show benefits if he gets a good long run. But it would be jumping the shark and probably not good for the show in the long run were he actually to win.

Threads like these only urge me to vote for him even more . How dare some people criticize who others are spending their time or money to vote for

^^^ 100% agree.

Its a Sat night entertainment show and he's entertaining so hope he carries on the great work and stays in to the final

Strictly YouTube views this week to date:

Louise & Kevin - 26,415
Danny & Oti - 61,149
Claudia & AJ - 20,297
Ore & Joanne - 15,448
Rinder & Oksana - 15,385
Greg & Nat - 14,462
Daisy & Aljaz - 20,644

Ed & Katya...

227,626

Two hundred and twenty-seven thousand, six hundred and twenty-six.

Now tell me he has no place on a Saturday night TV entertainment show.

Yes, but to put things into context.... 227,548 of those views were mine.

Guilty.

Me too - with knobs on!

Can`t argue with that, the figures speak for themselves.

Me too, it was the second best thing on TV this weekend. (The bears in Planet Earth being the best.)

Even my brother who will occasionally watch but isn't really a fan was sitting anxiously awaiting Ed's dance.

And the rest were mine. I watched it several times last night along with the original PSY one and the prisoners, the soldiers, & there's even a brass band one! But out of all of them I enjoyed Ed's the most.

In total there are now around 400,000 views - I wonder if it will get to a million?

it would be interesting to know which dance has received the most views to date.

Similar to how JR smashed it week 1.......

and speaking of which I have just watched Ed back on youtube.....only because somebody else had commented that he "counts" whilst dancing - his mouth is actually going the entire time, bit like a goldfish!!

Now how come Craig has slagged JR for his "gurning" but not Ed for his goldfish impressions - and I think they have all in the past told celebs off for singing along to the song.....

nowt to it - am going to have to go through ALL of Ed's YT videos from week 1 to check this out and if it is so have a tiny strop to myself

The views are per IP address so watch it as many times as you like and the count won't go up. This the equivalent of households not devices, makes it even more impressive!

It was trending no 5 earlier but now dropped to 6 so something else big is happening too. Even so....sheer brilliance Go Ed and Katya!

If you want the judges and audience reaction, this one is better https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2zd_DzJdCg

The views are per IP address so watch it as many times as you like and the count won't go up. This the equivalent of households not devices, makes it even more impressive!

It was trending no 5 earlier but now dropped to 6 so something else big is happening too. Even so....sheer brilliance Go Ed and Katya!

If you want the judges and audience reaction, this one is better https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2zd_DzJdCg

By all accounts Ed works just as hard and puts the hours in training as much as the others do. Fair enough, he doesn't have youth, stamina, experience or much natural talent on his side but that doesn't stop him giving it his all.

I enjoy SCD for both the dance and entertainment value and like the diversity of celebs each year. Tbh if every celeb who entered was as talented as Danny Mac/Natalie G or as useless as Widdicombe/J Sergant I'd soon bore of the show.

Just my take on it

Like many others have said, I think of Strictly as an entertainment show first. It is hardly a level playing field in regards to previous experience, so personally I wouldn't judge it purely on who is the best technical dancer, otherwise we'd all be voting for the same three people every week, surely? I vote for who entertains and engages me the most, quite often that is a really good technical dancer too, but not always.

I also think Ed is not nearly as bad as the majority of the other series weakest dancers, he clearly tries, the dances have content and I think he is improving. I've voted for him every week so far because I find him entertaining and want to see what he does next. I've also voted for Greg, Daisy, Louise and Claudia because they have entertained and impressed me at one point or another and I didn't want them to go out that week. If I stop being entertained, I'll use my vote for someone else, I'm fickle like that .

How many "likes" though? Many of the views might be by people who want to laugh at Ed! Or cannot believe what they are seeing!