Danny's brilliant and seems really nice so if he did win, I wouldn't be unhappy for him. I hope he at least makes the final, and truthfully, unless he ends up in the DO with Louise or Claudia, I think it's a safe bet that he will be in the final. I want the final to be between him, Claudia and Ore, but I think it might be him against the two women instead.

I think Danny's been pretty low-key as a ringer tbh...he had the big mess up which made him more endearing I think (especially as it would probably have been a 40 if it had been danced clean) and Ore's back to back excellent dances kinda shielded Danny a bit early on so I think it seems like he's had more of an improvement than he's maybe had.

People thought Ricky Whittle was the obvious winner, but he didn't win it.

Danny does get some criticism, but maybe he gets less just because people like him more (as separate to the dancing), whereas the likes of Denise, Natalie Gumede, Kelly Brooke and even Lisa Snowden didn't just get comments on their dance experience, but comments on their characters/personalities (as separate to the dancing). People saying, 'I've heard she's not nice'...etc, so with them it was about dance but also plenty of other times nothing to do with it at all.

No one good looking on this show is going to get more votes or have more chance of winning just because they're good looking or better looking that their competitors. The Strictly audience (if we're presuming most voters are straight women as we're always told are the biggest target audience of the show), aren't all going to fancy the same types of people anyway, so just because the media put someone as the main stud of the year, doesn't mean the entire straight/bi female audience (or gay/bi male one for that matter) are going to share the same likeness for someone just because the media says so. Look at the previous male winners, have they all been stunning males?
None of my female friends (or gay/bi male friends) fancy Danny, so any of our compliments to him are just for his dancing. And if it was about fancying contestants, then the number of female winners should be much lower (again if going on target audience and other media views of why people vote for certain people). If it was just about who I fancy or who was the best dancer each series then most of my winners would be female, but I don't vote normally anyway, so I don't influence any trend of the voting outcomes each series.

There is an array of reason why contestants go far in the show or even win it, and looks or even being at a great starting dance ability don't secure that or make it more possible.

I wouldn't say it's obvious at all, particularly not in comparison to recent years. With Jay last year, he very clearly had a huge swell of support, and a very active fanbase, he topped pretty much every 'best dance of the week' poll, routinely had the most watched dance on youtube etc. and that investment translated to votes too.
With Danny I think his support is certainly growing, and it's clear he garners a lot of admiration for each of his dances, but based on social media/this forum, that admiration doesn't always translate to people actually voting for him, because their support is split elsewhere.

In terms of the contestants who ARE inspiring votes JR/Ed and Greg seem to be the ones with the biggest fanbases, having frequently been in the 'danger zone' and swept past it. Equally I think Claudia looks to be a bit of a dark horse, having had her vote tested a couple of times and survived- albeit slightly earlier in the competition, and she's clipping at the heels of Danny/Louise in terms if ability.

We can't really know how popular Danny, alongside Louise are, because they haven't really been tested. They're both brilliant dancers, so are gaining support to a degree, but not necessarily huge 'fanbases' like we've seen with other bolted on winners. Seeing as the lower ranked dancers are routinely bypassing the dance-off, it wouldn't be utterly surprising if neither of them were doing super brilliantly in terms of public vote, and were actually being held up by the judges leaderboard ( a possibility, not a certainty!)

If the 'weaker' contestants hit the bottom 2 and are eliminated, then the game is on, as I could see either Danny/Louise (plus Claudia) as a 'second favourite' for a lot of people. However, in terms of this particular thread, currently, I think it may be more accurate to say that it's 'clear' that Danny will make the final, but I don't think he's a clear winner by any means. It all comes down to public vote, and he's got to overcome the likes of Ed Balls/Judge Rinder- who additionally, has suddenly announced himself as a contender!

I would love Danny to win, but I really don't think it's a forgone conclusion, like you're claiming.

People kept saying similar things about Pixie Lott, and see what happened to her a few years ago. The judges made a surprising decision to save the other person in the dance off, can't remember who. They were a worse dancer, but the judges went with them any way.

Sometimes it seems like the judges want to have their input to mean more, so make some strange decisions... Saving PA a couple of years back.

It's usually the best dancer that wins. And I think it's clear that statistically, that's Danny. I don't know why people think the others have a good chance of winning.

And not only that, he's also got a lot of Jay fans supporting him. And with Jay winning last year, that can only be a massive boost in his favour.

I think he probably will win, but I don't think it's like last year. I'm fine with it if he does - we all like to see good dances so we need a few ringers. They deserve to win if they put in the work and produce amazing dances that reflect previous experience plus a week of really hard training. I don't think Danny tries any less hard than Greg, for example, and has to put some real effort in to give his excellent performances. I know it's not as emotionally satisfying as the non-dancer progression, but it's only a problem if you think the ringers are doing a couple of hour's low key work then effortlessly churning out a great routine while others are sweating to produce less. He's being held to a higher standard than others and getting real critique - so if he wins, fair enough.

I expect him to be the ultimate winner, but I think he's being given a good run for his money in terms of popularity and enjoyment of performance. (Not really in terms of standard of dancing - the scores may not reflect this but it's hard not to see that he's by far the best ever week really). He may be popular, and people are clearly enjoying his dances, but I don't think he has the overwhelming support and love felt for Jay last year as he seems less vulnerable, and is very polished all round, so he's more open to a sneaky late run from Cloudia in particular, I feel, if she opens up and we see more of her personality. We do love our Olympians and she's a good egg - but probably not charismatic enough to win ultimately. Maybe.

I think there are three on a par who could easily win it - Danny, Ore and Louise - with perhaps even Judge Rinder as an outside bet. I don't think it's a foregone conclusion at all.

I think you're right. But it will be an empty victory, he is no better than he was week one, whereas others have made huge improvement, especially these last couple of weeks. Such a boring walkover!

Danny's biggest problem is that he has no journey at all and cliche or not people like to see that. Danny's good, he always has been good, that won't change. There's absolutely no surprise in him doing a good dance though, no anticipation and, for me, no joy.

I think he's very technically competent but he struggles to do a 'wow' routine from a performance point of view. That's partly because he's too competent. He's objectively very good but he never surprises you and he's quite clinical in his dancing.

I think it's easy to be impressed by him but hard to really get behind him because there's no journey to support.

It's not obvious to me

I think AJ & Laura, Kevin and Louise, Joanne and Ote and even Ed and Judgie if they get to the final could win. It's the popular vote that determines the winner not their previous dancing experience.

I don't think it's that clear cut this year...Louise, Claudia and even Ore could win, it's that close. There really are some excellent dancers this year. I change my mind by the week...it was Louise and Ore for me this week.

It is pretty obvious that Danny will win, he seems to be the one of the most popular contestants, and for some reason his dance experience doesn't matter because he is male. Ed and Greg are the only other two people I could see winning it.

Ore seems to be second most hated person on the planet rn behind Donald Trump, and is paired wIth a Clifton.
Louise is paired with a Clifton.
People probably forget Claudia.
Judge Rinder won't win probably because he is gay.
Daisy has already been in two DOs.

LOL!!!

I just knew Danny was gonna get at least two 10s after about 20 seconds of his performance.

Let's fact it, the judges have already picked their winner and are desperately trying to skew the results to please themselves. Sod the public vote.

Still rooting for Claudia or Greg to win. They've shown far more progression since week 1 compared to Danny, who without doubt has been consistent, but for me hasn't really excelled himself.

You could have stopped after that.

I'm not sure I quite agree with this, I think there have been many many many years where the best technical dancer has not won their season. Certainly not in Louis, Abbey or Carolines year. Jay is debatable but from where I sat, he certainly wasn't the strongest in his own final.

I think people are right, it takes more than just technical dancing ability but if I'm honest, I'd rather be a male celebrity dancing on this show than female. (And yes the winners are fairly evenly split, but that in and of itself doesn't mean that the show has perception equality, it just means some years they send in Patrick Robinson as the strongest male. In the same way that Alesha Dixon winning that one year doesn't mean that the voting can't be a little bit racist).

All of the above my own subjective opinion of course

Completely disagree as much as I would love him to be the winner, no way is it a forgone conclusion. If anything I would say Louise, Claudia and Judge Rinder are more likely to be the winner than Danny.

I can't see past a Danny win - As the other males drop out, the most likely destination for those votes is going to be Danny.

I find him boring. For an actor he puts no feeling into his dances.

I don't have a particular favourite this year. I've enjoyed a few of the performances and I certainly recognise that Danny is technically good and talented but .... well anyway he's not someone I love watching for some reason, but then again none of them are this year (for me anyway).

So because I'm not that into the show this year I I tend to catch up with the dances on youtube and going by the comments and up votes he's way more popular than any of the others with maybe Rinder a distant second.

So yep, I'd say that at the moment, he's a cert for the win.

It's the same as last year with Jay.

I'd recommend to any future celebs to get the training in early because the ringers (more likely young male ringers) will win.

It's pretty obvious the judges want Danny to win, especially after that mark for his AT.

I don't think it is a sure thing for Danny to win at all.

I think Danny, Louise, Ore and Claudia are all in with a very good chance and maybe Rinder.

I would be quite happy for any of them to win as I like them all. Before it started I was really hoping Greg would be good enough to make the final but I don't think he is. He is doing a good job for someone with no dance experience whatsoever and really trying but he is too far behind really.

As long as Ed doesn't win I will be happy

If you watch the dances from a technical point of view, Danny is not as great as clearly thought. He is far too dash-n-bash and, especially in the ballroom, lacks any finesse. Not that any of that will stop him winning if that's what viewers vote. Winning is as much to do with popularity as dancing.

However, win or not, I do think his dance ability will stand him in good stead career wise in musicals etc.

Funny how Danny is "technically perfect" but lacks depth. Whereas Greg isn't a technical dancer but is showing some extraordinary acting skills.

Greg should try a stint at acting as I reckon he would be brilliant at it. When he's not training for Tokyo 2020 that is.

It didn't go against Caroline. It doesn't seem to be going against Louise. it didn't go against Jill or Kara and I can't remember what Alesha had done before.

Not saying you necessarily OP, but people love this idea that the whole show is set against any woman ever winning, even though it's half and half men and women winners. That any man that won just won because people fancied them and never deserved it -- all the male winners are written off as no good or too trained. Women voters of course vote superficially for the handsome one, whereas the women who win are all slim and beautiful because, you know, purity of dance...