I have loved every one of Danny and Oti's dances, I can't remember one of Claudia's.

He is by quite some distance the best dancer so I wouldn't mind if he won.

If Danny is going to win, why are so many people so unkind about Kevin and Louise?

The winner is chosen by the public, so I am ok with that. I only hope that they eliminate the semifinal DO and let the public choose the finalists, that would be fair.

Honestly I'd be happy for anyone but Danny to win at this point. I don't particularly like or dislike him but he's got too much of a head start on the others and its making a poor story for the show. There's just nothing to get behind with him. It's dull.

If he wins, fair play, he IS the best dancer but I would personally like to see one of the others get it.

Are they being unkind, or just voicing opinion that they think the judges and producers want Kevin to lift the glitter ball (which I actually think they do). I think KC is a great choreographer, but something about him annoys me.

People have been more unkind about Ed Balls. I have seen him called a fool, a moron, a gurning prat and worse. Or is that acceptable because he is the worst dancer in the show? Similarly things have been said about Rob Rinder, and Ore the Bore. Danny has been criticised for being too good from the beginning.

I think Claudia is the only one I haven't seen any flak about.

Criticism should be part of a discussion board, but without name calling which is playground juvenile nonsense.

The man is fabulous to watch, not another contestant compares to him, some are very good, most have tried their best , but god this man is good...

Think Kevin played the waltz pretty well last night, using Louise's habit of spotting the floor to enhance the themes intimacy. Unfortunately this means she never sells the dance to the audience.

Ore & Joanne did well with the Paso music, although I found the short sleeves on his outfit odd and he seemed to run out of steam at the end.

I suspect the judges deliberately undermarked Claudia to push voter support for her.

Yet Danny and Oti are still the most accomplished pair, mostly I suspect through hard work and practice. They put in the hours and the results are clear. If people do not want to reward innate talent and effort, then that is their choice. Danny along with Claudia will get my votes.

Is it such a bad thing if he wins? He's bloody brilliant. He embodies every dance. He is amazing to watch and his partnership with Oti is fantastic. Sometimes you wonder, who is the professional dancer?
All fun aside with Ed, when it comes to the final you really want the best dancer, in both technique and performance, to win. IMO he has it all and if he wins, it's down to the public vote after all, it would be a well deserved victory.

Your last paragraph is why I love Danny and Oti. While Danny has talent and previous training, him and Oti clearly work hard to produce good routines. Also Oti doesn't give Danny standard choreography which makes each of their dances so brilliant.

If this man doesnt win then there really is something wrong with the publics eyes, hes just amazing, Ive never seen any contestant dance like him, Give him a London show doing Gene Kelly as he can do anything.

If Danny keeps up the standard he should win the final easily. I am looking at my crystal ball and something is telling me one of his routines will be odd and the judges favourite Louise will win.

Yeah, I wrote on this thread about a week ago that future West End Star (or more likely performer) had this in the bag and it's become even more obvious now, and fair play to him, he's very very good so in a straight competition that's as it should be.

However Strictly is not a 'the best dancer on final night wins' type competition. It's a reality show fused with a dance competition where the viewers have had weeks to invest in their favourites who are often the ones they like regardless of pure dance talent. If it seems like there's too much an odds on clear favourite then they may decide that it's not worth the effort of backing them with shedloads of votes and other more casual viewers may decide that the show has lost it's element of suspense and lose interest. So I look forward to how the producers spin this in order to promote the perception that there are viable challengers to the crown. So I expect to see some minor loss of form from Danny ('not your best dance') and maybe a wow dance or two from a couple of the others. This will make the show look like it's more balanced.

Of course there's still time for a Scott Maslen style crashdown , but no, I think Danny will face a few (producer tweaked) obstacles but triumph deservedly if not quite so excitingly as others have in previous years, in the final.

The judges have absolutely no say about who wins the final. It's purely public vote.

Yes, I think that's the critical stumbling block for a number of people...

And yet she got (to my ears) the largest audience reaction last night for the second week in a row.

I'd prefer a Danny win, but I think Louise would be a perfectly acceptable winner as well. I also think to an extent the board is now developing a real blind spot with Louise where they think the things they care about are what the public care about as well. Louise's "looking at the floor" is Jay's "lack of facial expression" - if the public don't care, they don't care.

What works in the studio may not work through the TV. Perhaps this is the point Kevin misses with his routines.

Much will come down to the show dance I think. If Oti misjudged it and goes too contemporary and Kevin gets a big Fred and Ginger number as he did with Kellie, it is all up for grabs. BTW my pre series fave was Louise and I do think she is lovely, but she lacks Danny's wow for me. And he has improved since the early weeks and, despite the 10s, is never perfect.

He's sensational, easily the best dancer this show has ever seen and so fully deserves to win.

The only couple this year I've bothered to re watch their dances. Already had a few viewings of last nights samba - INCREDIBLE.

I dont think it's a slam dunk but I think they deserve it for their hard work, lack of gimmicks and talent.

There's no rule that says there has to be a massive "story" - if that's what you like, fair enough, but the fact that he started off pretty good and therefore had a higher starting point and couldn't make as vast an improvement does not disqualify him from winning. In fact, if you look back at the history of the show it puts him in a group with the vast majority of the other winners - Alesha never scored below 30, and I don't think Kara did either, for example. Yet no-one claims that it was wrong for them to win as a result.

It's not about the back story, it's about the performance on the dancefloor, and for me that's what he should be judged on, and that's where he's clearly made an improvement - he's a lot more than merely pretty good now, and that's down to his hard work and Oti's teaching, so as far as I'm concerned they'd be more than deserving winners.

Oh Danny deserves it - he's very good indeed and has a lot of flash and Oti's flash choreo.

And Louise is a creditable winner too, she's better at technique and a beautiful dancer, although much less showy.

And the ones that actually occasionally thrill me a bit - Ore and Claudia are both a bit hit and miss, and whoever it is that gets to the final will be third.

And that's that.

Danny will win though.

He's well on this way to be best man, but there are a couple of women better then him from previous years.

Yeah true, by the rules that's exactly who should win, but for many Strictly viewers and certainly many who post (or used to on here) it's about the stories, the drama and the pure entertainment of the show and contestants.

If it was a straight out dance competition then there'd be no need for training vids, 'funny' segments, ITT all the press. It would be a straight intro to the dance floor for every couple, judging then voting, perhaps a few technical explanations from dance experts and that's it. It's not though, it's a reality and entertainment show and unlike in dance competitions the personality and likability of the celebs and pros plays a large part of the process as well as their dance talents.

Indeed if it were just about dance talent then the starting playing field would have to be much fairer or many of the celebs would never get on the show in the first place.

Not even that the one where he solved the height differential by carrying her through half the dance? It was only yesterday.