But theres a difference, Ed can dance. His large frame makes him look abit awkward and comical but he CAN dance and is doing much better than I thought he would.

As Greg for instance??

Greg out danced Ed 100%

Sad sad sad

No, no, apparently the point of Strictly is for the pro to find out that you're not a natural dancer and decide "well, I'd better start thinking of comedy routines". It's not about actually teaching them to dance without the comedy crutch.



(Yes, you're damned right I'm bitter. Greg was my j-word contestant this year, and they always seem to get axed before the year's court jester.)

Don't get me wrong, not once have I voted for Ed, but I don't think he deserves the stick he gets.

Greg was my absolute favourite. Adore him. Voted for him every week. Have met him a couple of times at athletic meetings and found him to be a really nice bloke staying behind for ages afterwards to sign autographs and offer advice to youngsters with an interest in athletics. Gutted he left.

Totally agree

Ed is great but Danny & Oti have made this series for me as they deliver brilliant performances and have a brilliant partnership. And are fastly becoming my favourite ever strictly partnership.

Laugh yes, and admire.

I generally find duffers reach their peak around about Week 7, but Ed is improving, whereas I'm not sure Danny/Louise/Ore/Claudia are, so tbf at this point I'd rather lose any of them over him.

You only have to look at the amount of views each week on YouTube to see just how many people are thinking about him each week

There has been more talk about Ed Balls at work than anything else on telly this weekend.

Agreed

Not Danny and possibly not Ore but Louise definately and if Claudia doesn't produce anything better than that jive I'd second her too (although it looked better from the clip they showed on the Sunday show than I remember it at the time).

I got a facebook request "Ed Balls invited you to like his page"

https://www.facebook.com/edballs/?fref=ts

And it is a verified page as well, so why would they send it to me?

Anyone else had it? I wondered if it is because of how many times we write his name on here!

Ed and Katya are great. The show for me is not about who is brilliant from week one, but who improves against the odds.

If the dancing was being scored in terms of the producers and judges scoring according to realistic scoring, fair enough - but that isn't happening. What's being pushed is show dancing. If we can't have scoring that really, reflects dancing standards and rules,, it seems reasonable to vote for entertainment value. I haven't voted for Danny but he's clearly in a different league to the others in terms of show dancing ability, so much so that they've occasionally had to underscore him. If we're voting in terms of best show dancer then the others are clearly, not as good.
He's very good indeed at it and not his fault that he was asked to be in the show.
What's more entertaining - dances that are mostly show dances claimed to be top class Latin or ballroom but aren't or dances that are great fun to watch ? That's up to the individual of course. I voted for Ed. Can't vote in terms of ballroom and Latin excellence because the producers have put those on the back burner, in favour of - entertainment.

If Ed wins, which he won't, the producers might need to think about the drift towards show dances. If one year, the best few at that aren't attractive or known, or have bags of personality, it could be as dull as heck to watch unless one is a big fan of watching dancing done in musicals,no matter how excellent someone is at that style of dancing. A bunch if them, could be mind bogglingly boring.
Last edited by Stockingfiller : 22-11-2016 at 01:27

I've managed to tune him out now. I go to the toilet or something when he comes on. I actually wish he hadn't been on this series so we could've had someone else in his place. Lots of people enjoy him though so I just avoid him and watch the others.

My main worry is that as he's been so popular this year, they'll try and find someone else like him for next year.

Eh, they find someone like him, or worse, every year. That's never going to change.

Yes and no, the comedy contestants don't normally get as much attention as he does. This is the most attention a comedy contestant has had since Ann Widdecombe. I guess the fact that the comedy contestants in the intervening years haven't had as much attention means I shouldn't worry about next year, and normal service will be resumed with the comedy one lasting only a few weeks.

Brilliant! My husband would be the one saying "whatever" as well!

I wouldn't say that Ed has made the series for me but he has been entertaining. There's no doubt that he has been improving a little each week. In my opinion, Katya ( and Neil most probably) has chosen the comedy/entertainment route in order to keep the publics interest. Had they tried to show Ed as a serious dancer, I'm sure he would have gone out long ago. I haven't minded him still in the show up until now but it would be a great shame if the public choose him over celebs that can dance. However that is the nature of the show of course, if he continues to get enough votes, he will stay.

Love him or loathe him Ed Balls has made this series?

I don't love him or loathe him, but I do find his comedy routine wore off for me after about the third week, I just use the FF on him now. Imo we can expect three or four comedy acts next year...Ed definitely don't entertain me.

Yes. There always has to be that one contestant whose dance announces the need to go and put the kettle on. I certainly don't want clones of him on future shows.

He has improved a lot and is trying his best, but hes in amongst a couple of great dancers there and out of his league completely, Ed like some others should be on a show of their own for Absolute Beginners, it would give them a much better chance of winning and be much fairer. Its like the Ice skating tv show that I loved, it wasnt fair that an Ice hockey player could go on and win or someone who had ice skating experience, to someone whos never stood on ice, it takes weeks and months to get confidence on ice, I skated for four years and know how difficult it was finding confidence on the ice..

Danny has made the series for me, and Gorka! Certainly not Ed.

Each week cant wait to see what Danny comes out with, fantastic dancer and looks the part. Ed is very likeable and hes done himself a ton of good in peoples eyes but no winner, these other dancers who have been put out must be wondering why, after the hours they put into training.