I voted for Abbey that year... coz after that she survived the dance-off she really improved so much... just like Claudia this year.

A few years ago, Natalie Gumede was the runaway favourite from very early on, "a fantastic dancer", someone who was plagued by claims that she had plenty of prior dance training.

She failed to win the Glitter Ball, with Abbey Clancy taking the title.


So obvious favourites don't always succeed.

There are parallels here

I find all the remaining 4 are good dancers, but lack any spark. I really don't care who wins, and won't be voting any more. It has become a very boring series - and I have never felt like that in previous years.

I think it just you... attracting 11 -12 million of viewers is not boring

Natalie Gumede was never the favourite, far from it if anything for good part of the series Susanna Reid was favourite to win & Sophie Ellis-Bextor was the forum's favourite.

Social media and this forum was on Nat's back from the start because of her previous dance training.
Only reason why she was never in the dance off until the semi finals is because the Judges always marked her high.
I remember that year well as I was a major Nat supporter.

Yes, his showdance consisted almost entirely of gymnastics atop a giant beach ball, and he still won! (Smart girl that Flavia.)

I certainly felt that Saturday's show was one big, formless pile of meh. In fact I've felt that more than once over the course of the series. The show prior to Halloween was turgid.

the joodges will try and get rid of claudia this week ...sadly.

Claudia got 2 really good dances this week... while the other got potentially could expose their weaknesses... specially Louise with latin.

Claudia will come first or second on the judges leader board this week imo, and will probably be top of the phone vote also. I doubt she will be in the DO.

As you say, Louise will be exposed to her weaknesses this week. So much so, the judges would look foolish to mark her above others. Louise vs Ore in dance off.

Gee I remember that year, some of the threads (and they were plenty) got so vile and horrible against Natalie. The hatred for her for no reason other that she was a 'ringer' surpassed anything I have ever seen on here. Weird but good that Danny and Louise have mostly escaped this.

I remember it too, I will never support a ringer again after that. If the best dancer should win, then Natalie should have won and I still cannot understand why she didn't.

Dancers in the Ballroom and Latin thread. I've always thought it was Claudia who was heavy legged and a little lumpen.

Totally agree with both of you. it was like Natalie was the devil incarnated
I still do not understand why both Danny & Louise haven't had the same treatment as Natalie

Well I'm supporting Ore this year, I love his dancing, his personality & Jo's choreography
Sadly he won't make the final
I guess Claudia will have to carry the torch for the non dancer this year's final *shrugs*

Well, actually, it is not just me. I was one of the 11-12 million viewers - and I found last week boring. See another comment after mine. You may not think it has become boring, but yours is not the only view!

She also carried the baggage of her Corrie character along. So many could not separate the character from Natalie, it was ridiculous.

Ringahs will always get some bashing from occasional quarters but I think they've become so increasingly commonplace over the past few series that said bashing becomes diluted over time.

Natalie was also a little more than your average stage school hoofer. She actually trained for years to be a dancer, wanted to dance professionally (and was clearly good enough) and only injury kept her from her dream. She was a self-confessed ring-a-dinger from the highest rooftops and was slated as such.

It seems that the best way to treat ringer status is to address it if it comes up in a matter of fact but concise way but don't draw attention to it. Let others do that if they want to.

i.e. Don't say you just sat on a chair but don't come on the launch show and come right out and say that you trained to be Cyd Charisse for most of your formative years. You'd think that might earn you kudos for honesty. Natalie's treatment shows that it doesn't.

I think Natalie suffered from coming directly after Denise, who also got a lot of stick for being a ringer (and trying hard to cover it up) but was pretty hard as nails and just toughed it out, leaving James to fight her battles for her, so it was hard to get purchase.

Then the next year there was a contestant who had an even greater level of training and was a lot more vulnerable - admitting it at the launch show (effectively asking for forgiveness), fainting all over the shop, having epidurals and spinal taps and whatnot every other week, doing "experimental" (/wafty) routines and talking pretentiously about touching the divine (I know she only actually said those words at the very end but there was plenty of evidence she was an "artistic" type), making political statements and constantly laughing, weeping and acting high strung. It was like blood in the water for people who hadn't got enough satisfaction from hammering at Denise because she was a very soft target. After that, people seemed to have got it "out of their system".

It's because Danny is male . Women get vilified out of all proportion here and on social media while males are forgiven most things .

I don't know why some are bracketing Danny and Louise as if they're equals . Danny is the biggest ringer ever on SCD, while Louise hasn't done any dancing since her school days . Please don't say the few steps she did in that pop group is serious dancing .

Really! So during her her pop career she didn't dance? Let alone have to do many different routines on stage during her solo career? Dancing from around 1986 right through to 2002. Then follow that up with judging a dance show, which included judging Ballroom & Latin dances. By my reckoning at the very least that is 16 years dancing.

Not bad considering Danny did not start dancing until he was 18 and was not dancing in Hollyoaks for 3 years. So only really 7 years dance experience.

This is why people class them equally.

No. It's because, as people explained in an earlier post, he's less of a ringer than she was. He's an actor who learned some dance in school and did a bit of dancing for a musical once or twice. Natalie was a trained dancer in every sense of the word, and as mentioned, was only deprived of being a full-time professional dancer due to an injury.

Mind you, I adored Natalie anyway, but let's not throw that "MISOGYNY!!!!" crap around when it's not warranted. She was the ringiest of ringers. Let's not pretend it was her ladyparts that were the issue.

This week two dances each and you will see the master class in marking from the judges.


Even if two ( Male & Female) people have had the same experience, I would place the male at a disadvantage, because it's very hard for a male celeb to lead, but easy for a female celeb to be led by the male pro.

Natalie was never the favourite. She was the DVO of the series and Susannah had a lead going into the final (according to some leaked results) and was only defeated by Abbey after Sophie got eliminated and the X-factor viewers joined the party.

Louise's career is as a singer . Same as Michelle Williams, Anastacia, Nicky Byrne, Will Young etc .
Danny's day job is a Musical theatre performer , where you have to be well trained in dancing , acting etc to compete and succeed .

No comparison between the two, Danny is an out and out ringer .

According to Wiki ... 10 weeks aged 10 + 11, 2 years running, then 21 months in Wicked, over 5 years ago, followed by his REAL day job as an actor.

He was Gavroche in the musical Les Miserables for a ten-week run in Southampton in 1998, and again in the West End in 1999.[citation needed]

He returned to the West End a decade later in the musical Wicked from May 2009, where he stayed for 21 months and was an understudy for the role of Boq. He left to join Hollyoaks in February 2011, playing the role of Mark "Dodger" Savage until 2015.[citation needed]

Only added this to 'do' a James Jordan #fact