You know, I have refrained from criticising Fiona till now because I like to be optimistic and bad feeling makes me feel a bit low inside (yes I know I'm such a girl) but anyway I did feel moved to comment by the 'latest' footage from the training rooms shown on ITT tonight.

I was so hoping that after the judges encouragement last week and both F & B appearing on the show saying she had turned a small corner and felt better about everything... but the footage was really awful - honestly it's really hard to imagine it being worse than it looked. She honestly did look like she was being dragged by Brendan and there were no dance steps. I despair honest I do.

How are they not going to butcher another dance (and the Foxtrot 'the most elegant of them all') on Saturday - I was soooo hoping for something halfway decent...

Oh well, 2 days left I guess. I'm dreading the forums if she stays in again because it'll become full of anti-Fiona bile and bad feeling

Yeah but that'll NEVER happen

I hope they do really well

unfortunately as fantastic a dancer as Brendan is there is no getting away from the fact that the training footage is the only thing that keeps us all entertained. Brendan is such a nasty peice of work ( but I agree has incredible sex appeal). It is a real shame that we have lost all of the best male pros already ( Brendan will be next to go), but on a real positive note it will be great to see what the female pros can really do with their partners. I would like to see Erin, Lilia and Karen in the final ( the James/Camilla thing is a real bore) !!!

just watched the ITT I missed ( the one with Fiona). I do admire Fiona as she has the full-time job and the kids to juggle as well as this. She realises she has two left feet and no rhythm, but is putting in the hours so you can't say she isn't trying. She must have a caste iron will - married to something that resembles caste from 'Alien' - resistant to the lovely Andrew Castle at work and now spending hours alone with Brendan.......... So providing I think she has improved this week she will get a vote from me, along with the best pair. Dennis to go

The kids to juggle. I bet my bottom dollar she has a nanny.

I work a 10 hour day at present. Split shifts so I can take and collect my kids from school. Then I get tea, help with homework, clean the house, and take the children to clubs. I then work again in the evening once my husband is home. Its high pressured professional work. If I take on an extra curricular activity I just get on with it; I do not complain about it. I expect her to do the same (even more so if she does have a nanny helping) We all know the sheer amount of pressure that would take off of us (if we had the luxury)

[quote=Kez100]The kids to juggle. I bet my bottom dollar she has a nanny.

she doesn't..

WTF

I just watched ITT and they were saying how Fiona was courageous, "warmed the heart" , and they wanted her in the final.

It's perverse. Because she's the worst dancer, they want her to stay because it makes her "courageous" and the "underdog". So better dancers will have to go out.

I am so mad at ITT tonight...the Fiona to win show.

She will put out others who try as hard and improve as much for the sympathy vote. And that should not happen on a show such as this, I am afraid.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

I think Aled sympathises because he knows how hard it is. Marian Keyes just wants Dennis Taylor to win, and he'd have more chance if he was up against Fiona. She seems very soft-hearted and likes the underdog. I bet if they'd asked Arlene she'd have said something very different!

I know I shouldn't say this as I love Marian Keyes books but after being jaded by louis walsh...do you think Marian likes Dennis for the Irish vote as he was her favourite? Or am I just being cynical.

And I see where you are coming from with Aled (who I loved) but Julian was better in the first show than Fiona is now...if they want to vote for underdog improvers..Bill or Dennis or Will should be more deserving surely?

People on ITT keep calling the sympathy vote the 'Julian Vote' and I don't think that's fair. He did improve tremendously as the series went on. OK he'll never be a natural dancer, but he listened to what he was told and tried as best he could to implement it.
If the series was won by the celeb who made the most improvement then he would have been up there with a big chance.
Fiona's trying I know, and is a delightful lady... but Oh dear she's not improving much bless her is she?

It's not cynical at all if the Irish think the same way as most Scots do. If there's anyone Scottish doing anything we're all expected to back them regardless. How do you think that talentless lump Michelle McManus won Pop Idol? Couldn't sing, but all you'd hear was "Oh that lassie's great, I've been voting for her." It's the same with any competition a Scot enters, and it annoys the heck out of me. I don't know if that's true of the Irish, but it's certainly true of the Scots.

I agree with you about the underdogs. I actually think that Fiona's being positioned as the underdog, whereas the real underdog is someone like Will who has potential but not that automatic following that will spend all week voting for him. The more I think about Fiona the more annoyed I get, so I think I'll stop now...

At least Brendan had the decency to appear embarrassed when the clip of him & Fiona came on.

It's true that Julian was a far better dancer from week one, of the last series, & improved immensely as it went on, but he also didn't seem to have the same sympathy campaign being run for him. Fine, I would have prefered Aled to go through to the final, but Julian did at least show just what can be achieved by the celebrities & their professional teacher/partners ove the course of a series. Fiona on the other hand is still being flung around the floor by Brendan &, when left on her own, still reminds me of Oliver Reed, playing Vulcan in Terry Gilliam's "Adventures of Baron Munchausen". (Not at all complimentary, but sadly true)

What's delightful about her?

I like you do all of those things and like you I would get on with it ( I think she is), but that still wouldn't change things if I had 2 left feet like she does and I would resent my lack of rhythm and ability being put down to a lack of trying. Brendan needs to put his ego on the back-burner and be patient with her.

I've never understood why people invariably put the blame on Julian for Aled not being in the final - if Jill had been at the top of the leaderboard as usual in the semi-final then it would have been Jill, Aled & Julian in the final (the top three that the public voted for) so you could equally argue that it was Jill's dodgy Tango that cost Aled his place in the final... or better still just don't look for a scapegoat at all.

I originally wanted both Julian & Aled to be in the final but when I saw what a bad loser Aled was I lost sympathy for him, especially when I read in his autobiography that Aled had attended a two year course in Musical Theatre involving daily dance lessons and was a sufficiently competent dancer to be awarded a dancing role in the end of course production - funny how he never mentioned that when he was on SCD

I am married to a Scot so I know this first hand, which is why I said it.

I loved Aled last year..but Julian DID improve and really loved it and was entertaining so I was not too upset that he got in the final (though I did not want him to win). Fiona does not show those qualities as much as Bill or Will or Dennis.

I think that is the difference.....thanks for understanding what I meant.

If this show is about dancing - celebrities improving and entertaining - then surely Fiona should be off by now. The probelm must lie in the voting system if fans of a particular celebrity can keep a no-hoper going week after week. As it's a forlorn hope that people will vote according to the quality of the dancing rather than for their personal preference for other reasons, then perhaps in any future series the system should be changed.

If there is another series, then perhaps public voting should be strictly limited to the two couples who get the lowest judges' votes week by week.

And, indeed, most English.

I was born in England but I get heartily sick of the attitude that the English are somehow superior to the Welsh, the Scottish, the Irish - so much for 'United' Kingdom! - the Germans, in fact any nationality you care to mention.

Jingoism is deeply unattractive whichever nationality is displaying it.


Again, true of the English where they expect the Scots, Irish and Welsh to get behind the English football and rugby teams. A work colleague yesterday actually criticised a Welsh 'friend' of his for supporting Wales during the Six Nations! I mean, it beggars belief.

Yep, totally agree with you here. Do you think people will buy into it? The majority of people here seem similarly annoyed by it so hopefully the majority of viewers won't let the BBC do their thinking for them.

Well, I live in hope.

Good idea. Its all the 'Brendan lovers' ( there's lot of them) as much as the 'Fiona Fan Base' that are keeping them in. It was a shame to see Will and Hanna suffer this week as they did not deserve to be in the bottom 2. I hope that Fiona does improve for the sake of her own confidence.

Can't wait to see how they all do tonight.