I watched my tape of last night's show back again, and have to say I enjoyed Darren and Lilia's performance the most. Some of the routines dragged midway, now that each dance has increased to 2 mins, but the mighty D&L's Fox-Trot was superb!

Being a shorty myself, I've always been tres jealous of taller types, but our Lilia is the most elegant dancer - in ALL rhythms - in such a little package that I've ever seen. She is a Goddess and simply divine!

Congrats to her on coming up trumps with wonderful choreography each week - it always has a little twist, to suit Darren's personality. I think the Judges should praise him more on the quality, speed and lightness of his footwork, instead of always concentrating their remarks on his upper body. The "sway" that Arlene was talking about is achieved by a man after years of dedicated practice, not weeks as a newcomer to the world of Dance, especially as other couple's technical faults are overlooked.

I love Darren's cheeky grin, and warm way he looks at Lilia during the into steps of their dances before they come together in hold, thereby immediately creating a relationship and chemistry on the floor. He's a born romantic!

I totally agree that he has come the furthest of all the competitors - even Colin has worked as a radio DJ, and therefore on the fringes of showbiz - but Darren has been a stranger to all the hoopla thus far in his life, so well done to him for overcoming the expected joshing of all his Cricket mates, and *Going For it* and doing so magnificently well!

The only sad thing is that his two little 'uns shan't be exactly chips off the old block, as due to moving down South to play for Essex a few years ago, they speak with Southern accents! Bless.

Is it this page you're looking at Glen?

http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/...play.php?f=100

At the top right there are 12 pages of threads you can click on.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, I'll save that HTML tag, as it's a page I've never seen before. I just get the SCD forum front page, with all the news stories & a small, purple on pink background, list of the most recently active forums to the upper left of the page.

Glen

Hello Strictly people,

I've a nice Darren related present for you on this nasty Monday.
He looks like Fred Astaire's chubbly cousin!!

If he keeps dancing as well as he did on Saturday, the man is in with a great chance. Fingers crossed!

Becks

He's got my vote . He really looks to enjoy what he's doing and he and Lilia were so cute together on ITT - Loved Claudia calling them the "Giggle twins"!

I know most of you aren't Cricket Fans, but I found this by Darren listed on the cricinfo.com website on their quotes page:

"The last time I danced was after a semi-final win against Australia. Freddie Flintoff and I did some rock'n'roll moves. I also won a prize for rock'n' roll dancing at a youth club when I was 16 ... but only three people entered."

Darren Gough reveals he will take part in the BBC's new series of Strictly Come Dancing instead of touring Pakistan with England

I also wanted to say how interesting it is that so many of the other competitors and dancers are praising Darren, and wanting him to win - including Bill & Karen today on ITT.

So far the list includes Patsy, Fiona, Brendan,.......

And even The Sawyze said that you can't judge the women and men fairly, as the Man has to lead.

To be completely honest, I am such a HUGE Fan of Lilia, when I heard she was dancing with Darren for this series, I said, "Oh, No! Poor Lilia", thinking he would treat it as a big laugh, and they would be out pretty quickly, and I would miss seeing Lilia, but how wrong I was!!!

He's been an absolute revelation, and they are a fantastic TEAM!

Strange, I thought I'd posted a quick note, with regard to Claudia announcing that Goughie & Colin would be in the studio tomorrow to hear what the FP's have been saying about them.

You never know, but there could be the fame of an ITT mention for somebody from this thread.

BTW. She didn't mention Lilia or Erin, so it could just be the lads on their own.

Glen

I have the same prob, keep flicking between threads and missing where I have posted and what I am up to.......... dropped you a line on one of the other threads, but as a quick catch up....
Had a call saying panel def on tonight, yippie, and Darren and Colin will be on with their partners big yippie
Although the fan messages we recorded will prob not be shown tonight, or maybe never, , however, I think there will def be mention of forum 'love for Darren', in light of panel being shown and needing some cheeky explanation from the lovely Claudia!
But just to be sure
Glen, I think you and I should post random 'loves' for our fav couple to ensure this thread stays top of the board....
Is that allowed????

I know that people have been doing it with some of the threads, like Saturday results, where it's seen as being helpful for others to post, so I can't see a problem. After all, if there's a chance that someone can have a post read out to their favourite couple tonight, it'd make it easier if they can access this thread straight away.

Strange, but I have noticed that they seem to be doing more references to the forum lately, on ITT. Either the Beeb considers the FP's to be the real die hard fans of the show, or that they are a representative sample of the viewing public.

Either way, it's great that our messages of encouragement are being passed on. I doubt those taking part are actually given the results of the weekly phone vote whilst the series is still running; might lead them to hold false hopes, so this is oe way in which they can see just what the viewers at home really think of their performances.

Enough of that; got to fit in the message to our stars.

Twinkle Toes Darren (sorry, can't hear that nickname without thinking of Fred Flintstone), I've never understood cricket, so I was able to watch your performance over the last 7 weeks without having any preconceived notions, based upon your sporting career.

Like you; prior to taking part in SCD, my sole experience of dancing was the usual "Lads' Shuffle" on a Friday or Saturday night (usually fueled by copious quantities of ale) &, having seen the old "Come Dancing", I associated any other sort of dancing with orange, bryl creamed men, who seemed to spend a lot of their time posing in a slightly effeminate way

Having seen your progress, & the change in your conception of the activity, over the series, has just gone to prove that even a big, proper northern man (won't let the Yorks - Lancs rivalry intervene) can not only master the skills of dancing, but can actually do so in a way that is, not only convincing, but entertaining & enjoyable to watch & that you can have fun whilst achieving this level of performance. So much so that I've been tempted to tr to get over my own, drunken elephant on rollerskates standard of dancing.

Lilia, what can one say apart from the fact that you have proved, yet again, that you are a wonderful teacher; seemingly knowing exactly the right approach to take with each of your celebrity partners in order to give them the confidence needed to produce top notch results in whatever dance the pair of you are given to perform each week.

The choreography you have produced has alwyas made yours & Darren's dancing, on the show, something to really look forward to seeing & which stands out as being a standard for all to match.

Finally, love the costumes you've selected. They always seem to reflect the spirit of the dance, & have been wonderful to behold, without distracting from the performance. A difficult balance to achieve, but something you seemto have mastered.

Thanks again, to both of you, for the weeks of enjoyment you have provided &, fingers, toes & anything else I can manage it with, crossed that you will go all the way & win the competition.

Glen

That was a really nice message Glen!

I think Darren is most peoples favourite in their heart. I think Ian and Zoe are fantastic and we can all see that but I think with Darren it's something different and special. I think Darren brings life and personality to all his dances and that's really special.

I've always been a ballroom dancer and my friends have never been intersted but since Darren's been on strictly come dancing they've fallen in love with him and dancing same as me! We all love Saturday nights now and Darren's our fav by far.

I hope you keep dancing Darren cause you are amazing and have so much energy and you are an example to all those shy non-dancing guys out there that dancing is cool and fun, and god knows we need more guys to pluck up the courage and join and if they're all as good as you then we're laughing!

And Lilia as Glen said you are a fantastic teacher and you have proved that again this series, hope we see you in strictly come dancing for a long time to come!

Keep it up you guys, your my favourites!

WE LOVE YOU DARREN!

I haven't ventured in here before, but I have to say that I do think Darren is absolutely fab. His attitude has been spot on and I absolutely adore Lilia. They seem to get on so well - it must be a laugh a second being around them. I also really admire the way Darren has involved his children - he is obviously very close to them and for that deserves lots of credit.

His jive was spectacular, and I liked the foxtrot too - I have really been taking notice of him the last few weeks. If I was letting my heart rule my head I'd want Patsy and Anton to win - but as long as they get to the final, I'll be happy. My head definitely tells me that Darren and Lilia should win - Darren could be a very credible ambassador for dance and as Craig Revel Horwood said last week, dance teaches more about consideration and respect than ASBOs and the like.

Am looking forward to seeing their dances on Saturday night

Just thought I'd bump it back up since Darren is on ITT in just over an hour!

Luv ya Darren!

xxx

Oh well, that's our view of the giggle twins over with for this week.

At least we now know who it was that ate the spider whilst causing pandaemonium in the ITT office last week.

Didn't Lilia do well with her response to the, "Arlene & Darren's Hands", scandal? Could be quite interesting to see if she does press for an explanation of what exactly the problem is supposed to be; it's about time someone did something about the ludicrous complaints that woman is coming up with (sorry, trying to avoid being too insulting here, but my tongue is really starting to hurt here).

Wasn't the training footage hilarious? They seem to spend so much time having fun that it's even more amazing that they can produce such spelndid results each week.

Good to see Lilia thanking CRH for the choreography compliment.

Thought Len's comments were a bit harsh. How the hell is Darren supposed to take huge steps backwards when Lilia is just about the smallest of teh female partners (compared to the male they are dancing with)? If he did take huge backward steps they'd have had a big gap develop between them & would have been picked up on that.

I couldn't make out whether Darren had gone red after hearing Patrick Swayze's comments on his dancing. but he did seem to appreciate the chance to hear, via our all star panel of judges, what the public really thinks of their performances; first time any of the competitors have really indicated that they aren't told the results of the public vote from week to week.

Have to watch it again later, as something outside interrupted me being able to hear everything, but that gives me something to look forward to later & tomorrow & when ever I can manage to fit it in.

Glen

Was Darren wearing pink shoes? Sorry random comment I know, but I couldn't stop looking at his feet when they were in shot trying to work out whether they were pink or red or what?

Yes. He even comented on them, last Friday, on Richard & Judy. Claimed it was all down to Lilia's teaching.

and I thought a pink belt too!

Darren is not only cute I think he's the best dancer, male at least!

I thought they were both wonderful on ITT, not quite sure how Lilia managed to eat a spider would have loved to hear that story. They seem to have such a wonderfful relationship, always laughing and giggling and having fun, makes you wonder how they manage to get all those dnaces done and look so good on a saturday.

SOO glad you agree, and I also think he is the best dancer, whilst Colin has a great upper body his foot work is not great, (did not notice it until Patrick's comments on ITT so went back to the video to watch again!!)
Darren is better all round in that his footwork is improving all the time and is spot on with some of the difficult choreography, his back is great in ballroom, and if he can only pull off the hips on Saturday!
Over the two disciplines, Latin and Ballroom I think he is the best all rounder out of the male celeb's, and with Zoe poorly this week (big cuddle better) he could score well with the judges and be top for a change....... here's hoping

my plan for world domination is to use a hord of zombie darren threads

What are we going to do tomorrow night, Brain?

Same thing we do every night Goughie, try to take over the world!