Originally Posted by Kiera:
“I was hoping I wouldn't have to "defend" Zoe and Ian again, but I feel the need to say something about the fake accusations. To say Zoe was acting for sympathy votes I find a rather unpleasant thing to suggest. The tears didn't look at all fake to me. She seemed to be genuinely upset at her inability to grasp the dance as well as she would have liked in training. That would be frustrating for anyone, as we have ourselves witnessed with other couples. I certainly wouldn't suggest any of those were put on for sympathy.
Anyway, I certainly hope - especially after tonight's performance - that Zoe and Ian win. It was a fantastic routine and they really sold the passion part of it. Kudos to Ian for the tough routine. He may have pushed Zoe, but it did pay off. They looked wonderful together.”
Paranoid theories are attracted to DS boards. The "I know they were only acting" post is part of the territory. The "any female with any emotion is a liar" variant is worryingly common. You just have to add " my paranoid theory is that...." in front of those posts and they go away. The alternative is to join in and think how the same comment applies to every other celebrity - with contestants criticising other contestant's s marks or the judges or saying how good they were or drumming up votes shamelessly, its not difficult to say something bad about anyone.
In dancing terms, it would be bizarre if Zoe and Ian didn't win given the number of weeks they have come top and been put there by a majority of the judges because they have the best package of style and substance. They just have to maintain their edge. The problem is that women voters in all reality TV shows are prone to vote for males they fancy unless the females are decidedly better and the males are obviously flawed. Unfortunately its easier to show you are funnier than the males or a better singer than the males than it is to be clearly a better dancer. Zoe is better, but her differential over the males may not be enough to compensate. Dancing, being visual, allows the "fitter" males to demonstrate that they are " fit" in a way that singing or surviving Big Brother doesn't .
This works for Zoe as long as the pro-male vote fragments all over the place, but at the end she has to fight off fewer and fewer of them and she has the problem that the males are very alpha. Given the choice between an alpha female and an alpha male, many females will join the alpha male's hareem and there will be lots of nice people who will vote for the nice "olympic gold medal winner" (which was how they described Colin tonight - although he actually never won one) Its not impossible for Zoe to win - but the non-dancing factors are a big hill to climb over.