I know that Anton still sees Leslye and Esther and that Camilla has stayed in touch with Roger and Erin and Julian have stayed friends too - there is a little SCD family building up

Yes. Never really gave him the time of day until he made those comments on James & the judges, on ITT, on Friday. He deserves a modicum of respect now.

Everyone seems to get on really well. I'd be suprised if there was any tention between anyone. Friendly rivalry I'm sure there's plenty of, but they all seem really lovely towards each other.

I've started liking Brendan a lot more literally sinse thursday! I think he's basically a sweet guy. Just passionate and a perfectionist who doesn't always handle situations in the best way! I also think he's been the victim of the tabloids, and selective editing from the BBC!

I think there has been a great deal of selective editing from the BBC this year and I agree with you Glen re Brendans comments on ITT about James and the judges it needed to be said.

Can't agree, but this is due to personal & not dance related reasons; which I'd prefer not to go into on a public forum.

Can't agree about what? Everyone getting on, Brendan being a nice guy, stuff being needed to say, or the BBC being stupid about editing??!

Oh b**ger, wrong thread.

Been celebrating a new job & was still thinkning about anothr thread when I posted on this one.

Sorry.

Absolutely delighted that Lilya and Darren went through - despite a below-par dance from Darren and Lilya's problem with her dress. I am very happy that the prediction I made that James would be saved by the public vote was wrong. The best three are in the final - now let the best dancers win.

Lilya, just send Darren to growl at the wardrobe people before next week.

Looking at Lilia's face I bet some seamstress got a dressing down after

Justr got to love Lilia. Got a face designed to smile and personallity to match. What amazes me is that English is her second language yet she speaks it better than most of us

Hehe, bless her! I can imagine her snapping at the costume people like a little pitbull! But I don't think she would have done!!

Her english is great. Camilla's too, but at least they use the same alphabet in Denmark!!!! I've tried learning a bit of Russian, it's impossible!

Excuse me?! You are the one who's only just joined, posted about 10 times and now you expect people to like you for the rest of the time you are here?! This board is for expressing feelings not for slagging people off. This board shows how people relate to the show's stars and I think you are being unfair to anyone who actually has feelings in regards to what happens.
I'm sorry but you've only posted twice on my thread and already you've managed to piss me off.

Bye bye

As I am russian I appreciate how hard it must have been for her to learn English to such a great standard, having to learn a new alphabet is very difficult and then learning how all the letters sound is horrid, but she seem to be wonderful at everything so its no suprise.

Ah, but as I've said elsewhere on the forum, Sergei, Lilia would have had the advantage of an excellent education system (I was told that it's required that all children are taught a foriegn language in Russian schools from an early age).

Yes it is required, but that language is not always English, in parts of the Soviet Union, which it was when she and I were in school it was German or French and when you were older because of its dificulty English. But I think from what I understand it differed between republics and oblasts(although that may be more post soviet, I just remember having to learn German and English and French) . And also no matter how good the education system if your not good at languages you'll never learn to such a level of fluency as she has, also I imagine living in the country helps you to learn it, and she must speak it to people daily which helps.

Interesting that. Our Juli didn't start French until she reached high school, in the UK, but had been learning English, since day one of her Rusian schooling.

You're right about speaking languages on a daily basis. There is a school of thought that states that the best way to learn a language is to go to the country where it is spoken & try living there; simply on the grounds that if you don't learn the language quickly, you might just starve to death.

Having re-watched a recording of their dance, it clearly shows that the strap broke right at the beginning of their routine.

As soon as Lilia first raised her arms, it broke!

Surely, there must be someone in Costumes who isn't doing their job correctly (e.g. thoroughly checking each dress before use and especially the ones designed for latin dances).

Thorughout their routine, you can clearly see Lilia constantly holding her dress up while (rather succesfully) going through her steps.
Darren is obviously aware of the strugglr Lilia was going through.

In such situations, I would have expected much more compassionate comments from the judges.

That was the point where I picked up the phone and voted for them.

I remember once being told that if you lived in the main cities St Pete's and Moscow you were more likely to learn more than one langauge at school and if you lived in the other regions it was more likely to be one. Not sure how true that was as when I finished school I had been taught two langauges by force (well not force but it was compulsory) and one by choice, things may be different in Russian school because things changed so much from the way things were governed in Soviet times. But langauges were always stressed as important to learn.

Hodman, I agree after watching it a second time I payed more attention to her having to keep the dress up and she did so well, to help Darren by being in the right places and making sure he had hold of the correct hand he needed to lead or whatever and hold it up with the other. The judges in my opinion should have at least given credit for carrying on so well with very little support from a partner who was trying to help him but mainly preserve her modesty.

Strangely, they classed the place they came from as a "Small town" of only 50 000 people, in the back of beyond.

Interesting language dicussion. I have to learn Spanish and Welsh (I'm not planning on staying in Wales, so what is the point, no one talks it here anyway, only in the North, and I'm in the South) and I'm not planning on moving to Spain either. I'd much rather be learning French. Oh well.

I rewatched their Samba, I was truly horrified for Lilia, the look on her face was just heart-breaking. Your right, Darren is a gentleman.

I just watched the clip of Darren and Lilia's Samba at the BBC website, while having dinner in front of my notebook ( I missed the semifinal last night due to a party).
I had the main intention of looking out for what exactly happened to Lilia, and I did indeed notice her crossing her hand over her chest every once in a while. It was quite obvious, but I've to give major props to her for putting on a brave smiling face and continue on despite facing what could have been the most embarrasing moment of her life had she been more unlucky. She still managed to put on a wide smile at the finishing pose ( while crossing her hand over her chest again, lol)

Darren....oh he was great, he carried on despite that....I'm sure he knew what was happening to his professional dance partner.

That aside.....I love Lilia....I'm so so glad that she made it through to the finals. She totally deserves to be in the finals....with the wonderful job she had done with Aled and now with Darren. At least what happened to her last year didn't repeat itself again.

I did feel ever so sorry for poor Lilia when the strap snapped. But kudos to her for carrying on regardless. It couldn't have been easy.

The thing that made me laugh was that she seemed to have to switch hands depends on which hand Darreen was holding and when they were apart. Wonderful specialised juggling act, held it together in more ways than one.

She really is a true pro. Well done Lilia

Well done Darren too for carrying on. It really is a case of "the show must go on" Not easy though.

Darren and Lilia to win