I loved tonight's show but the contestants were so nervous that I think it lacked something.... last week's show was perhaps better.....

The judges marks were very strange - what was going on there, they didn't agree at all and I can't make up my mind who was the best on the night. Nobody deserves to go home from tonight's performance, even though I still think James is the weaker performer. I thought Colin's jive was really good, Zoe looked good too and Darren was his usual self, was I missing something.....................?

Colin and Darren both scored highly for me, but the judges were (I agree) most odd in their assessments ???????????

Don't know to be honest

Zoe overmarked as usual - beating Colin/Erin over both dances laughable

I agree Miaviv, all very strange. I just don't trust these judges eventhough they were more fair in their verbal comment (mind you not the marks) then in all the previous episodes.
I may be paranoid but I can't help but feel that once again they have an alternative agenda for getting their three favourites in the FINAL. You all know who they are.

We'll just have to wait and see. Hopefully James & Camilla will make it. They so deserve their place with the last three. They certainly weren't the weakest link tonight, imo

To me, it looked like the judges had pre arranged their vote whatever the outcome of the dances. However, I'm no dancer but one of my sons is home for the weekend with his girlfriend who is a dancer ( 5ft 8ins girls with a figure to die for... I've seen more meat on a butchers pencil) She reckons that over both dances Colin just slipped into the lead. What do you dancers think?

I too thought there might be a hidden agenda, strange eh. At one point I thought that they were going to slate everyone else, praise James and hope that this meant they wouldn't get the sympathy vote........ but then this all changed with the second dances. I'm very confused and it feels wide open tonight. I don't think anybody particularly deserves to go out tonight, despite what I have previously said on here.

Then I'm paranoid too - I thought exactly the same thing!

The only fly in the ointment may be the public vote. I don't think Zoe and Ian are safe even at the top of the leader board. I'd actually like to see them go through (even though it's Colin and Erin who have my vote), but I'm not sure they will.

I agree and did you see the gap again-the judges obviously didn't.

I would like to see James and Darren both in the finals. For the one to leave it's a toss up. Between Colin and Zoe.
I'm tired of Colin's big head and only out for 10's and Zoe's constant tears. Every footage they show of her she's blubbering about something.
James and Darren are in it for the enjoyment and that's what they are doing enjoying it.

I think that the judges each have their favourites and give them higher marks every week. Bruno always give Zoe 9s and 10s even when her dances are nothing compared to Colin's and he only gets 8s. I hope Zoe gets put out as I'm fed up of her constant moaning and crying at least the other three are having fun!

I'll be the lone voice once again saying how I don't think it was laughable that Zoe and Ian scored higher than Colin and Erin. On the latin dances, the technical aspects of Zoe and Ian's dancing looked to be better than Colin and Erin's.

Agree about the contestants.

The judges were brilliant. When they attack James strange people vote for him - so they praised him in the first half. Scoring Darren lowly made his vote go up and probably at the expense of James as he doesn't look safe. They get criticised for praising Zoe so they undermarked her second dance and criticised her.

Their mission is to get the best two at least dancers to the final. To get Zoe there - who is in danger of being last in the public vote because she is the wrong sex - she probably needed to come first with the judges as the maths mean that she will probably get there with 5 points (4 judges and 1 public) That works for Zoe unless the one and only combination which would stop her comes up which is that Colin is third among the males and James beats Darren too to come first.

As it is, the public has the right questions to answer - do they prefer James to Darren.

You probably get the same result on the judging anyway if you ignore the maths logic. The first dance was marginal between Colin and Zoe and the second was probably marginal the other way so Zoe coming first was reasonable. You can also explain Colin's marks either way too. If I was the first two judges and wanted Zoe to get to the final and was wondering what Len would give I would give Colin 7 too. If i had only given Zoe 8 for her second dance giving Colin 7 would also be right if I thought she was better after seeing his dance. Luck in that sense was with the show because the ideal mathematical solution to get the best dancers to the final was pretty defensible in terms of what actually happened on the night.

I didnt think Colins jive was half bad actually! I think he should have been top of the leaderboard followed by Zoe, Darren then James -although Darren is my favourite! I honestly think no one is safe!
They are all VERY competitive this year! Last year Denise seemed competitive to start with but realised that it wasnt doing her any favours (constantly in the botton two despite great performances) and toned it down -Jill just seemed to be having a good time!
I am finding newfound respect for Erin who is always dignified and takes criticism unflinchingly -although with her fab routines these past two weeks she is getting less used to getting any!!!

I actually was shocked that Zoe & Ian came top of the scoreboard.. I hadn't expected that. I know the scores were pretty close.. but if I was looking back at the night. I'd think that overall Colin & Erin would have had the highest marks from the judges.. but not so.

Its difficult to think of a stranger criteria for voting. A few billion years of evolution, hormones and socialisation mean that men don't get as emotional as women. This is the daft logic that reduces Big Brother to a largely male show after the first few weeks as every tearful female is thrown out by female voters who are mentally even weaker and wouldn't themselves survive the selection process. Its also the case that Zoe is clearly a better dancer and more of a perfectionist than two of the males. Given she can dance well her targets are higher, her expectations higher and her desire is probably higher. I would be upset too if I had produced the highest marks on the show and some of the best dances and my place in the final was taken by someone who is the dancing equivalent of the pole dancer's pole. I would cry too if i knew i probably had to come first to stand any chance of staying and didn't get the 9s I hoped for.

Any fool can have fun. There are no prizes for turning up and smiling (although GSCEs have gone that way) . The less able are pleased by lesser achievements. That doesn't mean able people don't enjoy success or that they don't deserve a vote on drive, commitment or sheer ability.

Very well said, thenetworkbabe

that arlene is a strictly cow. She has wanted zoe and Ian to win from the outset. We have got to get rid of Zoe! why has she to be so cruel?

they must all be so tense now, I have no idea what is going to happen tonight

I can't agree - Arlene is in looooooooooooooove with Colin and favours him.

to say arlene favours zoe is a little suprising. IMO she has been drooling over colin for the majority of this competition. my jaw literally dropped to the floor tonight when she criticised his jive!

She is just a saddo and can't bear to let Darren or James get through.

Bruno is the one who favours Zoe, he never stops praising her

Taking into accound more than just technical merit for me the best two couples tonight were Colin/Erin and James/Camilla.

I was really expecting something spectacular from Zoe tonight but I was just left thinking "oh....right", especially after the dull performance in the Paso.

I think Colin and Erin deserved to be 1st in both dances. With James I just felt that frisson as he and Camilla were dancing ( 'specially the rhumba) which, unlike last series, I have only felt once before and that was Colin in one of his dances last week.

I think James and Camilla were unfairly marked in the rhumba. There's no doubt they would have come last with the judges anyway, but I feel that what they lacked technically they more than made up in telling the story of the dance and the passion. It looked as if James was making love to Camilla out there!

I loved Colin and Erin's jive, it was fast and fun.

Once again Darren's dancing was good but forgettable.

Sometimes I think the judges contradict themselves - one miute they're saying that technically someone isn't all that good but artistically were great and give them low marks. Then they say that someone hasn't technically made it, but the creativity has swayed things and give them high marks. All depends on who the couple is, hm?

There are 20 votes to divide (10 public, 10 judges)

Zoe has at least 5. She survives unless everyone else gets 5 and she has the lowest public vote. For that to happen the order has to be James, Darren, Colin, Zoe in the public vote.

if its Zoe in the last 2 she survives unless that 4 way tie happened and they decided the bottom 2 on public votes.

If its Darren and James the one with the most public votes stays .

What an excellent post, sanity at last!