Funnily enough I was listening on digital to Nicole Cutler's comments, and she praised Georgina, and said that Claire needed "to look up more and enjoy the moment" with her presentation.

It was interesting having the commentary during the dancing, generally they were incredibly positive and complimentary about all the couples, and especially the celebs, but I did find it got in the way of hearing the music, as the commentary was literally from beginning to end of the dance, and each step was commented upon. Looking forward to seeing some of the dances again tomorrow in the highlights show, with the full music effect! Interesting though that you'd get the impression it was a good dance listening to Nicole, then the Panel would slate it - as with Georgina & James.

What was happening with the judges this week?!?! craig voting high and len voting low?!? huh!

Claire and brendan were good but the lifts spoilt it for me, i dont like all arguing and he was doing it just to get a rise out of everybody.

I also didn't get how emmas routine was any better than louisa's, i thought they were pretty much the same, but then i'm not a dancer.

And woooo go karen and Mark! Excitement!

I listened to the commentary as well. I agree with what you said especially the contrast between Nicole and then the completely negative judges comments. I thought it was a passionate performance from Georgina, not an "autopsy" as Len put it but I could see where Arlene was coming from with her multi-tasking comment. And no hips other then when she was on the spot kind of shimmying down James.

The lady who did it last week was better than Nicole, both her and Philip were more technical then. Nicole was a bit too positive I guess she felt she had to be.
Good thing though, as soon as she said about Claire not looking up I started looking out for it
Last edited by Eclipse80 : 14-10-2006 at 19:32

Boys dance - Fabulous! I love the rivalry they've got going! It was a lot better than the girls.

Carol & Matt - Get my vote! But I'm biased, I love Matt so much I couldn't care what Carol did! but she was really good, the routine was very well chorographed.

Louisa & Vincent - She was good, but not amazing, and I feel everyone's a bit too nice to her because she's the baby. They make a really sweet pair though.

Jan & Anton - Haha, I LOVE THEM! Fluffing up the end of the routine was great, pretty much sums them up. They have such a laugh, I hope they do really well.

Georgie & James - Hmmm. I think they will leave tonight. She had no hip movement, that's not James' fault! I just don't think she has much rhythm.

Mica & Ian - Bit blah. Don't really have an opinion on them.

Emma & Darren - She was amazing. Dammit. Didn't deserve a 9 though.

Claire & Brenan - Mwahahaha!!!!! Brendan's so infuriating, I want to shake him! The best/worst thing is he just stand there when the judges are moaning at him and doesn't care! Bad boy rebel, I like it!

There's my input! I wa son the phone to my dad after the show, he's getting proper obsessed it's great! He even watched ITT during the week. And he likes that Brendan breaks the rules too.
Last edited by Cat123 : 14-10-2006 at 19:49

Cat agree with everything you said!
Im a lazy poster.

Simply

Go brendan and Claire!!

I'm not a huge fan of the rumba so I was trying to be a bit objective about them tonight but the judges seemed to agree with what I thought.

Carol and Matt - Thought their Quickstep was lovely. They look great together, very graceful and have good chemistry. Despite the tempo and style of the song she managed to avoid being stampy. Really hope they stay.

Mica and Ian - Certainly not as bad as I feared but I think the fact that she's top heavy makes her look a little off balance at times. I thought she tried really hard and deserves another chance.

Louisa and Vincent - Very good although for some reason I don't really warm to her as much as I do the other ladies. She lacks as strong a personality as the others both off and on the dance floor.

Georgina and James - One of the reasons I don't particularly like the rumba is because it can look the way theirs did - one pretentious, fake pose after another. Lovely dress but dire routine. Boring.

Jan and Anton - Aww, bless her. Apart from the tumble at the end I thought she did very well. The fun her and Anton have translates well into their routines which is lovely to watch. And, as the judges said, I liked that they just got on with it.

Claire and Brendan - Brendan Cole is an idiot. I am so glad that Len took him to task over those lifts because I wasn't impressed either. Claire can dance pretty well and she acted the dance brilliantly so why ruin it with lifts? The boy's a fool. It just comes across as if he thinks he's bigger than the show which is not a good impression to be giving people.

Emma and Darren - Lovely, light and quick. Gorgeous dress. Didn't like the end of the dance at all though and I thought Bruno got a little carried away with the marks there. Can see her going the same way as Zoe if she becomes 'judges pet'.

The boys - Didn't really notice who looked good although I wasn't impressed at all by Matt. Peter obviously struggled but that lift was amazing and Erin has been saying good things about his tango for next week so I'll let him off this one.

I've voted for Carol and Matt mainly with one for Jan and Anton.
Last edited by claire2281 : 14-10-2006 at 19:59

I quite liked Claire and Brendans routine, thought the lifts were great it was the best rumba of the night with or without lifts.

So, it's LA's two pennyworth coming up then...

Carol + Matthew: Pretty good, really. Nothing much to complain about. I like their little Charlestony bit in the middle. But as a couple they don't make me go whooh. It was ggood, if a little lacking in excitement. 6/10

Mica + Ian: Oh dear. It was all a bit lumpy. Mica looked lovely in the blue, but it lacked control, and she appeared to be collapsing a bit. 4/10

Louisa + Vincent: I can't really mark these guys fairly, seeing as I have an innate dislike of Louisa. She reminds me of the most horrid people at my school. Think it's the voice. Anyway, their quickstep wasn't bad. But at times she was careering about a bit. Mind you, most of the dances tonight were a little ... wiffly. 5/10

Georgina + James: I thought she wasn't bad. I thought had v. good muscle control. Unfortunately, this turned her into a bit of a plank. And James just appears to be a bit of a fruitloop. Still, it wasn't bad. I'm not really a Rumba fan anyway... 6/10

Jan + Anton: Aaaaaah! It was lovely! They looked like a lovely couple. (Especially Anton... in white tie and tails. *Swoon*) And it was so fun! Including the massive collapse at the end, which I adored! And I liked that they didn't waste time at the start. 9/10. But then I'm biased.

Claire + Brendan: I find neither of these people endearing, but their dance was excellent. I thought it was a bit lame trying to cause controversy with lifts again, though. 5/10.

Emma + little Darren: Exciting, and very nice. Emma dress made her look terribly elegant. *Envies* 7/10

Best dance of the night: Emma and little Darren
Best couple of the night: Jan and Anton.

Here endeth the rambling.

Oooh! Except: Mark and Karen.... WOWZEE!

Wow! The standard is so high this year, I can't believe that this was the ladies first time competing. I thought all of them excelled themselves.

Carol and Matt - shame they went first. I really liked their quickstep and have the feeling they would have got better marks if they'd danced later on.

Mica and Ian - she was a lot better than I expected, although her transitions were a bit messy and she was a bit clumpy I thought they still did really well. I think she might be in line to go tonight, though.

Louise and Vincent - I really warmed to them tonight. The video montage that they did for them was very sympathetic, so that may have had something to do with it I thought she danced really well, too, very light. It was lovely.

Georgina and James - Oh dear, I was really disappointed. She looked fantastic, her body was really telling the story, but she danced about six steps total. He seemed to be dragging her around most of the time. I think with a different teacher she could have fulfilled more of her potential, but maybe James's Brendan-esque teaching methods don't suit her very well. I feel quite sorry for her, but I think she's probably going to go tonight.

Jan and Anton - gosh, didn't she look light? She was floating in his arms, and really seemed to be enjoying it. Shame it all went wrong at the end, but at least she fell in a nice shape. Well done Anton for catching her!

Claire and Brendan - urgh, he infuriates me! Their routine was great, she's every inch the sex kitten I thought she would be, and then they have to put in not one lift but two! If they hadn't had those lifts, Craig would have given her as high a score as Emma, but he had to deduct a mark. Arlene and Len both raging at his rule-breaking. Although, I don't know why I'm surprised, he does it every year... They still get my vote.

Emma and Darren - I was ready not to like them, but they really proved me wrong. She made it look effortless, and he put together a great routine for them.

So impressive all round! As Arlene says, this competition is going to be one of the hardest and most exciting ever, even if they all continue at exactly the same level they're already at. If they all improve... Let's just say it's going to be so hard to see any of them go week after week.

Might as well add my comments. Didn't comment last week because the judging was about right. To me Carol and Louise gave almost identical performances, with the same faults, Three of the judges gave them the same marks but Arlene gave Carol 5 and Louise 8 which I still can't believe. Arlene doesn't like Carol - she intimated as much on ITT last night. Emma was marginally better than either of them - but only marginally and the ending of the routine was terrible. I think the others were judged correctly but to me Georgina wasn't as bad as the judges made out. She didn't have enough steps in her routine to judge her properly though - I blame James for that. At least you could have a laugh about Claire and Brendan.

How many people look good in skin tight Lycra?!

The male celebs are looking a lot stronger than the women. The guys performed their dances a lot better and seemed less nervous. Which is impressive considering the girls had a week to get used to it. The female celebs are putting themselves under too much unnecessary pressure. Emma and Louisa's expectations from everyone, Mica with a 2 time SCD finalist not wanting to out first round. Georgina looks frightened all the time

Preferred the quicksteps to the rumbas and what is it with Brendan always grabbing at Claire's something or other. First the dress then her extensions. I'm sure the BBC costume department has enough wigs and frilly frocks if he wants them that bad!
Passion does not have to be so physical.

Think it's best if James and Georgina go tonight. It will probably be between her and Mica. I don't want to see anymore backstage bust-ups or Georgina stressing herself out.

If Matthew and Carol are anywhere near the bottom 2 I'll be very very p*ed off. I hope they weren't disadvantaged going first.
Last edited by Eclipse80 : 14-10-2006 at 20:28

Were the male celebs looking stronger? Or are the female pros just so fabulous we didn't notive the faults?!

I never look at the pros, I find it too distracting. It's their job to be good, so I always take it as read and discount them from the equation. I find it's the best way for me.

I thought that the girls were just as good as the boys, but maybe more consistent, with no stand-out performance but no terrible one either. Maybe the boys looked better because they had a couple of not-so-good celebrities to compare them too?

Usually when the male celebs dance I always find myself focusing on the female pro. The male celebs have been a lot weaker especially during the first week. The only one who was sprinting straight out of the starter's block was Colin (well he is a hurdler )
It wasn't the case at all last week. Well other than Ola and everyone was looking at her.
Between Mark, Spoony and Ray's great hip movements and Peter surprisingly, being so light on his feet and elegant they could have been dancing with dummy's (Erin ) and I would have been none the wiser.
Last edited by Eclipse80 : 14-10-2006 at 20:41

Are you implying Erin's a dummy?! :P

And I hope you mean "Male celebs have been weaker." The male pros are fabulous!

edited, yep the male celebs. Great male pros this year. I like James and that includes his temperament.

I still haven't managed to watch that dummy dance in full, still shudder thinking about it.

Having just watched the dances back without all the stuff in between I quite agree with you. There was little to chose between Carol and Louisa and the difference in score Arlene gave was quite ludicrous. Although I've accepted for some time that she is incapable of being unbiased.



Thank goodness someone else picked that up! What was with him shaking her around at the end there? I would have automatically knocked a point off for that.

It wasn't Erin's best idea ever... But, if you do watch it, it really does show off just how fantastic a dancer Colin was. He was perfectly in time with Erin throughout, and executed each step precisely and with flair, without the support of his professional partner. It was a risky gamble, and it didn't work out for them. Shame really, I think they could have snatched the title except for that.

is it just me or were darren and emma NEVER gonna get a bad score!

They were good but Bruno's 9 was way over the top. I was waivering between a 7 and a 8 because I didn't like the ending at all.

If the judges are obviously biased then it will only hurt the couple as it did with Zoe and Ian last year.

Len is a sweetie, I love him!

I'll try and have another look

I love all the judges in their own way, even when I don't agree with them! Bruno probably annoys me the most, he can be really biased, but he's so funny, the way he carries on. Him standing up tonight because he got so caught up in Emma and Darren's dance! Stole the show for me!