To Cheesemaster, that's fair enough I thought you were talking about overall Karen's reactions from week 1.

Well yes, and no. I'm trying to be more careful about how I put this so I don't upset some of the more sensitive fans.

She is overcommunicating and wearing her emotions on her sleeve. It is incredibly annoying and distracting to watch on the Saturday night show, the context of ITT would be OK for that.

At the start of the series I thought "OK, maybe it was just having to fight the uphill battle with Bill last year" because she was fine, but over the last three to four shows it has been getting more and more apparent. It seems to be a curve ( as it happenned last series too ). Maybe it will fade.

It does her no favours, it detracts from her dancing ( which I already said is not being criticised by me ) and doesn't help the pupil. After a while, appealing to emotions wears out the voting public and they start saying "oh no not again".

So whether or not it has its roots in genuine feeling or not is immaterial. It has a negative effect, and she really needs to get it under control otherwise a potential winning couple will be out sooner than they need to be.

That is what I see, and that is why she won't get any more votes from me ( at least this series ). I wonder if it is a confidence problem, constantly needing validation and reassurance in order to keep up levels of performance. Like a stroppy racehorse - if you know what I mean.

I see your points and agree with them, I think this week has knocked her confidence, I hope she bounces back (Mark too, he seemed quieter than usual). Don't think its a continual problem; at least I hope not. I'm thinking choosing to do the Rumba means the hardest dance is out of the way now a strategic move perhaps? A racehorse? well that's certaintly an interesting way of putting it lol! If she does need support as Mark said in an ITT interview once you lean on your dance partner and they lean on you, so if she needs support he's her man. (besides her husband! )

I think she has never felt the same since the mic incident. She admitted this last Monday.

Karen obviously takes things to heart, but I feel her comments veil an underlying cynical attempt to patch over the deficiencies in her dance with Mark.

I like to see people just shut up, get on with it and take the criticism. The sob stories and heartfelt pleas are just too much.

Exactly ! They are a very talented couple who deserve to go far in this competition (?), but people aren't so easily fooled by the emotional baggage and will be put off voting for them and that would be a great pity.

They are? I must have missed that part when I read the SCD rules.

There is an interview format. All the others manage to follow it.

I definitely agree with that. However, I think that pretty much sums up Erin's attitude and as a result some people label her as cold and hard. Different stokes for different folks, I guess. Some of us like the no-nonsense approach, others prefer to see the real emotion involved.

You can't please everybody all the time, eh?!

OK it was a bit of a pain but this seems like an overreaction, it's not as if one of them was electrocuted.

I thought Karen took last week's criticism from Len, and this weeks from Arlene, with very good grace and without resorting to hysterics.

Funny how we all interpret things differently!

Yes I think Karen is lovely and if she shows her emotions from time to time good cos imo nothing is worse than the fixed smile and the "nice" comments regarding the judges' points and criticism etc. Give me Brendan and Karen any time as they react honest and it is not just showbusiness to them!! I thought Jan went a bit over the top in her reaction to being voted out but at least it was better than, "Ive had the most wonderful time and I had a feeling this week I would be voted out everyone is lovely, nice gorgeous, helpful and I have had the most amazing experience of my life!!!" etc.etc.

I agree completely.
I noticed this week that Karen is the main one on the partnership getting the nerves stressing out and crying. It is doing him a disservice. Especially all this constant badgering of him because he is quiet and shy, err so what. Right now Karen is actually benefitting from Mark being calmer and not over emotional.
In his interview on Saturday at one point he was about to say something and she just carried on talking.
Sometimes maybe the problem is not that he's so shy but that she's so loud. I think the earlier interview with Erin and Lilia showed that they were able to see their partner's strengths and weaknesses and work to that. You can see that Erin has been different with Colin, Peter and Julian, the same with Lilia.

I think Karen is sincere in her emotions and does not have a hidden agenda. But it's like she feels she has to compensate Mark's relative quietness and shyness by talking more herself and blaming herself for their lesser results. It's a character thing I suppose but a lot of people ( yes, including myself I'm sorry to admit) don't seem to like it very much. I am a bit afraid people might stop voting for Mark because Karen irritates them! Again, I like Karen and her story on her website brought a little tear to my eye, but sometimes I wish she would stop for a minute and let Mark get some air!

Yes, you're absolutely right.

I also think Karen's emotions are genuine...yes they can be annoying, like the strange faces she pulls whilst dancing...but I think she just wears her heart on her sleeve and cannot help her reactions.

Sorry changing the subject very slightly for one minute (I love Karen, but think she does go over the top occassionally - that's just her though I think and it works both as a strength and a weakness at different times IMO)

Anyway...I was going to say, did anyone else cringe at Louisa's over the top plea for votes??? She did a great dance, but ruined it a bit (at least for me) by looking quite desperate for votes in her interview. She just didn't need to do it!

At last some one who agrees! That really got on my nerves.

thought it wass just me!

Now I did not see/notice that with Louisa at all.

My experience on this forum and in life to be honest is that unless it is something hugely glaring - we just see what we want to see and likewise misunderstand things based on our own attitudes,values and judgements rather than necessarily on what actually happened.

Anyone else done that exercise where they read out a story - and then ask loads of questions which cannot actually answer truthfully because the facts simply aren't in the text - but virtually all participants come up with masses of answers which they believe they had heard having put their 'spin' on it unintentially.

Why I am waffling on about that - who knows!!

Maddi

I've said before that I'm not a fan of some of vincent's choregraphy and air kisses and I don't think they're that popular, but I really want to like this couple and certainly have no problems with Louisa - I think she's doing a great job with what she's been given.

I thought Louisa's dance was fantastic - so good I even gave her a vote! I wasn't looking for something negative at all and to me it was glaringly obvious. Everyone I was with in the room cringed and said something about it.

What a brilliant post! I too think she is being too talkative and also badgering him for not speaking. (She is right to some extent though - he was boring the first few times he was on ITT and not connecting with the audience will mean not too many votes.)

I also do think she is being genuine though, just that sometimes it can irritate people, whereas others like the fact she is so into it. I think she did take the comments personally on Sat, partly 'cos they were directed at her and partly 'cos she felt the need to defend Mark. They are obviously very close and she seemed to want to 'protect' him (a bit like Matt when Carol got a slating).

To be honest I think their best plan now would be to carry on as they are with the dancing (which is fab), take the judges comments without saying anything, teach Mark a few jokes and ask people to stop going on about how good looking he is (those mad women in the studio should have been shot for that). In the words of Claire, he's not that one-dimensional, they just need to showcase it.

Yes, I have to agree with you there.

I thought I was alone in not being so keen on Karen. I do think she's a terrific dancer and her partnership with Mark has been wonderful to watch but her reactions do sometimes grate on me.

The thing is, everyone's different and just because Erin keeps her emotions in check it doesn't follow that Karen would be able to do the same thing so to a certain extent I feel bad in my reaction to her!

BTW Erinfan, agree about Louisa's cringeworthy plea for votes! I do like her though and hope it hasn't done her too much damage. (Sometimes I think they would do better with a few PR lessons as well as the dancing - most of the pros do seem to have worked this out though, maybe Vincent will learn in time).