Who i think will get into the final:

1) Mark and Karen

2) Matt and Lilia

3) Louisa and Vincent

That would be interesting - out of those 3 I would go for a Mark and Karen win.

The thought of Vincent's winners speech doesn't do a lot for me!

I think it's still too early this year to pick out a winner or even the finalists with any certainty.

I think Matt has come so far with ballroom and shows continual improvement, but as has been said, we've not seen his Latin since he really started getting into swing of things. It could be a real liability.

As for Louisa, I'm not sure she's that popular really, and I don't think she's consistent enough. She only seems to come out on top when the usual leaders mess up a bit as in this week. If Mark and Emma get back on form, her position just isn't as strong. Her ballroom isn't usually amazing and she never really sells a performance.

Then I think Mark and Emma still have good chances as long as they keep it up and keep improving and shouldn't be discounted on one week alone. However, Mark might find some of female fan base swapping to Matt as the leading male of the competition.

I don't think Claire has a chance and I'm not sure about Carole. I don't think she's got that much more to give and there are better dancers out there.

To conclude, who knows?!

I don't agree with that, I know as a Carol and Matthew fan I'm a little biased, but this is my honest opinion. I think when she dances to her potential she shows some of the best technique out of everyone. (arms and hips are quite weak though and need work) Her footwork and Leg action are really great in Latin and when she relaxes and does ballroom well (eg foxtrot) she has beautiful posture and a great upper spine. The AS was not a fair reflection of her ballroom as it was a bit of a disaster!

I think she has a real problem with selling routines and going for it and this actually hides just how good her dancing technically is. If she can sort it out and perform I think she could really have an impact and for this reason I think she's got a lot left to give and could surprise a few people. However, the performance element is not easy to learn and do, but if she could do it things just might become exciting!

I totally disagree with the title of this thread. I think it's more like 'it's beginning to be an open competition' as things change so much every week. Who would have thought Matt could improve so much three weeks ago, and who would thought Ray would go out last week? Nothing is predictable, which make it a really exciting show! Congratulation to all viewers.

Yes, his "I'm the greatest, sexiest dancer/lover/mover in the world" speeches are starting to grate with me now (and might not be going down well with the voting public at large). He's too full of himself for my liking.
Last edited by mossy2103 : 20-11-2006 at 16:45

Let us not forget he'll be blowing those special kisses left, right and centre!

I'd like him so much more if he just danced!

As others have said, it's still a very open competition...which is really keeping things interesting.

Four of the remaining couples have topped the judges leader board at least once and performed two routines rated 34 points or higher......whilst Carol & Matthew and Claire & Brendan are competent enough to take advantage if the others choke. The public vote is unpredictable but I don't see any reason to discount any couple from the final yet....and anything can happen in the final.

This year is throwing up alot more surprises than last year.

At this stage there is no way I`d put money on who the final 3 will be !

I agree with the Matt part, his improvement puts him on a par with Darren Gough

However I fail to see how a dancer as inconsistent as Louisa should win. She's a good dancer, but not a winning one!!

I'm afraid it is still too early to tell. A bad week (Latin for some. Ballroom for others.) there can still be shock exits. Until we get past those, I don't think it's much about the dancing.

Its definitely a popularity contest and a lot of people wh dislike Emma, are not seeing past the fact that she is an okay dancer and criticising her for no reason

Er, as far as the public vote is concerned, it has always been a popularity contest. SCD is little different from X Factor in that respect.

And a lot of people are voting for her because they were fans of Baby Spice!

Still an open competition.

Matt has basically danced a good waltz two weeks in a row (AS was waltz based) so needs to show improvment in his Latin.

I'd agree with that as a final also agree with Erinfan's earleir analysis... I'm in a rather agreeable mood today

It is a bit sweeping to slate Mark's ballroom when (thanks to the peculiar dance schedule) he has only had the opportunity to perform two of them, the tango and the atypical AS (which ought to have been left till the semis - it seems weird that someone should have to perform it before they do the foxtrot, quickstep or waltz). He also got good marks for these dances. His latin is generally as good as or better than Matt's ballroom and his ballroom is certainly better than Matt's latin. Actually, I'd happily see them both in the final, along with Carole or Louisa.

I think Carol has shown good technical ability but not consistently and thoroughly enough. For instance, whereas say Louisa, Emma and Mark, have shown that they can have good lines, footwork, arms, and hip action, Carol does not demonstrate all of this on a consistent basis. In time, it may come through but she's had quite a while now and she's never shown me great lines, arms or hips, and never totally sold a performance. In comparison to some of the others, this is why I don't think she's got much more to give, because in the time left, she has quite a bit to improve on, and if the others improve at the same rate, she will still be outclassed.

Did anyone else hear his utterance whilst in makeup tonight on ITT - something along the lines of "I'm so good looking" .......

Tongue in cheek < I hope!!>

It might be, but his comments seem to be increasing in frequency, to a point where he is looking so vain as to be unbearable.

Either that or he is the victim of the sort of editing that would get the forum up in arms if it was happening to one of our long term 'favourites'!

I agree with a lot of your post, however yes Mark, Louisa and Emma have consistently good line, arm and hip action, but there is a lot more technique which they are not so good at and very inconsistent with. Louisa and Mark for example still need to prove themselves in Ballroom IMO, both have at times quite poor posture and mark is also quite pigeon toed. Also there are a lot of weaknesses from the hips down in Emma's Latin. She doesn't have strong leg action, makes mistakes in her footwork and often has rough transitions.

I think this at least levels the technique side of things up a bit, if not favours Carol, as arms and hip action are easier to correct than posture and leg/footwork. Don't get me wrong, I think Mark, Louisa and Emma are great and at the moment Mark and Louisa deserve to be in the final more than Carol. My main point is that Carol has got good strong elements in place and if she can learn to sell them (which is what seperates her from the stronger group) she could be great. I'm not saying she will manage to pull it off, performance is a hard thing to master, but the potential is there and so there is potentially a lot more that she can give this competition IMHO.
Last edited by Erinfan : 21-11-2006 at 00:15

Although there is scope for that to take place, Vincent is making too many of those comments for it to be all down to canny editing. He's revelling in it .....

What i find interesting, as an enthusiastic non-dancer, is how my gut instincts seem to be tuned to the overall scores. Or does that mean that the judges are keying the overall scores to the gut feelings of enthusiastic non-dancers?

I don't warm to Brendan and Claire as people, or as a couple, but have voted for them when I felt that the dance deserved it. Same with Matt. I DO warm to Emma and Darren as people, but haven't voted for them as I haven't felt the same pull to their dances.

I don't warm to Louisa or Vincent, or their dances, I'm afraid. I warmed to Peter and Erin, but never voted for them as I didn't feel that they'd won my vote, even with the dances I liked.

In many ways (apart from Latin dances) I'm probably as close to mrs everywoman SCD as you'll get. Maybe that's why I get confused by the conspiracy theories

Latin is a problem, as OH is latin american, and I've seen Argentinian Tango danced by Argentinians for other Latin Americans; I've seen Cuban Salsa danced by Cubans for other Latin Americans.

'Come Dancing' style latin, I'm afraid, usually draws guffaws in our household. The upside is that any latin dance which doesn't draw guffaws gets a vote! (The pro salsa almost choked OH to death since he watched it while eating!!)

Winners? I think it's too close to call, but if I were a betting SCD everywoman I'd go for Mark and Karen, and Matt and Lilia, with an each way bet on all the others for the third place in the final!!

I hope I haven't jinxed them all...