Not true necessarily , perhaps more indicative of starting off very low and working up .
EG Aled v julian
Aled appeared to not have a big learning curve helped by his natural musicality.
Mark appears not to have had such a great hill to climb as he opened with a good number followed by several more until micgate , which gave them both a shock and the engine stalled for a week .
The way he has got down to tackling the ballroom this week is admirable .

Spot on. Totally agree.

Fairynuff.

IMO Matt has improved that much and come so far on his 'journey' that his dancing has overtaken that of the others in many respects

I said a strong learning curve not steep.
Personally however I think it is admirable the way all of the celebs tackle their dance training.

Oh I disagree I think Aled was often credited for improving a lot especially aided by his weightloss. I think the early part of series 3 Lilia was already established as a good teacher purely because of Aled's improvement.
I think Matt and Emma have had hills to climb. I think the mic incident was a saving grace because Mark had messed up his steps in the salsa before the mic got caught, you can see him lunge too early and have to question Karen for help then spin too soon. Their second go was better than their first attempt. It was a blessing
Last edited by Stella Street : 10-12-2006 at 23:23

Don't want to get into Aledgate again. I did love him but what happens, happens and we have to accept that this not necessarily about the best dancer, it's about an overall package.

And let's face it, that unlike Series 1, when it came to the final, the public who had loved Julian did not vote him through to the last two - their adoration had a limit!

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AAARGH!!! Darren's "machismo" such as it was, was largely based on not dancing like a "nancy" in my opinion. Colin could go from macho matador (Paso) to matinee idol (just about any Ballroom dance he did) to sensual lover (Rumba) in a split second with effortless ease
Last edited by Diamondlife : 11-12-2006 at 04:10

Does anyone else remember Darren's quickstep in the Christmas special? The one where he wore the red tail coat?

I remember being totally bowled over by it - though I'm not a dancer - and he is still the only other celebrity apart from Jill Halfpenny to score 40 out of 40, albeit not in the competition proper. Was it really that good or were the judges just carried away by the occasion?

I often wonder when the celebrities start preparing for SCD. Is it weeks or months? Perhaps they should find out if they can and want to dance beforehand.

For me, Colin was the best male dancer of any SCD series. Recently I went back to watch a couple of his performances on YouTube, and I was surprised to see how much better he is than any of this year's dancers (and I did vote both for Mark and for Matt in this series). Take a look at his AS, for instance, and compare it to what we've seen this year. There's so much talk about how this year the level is so high, but I'm not sure at all.

Colin was genius - end of! I've never quite forgiven Erin for the ridiculous dummy dance that robbed him of the title ( and I know I should be over this by now lol)

Mark is a far better natural dancer than matt or darren - he just has that spark that lights up the floor

I think without Lilia, Darren would have struggeld massively - be interesting to see how he would have coped with someone like Erin for example.

Matt has turned himself into a relatively good dancer because he can't bear to lose - he's soooo competative, which is why he's a rugby workd champion

Mark so much better than Darren.

I remeber the Christmas special and sat opened mouthed as all the judges gave Darren a 10 for his Quickstep. I think it was obvious they had just decided to give it to him

If it's on their take a look at Colin's Quickstep which he received a score of 36 in only the second week I think and a 39 in the final. Look at how confidently he is leading and how he sparkles as he dances across the floor. There's others I could point out as well but I would be here all day

Colin is the best Male dancer ever on Strictly.

Lilia should count herself lucky that Good fortune with Erin's idiotic final dance last year won her the title. She is fortunate this year to actually have a good dancer partnered with her (sorry but Darren was awful!).

But due to the fact that I didn't even feel that Darren should be in the final she has been my least fave to win this series.

It's not the fact that they won that bothers me it's the fact that they were so up themselves and genuinely believed they deserved to beat Colin. Just like Sian and Russel in just the two of us!

If the underdog wins that's fine if the public wants it but the winners should at least acknowledge that they won from public favouritism rather than talent or ability

Frankly I would rather see anyone win than Lilia and Matt (no offence to Matt) but I would like Lilia to get the treatment Erin got last year when you know you are one of the best pairings but the public vote against you anyway!

Also I actually do think Emma and Mark are more deserving, consistent and better dancers!

It's the egg on face syndrome, which we are seeing in Cirque de celebrite this year.

Judges realise that the public have chosen their winner, and the tactic is two fold, if they give them high marks the public may not vote as they think they are safe and they will get voted out!

If the public still vote for them the judges look like they got it right.

The judges gave darren awful marks right up till the last five when it was obvious the public loved him and there was literally a u turn in their marks.

The idiotic GBP would probably have voted for Darren and Lilia anyway so in a weird way it's quite nice for Colin and Erin to have messed it up!

Do you know what's weird I never thought to get mad at Erin, I sort of feel sorry for her that she hasn't got a good partner this year , as she should have won last year!

Also I wish they would give Anton a younger talented partner, he always gets the older women (apart from Patsy) I would love to see him given a really talented dancer and get to the final

Darren gets far too many of the really talented dancers Emma Jill (although in fairness he did have Gloria Hunniford in between!

Have to agree with many that Colin was a fantastic dancer (my favourite last series) who lost the final rather than Darren winning it.

I would put him first, with Mark second, who when he hits the spot, it just brilliant : but I seem to remember Colin found it hard to "earn" a 10 from the judges !

Matt has done really well to come through to the semi's, but it annoys me when I hear judges/people saying his journey has been the greatest : I feel it's just that he has caught up with the others who were naturally more talented from the beginning (not a criticism of Matt).

I would say that whether you like Emma or not, her dances are the more consistent, but I really hope that Mark goes all the way : he just entertains me so much more than the others.

Maryjay

Now now BMlisa. Be nice. I was absolutely no fan of Darren last year and some of his "blokey" utterances. But there is nothing wrong with thinking you can beat an opponent at something. That's healthy competition. What DID annoy me so much about last year was that the BBC only started to feature Colin until far later in SCD (naturally when they were far fewer couples left). And when they did they gave us Colin "I desperately want a 10" Jackson as a back story. Which led to people saying ridiculous things like Colin had no personality. As opposed to "jokey blokey" Darren who was the Improver and Zoe Ball (Tomboy turned Princess).

For me at least last year's final will always have a "what if" hanging over it.....purely because Erin chose to do that stupid Muppet Dance which whichever way you slice it was bound to cost them votes. Instead of that lame number why didn't she instead put on a showstopping Freestyle number which Colin was UNDOUBTEDLY capable of. Erin said at the time that she was taking a risk and I refuse to believe that she couldn't have known that it was a risk that wasn't going to pay off. At the very LEAST the public want to see a couple dancing together....not dancing apart with dummies!!!!!
Last edited by Diamondlife : 11-12-2006 at 10:49

I think it's a totally differtn situation.

I have to agree with those that put Colin at the top and Darren in fourth when comparing the sportsmen of the last two series, even as a Mark fan I am starting to worry about Matt's progress.

BUT as we all know the biggest mess up of any SCD was Colin and Erin's show dance and there is no way that deserved anything.....

I have always said Darren Gough won by accident last year with Zoe being unpopular with the public and 'dummygate'

I will comment that I thought on Saturday the judges did get very mean with ALL the couples, compared to just last week, maybe they had made a group decision to be nasty or as they would put it 'expect more, at this stage of the competition'
Last edited by Hamlet77 : 11-12-2006 at 11:08

Colin was the best male.
I personally think that matt and mark are on an even keel. Matt is better at the ballroom and his latin is improving but mark just has the edge over him in that. I liked Darren and although he was great fun I think matt and mark are both better than him.

1. Colin
2. Matt and Mark
3. Darren

Agree that Matt and Mark are better than Darren.
But entertainment wise i prefer Mark more than Colin.
Colin was technically better but Mark really let it become a show. That gives me more joy.

I think Colin was probably technically better, but I think Mark gives more of a show. Darren wasn't the best dancer but he had (IMO) that same joy in what he was doing that I think communicated so well with the audience.

I don't mind healthy competition and believing you can win but I think it's embarassing for the "winner" to go on, which Darren and Lilia have, in subsequent interviews about how great they were!

Surely they must know as the british public did that they might not have won if Erin hadn't have messed it up!

If I was the winner that would be enough to give me a bit of humility about winning!