I am sure that you have all put your views on other threads but I am drawing my thoughts down here as I cannot post a million thoughts on other threads it would take too much time!!

I hope that the twist of no-one being knocked out happens on semi final night. The thought of 2 finalists just does not appeal and I am not sure that the Beeb could fill an hour and a quarter with just 2 finalists. I want to see 3 show dances- maybe I am greedy!!

I have uncertainty on who I want to win for several reasons and it is difficult to explain

Matt- I enjoy his and Lilias dances and would like them to win as I enjoy their chemistry and Matts sense of humour (sarcasm and taking the p**s is what i am used to). However I would like a new pro to win.

Mark - I like his enthusiasm and smile! and I would like a new pro to win it. I like Karen and the obvious friendship that exists.

Emma - I have enjoyed some of her dances and am more swayed by the support from the other pros ( Erin and Anton in particular). However I would like a new pro to win again, and do not believe in the friendship with Darren, it seems more work colleagues than the genuine friendship of the other 2 couples.

My vote will depend on night and how horrible the judges are- if they show too much brown nosing then I will vote twice as much elsewhere.

Mainly I hope that there are 3 in the final as the SCD fans deserve it.

I would love a final of three

Well I think the no-elimination scenario is quite plausible...

I agree, a three way final dance off would be much more entertaining for all of us, but what do the BEEB have in store for Saturday 16th December?

Mark And Karen.. You're Still My Favourites X

I would prefer no elimination on Saturday followed by 3 great dances in the final and Mark being crowned the winner!

I would love to see three in the final, so much more exciting!

Nighty night All.. I'm going to watch "The Thomas Crown Affair" now.

The lovely Renee Russo makes it easier on the eyes too

Mark And Karen.. You're Still My Favourites X

After last weeks show, I can only think that the BBC are making it up as they go along. The second show was so full of padding is was painfull.

I can't see how they can keep the interest in the final with only two couples/four dances, even if they bring back all the eliminated couples. Perhaps they could bring back Jill from series 2, so that we compare her to Emma. No contest me thinks!

I emailed the bbc with the idea , for the fact that each of the 3 at the end of 3 months, deserves to be there , emma for her consistency ,matt for hs improvement and Mark for sheer exuberance and enjoyment always ,and real brilliance fora learner .
So for me the ideal outcome on Saturday ......... no elimination at all .
email as well folks , who knows ?

I know what you mean. They should have either evened up the numbers after jimmy tarbuck left or they should have had a no elimination week....and in my opinion, its still not too late for that option.....they could carry the votes cast over to next week.

The final with only 2 couples just doesnt seem right!

Likewise. The three of Emma, Mark and Matt would be a genuinely exciting final. The outcome would be far from certain.

But I have a horrible feeling someone will be knocked out Sat and the final itself might be an anti-climax.

I will feel sorry for the couple that go this Saturday. Under normal circumstances they would have experienced competing in the final.

That is true...that makes it seem even less fair

I am excited to watch the dances on saturday.

The quickstep - my personal favourite dance

The foxtrot - I love ballroom and like this dance as well

The Salsa - I want to see if Emma can put in a performance that shines as much as Marks did. She will need to really bounce and enjoy it.

The A Tango - I hope and pray that Vincente is doing red button commentry as I will be interested in knowing his thoughts on this.

Great idea. I hope we will have a 3 couple final then .

At this stage I'm pretty much convinced the "surprise" this Saturday is all 3 will go through to the final - there will hardly be another dance-off??!! - I reckon final 3 couples know it too!!!
A 2 couple final?????? - Can't see it??!!

The whole point of SCD ios to make money for children in Need. If they had a no-elimination week they would not be allowed to have a phone vote with which the public would have to pay.

Also, the plan to have the final means that they would not want to miss the ratings it would get rather than just cut it a week short.

Also, Bigears, it seems you have different view to voting than some people: don't go for the best dancer go for a couple for reasons that have nothing to do with the dancing but the people themselves.

A strange comment about Darren and Emma being more work colleagues than friends: it is work for both of them. For the pro dancers dancing is simply about making money. The fact that they are making money from something they enjoy and is fun and gives joy to others makes it even better (lucky sods).

If I was a celeb I would want to be part of a partnership that was serious about it and treated the trained and dancing like work. It means you get the most out of it and suprisingly by working harder the final outcome is usually better and you enjoy it more and usually give a better performance and therefore make the public enjoy it more.

Not sure about the likelihood of no elimination. On the BBC website, the program synopsis for ITT on Monday says the unlucky semi-finalists will be on the show. Also, what would the point be of the second show if there are no results?

I would have preferred three in the final and the beeb should sorted this out when Jimmy dropped out e.g. brought in a reserve, it was early enough not to cause to many problems. They have been lucky that this hasn’t happened before with all the physical effort required over such a long period. Perhaps they will be prepared next year

Can’t see there being a dance-off though as this would effectively leave one couple as the winners!

alfster:

Is it wrong to have a different opinion? (well only in a dictatorship!!)

We could go over the old chestnut of whether this is a dance comp or voting for faves but it is being done to death.

We could also go over the whole conspiracy stuff again done to death.

We could also go over the fact that the best dancer is X when someone else thinks it is Y.

But I think not. These were some evening ramblings, my thoughts and opinions, that I wished to share. I may vote on Sat, I may not. Isn't it better to share your views than be jumped on for them.

BTW I would guess a lot of people vote against the judges otherwise you wouldn't get the bottom 2 situations that have occured.

Also I think all the dancers work hard, you can see by the number of hours trained. But to expand on the comment on work colleagues, it is a chemistry thing in the fact that Emma gets a job done without perhaps showing the joy in the dance. That is my opinion where as you get more seemingly genuine emotion out of the others which does not bode well if Emma wishe to act after all this is over.

Finally, the whole point of SCD is not CIN, it to fight ITV's X Factor and is about ratings. CIN is a nice sideline but is not why the show is on. If it was then if ratings fell a lot the show would still continue.

My thoughts on this Saturday:

-I have a feeling Mark's Quickstep may be his best ballroom to date and earn him that elusive 10. I hope now that he has conquered his ballroom hold he'll be able to maintain it in a speedy routine like the Quickstep.

-Matt's Foxtrot should be outstanding.

-Not sure about Emma's Salsa. I know she has produced some technically excellent routines, but I actually don't think she is capable of producing a latin routine that can match the impact of Matt's ballroom. Obviously it's a matter of taste, but for me she doesn't inject enough personality into these routines... with the result that I don't feel interested in them even when the judges rave.

-Argentinian Tango I imagine will be quite amusing... impossible to predict who will come out on top.

-I wonder if Emma will be top of the leaderboard, and if not will she get a bit more support? I have gotten so used to thinking that people won't vote for Emma, but it suddenly occurs to me that they have never been bottom of the leaderboard before... maybe this would inspire people to vote as it seems they did during the dance-off?

-It really is anyone's game at the moment, and like a few others I would be happy to see no elimination this Saturday. I don't agree that there would be a problem with having the phone vote as normal- these votes could roll over to the final. A two-person final wouldn't have the same impact in my opinion.
Last edited by katie_p : 14-12-2006 at 13:29

It's more than plausible, its a dead on certainty if (i.e. when) Emma & Darren look likely to go.

I would much prefer a three-couple final, but if it happens due to a no elimination week now then I will be rather annoyed. That would mean that Louisa and Carol were unrecognised semi- and quarter-finalists respectively, and I think that should be acknowledged. It seems more fair at this stage to persist with the two-couple scenario, even though it makes the judges totally redundant on the night (it's just about who gets the most public votes, isn't it?).

But even with three couples, the one who gets the most votes will still win.

I don't really agree that it would be unfair to Louisa and Carol- Louisa came fourth whatever happens this week. Whether or not she was a semi-finalist is quite trivial IMO. I actually agree more with redkate- it's unfair on whoever gets knocked out this week, as that couple will have come third and would normally get to compete in the final. This is not a trivial point.

I know, but the judges would have an effect on who comes second and third. It just saddens me a little that the judges' marks wouldn't have any consequences at all in the final.

And I agree that it will be unfair on the couple who leaves this weekend. It may be trivial, but I still feel bad that Vincent won't be recognised as a semi-finalist in his first year on the show.

I see your point. In a way that's an argument to have no elimination this week in order to keep a three-couple final, but I honestly don't care if the judges have any say in the outcome.

I think I was probably overstating things to say it's a trivial point whether L & V were quarter finalists or semi finalists, what I meant really was that it is trivial compared to not being able to dance in the final. However Vincent will still be recognised for coming fourth, semi-finalist or not.

I think we're in agreement really! The only reason I think it's slightly more important than you is that Louisa/Vincent and Carol/Matthew were my two favourites, so I'm disappointed that they won't get the extra recognition that they would have had for coming 4th and 5th in previous series' (I mean, 'quarter-finalist' sounds more prestigious than '5th place' to me). But their situation is comparatively trivial, because their Strictly experience would be the same either way (except for Vincent missing the chance to do the Argentine Tango with Louisa), whereas if someone goes on Saturday they will be denied the experience of the final, which they would have had in any other series, and in this one had Jimmy not withdrawn.
Last edited by littlealbatross : 14-12-2006 at 14:46