Yes, I agree - but Mark and Karen have previously admitting struggling with lifts when they were putting together their American Smooth.

So does Matt and they aren't rugby set pieces .And I think Karen likes to get the hours in as much as Mark , she drives them both hard .I don'tthink eitherleaves anything to chance , whicvh is why teh jive going wrongwas such a shock .
Karen's routines are more full of steps so to speak and that is what takes the tima ,she does tend to go for the difficulty factor .
Remember , they have both done one preferred dance twice and Matt got 10 twice ! so thaytis down to 4, Matt did the samba only recently ( if that is his choice ) Mark ahs to revise the tango , probably with additions and brush up footwork .

I'm sure they will be fien !! ...............I hope .red bull and proplus and Glucose tablets this week .

Which couple do you think will succeed at each dance:

Ballroom: Matt has the edge, almost certain

Latin: Mark has the edge, as long as he doesn't forget his steps!

Viennese Waltz: Matt's VW wasn't complimented by the judges, apparently his flekrl (sp?) was too sluggish. Based on that I think maybe Mark will have an edge

Freestyle: If Karen doesn't mess up the choreography, Mark will have an edge, Lilia's freestyle will showcase Matt's good points better, me reckons, I would say no one has an advantage here...

Judges Choice: Same as the freestyle. It's anybody's game. Tend to think Karen's choreography oftentimes either works REALLY great or goes quite horribly wrong, but always difficult, so that might be their downfall. Lilia's choreography will be more crowd-pleasing, and probably showcase Matt's good points well, but may be deemed too safe if Karen's gamble pays off... Case in point, the AT - Lilia's choreography was good but Karen's was FANTASTIC
Last edited by SCD-Observer : 19-12-2006 at 21:35

I disagree. I think Mark & Karen will be good at free-style and judges choice.

I don't agree that he needs to go over thre routines again and again because he has to. I think its because he wants to do the best job. Karen did say he picks up the routines quickly.

Didn't someone else choreograph all the ATs?
Anyways, hopefully, Matt will succeed and fly at everything!
Matt and Lilia to win!

Why are people saying they will have to learn five dances? At least three will be repeats (or slightly amended repeats) of earlier dances - they'll need some work, but not as much as usual.

They got hints and tips from people with more experience with the dance, but my take on it was that the pros themselves still put that all together and choreographed the routines themselves.

I think the teachers of AT showed them the basic steps, and then teach them how to incorporate them into their own choreography.

I think Darren was particularly unsure of his routines (both AT and Salsa) so he spent an extra day with the AT teachers and had the Salsa Champs (I think it was from Chris the short and shouty guy) choreograph the Salsa (didn't like the Salsa, though Emma did perform it well from whatever's given to her).

I'd say if the pro's were being taught from scratch and having difficulties with the basics, as it looked like from the VT's, then I'd say it was the 4 other pro's and teachers who choreographed the routines.
Nobody has taken credit for anything yet

Agree about the rest though
Don't want to speculate too much just hope for the best.
Last edited by Stella Street : 19-12-2006 at 22:32

But surely they both have already learned the two dances they did earlier and only have to brush them up. The VW they have both done so they will probably do the same routines. Which only leaves the Judges' choice and the free dance. For both of them.
Last edited by Gill P : 19-12-2006 at 22:37

You see, for me, the judges got the VW totally wrong. Matt's was a little clumpy, and you're right about the fleckle, but it was generally good (his frame! *sigh*), and no way deserved a 6.

Mark's was horrendously overmarked. Little sway, no heel leads and horrible posture (although he has improved on that).

Ballroom: Matt definitely has the edge. Although Mark has improved his posture - the waltz was lovely - I don't think it comes as naturally to him as Matt.

Latin: Mark all the way. Again, Matt's improved, but he simply ain't at home in the Latin, whereas on his day Mark really shines.

Viennese Waltz: Hard to call, but I have to say Matt. Agree with previous post about Mark's VW being overmarked (and I'm a big fan of Mark and Karen). Matt's was a big disappointment, but he's well capable of sorting it out (the fleckerl problem, basically) and making a big improvement in the final.

Show Dance/Freestyle: I'd expect Mark to have the edge simply because I think he's the better overall dancer, and he and Karen have that WOW factor, which hopefully Karen's choreography will bring out on the night.

Judges Choice: Again hard to call, but Mark as the more versatile dancer should have the edge.

Good luck to both couples, especially Mark and Karen

Ballroom: - Matt, a class above imo, his posture is natural and overall has a light quality to his ballroom - btw has anyone else noticed he has really tiny feet! I think this must be a advantage in been able to be dainty lol.

Latin: - Mark by miles, basically he has natural rhythem, is the only one who can dance in time with the music, and of course he has the hip movement nailed.

Viennese Waltz: - Matt, think his ballroom ability will win it for him.

ShowDance: - Mark, as long as Karen doesn't do anything crazy with the choerography and she is definitly not as reliable as Lillia when it comes to this. Mark has more presence on the dance floor than Matt and should sell it better. M and K will have to be on form though because i think Lillia's plan must be to go for amazing lifts that will give a lot of wow factor.

Judges Choice: - Who knows, to be fair the song choice should not be to latin or ballroom or it's going to totally favour 1 couple.

Overall winner - My prediction.........Mark.
Last edited by kz_91 : 20-12-2006 at 11:33

DerChef says

Anything can happen on the night but one thing I do expect is a showdance created by Lilia.

They are probably expecting to finish runner up so she will probably take a few risks and push the boat out

Also Matt seems to have alot of faith and confidence in Lilia so if she says he can do it he will give it a good go

Ohhh Yeah

Alas we never got to see Louisa and Vincents freestyle

Ballroom - Agree Matt does have a slight advantage but Mark has improved over the last few weeks so could be interesting especially with Mark dancing the Tango .

Latin - Mark should definitely do well. His latin performances in general have just had that extra wow factor.

VW - I think Mark may be slightly better than Matt.

Freestyle - I have to agree that i think although Matt & Lilia will go for spectacular lifts, Mark and Karen will have that extra wow factor if he nails the performance.

Judge's choice- could be interesting . If both go for a latin routine, then again Mark will probably have the edge. If both go for a ballroom theme then could be anybody's.

Good luck to both couples

I think Mark will stuggle on Saturday with 5 dances. He even seems to struggle with 2 - like when the jive was mistake-ridden to make the ballroom that week good.

However, I think the judges will be ripping out those 9's and 10's for Mark on Saturday irrespective of how he dances as the judges seem to prefer Mark (as exhibited by none of them picking Matt for the final on Saturday). This could backfire though, with Matt getting the sympathy or "it's not fair" vote.

Not sure who will succeed in which dance, although I do think it may be an odd one with Mark scoring better in his ballroom and Matt in his latin.

For what it's worth:
Ballroom - Matt
Latin - Mark
VW - Matt since it's another ballroom (conspiracy!! )
Freestyle - I think Lilia will win on the choreography. She is fantastic at making her partner look good. Karen is amazing but not as consistent and I don't think has quite as good a popular touch. My bet is Lilia will do lots of fantastic lifts and a fair bit of twirling round a fairly still Matt (sorry just my opinion) and Karen will go for something complex that's meant to show Mark off on his own and I don't think will be as crowd pleasing. Unless they hit the magic absolutely (which they can do but would be two weeks in a row and I don't think he can do with 5 dances) it won't be enough.
Judges's choice - won't know till we know the music.

Personally I think 5 dances is ridiculous - how can either of them be dancing better if they have so little time to learn? It's a complete mess-up from the BBC padding out the programme at the expense of both dancers instead of putting someone in the minute Tarby dropped out.

Overall Matt has the popular vote and yet is seen as the underdog - a fantastic combination in reality TV. The judges will push Mark more, doubling Matt's vote. I think Matt is a beautiful ballroom dancer and I think that has the edge of romance for most viewers. When Karen and Mark get it right they are the best dancers I feel I've ever seen on this show, but they aren't as consistent as Matt and Lilia. They are going to have to dance their socks off to win. If they were doing 2 dances, I'd bet on Mark and Karen. With 5, I'd bet on Matt and Lilia. But good luck to both of them, and I just really, really hope that neither makes any mistakes because of packing the show so full.

Exactly my thoughts on this subject.

Who has the popular vote is I think one of the big unknowns. We know Matt had it one week but then he was also the underdog that week and the sympathy vote may have put him just slightly ahead of Mark. Since then it's impossible to do the maths. We just don't know, but I personally suspect Mark has the bigger following in "an even playing field" (that expression is going to become as boring as the journey if we don't stop using it!).

Five dances in one show seems unnecessarily cruel to both of them. Hopefully their families on both sides will understand their complete lack of Christmas shopping for any of them!

With 5 dances I think "success" might be measured by "not ending up in intensive care"

Off topic, but great username!

Thanks

(mild dyslexia )

Matt also has the `j` story, I wonder, had they done ballroom in the first week if he`d still have that tag?

Good point. The second dance he did was the tango and he got 30 points for that: not bad at all and better than both Ray and Spoony.