Just watched the SCD last night this Sunday afternoon...

At the rate this is going, it's true what Len said, 'Girls Girls Girls and bye-bye Boys!'

I mean, NONE of the male celebs this year is anywhere CLOSE to the likes of Mark, Spoony and Ray last year when they first danced in SCD4.

I would say I was surprised by the performance of John Barnes! He's quite hunched (like Ray last year) but does have rather good rhythms about him.

Dominic actually looked rather promising too.

None of the younger, handsomer guys are that brilliant. You thought they would do better, but it was anti-climax all in all...

Sigh...

Hopefully the competition hots up next week!

Yes, the boys were a bit rubbish last night, but so was Matt Dawson last year, and he made the final. I just wish we could have seen more of the girls last night, as at least four of them look like they are going to be brilliant.

Yes, I hope the boys won't crumble under the criticisms and pressure and gave their best fight!

As for the girls, the ones that light my fire are Alesha and Penny!!! Wooooh!!!

Kelly tried too hard to look like she's enjoying it and Gabby just tried too hard! But I have to say Gabby might be the best technician among the contestants!

As for Steph: If I were your mother, I would say, 'Show your flesh once a day and then DON'T!'

Agreed with her! I mean what is Kelly doing wearing THAT outfit in the group dance training session? I thought summer is over?! I know she has a fantastic body, but why the need to show it off among the other female celebs. Methinks she might have some insecurity complex going in there somewhere...

It's totally a girl's year. The girls will wipe the floor with the boys, no question.

Yeah, suddenly the DWTS guys are looking better by the minute if I were to compare it with SCDV. I mean did you see Helio? His American Smooth Foxtrot on his first performance was miles and miles better than any of the SCDV boys!

What a shame...

I think that the lack of good males is probably a conscious decision by the producers. I mean, we have had two male winners in a row so it is really the turn of the ladies this year!

Unfortunately I have to agree with your post. I`ve stated in other threads that the girls are premier league and the guys performed like a pub team.Early days yet but it will be a travesty if the girls start getting voted out ahead of the guys.

Can't seem to disagree. It's not a bad thing, just that it's more 'even' in terms of dance talents between the boys and girls last year. Makes it more fun and exciting to watch this way actually...

I actually think the girls being a lot better may be good for the boys, as it will perhaps spur them on to work harder.

Spot on SCD-Observer. The apparent lack of any real competition from the boys may lead to many seeing the result in favour of the girls as rather predictable and therefore less entertaining.

With both the boys and girls challenging last year, it did make for a very even contest well into the latter stages, and this must have enhanced the excitement surrounding the series.

My concern is that if the boys as a group fail to seriously compete with the girls you will generate less interest, followed by a consequent drop in viewers. The buzz associated with last years show simply wasn't there last night (apart from Alesha, of course).

Very early days though, and am hoping that Matt, Gethin and maybe John can improve over the weeks and give the girls a run for their money.

I fear that both average viewers and votes placed will be below, possibly even well below, those for the last series.

Agree completely - John and Dominic both surprised me (John in particular, he's got rhythm!); but then the two I thought would be good, Matt and Gethin, just looked utterly terrified and stilted.

I'm hoping the latter two improve, otherwise I can see an all-girls final!

Funny thing- the average mark last night was exactly the same as the average mark for week one last year!

There was only (IMO) one real dud, the others all scored higher than Matt Dawson did in week one and he ended up in the final! There was no-one last night who seemed to have instant potential, there were a few who could probably get better.
I could certainly see Gethin turning things around in the next two weeks, maybe one or two of the others as well.

ETA actually looking at it again the average mark last night was very slightly higher than this time last year.

I'm sorry but I really cant see what everyone thinks was good about John Barnes dancing -he was to use a CRH quote ,dull,dull,dull ,the one who showed most promise for me was Matt ,he had the best posture of anyone and once he starts to enjoy the dancing will be strong competion for the others!

The standard was very average across all the boys last night, no one was terrible (even Willie Thorn was alright), and no one shone in the slightest. If I had to pick a fave I'd choose Dominic, as I thought he was the best, or maybe just most surprisingly not awful!

I have no idea who's going to go out tonight, or even be in the bottom two, which is very unusual. It could almost be anyone except Jon Barnes, who'd have to be very unlucky to end up there because he's ranked first in the table.