Having seen Kate on ITT last night - why oh why doesn't she pull out now and let a replacement partner be found for Anton.....

It bleeding obvious that she won't be able to dance a quickstep on Saturday and if she does she'll probably do herself some lasting damage, and its just not worth it!

Come on Kate - be fair to Anton - retire gracefully go and get better and do the show NEXT year....

Surely they could let Anton have a bye this week to give him a chance to train a new partner

If her injury is as serious as it looks, I totally agree.

she's gotta milk the publicity for as much as its worth. she's also lovin all the attention and bbc staff fawning over her but i agree she should quit or the beeb should make the decision for her, i mean, could she sue??

Yes well said Carol. If they can let Mark Ramprakash continue to dance after his microphone got stuck in his partner's dress they can replace Kate. It's the same difference.

I don't see the connection!

Giving the professional dancer a chance .....

There's no way that even with a bye this week, Anton would be able to train up another partner, even assuming they could find someone.

It did look pretty bad on ITT. I mean they can't possibly be doing any training so what chance do they have of performing and getting through it on Saturday. It would also be unfair on the other contestants if she got the sympathy vote.

I feel sorry for Anton as he's always so enthusiastic, but since Lesley Garratt he hasn't had partners with the same ability and commitment.

I don't think they have reserves for the show do they?

If he did get a bye this week he would have a better chance to train a fully fit celeb than to sit waiting for Kate.

He might have been able to get someone up to a passable standard if they'd started last week. If Kate will go out early this year anyway, what's the point?

Except that Kate gets a whole load of headlines and turns a dance competition into a major drama. I used to think Kate was quite sensible, but since she got married, she seems to have got into the habit of courting publicity. I know generating a public profile beyond the tv show itself is expected of tv presenters these days, but I think she has got carried away.

Hi Caro - pleeease don't take this the wrong way - but are you a bit erm well ahem - Grumpy today?

How has she courted publicity? I'm sure hurt her foot on purpose so she would be in all the papers.

It's a shame for Kate and Anton, but it's not looking good.

If she's unable to train then there's not much hope of her performing on Saturday.

Well I don't!

I said since she got married she seems to have courted publicity, doing a lot of interviews for the glossy mags about her wedding/baby and a few sensational headlines that I didn't bother to memorise, but were enough to make me think of her differently than I had before.

It's entirely daft to think she'd hurt her tendons for the sake of publicity and no-one has suggested that is the case (except you ) The question is whether or not she is milking the uncertainty in whether or not she'll dance. On GMTV today she even said we'd have to tune in tomorrow to find out if she's dancing.

Some people might think she may as well milk the publicity of her injury, as she'll miss out on weeks of dancing publicity, but another point of view is that Anton could have been given another partner in this time, which is better for him and the show if she's not up to it.

Well i wasn't actually suggesting that. I was just mocking what you had said by being sarcastic.

Has Anton ever been given a decent partner ? I can only remember him with Gloria Hunniford.

Why was Anton not given Kelly, Alesha or Gabby?

You must be the only one who remembers Anton with Gloria Hunniford. Darren Bennett was the pro with Gloria.

In the first series he danced with Lesley Garratt, and although she was the oldest female contestant that year she was very good, she had the musicality and the commitment to do well.

They were excellent at the ballroom and she gave the latin a good go and carried it off well.

I too feel that Anton has been given the short straw with contestants, he always seems to get the more mature contestant with the exception of Patsy Palmer, but she didn't seem to have the commitment or the natural dancing ability that some of the younger girls have.

I know that people have said that Anton would look odd with one of the really young girls like Louisa last year, but I think he deserves a younger partner for once.

I think this year they have the additional problem of most of the girls being very tall so they have had to match them up with the taller men.

To be fair he was matched with Kate when most of us thought he'd be paired with Stephanie.

How the memory plays tricks

Kate is married to Derek Draper, who was a political spin doctor. Need I say more?!

Agree with you sparkle on all your comments. That is really milking it saying that on GMTV. She would know by now I would have thought if she is going to dance or not. That's just annoyed me even more now!

I think another factor in Anton getting the more mature ladies is that he is the oldest male pro on there, so it's probably natural they team him up with them. When they did give him a younger one in Patsy, it didn't really work in terms of partnership. His best partner has been Lesley I agree, not only in dance ability but in chemistry as well.

Anton's latin dancing is not that great. I can't remember a sing amazing latin from him. Pairing him with someone with natural talent would not show the celeb off to the best of their abilities. Anton tends to be there for his fun factor rather than being the best teacher.

I think also Anton tends to get the highly strung ones a lot of the time - if Jan Ravens had been with Brendan she'd have walked, because she couldn't have handled his style of teaching, and I think Patsy's laissez-faire attitude masked a fear of failure. Anton's gentleness and humour tend to keep them (relatively) calm.

I don't think Anton looks so much older that he couldn't have younger partners. After all, it's not as though they have to have an affair! I think I'd find a more mature partner like Anton far less intimidating in terms of getting up close and personal than a younger one like Vincent. If I had to pretend to be in love with Vincent, James or Brendan I'd be bright red the entire time!

ETA his Latin can be old-fashioned. He should get Erin to help him choreograph his routines! But he did do some lovely Latin numbers with Lesley. Maybe he just doesn't know how to make simple steps look impressive in Latin the way the other pros do?

Maybe you were thinking of Esther Rantzen a couple of years ago.

Aw, I did love Patsy too, she gave it a lash, bless her, she just was not very talented in the Latin, but did some gorgeous Ballroom. As always Anton choreographs a beautiful Tango, and P&A's dance with the Rondes and sublime steps really did it for me.

Also Patsy gave us many comedic moments, in particular her declaring live on the show:
"I'm a Cockerney" after the CIN EE sketch with Catherine Tate. I laughed like a drain!

Patsy? Gorgeous ballroom? Not in my IMO!! Tango was her only decent dance. I seem to recall she messed up nearly every routine she did!!