After having just read the article in the Mail (Ian & Penny thread) I think Gaby needs to get an attitude check. Nobody has a God given right to be first and her sour attitude is going to cost her votes.

I thought they were better than they were scored actually, but it was a bit clinical, there was no real sparkle

I don't really care about personalities but knowing that others do, I think her and Kelly are going to have to watch it. Gabby comes across as cold and Kelly looks like she might have turned into a bit of a diva, non?

I don't have any problem with the contestants taking it seriously - but I do have a problem with them taking themselves too seriously.

Gabby just seems to be over-focussed on the prize rather than enjoying the journey.

She also has the disadvantage of seemingly having a charisma bypass. I find James rather charmless and there is no discernible chemistry between the two of them, so they are not a joy to watch (IMO) unlike some others who are not as technically proficient, but are great to watch - John Barnes for instance.

So I thought Gabby was marked fairly in terms of her overall performance. And she really could use some lessons in graciousness from Stephanie.

I don't think we can believe that article - same as the other one mentioned earlier here - both said that Arlene made comments about her Rhumba.

She didn't dance the Rhumba - if they get 1 'fact' wrong. . . .

Me too ~ loved it. Great choreography, and much more "Fred & Ginger" than Penny & Ian's despite what the increasingly random Arlene said.

Yes quite, Oh dear me!!! Whether this is true or just a gross exaggeration is irrelevant. Gabbys real problem is that viewers are more inclined to believe this of Gabby than they are of say Kelly, Penny or Alesha. Her caustic remark that she'll smile when she gets better marks, is not exactly endearing.

The perception that Gabby is so ultra competitive (even with her own husband) that she wants/needs to be number one so desperately, does mean that many people will read the article, accept there is at least an element of truth and decry Gabby for being such an uptight, miserable competitor.

I thought her QS was better than Pennys and even preferred it over Alesha/Kelly excellent Rhumbas (which I usually regard as a poncy nonsense dance anyway). But having read the article, I can well believe Gabby behaving in this way and so just when I was beginning to warm to her, I've gone distinctly cold again. Though in practical terms it makes no difference, since my proxy votes will only ever go to Alesha/Matthew.

Ah, Mistermind, I've read your posts on here with an increasing sense of "WTF!" but now you're going to have to go on my ignore list as this is just silly beyond belief!

I think you are right - if you enter a competition, you don't usually do it to lose & if you do, why enter in the first place?

I would imagine that several dancers especially the pros from the couples, were not happy with their performances and perhaps even get frustrated & emotional.

That said, they seem to manage it behind closed doors and hide it in public better. Gabby take acting lessons and don't get emotional even behind closed doors (if papers to be believed!)

I don't have a problem with Gabby Logan being competitive or disappointed with her score. But the rather petulant manner in which she expressed her disappointment is what has turned people off her, not the fact that she is competitive.

'I'll smile when I'm happy' (even though you got a perfectly respectable score and are in no danger of leaving this week). it just smacks of her throwing her toys out of the pram for no real reason.

judging by the top story on d/s above even the papers are starting to turn on her

Exactly-behaving the way she did makes her look rather childish. SCD is for grown ups Gabby

I am beginning to find this forum a very un-zen place to be. Very negative things going on - and some of it very nasty in spirit.

I'm quite amazed by those comments myself. I've really tried to like Kelly but she just comes across as someone that if you scratch away the surface you only find one thing; more surface.

As for Gabby - the best way to describe her QS for me was proficient. She has to start to realise that you can't just be technically good and expect to win on that basis. Dance is meant to be an expressive art and so you have to put some expression into it.

Der Chef says

What Gabby needs to remember is she was dancing a quickstep. It has been shown throughout SCD that in tight votes with the "fantastic 4" they seem to give higher marks for a well "acted" Latin dance. Ballroom is so technical that unless the routine is practically flawless it is hard to compete against couple doing for example the Rhumba.

The boys first week showed a similar pattern

BTW I think that until we get beyond week six that each week it should be 2 different dances of the same genre it eliminate this


Ohh Yeah

She'll go reasonably far I think. I'd expect her to be there towards the end, but she doesn't have the warmth of the other girls. She & her husband are very competitive, and I don't think they come across that well.

But that isn't really true imo.

The rumba is also highly technical and is one of the hardest dances there because of that. Many of the ballroom dances have their own characters e.g. the tango is passion, the foxtrot is romantic and smooth, the qs is light and fun, the AS is flashy and showy. I wouldn't say you need to do any better 'acting' in something like the jive or cha cha.

I don't think much of it has been very negative though. People are just saying what they see. I haven't seen anyone accuse Gabby of being an evil witch, just that she's approaching SCD the wrong way. I don't think she's a bad person because of this, it can be explained because of her sporty background, but I am a bit baffled by her attitude.

If you want to see 'nasty in spirit' check out the soap boards 'Petition to get so and so axed' etc. Horrific.

Personally - just my non-dancer's opinion - I can't stick the rumba. I think even the pros look pretty ridiculous doing it, but at least they can do lifts. I always cringe at the non-dancers having to do it, and I really am dreading many of the men this year trying. All that fake passion and silly arms - bleuggh! It would help if anyone on the show could say rumba without using the word raunchy first.

Generally, I'd say Latin tends to be praised or torn apart, whereas ballroom tends to be safer but harder to be perfect in. If you think of most of the often repeated nightmare dances, I think most are Latin. Kate could cling on to Anton, let him drag her round and hope her dress would hide her legs. There is no way of doing that in Latin so the celeb is much more vulnerable to looking an idiot. I certainly don't think that having to do a rumba made it easier for anyone.

Absolutely nothing wrong with it but you have to accept you are not going to win all the time.
It is imperitive that you learn to take criticism and defeat gracefully and never show yourself to be ungracious in defeat

I agree there's nothing wrong with being competitive, but like you say surely as an adult Gabby knows that she can't always win and be the best at everything.

It's good to have drive and determination but she showed no humility or sense of humour and came across as taking the whole thing far too seriously.

I know you can't believe all you read in the papers, but if it's true and she needed consoling for not coming first then that's acting like a 7 year old who's just lost the egg and spoon race at a school sports day.

Other sports personalities have taken part in the show before and they have handled criticism and lower marks with a bit of humour, I don't see why Gabby can't, it's not like she got the tongue lashing that Kate got.

I missed week 1 but have now watched the girls dance. Gabby, Aleisha and Kelly are by far the best dancers. Gabby was under marked on Saturday and Penny was over marked. The dancing is what matters not pettiness fuelled by the tabloid press.

I agree that it should be about the dancing, but unfortunately a lot of viewers vote for their favourite personality and the celeb's likeability goes a long way to them gaining new fans.

Gabby is a very good dancer and I'm sure she will get good marks from the judges, but I feel she will miss out on the casual viewer vote if she doesn't lighten up a bit.

Exactly - Mark, Matt, Martin, Roger, Denise and Dennis all handled the criticism with humour, I think the only time Dennis was mildly rattled was when Craig went too far with his comments.

Gabby take note you can't win all the time

Hmmmm... Me too!

Gabby was probably undermarked a bit but she wasn't the best.

To win, you have to be a great dancer and handle the PR. At the moment she is failing badly at the latter and I'm quite surprised at that.