Methinks John talks too much. Maybe he's just naturally chatty. But in the entertainment world, you can be easily misquoted! :sleep:

He can't be taking his dancing as seriously as others if he doesn't even know what dance he's doing. Unless he's doing a VW American Smooth instead of the usual Foxtrot type, then there is no excuse.

Fair enough.

Well, that's John wiped off my 'wouldn't mind winning list', I can just about go with him regarding Kate's ankle, but as far as I'm aware Kenny's dyslexia has come up only once, and that was in response to a question about Gabby and him being competitive, not used as a gimmick.

What has that got to do with the thread topic?

When he said he was doing the Viennese Waltz he said he had started training the day before so i do think he was talking about the next Saturday's dance. However the 3hours a day training is a little concerning and the fact he still is putting the fact the rugby was on down to the fact he didnt get votes. SCD finished at 7.15pm and rugby started at 7.30pm

Nothing - as per normal.

There is of course a separate question, whether amateurs should try too hard thus changing the character of the contest -- a valid point. It was questioned whether some candidates might have started private lessons extra early, unlike John who practised the Viennese Waltz on the eve of his inaugual American Smooth.

The same issues were debated bitterly for years before Wimbledon Tennis Championship went from amateur status to professional. The game was going professional regardless of the rulers, all that happened was that superb champions like Rod Laver excluded themselves, and Wimbledon for a number of years was won by "shamateurs".

The SCD playing field has never been level nor can it ever be level, some celebrities have more dance background than others, and Penny could afford to fly Ian at vast expense to LA.

Gabby tries hard but she is not gifted like Zoe, or beautiful beyond compare like Kelly (some women will hate me for saying this, I'll get my coat ).

At most Gabby will advance to the top of the second rank. Just that I feel every person should be permitted to do the best she is capable of. If anger was her engine and fuel for self-improvment, so be it. Was she trying too hard when she turned a cartwhell then did the splits? Well it brought the house down, and when she went down on the splits I hurt myself just at the thought of it.

Is that why Nicole said in their VT he missed an England game to train instead?

As long as Nicole is happy with the hours he's putting in then surely that's all that matters?

I think John has a valid point about the sobs stories - there nothing to do with how people dance, and John is one of the best male celebs in the competition. I think he'll be about for another few weeks.

If he corrects his posture, he might go far. As it is, if he still hunches (esp in ballroom dances) it will be his downfall (see what happens to Willie!)...

If you listened to what he was saying, you would have heard that until he went through the Dore programme, he couldn't take in instructions without a lot of work - including rugby stuff. The Dore programme gave him a coping mechanism so he could begin to learn. He had a natural aptitude for rugby & football (he had trials as a goalkeeper for some team), but there is a lot of learning involved in dance. A lot of the dyslexia/autism type problems have memory problems as an additional feature. He also said he had a touch of dyspraxia (spelling) - which in the good old days was called 'Clumsy Child Syndrome'.
That is what it has to do with dancing.

Very nicely put!

I'm not sure that being a surgeon is the same thing - for me Gabby's dancing is technically great, but without joy. She's doing it as if she was doing a sport - look at what I can do. She isn't - for me - expressing the music. It depends what you look for.

John was unwise to seem to be criticising other dancers - but I do think that Kenny will have got a lot of votes from people who identify with his dyslexia or felt empathy for him when he got emotional. Whether he said it for that reason is debatable. His intention to do the paso in a kilt with apparently nothing on underneath is an absolute shameless bid for Scottish and women votes - whether you like or dislike him for it is up to you.

I watched it and I didn't take what he said as criticisng anyone. I thought he was taking the p*ss.

jill1812 - sorry, I should have said unwise to comment on the others. I didn't see the interview myself, I was just commenting on what had been repeated here.

As I've already mentioned in my post #2, the POG show he was on was pre-recorded, and so he was talking about this week's dance, because when he said it, he would've only started training for it "yesterday" in his reality (not when the show was broadcast a few days later).

katie is uploading this, so should be on youtube later.

On ITT when Len was asked to comment on John's practising Len made a face. He was severely embarassed as he did not want to be messenger of bad news. "The American Smooth needs to be elegant, is John an elegant man?" he asked Claudia, passing the hot potato.

Later in a clip Nicole in a subdued voice said she was concerned. John who always wanted to put a positive spin on his situation said it was not going well -- on FRIDAY.

i did like John but if its true he said that about Kenny in particular thats really spiteful
Considering he almost was voted out last week he is doing himself no favours at all.

I didn't hear either of those things said - Nicole said she didn't want to say it was going well, as she said that last week and quote 'look what happened'. She intimated that it was going well, and she didn't want to jinx it.

John said he was finding it harder to pick up than the Latin dances, nothing about it not going well.