I may be being thick but at the end of the program we are invited to vote for favourites. This is after the vote was declared and seems to be asking voters to pre-judge the following week's program.

If I am not right can someone explain please?.

Yup, they do spend the whole time going "vote for your favourites" and then complain when people do! Oh well.

Maybe if they don't want it to happen Tess should stop saying "Remember, they need your votes to stay in the competition" every time someone dances badly

I really don't know why they have the same singers back every year. I mean they are no good with the change of styles. They aren't too bad with some of the older songs, but anything more contemporary and they're all over the place.

So true .

Spoony and Ray both illustrated the problem last year and are both quotes as reasons why the voting system was changed. There's another problem with anti-female bias by the time it gets to the last 4 but this change was meant to deal with the early departures.

They also illustrate the results - we end up with two dancers in the last two last year who were not performing as well as those two when they went out - which undermines the whole idea of an improvement or progrssion story as the people who stood an even better chance of having one were dumped out.

Is there a chance that someone at SCD reads the forums?

Last week apart from one dreadful music selection for the Paso Doble... the band rocked, the band swung and the vocalists were right; if we have to have vocalists!

Would it would happen everytime; and the dancers responded brilliantly.

Now if only we can pursuade the judges to criticise constructively instead of using clumsy, rehearsed metaphors, similes, idiotic alliteration ,delivered as they would be by bad learner amateur dramatic students, we would be getting somewhere.

Soneone should speak to Ms. Winkleman who introduces her guests like the second coming, unnecessary shouting and so on accompanied by cheears from the technical staff, not an audience. We see them working hard concentrating and cheering formally on cue.

This sort of dramatics is nothing more than ego massaging for sometimes, the unworthy.

I now have to turn away from the screen when Arlene tries to smile sweetley in that lemon sucking sort of way.

But we are getting there.

Funny you should say that; I used to think there was a resident werewolf in the audience which whooped and howled each time the dizzy Claudia made one of her orgasmic introductions. Then I found out it was the studio electrician who had been trained to 'whoop to order'.
That Goodman fellow seems to have caught the bug because he stands there whooping each time he comes on for his 'Master Class' (no, don't laugh). Perhaps it's catching!

Dancin' Doc

Having told us time and time again that last week's dance off, according to the rules was to be judged on that dance off, forget what has gone before.

Then amazingly he stands up, reminds us what an amazing 'journey' Matt had had and incredibly seduces the gullible into voting for Matt.

Ok he did praise Gething but no standing ovation.

That was the most incredible and inexcusable abuse of the judges privilige he annointed himself with.

Gething has always indicated he had more to offer. Matt has with few exceptions made you feel he had little left, so that when challenged you felt worried he was about to implode.

As far as his semi-final dance. Watch it again you will have a problem, spotting the emotion, the 'at one-ness' they are always banging on about is not too apparent. No warmth, no passion ; he is stretched to the limit.

It was nice to see the red button judge saying it was good but not 4 X10 good.

I hope the judges are more responsible on Saturday. I hope they all KEEP TO THE RULES.

I can see them criticising the Alicia for not being as perfet as they expect and patting Matt on the head for not falling over.

Why the blazes do I put myself through it every week. I know why, it is good to see genuine talent being discovered and fine-tuned into a skill they can take with them.

Then the public mess it up, now the judges show favouritism, or certainly a lack of judgement.

what a good post - totally agree!