We should be voting for the ones trying hard,not the ones who are natural or have a head start.Its not Kate and Antons fault that Gabby is out.What about Kenny and some of the others.The public/audience are what the programme is made for, its their enjoyment after all,its not a serious world championship its fun tv

They're all working hard - Gabby included. They put their all into training every week and when someone does a good job, it is incredibly unfair that she is voted out ahead of someone who just laughs and stumbles her way through her routine.

It is an entertainment programme, but if all of the strong dancers get voted out and we are left with Kate etc at the end, will that really be fun to watch after ten weeks??

I agree Gaby worked hard Im just saying it would be a shame if people were nasty and said shes out because of x y or z

What's nasty about saying that misguided voters for Kate caused Gabby's downfall? Next Saturday, instead of seeing someone who can dance, who puts her heart and soul into it and entertains, we have to watch another pitiful performance from Kate Garraway - don't people see enough of her on GMTV as it is?

I agree that we should vote for the ones who try hard. Kate Garraway doesn't seem to try at all, though. We were led to believe her uselessness was due to her injury: "Please vote for me, give me a chance to show what I can do..." However, her dancing is getting worse each week, which suggests either that the show is making her injury worse, or that she has twigged that the more hopeless her performance is, the more likely she is to stay in. Either way, I'm sick to the back teeth of her. Can Anton fans please just be satisfied with a glimpse of their man in the pro dances? Either that, or could SCD just drop him altogether as I'm tired of his fan base skewing the vote.

She was also pleading for votes again on GMTV again this morning. She has no shame

I never knew this woman before SCD as I don't watch breakfast TV & do not read newspapers. I must say though this show has really put me off her. I don't care what anyone says (& I'm entitled to say it even if you disagree) her tendonitis cannot be that bad if she is lumbering around the floor like she is, week after week. Imo she used this as a sob-story or she would have backed out like Tarby did, if it was genuinely as bad as they made out.
I do not want to see a cringingly bad performance where I feel sick to my stomach (& angry) every Sat. I watch for entertainment, relaxation & pleasure. She brings me pain not pleasure.
Next week & every week she remains I shall be fast forwarding anything to do with her, even on ITT as well.

Why the hell should she??

It's a tv programme for charity.

Get some perspective she hasn't murdered anyone.

The Beeb stopped Tarbuck, they obviously don't want or think Kate should leave.

She wants to stay and learn how to dance I see nothing wrong in that. I wouldn't vote for her as she's not my favourite, but don't they all want to stay in to learn more? Why should she be any different.

Perhaps a dance class would be more appropriate for her?

I think Kate is working just as hard as anyone else (with her long days at GMTV etc), so shouldn't she also be given a chance? If she was just turning up for an hour's rehearsal a week and treating it all as a laugh, then she would deserve to be criticised. She seems to be villified on numerous threads and that is quite sad - and a little frightening.

I do understand how heated people can get over this, but let's remember that this is an entertainment show, not World War III! And in the same vein, this is a show that started out as celebrities wanting to learn to dance (As Kate has stated this year), and maybe wind up winning a little trophy.

Of course, we all get involved (I was heavily invested last year!), but let's not lose our sense of objectivity here. It's just an entertainment show and although all of the celebs are working/training hard, with whatever restrictions there might be (Willie was working on the snooker, Kate has a full day at GMTV etc, Penny has her photographic career, I assume), and would like to win (some more than others! ), once this is all over and the final dance has been danced, they will return to their other lives and in a few months this will all be a memory to them - one to cherish or not but in the great scheme of things not hugely important.

Likwise, although there may be a small number of people complaining on the BBC website or telephone lines, let's not forget that they are a miniscule drop in the ocean of the vast amount of the viewing public who watch this show as entertainment, vote as they're urged to (for 'their favourite'!!) and then go on with their lives! Equally, DS is an even smaller drop in that immense sea - and as a rather insular society (as boards tend to be), I think sometimes, we allow ourselves to get a bit carried away (and I know how that can be! I got carried away entirely last year!).

Of course, everyone has a different opinion about Saturday and the eliminations and the judges. But I can absolutely guarantee you that if the format was changed completely (as some are calling for it to be), and the judges had the only say, there would spring up numerous, equally heated threads criticising their choices and calling for a return to a public vote!!!

Poor Kate. This is not her fault. It's not Kenny's fault that he was voted over his wife, nor is it John Barnes' fault that he wound up saved over the bottom two. People voted, as they have the freedom to do (it's an inherent and important tenet of a democratic society) and they obviously voted for their favourites as they were told to do. If Gabby and Penny weren't their favourites, who are we to blame poor Kate for that? What's she supposed to do - urge people to stop voting for her and vote for someone else (I can hear all the cries of agreement with that statement now! ) The woman seems to be enjoying the show and learning to dance (even if she sucks at it!), as much as say, someone like Alesha (who also is enjoying it). Just because Gabby and Penny don't have the fanbase to get through, regardless of how good they are (or not, depending on your opinion!), doesn't negate that.

I'm sure there'll be lots to disagree with in this post - that's the price I pay for being so loquacious! - but that's the beauty of these boards as well. We're all entitled to our opinions. Debate can be a good thing and whilst we may not agree with each other all the time, I personally would defend to the death each individual's right to their view!

Thank you for this post. I may not agree with every line, but your last paragraph is very important. Sometimes its hard to express an opinion here without accusations of trolling.

Because she is crap?

You're welcome.

Charming.

Why torture yourself by watching her, if you don't like her? Switch the tv off and do some exercise instead. Exercise makes your brain release calming thoughts.

Did you vote for Gabby on Saturday by any chance? Or did you think she was safe and didn't bother voting?

Well said, Cally's mum.

This program used to be about watching non-dancers learn to dance - and that is what Kate is doing. And for charity. I also think she is getting better and was pleased that Len at least had the courtesy to point that out. She is not a dancer - but wasn't that always the point of this programme? To me the more interesting people are always the ones who have no or limited dance experience at the start, and learn to get better. Whilst it's always pleasant to watch the ones who are clearly talented dancers already - it's not especially interesting. And at least Kate enjoys herself. She takes the critisisms on the chin and has a laugh, pulls herself up and wades back into it with full enthusiasm the next week, even with her crappy scores. Then you get experienced dancers like Gabby Logan who looks miserable when she gets one iota of critisism, even though her scores are great. She sucks the fun out of it. This is as much an entertainment programme as a dance programme - there are plenty of geniune dance competitions out there if that's what you want to watch - all completely free of exposure to the dancer's personality.

I pay my licence fee to be entertained. If I want to donate to a charity, I send a cheque. The BBC receives a licence fee and its priority is to fill its schedule with entertaining and high-quality programming; any money raised for Children In Need is a fortuitous by-product of the interactivity of the show, which lends it its suspense. Obviously, if the public was always fair and didn't vote for donkeys like Kate, some of the suspense would be lost. On the other hand, each series offers fewer surprises as time goes on because, if there's one thing we can all be sure of, it's that Anton du Beke's partner will be a) useless, and b) remain in the competition long after more talented people have gone due to the popularity of her coach.

Paying your licence fee may well entitle you to certain levels of standards - but it does not mean things get to be done exactly as you want them. If you loved every single contestant in this program, wouldn't it kind of defeat the object. Everyone has their favourites and their least favourites. And it seems that, at the moment, the majority of licence payers watching this program are more than happy with Kate staying in. Sometimes the majority goes your way, sometimes it doesn't.

I don't believe I said it did. Only a fool would expect such a thing.

It is, however, supposed to be a competition about learning to dance and some people are clearly making better progress than others. The problem, for me, is that they do not seem to be starting with a level playing field, as it appears that some people will vote for a specific pro however poor a teacher/talentless a pupil the pairing.

In the interests of fairness - and in making the competition more interesting - I think it might be helpful to weed out some of these too-popular teachers (Make them judges? Give them a dance to do?) as it must be very demotivating for the celebs who put such a huge effort into dancing as well as possible to know that, actually, they might do better if they try less hard and get a sympathy vote, or - if they have a popular teacher - that little effort is required on their part. In the long term, the cult of the pro is rendering the competitive aspect of the show a bit meaningless, IMO.

Poor Kate is really not very good , she can't help that .I think she is trying but is unable to try hard enough and is making scant progress ,. She does have as much right as anyone to stay and try to learn more .
I find it embarrassing , for her , and myself, to watch . But she has obviously passed that now and is having a good time ...I think !
I shan't be voting for her and I think she has had her day on the show , but many others don't .

Great post again Cally's mum !

You certainly implied that since you pay your licence fee you have the right to be entertained - to entertain you specifically all the time, the program would have to be run to your specifications - as at the moment it clearly isn't satisfying you.

And I think you're very right - there is [i]not[i] a level playing field. Some dancers end up with more popular teachers, but also many of the competitors now have a very strong experience in dancing before it starts. How is it fair to compare someone like Kate with Gabby on a technical basis, when Gabby has clearly been dancing before and Kate clearly has not? The fairest way to balance this is to give those with less experience a more well known teacher. Also, I don't think Gabby had improved. She was still a brilliant dancer, but to be honest I didn't see anything different than what I saw in Week 1 and if anything she seemed a little stiffer and not as relaxed.

Like you say, this is a competition about learning to dance - which is what Kate is doing. A lot of them are just learning different styles of dancing, but already know how to dance. Kate is certainly doing a lot better than I would!

If it was truly a charity thing then ALL of the 25p would go to CIN, but only half does.