So true. Whoever leaves will be sadly missed. And talk about surprise - suddenly it isn't a foregone conclusion any more.

Well said

Yeah - I was wondering whether it would be kinder to have him go this week - its been a bit of a downward spiral and is a week long enough to pull him out of stage fright????

Likewise both Alesha and Kelly have messed up their routines but have managed to carry on.....In Alesha`s case we barely noticed their 20s improvisation. I`am also of the opinion that Matt was just overwhelmed by anxiety (Stage fright ) from which he was unable to recover. However I would never criticise him as we all react differently under pressure. If he does survive this week then he should take another look a Letitia`s performances tonight. She`s not the greatest but she`s got balls of steel.....and what about Darren:with his guidence she`s managed to control her fears and perform to the very best of her abilities.

That's a very good point. I wouldn't like to decide who goes

The one thing that should be mentioned in all those cases (as well as Mel B) was that it was the man that was leading and was the proffessional in their cases.

HOWEVER, Matt's second dance proved it had nothing to do with not being able to improvise and lead - it was stagefright - he didn't have to lead flavia in the samba - actually he could have just followed her or if his mind had been in the right place, made it up - but he just had a complete mind block. I do feel for him - but Letitia has overcome more in a way because she is much older and has less physical ability....its a hard one to call..

Balls of steel, lol, but yes, she does.

And no, I wouldn't want to be picking it, either...

Didn't they say on ITT last night that Matt was having to have hypnotherapy to combat his stage fright??

I don't think it worked very well, I think if anything it's made thing's worse

The thing with the hypnotherapy is that it all adds to the feeling that his nerves are such a HUGE thing. I can't see how it can help that much - it doesn't seem to have done so on tonights evidence.

As other posters have commented.....if Matt really is suffering from anxiety then the judges may actually be doing him a favour by not saving him if he finds himself in the bottom 2. At the end of the day it`s only a TV show and it`s not worth mental turmoil if he really is suffering.....as it will only get worse next week.

Well Letitia is always so nervous during training.
Matt is relaxed during those.
Training takes much longer so then it is kinder for Letitia to leave

Yeah, I agree with you. It's quite uncomfortable having to watch him suffer

Well done Annie. Amidst the welter of postings the only one I have seen to intuitively locate the source of the problem.

Flavia has a penchant for sophisticated advanced avant-garde choreography. Matt's quickstep was acknowledged by the judges as technically the most ambitious and complex in SCD ever. In the event Matt did a brilliant job thanks to his youthful agility and reflexes. Nevertheless he tripped, and had he come down Flavia's high ambition would have fallen to the floor, not much better than tonight, shattering Matt's delicate confidence.

Despite that near-miss Flavia continued assigning demanding choreography. Last year in week 9 Karen gave Mark an assignment of samba and foxtrot, the same two dances as tonight, except that tonight was week 10. Mark neither understood nor mastered his foxtrot, resulting in his worst performance by far. Arlene took Karen to task, why did Karen set Mark such a hard task so late in the compo? Mark admitted afterwards he found the foxtrot his hardest. One year on Karen quietly conceded on TV she had made the wrong decision.

That night Mark scored second-lowest of five candidates, and could have gone into dance-off or even exit, but phone voters rescued him. Mark recovered better than Matt, scoring a total of 61, against Matt's 55 tonight. One year on, deja vue.

It has to be remembered that 20-year-old amateur Matt is the junior partner. He can only do what he is assigned. And the syllabus with foxtrot as one of two dances proved beyond him. As Craig pointed out, even before he fell apart, the performance was inadequate. Foxtrot would have been hard for any firstimer except Kelly.

I like Matt a lot and Flavia is simply lovely but I don't think Matt can cut it anymore, and it makes me sad.

I felt genuinely sorry for Matt tonight - it almost seems like both of them are focussed so much on "getting to the final" pouring unnecessary pressure on themselves.

I can totally understand that type of mindset....almost feeling the consequences of failure before you've even begun. Argh it's such a pity. You want to scream who cares what happens, just enjoy yourself be in the moment!!!

(And soulmate61 in some ways I think you might have a point. I think Flavia's nerves might have come through in the same way that Karens's did....by creating a really difficult WOW routine at a time when perhaps a simpler safer dance would have been more strategically useful.)

Enjoying yourself in the moment seems to be the approach Tish has managed to develop this past couple of weeks so tonight, although not technically adept, her jive was performed with real enthusiasm. Matt looked like he wasn't really there. I really felt tonight for Matt too. I think it's a hard thing to help him with though as ultimately the change has to come from within him - he has to somehow change the mindset with which he is approaching the dances.

Tessa found Matt to be physically trembling in the back room after his foxtrot. Letitia with her bodyweight was gasping for oxygen standing before the judges after her jive. Kate was white and shaking with pain when she finished her paso with injured ribs.

A high price for fame.

I agree with you and it's difficult especially in terms of the show as such a lot is down to timing .... it's a bad stage in the competition for nerves to kick in.

I hope IF Matt &Flavia are in the dance off, whatever the result may be, he can enjoy it ...... if he forgets the steps hopefully he can cover it up (like he did in the jive) or perhaps go for some free style wriggling and just have a laugh

None of us are Matt's best friends here so I doubt you can say he hasn't been through a crisis like this. I agree with what someone said below, age shouldn't be brought into this at all. :/ The simple fact is he lost his nerve and I think at 20, he may have had some more "crisis" than this, his just human, I know if I'd got to that stage with millions watching me I'd be a bag of nerves too. :/

Bless him, I feel sorry for him. To me he is a much better dancer than Letitia and should stay if it went on that alone but on tonights performances he has to go!
anne75 maybe your correct, good point!

As you say, probably just paper talk - Matt is lovely but very immature (yes, I know he is ONLY 20!) and Flavia is all woman!

I've just watched and I don't quite know what to say. Mostly I'm annoyed at him for seemingly giving up his foxtrot, he's usually so good at just keeping going. I wanted to give them both a great big hug after that. I didn't enjoy their samba at all.

What is the nonsense about being only 20. He should be at his peak at that age, both in learning ability and being able to retain the information.

For a start, how did he mess up last week??? His rumba was great and his tango was good too, even though it wasn't his best dance he didn't "mess up". It just seemed like it because Gethin was the centre of attention, Matt just looked dejected and the "I'm so sorry" to Flavia being flagged up everywhere. I don't agree at all that last week was a 'mess up', it was just a comparatively bad week for him.

As a fan, I'm torn too. On the one hand I think he should just go because I can't see him recovering next week and people are going to be horrible to him for 'taking someone else's place'. There'll be more pressure next week (particularly because of the AT) and if he messes up again he'll get a right old slating. But of course, on the other hand, they are the most exciting couple to watch (much more so than Letitia/Darren) and my interest for the show will quickly dissipate when they leave.

Twenty is not young, at this age a normal person would have to finish their GCSE, A Level and if they are good, they should be in year 2/3 at the University and is about to start a career. In fact, it should be an absolute advantage in terms of dancing, as we know all the professional dancers learn at young age. The fact that he is younger should make it easier for him to learn the steps. Letitia is 40 and so technically it's a lot more difficult for her to learn dancing, but she managed to put in respectable performances.