I think Matt danced better than Gethin tonight. Last week was last week. As the judges said on ITT throughout the week, they all have had times like that but what you do is move on, that is in the past.

I do feel that Matt was greatly encouraged by the vote of confidence he was given by the public.

With regards to the voting system the producers obviously thought that the public would vote for the better dancers leaving it to the judges to get rid of the duffers it obviously hasn't worked and it is us the voting public who are paying money to vote (does anyone know if more people have voted this season or not?) and IMO WE should have the final say whatever the result.

... his 10 was based on Matt not messing up.

Just on tenterhooks to see if he'd get through.

Not good enough IMHO.

Gethin sadly had a not-so-gr8-week whilst all this was going on.

When did he say that???

That's when Craig explained his voting.

It's not that I didn't like Matt's waltz, in fact I loved it, but the '10' from Craig seemed somehow arbitrary and I'm not sure he's yet managed to convince anyone why he scored it.

Also, for me, the judges picked the wrong dance of the night as the weakest dance. Surely Matt's extremely nervous, hesitant AT was several marks poorer than Gethin's rather maligned paso, which was at least an extremely efficient performance of the dance?

I cant remember him saying that but I'll go and watch it again - BRB

Did NOT like the Gethin paso.
Hideous opening.
But he did a good job with poor material.
Surely not his fault????
Camilla's daft idea?
Therefore worthy of higher marks for execution despite artistic imperfection?

You forgot to put inverted commas around Craig's voting.

Total doublestandards-bet if Emma Bunton had been in the dance off against Matt it might have been a different outcome.

Favouritism is outrageous

Sorry to Gethin and his fans:

His Paso is more than 'weird' choreography:

* Bad banana hands (at times),
* Wrong/bizarre posture (butt should be sticking out all the time for the Flemenco posture)
* Not very impressive cape work.

Eights and nines maybe, definitely not a ten.

I quite liked the paso, seeing the clips of it again

How very bizarre:

This was what Craig said: Well I was (impressed to have given Matt a 10). Matt pulled it out of the bag, actually. I didn't expect him to get through the routine, LET ALONE MASTERED THE WALTZ, to be honest. Matt, we know as judges, is a talented dancer it's only those nerves things that flummoxed him.

Judge for yourself if he gave Matt a ten because he simply got through the routine.

Yes, Craig didn't explain very well why he gave a ten. He was 'sold', that's all he said.

But with regards to Matt's AT: it was far more AT content in 30 seconds than Gethin's entire AT sequence. Matt coped with it really well and the lifts Matt has done for the AT are far more sharp and precise (esp. the last one) than Gethin's. And I agreed with the overall score of Gethin's Paso (though I don't agree with Len's ten).

I wondered about the routines Gethin was doing - while I think he was his own undoing in the paso, the AT simply looked content-free compared to the others.

I also thought Camilla didn't look particularly sharp in the AT so perhaps it's not her dance, which may have affected what she felt able to choreograph.

Either way, I don't think the actual technical content of Gethin's routines was worthy of a place in the final - but I am prepared to be shot down

It may be that the AT is a harder dance for a layperson to judge - and Len hardly gives us much insight with his 'sweaty gaucho' spiel Did you think that Matt & Flavia's AT had more 'AT content' than Alesha & Matt's too? I wouldn't be surprised given Flavia's expertise, but I just found the execution somewhat flat. Agree about that last lift, though.

And what a surprise THAT was!!!

True - but you can't judge Alesha by the same yardstick as La Flavia. Or even La Cam.

Don't think it fair that the AT had to be performed by all at this stage...

Some of the pros have said Gethin's footwork was of a high technical difficulty. A few of them have said that Camilla has not made it easy for him. Gethin was so good at the footwork that he made it look easy which to me makes him a better dancer and worthy of the final. Matt while a good dancer on his good days struggled to remember the routines which makes me think that yes it was nerves (everyone was suffering from nerves) but it could also be that he couldn't cope with the content of the dances. That they were too hard for him so he collapsed with nerves. He's a professional actor so he has been acting half his life he woul have learnt how to cope with nerves at drama/stage school. Most performers suffer with nerves but they learn strategies. He was very nervous but it only manifested so badly towards the end of the competition. Was he less nervous at the beginning or ??????? did he do it for sympathy and I'm sure he didn't. Anyway I'm sure I've said enough still feeling a bit let down by SCD series 5. Off to hibernate

No, Alesha went for kill. Secada (lots, and she did it quite well), Gaucho (sp?) etc.. Just a little story telling in the beginning not AT, but full of it as well...

Thanks... I thought the 'performance' was certainly there with Alesha and Matthew, so it's good to know the content was authentic. Strangely given that he doesn't really do 'subtle', it was Bruno among the judges who seemed to pick up really well on the mood Alesha and Matthew tried to create with this dance.

Absolutely spot on!

If responses in this thread are a guide, the person who was most rewarded was Alesha, since she'll gain from all the resentment swirling around Matt.

Exactly it is a no contest now. I didn't think Matt would stand a chance of beating Aleesha but Gethin could hsve beaten her-had he been given the chance

Most of the resentment is against the judges and the firm though

Absolutely, I have directed most of my venom towards the judges and the Beeb. Only thinh I have said about Matt was that overall he is a weaker dancer who is overmarked

But many seem to feel Matt doesn't really deserve to be there, at least didn't deserve the 10s, even if it's not his fault.