He was on the phone to ITT though. I don't think he should be slated for not being on ITT, Peter Schmeichel wasn't when he missed it the week he went out.

Bit difficult to have a dance lesson over the phone though!! :P

A "league" is an interesting idea, but in the current format any couple in the competition always has the potential to win. That excitement would be lost in a league type format. Also knocking out the lesser-talented contestants means we get more time with the more talented later on!

The first week of DWTS this year was good though where there was a double elimination (on consecutive nights) and each couple danced a latin and a ballroom, except the couple knocked out on the first elimination - although they got to perform their second dance after their elimination so all their practise wasn't completely for nothing!

Many celebrities on SCD carry on with their work outside the show. I think its unfair to say Gary doesn't love SCD - he wouldn't have bothered to be part of SCD when he's so busy if he didn't love it! In the end the celebrities that put more time in tend to be rewarded and stay in longer and that has probably been Gary's downfall, but I don't think that means he didn't care.

He had it arranged before he knew he's out. Which means he wouldn't have time to come on ITT or practice his next dance. So I think it's a good thing he was voted off and the people who put an effort in stayed.

You don't know the circumstances though, it could have been that Karen was supposed to go to Dubai with him and practice over there, just like Erin went to Denmark with Peter Schmeichel when work commitments brought him over there. He could be back from Dubai today, in which case he would have had plenty of time. It may be that he had a commitment to do this thing in Dubai and thought that this week would be a good time because the boys don't do a solo dance on Saturday. I'm not a huge fan of Gary Rhodes and if he was only doing an hour of practice every day then he deserved to go out but it's unfair to slate him because he couldn't go on ITT when it's happened before.

It coud have been different this time, I am just "working" with what we already know. They had how many weeks, four or five?, to learn the first dance and he produced that awful cha cha cha, he said there wasn't enough time. He's not a natural dancer, but that was under rehearsed, too IMO. Then he improved a bit with jive, but again not enough time. And then we hear he's in Dubai and cannot be on ITT. I am not slating him, I just think he did not realise that SCD needs a real commitment to achieve something, especially if you are not the best dancer. His other commitments are more important for him than SCD and that's fine, but he can't be surprised that he's out now.

I have been moaning about the very biased format for weeks

Its is ridiculous that John has been allowed to do 2 ballroom and no latin and Gary had to do 2 latin and no ballroom.

Its the same for lisa and Christine.
Talk about trying to keep certain people in.

Why and don't give me the old flannel John will have a heart attack if he does a latin if he is that unfit he shouldn't be on the show.

I don't think the format is very fair. I think if you do a latin in week one then you should get a ballroom in the second week and vice versa.

The format hasn't been fair since the first episode was broadcast all those years ago, but now it's really taking the biscuit. You get people like Rachel Stevens being chosen, even though they've spent years dancing with a band (Yes, I know that what RS does on Strictly is completely different from all the things she used to do with S Club, but one cannot deny that she does have a certain advantage over other contestants who've never danced in their lives), this whole boys week/girls week is stupid as it means that people aren't voting out people who should have left, the judges make it clear that they favour some celebs over others, and you've got people who vote for the pros rather than how good the celeb is at dancing a particular dance because they've got a crush on them, so fair is certainly not the name of the game in SCD!

If you want it to be fair, the first thing to go would be public voting. How fair is that that somebody is in the bottom after judges' vote, but isn't even in a dance-off? People take pity, have sympathies and antipathies, how is that fair to those who are better, trained harder, but did not moan about how difficult it is and how much they would like to stay.

So you think the judges' votes are always fair?

There's always a subjectivity to it, but yes, I think they are less subjective than public. It would help to get another 3 Craigs on the show, but then it would be less entertaining. IMO we just have to accept the format for what it is, a Saturday evening entertainment.