Her Jive looked technically advanced.

She expressed the dance through her body and face.

She captured the attention of the audience.

She was just so exciting and exhilarating to watch!

Yet once again, her performance was met with luke-warm comments from the judges, and a particularly harsh appraisal from Len who insinuated that he'd given up on the girl and that her chances in the competition were doomed.

Rachel & Vincent looked crush. Lost for words even. As was I.

I seriously believe that this pair are being undermarked and overlooked.

Does anyone else feel this way?

Sorry Sid have to disagree with you entirely and agree with Len on this one- it bored me to tears and I was really looking forward to it too.

She was very flat footed and it didn't capture the feel of the jive for me at all. I also thought she was overmarked slightly- no where near enough as Camp Capeman however!

She doesn't project any emotion for me- I think thats what Len has picked up too- maybe??

Theres always next week

She may be good technically, but I was distracted by my tea arriving partway through the dance and was quite happy to take my eyes off the TV screen.

She doesn't have an edge when she dances that makes you want to watch her.

I think the judges are being pretty harsh to them though.

Mind you, I'm not blown away by any of them this year.

Last year, it was different. I couldn't take my eyes off Alesha right from the beginning. At times Matt di A and Kelly grabbed my attention too.

She looked lovely - was clearly trying much harder to show the fun element of the jive (and imo succeeding). She did look a little clumsy in some transitions - but she made a very good job of a complicated and technical routine: Len's comments were unnecessarily harsh - enough to undermine her confidence.

She left me cold at the beginning - but, though still not a favourite, she has grown on me.

I hope she fights back against the sour comments - particularly Len's.

Oh dear - might be just me then! I was captivated from start to finish and was getting all geared up for rave reviews.

I'm not sure who was more disappointed - Rachel & Vincent or me!

Tbh last week I would have agreed with you (although she really does need to perform more). But her jive really wasn't that great, very little bounce*, and I don't think I saw her do one flick from the knee throughout the whole routine, and she could have got away with all of that if she sold the routine but IMO she didn't do that either. If anything I thought she was overmarked.

Just watch Louisa's jive from a couple of years ago and see the difference, much more bounce.

*Tbf the music choice really didn't help in this it's hard to keep up the energy if the music suddenly loses any tempo!

EDIT: Having said that I do agree with Ignazio that Len's comments the past couple of weeks have been harsh. Or at least very dismissive of Rachel, almost like he's 'given up' on her, he basically said this week that no matter what Rachel did she will be dull and will never 'wow' him.

What does rachel have to do??? Change her name to Cherie maybe!! Seriously though, she was by no means the worst of the night but her performance was lacking. She just doesnt grab me.

She is dull, dull DULL. I found her jive very underwelming and I agreed with the judges- but they overmarked her.

My mum who has had ballroom training said she was boring and the routine was pretty uninspired.

I'm afraid I agree with Len, i didn't like it - I thought it was flat and uninteresting, It just didn't grab me

Oh yes. Louisa was awesome! Her jive was fabulous.

Yes that's what worries me most Ignazio.

I think what Rachel has to do is lose herself in the performance.

She suffers from the "Emma Bunton's" imo, she seems to dance by numbers. There is no WOW factor.

I think that the Jive should have been her and Vincent's dance, but sadly it left me cold.

The music, the choreo and the partnership was all there. She has to completely let go, or imo, she will always fall short.

I had such high hopes for her this week. My vote went to Jodie......She demonstrated how to lose yourself in the dance!

But what's happened to Len finding the good in what the celebs do, and encouraging them? His attitude towards Rachel is odd and cries out for explanation.

If it had just been one week, it could be put down to a bad mood or some other random cause; but it's been two weeks in a row.

I agree that Louisa (my favourite ever Strictly contestant!) was in a different league. But I was a bit shell-shocked by the negativity aimed at Rachel tonight, especially Len who basically told her to give up hope!

I agree sid - rachel was excellent AGAIN tonight only to be slated by len again! len's normally fair, but not with rachel! also, what does tom have to do to get fair marks! arlene and bruno overmark him regardless how good or bad he actually was! he could sit on his bum and not move and get 9's!!!!

I don't know why Len feels the need to be so stroppy in his criticisms of Rachel. He could say what he wanted in a different tone and it would be fine.

Is it that he's frustrated that she's perhaps not fulfilling her potential perhaps?

I thougt she was good and slightly undermarked tomight despite agreeing with Len.

A lot of posters on here mention their dancing/teaching experience or that of a friend/relative - but I find it difficult to believe that their choreography is up to the standard of the Strictly Pros.

I thought the routine was good - it just needed a little bit more in delivery.

I thought it was a difficult routine. Not your normal jive, but it looked very good to me.
I could see faults with Rachael's dancing, but I also noted all the good stuff she did. The judges seem to ignore that part.
She definately delivered more this week, and she seems to me to be the sort of person that appreciates a bit of praise as well as the criticisms.
Strange how Len can hold his tounge when commenting on John's woeful dance, but cant for Rachael's good efforts. He and Arlene seem to be judging her compared to their high expectations of her and not compared to the other dancers.

all the steps were there and it was a good performance but it was neither dynamic nor confident

Sid go back and look at Austin's or Louisa's jive and then take another look at Rachel's. I so wanted to love that dance tonight, I love the jive and I was willing her to do well, but it was poor. No bounce, it wasn't tight, no fun and I think that because Vincent is so extrovert it just made Rachel look more introverted.

I don't think having Vincent as a partner is helping Rachel very much, he's too flamboyant, she may have done better with a quieter partner. I think it's the same problem that Heather is having with Brian.

There's nothing she can do if she's constantly fighting against unrealistic expectations.

She's hasn't produced anything amazing so far...but she has delivered a very consistent set of performances...with another one tonight...and yet still people are claiming that they're 'disappointed'. It's beginning to sound quite phoney.

With her (lack of) personality I'm not too fussed...and she's very unlikely to win for that reason anyway...but I don't think she's getting a fair crack. It's not as though the females in general are awash with charisma this year.

I thought Rachael and Vincent's jive was good, she has improved

She does need to let herself go (which I think she can do) and give everything in the tank when on the floor otherwise she will start dropping. However, it won't be easy to let it all hang out if she has Len being so negative to her while allowing other people's weakness to float by uncriticised.

but how can rachel be confident when len (the normally nice judge) rips into her, he did it last week too! like craig with heather, no matter what, craig is mean to heather, and then they wonder why they don't come out with confidence!

Ditto that! I thought it was amazing! Though I have no idea what's technically correct in a jive! But it made me feel happy! Lol! I thought Len was a bit harsh to them, but he seemed to be being harsh to everyone tonight!

I think he's disappointed with her. I get the feeling she was one of his early front runners, and now she isn't living up to his expectations he is annoyed about it. Doesn't excuse his dismissive attitude towards her which I find far more insulting than anything Craig usually says.