As soon as John is in the bottom two he will be off.

What makes this really tricky to judge is the fact that beyond John, there's no really weak dancers left. He could easily stay in on public vote alone (although now there aren't any other weak ones he may struggle to retain his support) and we may end up with two good dancers in the bottom 2 tonight. Everyone from the footage seems to be having a fairly good week (even Austin with the dreaded rumba!). Christine is the unknown factor, but Arlene seemed impressed so....

I think this really will be interesting tonight.

I'm not particuarly a Heather fan (was to start with). However although she hasn't scored well in previous weeks, I thought her tango with Brian was looking really good on ITT on Wednesday. If the judges score her highly on this then it would be difficult for them to justify voting her off if she does badly with the audience votes (as well as unfair).

I suspect John's vote is holding up well.

I think it's going to be a shock exit this week. I just hope it's not one of my favourites

Iy would be funny if one of the big 5 (Lisa, Cherie, Rachel, Austin or Tom) take the bottom 2 slots and are out.

However it will probably be Heather and someone else

I don't think it will be a shock exit. I think the bottom two will either be Heather and John, in which case John will go, or Heather and A N Other, in which case Heather will go.

It's clear Heather doesn't have enough public support (shame, cos I quite like her) and we don't know exactly how much John has. The judges won't keep Heather over any of the other contestants - the only possibly vulnerable one is Christine, but even then I think the judges would keep her.

Having said that, my predictions always suck!

I think Heather will be gone

Well I think it could all get a bit uncomfortable. Suppose one of the top 5 isn't on form tonight (Austin and Tom for example are looking a bit iffy), but Heather dances well (as I said she was looking very good on ITT). If the judges follow the rules it would be former which would go.

Obviously if John is in the bottom two there is no dilemma.
Last edited by Vivacious Lady : 08-11-2008 at 16:01

The judges don't follow the rules though! They have a history of saving on "potential", they did it with Matt DA last year.

I think that would be very interesting indeed

I really do hope we have one of the "top 5" in the bottom 2 to stir it up a bit. Tonight could be the first real indicator of the top celebs popularity with the public and im very interested in that.
I hope Jodie escapes as she is my favourite, but again although she is popular "on here", that may not necessarily be the case "out there". I wouldn't want her to be against someone in the top 5 because I do not think she would survive. Nail biting week

As Alli-F says, I don't think they'll judge the bottom two on the night then. They'll rate it on overall talent, overall performance and risk the flak they may recieve.

It's not like The X Factor where the 'rule' states that the sing off must be judged on the final performance. The SCD judges can rate the dance off however they want to.

I agree that when it comes down to it the judges do tend to do what they want to do. Even so it would get the message boards going!

(I know you're an Austin fan and I'm not suggesting that I would want to see Austin in the bottom two! I think his vote will hold up anyway, but I'm not so sure about some of the other dancers.)

Ah, but how likely are they to give Heather a 10 that they can't really subsequently back down on?!

I don't have any hunches but I hope there's a bit of a this week...even if it means one of my preferred couples e.g. Rachel & Vincent going.

Having said that, this could be the week when John finally gets rid of someone half-decent. I like him a lot but the joke's over now.

We know Christine has a lot of popular support because she's been in the 'dangerous' middle of the board more than once and survived. Same, slightly less so, for Lisa. I think she's in much less danger than Austin/Tom/Cherie/Rachel if they have a bad night, who may be assumed by voters to be safe. I think Cherie needs to be very safe at the top of the board to get rid of the memory of the salsa.

If I was betting, I'd have to go for Heather and John or Heather and one of the four listed above, unless Jodie has a terrible time, which I'm not expecting.

I love John but I couldn't face all the reaction he'd get if he stayed in and Tom/Lisa/Cherie or Christine went.

How likely is it that Heather will get a 10?

Even if she does a perfect performance it'll be awarded a 9 at most. And then other weeks will come into play.

There are only two dances I think may get a 10 tonight - Austin's (if he nails the Rumba) and Cherie's. Not only because of their performances, but because they tend to be the two dancers (IMO) who are overmarked the most this series.

I don't want to open a can of worms here, but I fear I have.

If the others also dance well then I agree that Heather would probably go when it came down to the judges votes. So I'm not really talking here about the distinctions between 9s and 10s (or even 8s and 10s).

The scenario I'm talking about is where one of the other top dancers turns in an obviously under par performance because the dance doesn't suit them, and gets 7s and 6s say, whereas Heather does a wow! performance. Heather's practice footage indicated that it wasn't beyond the realms of possiblities that she could get a high score, although her nerves may come into play.

But you're right, the judges will play to their own rules probably!
Last edited by Vivacious Lady : 08-11-2008 at 16:32

I think a shock final two might be good for the show actually. It would shake the show and stir up some controversy. I'd love to see one or maybe two of the teachers pets, Austin/Cherie/Tom/Lisa in the bottom two. We know the public don't like it when there is blatant favourtism.

I think Rachel would be safe even if she did a bad dance because of all the S Club fans voting for her and Im not sure she is as favoured by the judges as the others already mentioned.

Ok, I hold my hands up here as a Cherie fan. However, given she is dancing the waltz tonight, I'd be surprised if she scored badly, since this is a dance which suits her. (Don't really want to get into an argument about previous weeks' scoring. )

I reckon Heather and Christine or Jodie or Lisa in the bottom two and Heather to go. The judges can't save her a fourth time.

Well that didn't bloody happen last week. (I'm looking at you Cheryl Cole.)

I wish the judges could just be honest about the dance off. I'm sure that a brief statement about a combination of factors being involved would satisfy the average viewer. Of course the likes of Austin/Tom/Rachel etc shouldn't leave ahead of Heather - even if they produce a woeful performance. Previous dances and even Heather's apparent lack of support should be called into play. However, the judges should stop trying to pretend that they don't have an option but to judge on dance off performance. (Think CRH semi final last year). They do.

The dance off should only occur if the dancers in it are of a similar(ish) standard overall. An Austin/John dance off, for example, would be a farce and shouldn't even take place.

That'd be very interesting then: with the numbers dwindling even being in the upper half of the judge's leaderboard may not be enough to keep her out of the bottom 2.

Then...I honestly don't know. Depends which one of the top 5 she's against and their relative performance on the night. I think Austin'll be saved whatever. Tom and Rachel I think would be kept. But Cherie and Lisa may be on dodgy ground IMO. Though both have strong dances so should be ok.

If Heather comes back this week with a good dance she may pull in the votes as folks will be happy for her. I've loved John but it is time for him to go now but you never know how public will react.

I think the two of the others who could be in bottom 2 - Christina & Rachel.