the others were by and large a procession of meh. john's segments were edgy, unpredictable, and electrified the studio, plus you had the bonus of the judges getting their knickers in a twist.

anyone else think the show has lost its biggest star this year with john's exit? (i'm sure there are plenty who don't think that, but anyone else agree that he was actually the one act that was worth watching?)

I think "edgy" is pushing it a bit , but I will miss them very much.

i'm using edgy as the opposite of 'stale'. probably not the correct use of edgy, but exciting all the same.

No and no

Not at all...but he is one of the outstanding personalities from all the series...up there with Kelly and Darren and Julian and Karen and Brendan and one or two others.

I value his contribution. It went on too long but that's RTV.

dunno how old john is, but fair play to anyone over a certain age who has the gumption to give it a go, despite a portly frame and having their peak years probably rooted in the 60s or 70s.

I always looked forward to John dancing, ok he wasnt the best but one of my favourites. Saturday nights wont be quite the same again in my view, he was taking part for the right reason, the fun and entertainment of the programme the other celebs are taking it far too seriously imo.

I don`t think he was the shows biggest star.....but I do feel it is a very sad day when a contestant feels he has to leave because some think he is not worthy of a his place in what is at heart a light entertainment programme for the whole family........and I believe that when the dust settles(or the Red Tops start to dig a bit deeper) we`ll discover that John left because he could see the knives being sharpened by a few of the pros, judges and fellow competitors.

ps.....I think he`ll get a fantastic reception on Saturday night and there will be a few shrinking violets back stage who wont dare to look into the all seeing camera.

No the show is the star and all the components that make up the show. I loved John and Kristina . Partnered with someone else John could have gone in week 1.

I think John really enjoyed being there for awhile, and enjoyed dancing with Kristina. That joy was taken away by all the controversy and negativity. Really a shame, but I can't blame him for leaving. He was there for the fun of it, and that was gone.

If all the contestants who are still in it displayed the same joy for dance that he did, there wouldn't be any controversy. Instead of all the must-win, must-get-it-right, sense-of-entitlement attitudes that is sucking the life out of the show, try to have a good time!

anyone else think john's segments were the most entertaining by miles each saturday?

Yes.

I'm not sure I'm going to watch the rest of the series to be honest. The treatment of John has left a bad taste in the mouth and the celebs left in are quite frankly bland and boring.

From the point of view of not being over-earnest, lacking in personality and po-faced, yes!!!

I prefered Jodies VTs and her and Ians banter but I liked Johns too.

No, they were embarassing. I suspect at least some of his votes were from people who wanted to laugh at his efforts.
Alan

I agree with the OP.
There is very little humour in Strictly this year,the remaining celebs are desperate to win,not for the sheer joy of it like Alesha last year but to raise their profiles.
Have to say I am not really bothered who wins now.

The 64 year-old teddy bear WAS SCD 2008.

I shall watch his final dance on Saturday - and then concentrate on X-Factor till Christmas.

And I probably won't watch SCD ever again. It's a sad day in RTV history.

Definitely not! Mildly amusing for the first few weeks but then it got tedious.
I am rather pleased that so many of the people who seemed to vote just to hack off the judges are saying they wont watch any more. It will should make it a better completion in the future if it's true.

Whatever way you look at it, and I dont agree with you btw, at the end of the day people spent money to vote for John because they wanted to carry on seeing him each week. He has now been forced to leave because his popularity wasnt appreciated in some quarters and the knives were out, he had no alternative but to quit.

Just about sums it up.

I am one of the people who said I may not watch any more. I did not, however, vote to hack off the judges. I voted for the first time this year because I enjoyed watching John & Kristina. I don't really care what the judges say or do, I watched the show for a bit of fun and I can't see that it will be fun anymore with the bland sameness that is left in.

Clearly I was watching a different show! The John I watched was slow, D-U-L-L and excruciatingly boring!

That is exactly how I feel.
There is something about this years show that's not gripping me.
I think it's because there are too many dancers.
I think 10 couples would have been ample.

I certainly enjoyed John and Kristina's dances more then any of the other couples. I know they weren't the best by a long shot, but they never failed to put a smile on my face.

Of course! They're the only reason I've watched the show (first series I've watched or voted on), and the reason why I will be switching off after Saturday.

Nothing remotely entertaining about the judges' boring comments such as 'not pushing off from the heels' (or whatever it was), doing this, not doing that, blah blah blah (yawn). No thanks.

And if the rule change that was mentioned this morning happens (don't know if that had any truth), SCD will die the same death as Come Dancing - why would anyone vote for someone for 3 weeks only for their vote to be ignored if they're thrown off anyway?

Absolutely. We've lost the star of the show.