I think as a beginning to the routine it made a good start and it was a good idea to show Colin dancing alongside Erin.. but the problem was it didn't go anywhere... the puppets weren't thrown away... Erin & Colin didn't then dance together. It was an old classic pier routine instead of starting as one and then going somewhere amazing. Poor Erin must have nightmares about it now.

As I've said before, Mark has his own little band of cricket groupies. I was right place/right time and managed to get his autograph at one test match - and when some ladies found out - it wasn't pretty!!

I'm not saying that he enjoys the attention or that he likes having things like that pointed out to him - let's be fair - Richie Benaud used to conentrate more on his batting technique on Test Match Special and flashing Shayne Warne a smile was hardly going to put him off trying to get him out - but I'm guessing he is well aware of his charms and how to use them.

I respectfully beg to differ.

How do you know whether Mark made the first move or was it Van (his wife's name?) who took the initiative???

I think the oohs and aahs during the Rhumba week has thrown him off balance. Looking back at the recording from my harddisk, Mark was VERY uncomfortable when Karen in the VT said "I know a lot of women have fallen in love with Mark, and rightly so".

It probably added so much pressure, that he clearly became very uncomfortable with the routine that he just couldn't perform his Rhumba with 'gusto' (quoting Bruno).

I am afraid the 'merciless' teasing might have back-fired a little then. If not, why did Karen get a man's-man male pro dancer like James Jordan to try to salvage the situation?

Not to blame Karen, of course (I like her very much). But she did admit she tried to be teasing, and perhaps hoping some what, somewhere there's some ego in Mark, that he would actually enjoyed the 'attention' he would be getting from the sexy Rhumba and that he would then let go and 'enjoy' the routine. Clearly, he couldn't and he clamped up and didn't do so well during the night. Van's worried expression said it all.

This secret weapon might make Mark self-conscious again (Oh dear, I might stop smiling cheesily like that) and spoil his subsequent dances.

Just a thought. Please don't flame me.

I tend you agree with you. I find I cringe when I see a lot of this - I feel embarrassed for poor Mark! He's clearly not comfortable with it and it probably has crossed his mind that it's not his dancing people are always voting for which is a pity.

I hope that's not what he's thinking, he's loving the dancing and that just shows when he smiles. Arlene and Tess the Mess need gags as far as I'm concerned

Claire I think you are spot on. I wish the BBC would stick the letting people just dance.

Well apparently smiling is a valid strategy for getting away with technically shoddy work, for certain contestants according to certain judges

ITT was criticised quite heavily a couple of weeks back for lack of content - they're trying to make it more interesting and appeal to the 'casual' viewer - but the film about Mark was cringeworthy and insulting to the man's ability.

ITT take note - no more!

They don't have to do gimmicky things to make it more interesting - why can't they see that?! All they need to show is more actual training and what the couples do in their sessions and most of us would love it. All the training footage they do show is just mega short highlights mixed together, which don't really show you anything!

I agree, not that I didn't enjoy the funny bits. Instead of the smiley montage some training footage would have been better, no footage does nothing for my nerves!

Harsh but fair! - I don't get which contestant you mean though?!

Agreed, the giggling training footage was great, even if some of it was from a few weeks ago and not current, but the smile bit made me cringe for him, seemed really uncomfortable about it, although I'll glad the secret weapons didn't turn out to be his daughter as some of us were speculating on another thread.

I do like the funny montages, I just wish they'd show some proper training as well. They seem to try to put everything into the show APART from good training footage pieces. (except for the odd minute or two thrown in if we're lucky sometime during the week!)

I watch CarolCam and think it's great and really interesting, but then I'm left wondering why we don't see great insightful bits like that on ITT! You don't get to see that side of Carol and Matt at all on the actual show and I bet the same could be said for the other cuples.

Like I said before, I'm sure Mark has an inkling that he is a personable chap - he's probably had aunties and grandmas chucking his cheek from a very young age and saying 'ahh, what a lovely smile' - you know what aunties, grandmas and random little old ladies are like! (nice if you can get away with it ... )
BUT in his day job then his looks/smile cut no ice at all. An umpire isn't going to change his mind if he twinkles at him, when they are discussing his innings then Mike Atherton and co aren't going to say - well he made a hash of the shot but he smiled nicely.
And I think that's where the embarrasment comes in - he isn't used to his looks and charm having a bearing on how he performs.

DerChef says

The most interesting thing for me from last nights ITT was Karens remark.

"Mark has to do alot more training as people like Louisa learn routines so quickly"

I wonder where this has come from

1.Simply performance against number of hours trained (shown on ITT)

2. She got it talking to Vincent (well he would say that ) , I would love to be fly on the wall as to what the Pro dancers say to each other in private.

3. Maybe she knows that Louisa HAS had a lot of dance training outside stange school

4. Maybe she is physically watching them via binoculars from the other side of the street

5. She is playing DIVA like mind games

Ohh Yeah

I think it is as simple as that

Look at her jive performance with only 8hrs rehearsing.

I thought that she was simply pointing out that that's Lousia's advantage and that's why Mark needs the training as not everyone can learn steps quickly. As for watching via binoculars that's just creepy *imagines Karen sitting in a tree spying* lol

I suspect Mark is well able to rise above the ribbing and teasing and I don't think he will let it get in his way again .
He has done the " embarassing one " and in truth it was ok , not worth a lowly 5 at all, beautifully danced and presented and to be fair the men do just seem to run their hands all over, pose a bit and thats the rumba , even the professionals!

However , on a serious note , the BBC have been excellent through all 4 series , at picking just the bits they want to show a particular facet about a couple .Be it true or not !! I'm sure all the dancers , professional and not , would love editorial rights over the footage shown .
Sometimes they seem to deliberately pick arguments to show and then for others (no names ) it's all sweetness and light and only positive film .
I remeber Aled Jones telling a group of us after a concert that it was really very hard to be filmed for 6 to 8 hours every day and still keep smiling . He found the camera presence all that time very intrusive because one couldn't let off steam anywhere without being filmed !!

It would probably have been apparent in the group training that Louisa was picking it up quickly. Also Vincent has said that he is lucky as she learns so fast, and Louisa herself has said she needs the whole routine in her head in the first day or two of rehearsals so she can spend the rest of the week polishing it, otherwise she panics.

Haven't Mark and Karen done the most hours of training out of everyone? I guess he really needs to work at it.

Do you know what guys... SMILING is an essential part of pulling off a dance routine. Karen is right... it is a 'secret weapon' and she is lucky she has Mark who can pull it off. I was amazed to find that people found that section so cringe-worthy... I found it amusing and I can understand why Mark may have been uncomfortable as most people don't like seeing pictures of themselves smiling... and this is Mark we are talking about who didn't even want to be interviewed at the beginning and let's face it looked completley terrified of both Claudia and Karen! If a person can manage to SMILE while performing it adds a lot to the performance.... and that whole theory "If you smile at someone...they smile back"..well... it works! They look happy we smile...and we vote

Absolutely !

I thought it was Mark who found it cringe worthy, saying `oh that`s horrible` through embarrassment

<--- loved it

Where did that one come from ? bit condescending really . They all need to work at it and it shows when they don't. They are amateurs in all honesty , it must be so hard .

Some of them feel happier with knowing they have put in the hours and really know what they are doing . Sportsmen put in hours and hours of training a week , it's second nature .
Len and Craig both said this morning that it is the time trained which will separate the couples from now on .
I like Louisa, don't care for Vincent if I am honest , but his routines are great . However , I always feel she knows the routine but not the steps and that is what practice does for you .

I too feel very sorry for Mark whenever people keep going on about how gorgeous he is on the show. If he couldn't dance it would be even worse as people would be slagging him off for only being kept in by hormonal females (a la James martin last year) so at least he doesn't suffer that ignominy.

However, the single most annoying thing for me on a Saturday night is when Bruce is introducing them - he alsways says, 'Next is Mark and his partner Karen' (or similar) and then leaves a gap for an appreciative 'whoop' from the females in the audience. A couple of weeks ago there was a woman who sounded as though she was going to have a fit! If Bruce didn't pause I'm sure it wouldn't be so bad (although in general I think the audience should be banned from reacting until the end of Brucie's little speeches as it just makes him go on longer!).