i'm talking about during strictly. No one cares what they did beforehand. And Alesha wore shorter dresses then Rachel does so if women really were threatened by looks and so on they'd have disliked Alesha for that.
i doubt many of the strictly audience knew much about alesha or rachel pre strictly.
I have no idea which of the two was a bigger pin up beforehand.

Why not, when it sounds like you have plenty of female friends who are confirming instances? People disliking one while liking someone similar is just the sort of thing I'd expect when a young, attractive, etc women is alienating (female) viewers.

(It doesn't happen only with female viewers.)

The mistake many make is that they think that if young, attractive, etc women tend to alienate viewers, then it will happen in absolutely every case regardless of any other factors. Or they try to pick off other factors one by one, thinking that if they can find one counter-example to each, then they can't possibly matter in other cases.

BTW, one phenomenon that's often seen is that it's as if there's only so much dislike to go around, and if one woman is getting it (Kelly, say) others won't (or not as much).

Once again Veri, we will have to agree to disagree!

You're very wrong there. Many negative opinions of Kelly were formed before SCD or were influenced by things from before SCD, for instance. And the same is true of Lisa and Rachel and perhaps others too this year.

Rachel and Kelly were both pretty well known for doing lad's mags. Alesha wasn't. Kelly was still being slagged off for things that happened (or people thought had happened) when she was presenting the Big Breakfast. And so on.


If only it were so simple!

Rachel was probably much better known, which may be one reason why she's getting more dislike.

So how did Alesha win last year then?

I don't think Rachel is rich btw - wasn't there some controversy about how badly they were paid?

*should have read rest of thread before posting , shouldn't I?*
Last edited by spider9 : 23-11-2008 at 15:57

Rachel & Vincent were haven't really had any of the showy dances yet. No Paso, Tango or Cha Cha. Their most showy were the American Smooth & Rumba. I'd love to see how they perform them, particularly as Vincent is the Tango king.

My view is based on long experience of womens' reactions to female Reality TV contestants on the internet. Women's misogyny can be extraordinary.

But I'm glad to have seen it because I never understood previously why the prettiest female contestants are often voted out in the early on. (This refers more to BB than SCD - but I think it played a part in Gaby & Penny going early last year).

That's not to say all women are like that - my friends thank God.

Entirely agree. Rachel & Kelly regularly made FHM's Top 10 sexiest women & are many men's fantasy gf. Alesha did not.

The anti-Kelly stuff on here last year was extraordinary.

Females are notorious for their bitchiness - with good reason.

Kelly Brook is tall, sexy, glamourous with long shapely legs.

Rachel may have a "sexy" image, but she is short with less attractive legs and face. For this reason, she may be less unpopular with the girlies than Kelly.

Alesha is sweet and smilie (although tall and pretty). She came across as unthreatening - and being mixed race, a lot of the female whites voting might identify a white woman like Kelly as more of a "threat" than Alesha.

Christine is tall, long legged and sexy - but has a girlie/smilie image.

If you are a sexy woman, dealing with other women - a large dollop of self-deprecation goes a long way towards placating them and causing them to draw in their claws.

As an avid Rachel fan, I'm quite glad about that. I sense she excels at the more understated dances.

Hmm so your saying if kelly had been mixed race she'd have been just as popular as Alesha was?

Whats your excuse for pretty Christine getting so many votes?

Aleshas a girly girl yes but im sure she has just as many male admirers as kelly and Rachel. I dont agree that someone being mixed race makes them less threatening. I actually find that a slightly offensive remark to make.

I wish people would make there mind up one minute if your black/mixed race your at a disadvantage and wont win now if your black your less threatening so have more chance of winning.

Im not a fan of Rachel,nothing to do with her looks, as I think she is pretty but average, not drop dead. Her dancing is good and she remembers most of the steps.

but there is no wow factor in her, she doesnt blow me away when she dances, its like dancing to numbers.

That is what I think is putting the people off, she has no emotion to her dance.

There seem to be so many exceptions to the rule.

You can be attractive but not tall, attractive but not white and attractive but not smiley.

Wasn't Penny tall, white and smiley? And she was well-liked. Ditto Jodie.

It's all sounding a bit make-it-up-as-you-go-along to me.

Women are frequently jealous and threatened by pretty women.

The votes (according to the People) show how far down the pecking order the females in the show are:

John 1.7 million
Tom 890,000
Austin 700,000

Christine 500,000

Lisa 300,000 approx
Rachel 300,000 approx
Jodie 300,000 approx
Cherie 200,000

Viewers of early evening TV will be accustomed to seeing Christine (smiley and bubbly) on their TV screens - so she picks up more votes than the other females.

Lisa (tall, sexy, long legged), Rachel, sexy girl-band image, Jodie (tall, sexy, long legged ex-supermodel) are right near the bottom.

Cherie is "old" and has the cheek to be slim, attractive - with long legs - so she's right at the bottom of the pile.

The older, unfit, smiley guy who can't dance - is right at the top!

The voting rationale has nothing to do with the dancers' skills - Cherie - consistently among the top scorers throughout the competition, Rachel, a very good dancer - are languishing right at the bottom.

Who is at the top? Why the blokes, of course. (Do the Blokey-Cokey......)

Trust me, this is not make it up as I go along.

Penny was smiley and girlie - and deemed relatively unthreatening. But she didn't get many votes anyway. Gabby was tall, long legged and attractive - but was not liked - the excuse being that she was "too competitive" .

All the people taking part in SCD are competitive. They are all in this competition to raise their profile career-wise.

Kelly was frequently criticised for being "smug" - probably because she didn't grin and giggle as often as Alesha.

So how do you explain Alesha's success and that of Jill and Natasha.

I do recall an all girl final between Jill and Denise, so how do these stats fit in with your anti girl theory?

Alesha and Denise are black so thats why they were popular and nonthreatening according to the OP.
Gawd knows how he can justify Jill and natasha winning, Maybe they werent pretty enough for the poster. :yawn:

Ignazio & beanbean, there's no point in arguing with them. Some people will never accept that women saying they don't warm to another woman is not about their looks. God forbid it could possibly be that it's their personality (or lack thereof) that puts people off!

As a woman there are many very beautiful, successful women who I both like and admire, but I admire them for the people they are not what they look like. Conversely there are also some that I don't warm to/like, again down to their personality. That's how I and millions of other women judge people. Although according to some people that can't possibly be true.

No, we're all jealous apparently. Lazy, lazy argument frankly.

Of course there are a some women it applies to, in the same way some men judge women purely on their looks. Those people are simply very shallow, male or female.

you and me both. The sight of those two with tears and heaving bosoms like they were facing a firing squad instead of a silly dance off on a saturday night light entertainment show made me want to throw up.

Yeah but that reason was not confined to women, most of the male SCD watchers I know couldn't stand Gabby for that reason either.

Me, as a laydee, I like Lisa, Christine and Jodie.

Me too, there's no doubt that there's misogynistic women out there but I find just as sexist and offensive to assume that women aren't complex enough people to have actual opinions rather than just seeing red at any pretty women that walks by.

I don't think it's to do with attractiveness but judging by whom wins BB women I think on the whole vote for someone they could see as being their mate or someone they could imagine themselves going out on the town with i.e sort of one of the girls. Alesha and Jill fitted that mould and I think Christine and Jodie do too, Gaby perceived as over-ambitious didn't nor I imagine Denise fit it either - I don't think other women relate to sporty type women well. Kelly possibly came across as the sort who'd compete with you for the blokes and win and Rachel possibly comes across as a bit too aloof.

Totally agree. Christine is very goofy & self-deprecating. When she did well in her first performance - the claws were out on here calling her "fake, falsely humble, she knows she's good so stop the act" etc. Women have taken to her since she turned out to be a not-brilliant dancer. If she were a fantastic dancer she'd be far less popular.

To say that some women take against the pretty ones doesn't mean that all do. I don't for a start & that's partly what makes me impatient with the nonsense on here.

I've read comments such as "Lisa is over-confident", "not pretty enough to be a supermodel", "how did she get George Clooney?" as though any of that were relevant to her dancing.

Personally, there's not been a single woman on this show that I've actually disliked.

Absolutely. It's much more about personality than gender or looks or race.

Alesha is stunning, but won because -

a) She was a great dancer
b) She had a wonderful personality and huge enthusiasm for the show.

Jill similarly. She also beat the hugely popular Julian Clary.

Wasn't keen on Natasha but she had very weak opposition and was the best of a bad lot.


Rachel just isn't a very appealing personality.

The negativity towards Christine started after her Quickstep when she got upset at the judges comments, some people really blew her reaction out of proportion and decided she felt she was above criticism, even though plenty of other people have had the same reaction to the judges comments.