I wouldn't be so sure of that. The public voting is a funny old thing!

Personally I didn't want anyone to leave last night (but then, I've been that way since the beginning this year). I don't have a clear favourite and I would prefer them all to dance every week and then we just have one huge vote at the end for the winner!

I hope Christine doesn't win - this series has already been made into a joke by the JS debacle, for her to win would just reinforce what a farce it's become.

It's precisely because of the JS treatment that I (and I suspect many others) will now support Christine.

As someone else said, when the judges start paying my telephone bill ............... etc! If it is to be a true 'dance contest' then dispense with the public vote (and the cash they contribute to the coffers ). Either it's a public vote or it's not and I'm all in favour of upsetting this particular apple cart for a bit longer.

FWIW, I expect Tom to win.

I agree - there is really not much difference between Christine and Lisa as they are both better at ballroom than latin (and Jodie was the same but slightly less better a dancer).


I hope you are wrong and that people (like me) are voting for C&M because they enjoy watching them dance and they have come a long way since the start of the series. Her dancing is not nearly as bad as some make out - she just needs to let go again like she did in the jive.

I don't think anyone who has been voted off so far would have made it to this stage on the basis of their dancing only. Even as a Jodie voter I can accept it was her time to go.

Course she can :yawn:

Simple really - NI block vote (when they're not jamming the lines voting for Eoghan). Plus prime time exposure on the Beeb's flagship channel every weeknight doesnt do her any harm.

Personally I'm not too bothered - she looked pretty fine this weekend

Lovely girl and all that, but if she hadn't been dancing with Matthew Cutler she might well have been in the dance off a couple of weeks ago. She has improved, no doubt, but is nowhere near the standard of the others, even Lisa.

I agree with comments that being nice and smiley and looking hot shouldn't be enough to get Christine to the final. This isn't Miss World. And I really hope she doesn't get the 'JS vote' because she's the 'underdog'. I think that's kind of insulting to Christine. She's probably be the first to say she wants to earn her place because of her hard work, her performance and her relationship with Matthew and not because of somekind of protest vote.

I don't think she's at the same level as Austin or Tom, but along with Lisa and Rachel, she has potential. I personally am still waiting to see he that wow dance though, and if she doesn't pull it out of the bag on Saturday and the others do then she will be outclassed and I think she'll deserves to be in the bottom 2 (whether she will be, will be another matter),.

That kinda suggests Rachel isn't at the level of Tom and Austin? 79/80 says otherwise

I think the problem wtih Christine is that she still looks faintly embarrassed by having to shake her thang, even at this late stage

the cha cha wasn't her dance and I think the dance off probably should have been JOdie vs Christine, but the public are clearly intent on ensuring the person at the bottom of the leaderboard stays no matter what!!

ps Austin and Tom aren't at the same level - Tom is superior

I don't think Christine will win, but I disagree that she was far behind the level of the others on Saturday. I think she, Lisa and Jodie are all around the same level and it was fair enough for Jodie to go - much as I loved her. I'm struggling to see exactly what the judges see in Lisa, she's had some good dances, but has also had some horrendous ones, just as Christine has. Cha-cha was not the dance for Christine but her previous few dances showed great improvement and I hope she improves again this Saturday.

Christine can dance and mostly do it pretty well but what worries me is that I can see last night setting a worrying precedent where she picks up the JS - 'ah isn't she cute' and 'lets sock it to the judges' vote propelling her into the final and possibly handing her the trophy. She isn't the best dancer so I don't think that would be fair - and I'm afraid I'm the wicked witch of the west because I don't think she the most modest, lovely person in the world and deserves to win the competition on sheer niceness alone. I know I'm horrible and bitter for not joining in the Chrisse love in but you don't know how much restraint I'm deploying here in not using the St prefix.

what i have underlined and made bold i completely agree with

right im going to have a moan now..

i think everybody has just judged her on this weeks dance, yes it wasnt her best but has everyone forgotten that she has never been at the bottom before??

last week she was 4th /8. and other weeks she has outshined....

she beat both lisa and cherie last week!!
but are you all forgetting this..??
now lisa is "fantastic" in most of your eyes when clearly she wasnt last week!!

leave the poor girl alone, they all have their strenghs and weaknesses!!

rachel was clearly overmarked this week,
to get the perfect score its meant to wow.
not bore.
the judges obv. want her in the final and they no the only way they can really do this is if they keep her at the top, as she isnt as popular as some of the others left in the comp.
i.e. christine, austin and tom. (even jodie)

leave poor christine alone!!

christine & matthew or austin & erin TO WIN SCD!!

Agreed - she is not very good, compared to the others and you should watch her face in the background when everyone else gets better marks than her - a real scowl!

Then again, Lisa isn't very good either! I think she believes she is better than she is (although both are better than me!!)

i completely agree!!
well said

Ok, since not liking Christine makes me a horrid person I'll just get behind the part of your statement I agree with - for me it's Austin and Erin to win

Her Cha Cha Cha was terrible for this late on in the competition. I thought for a moment she was paying tribute to Kate Garroway.

I don't think Lisa does I think she's been pushed a bit by Brendan. That said she's probably not gonna last much long (I'd be surprising if she isn't out either next week or the one after that) - however much the judges love her the fact she's been in two dance offs would seem to indicate that the public on the whole don't and last week exposed serious flaws in her fast latin - I think the jive might prove to as much of a bird of ill-omen for her as it was for Jodie.

I think admitting to not liking Christine is akin to saying you shoot kittens

I'm pretty indifferent to her really. Her dancing is OK, her personality is OK, I wouldn't be devastated if she left or if she stayed.

Hmm, clearly I need to get my eyes checked. Or perhaps a new definition of facial expressions would be in order? I certainly didn't see a scowl on her face to the best of my recollection (and my memory is quite good! )

I don't think that not thinking Christine is a lovely person is a hanging offense. What I do object to is the overcriticism of her dance and the demonising of her personality. She is one of the two weakest dancers remaining. She won't (and probably shouldn't) win, but she has earned her right to be in the competition at this point through a combination of her ability and popularity. Hopefully when she goes out it will be on the back of a good (but no longer competitive) dance and without all the bitterness that some people appear to want to inject into the proceedings!

My time to rant....
I still don't get this view that Rachel is being overmarked to 'save' her from the bottom two.... Why would the producers allow the judges to continue doing this if Rachel wasn't pulling in voters/viewers, and let someone who was getting lots of votes get voted out? Also, if she was in the bottom two, surely 'judges pet' Rachel would be voted through anyway? They don't need her to avoid the bottom two to save her at the moment because of their say in the dance off.....
Christine has produced some lovely dances- none of which have been wow for me- but they have been for others. Who knows? This week Christine could pull something amazing out of the bag... There were a lot of people on here who doubted that Rachel would pull off the rumba or that Jodie would be able to Jive like she did. As others have said- I don't think she's far off Lisa in terms of dancing- maybe Lisa has the confidence to perform a dance a bit better than Christine, but in terms of how capable they are, I'd say they were on a level.....
I don't think Christine will be bottom two this week- she has a lot of support- I can't see them deserting her at this stage. The cha cha was not her best dance but she got through, so I should imagine if she comes back stronger, the public will keep voting.

xx

It's the NI public vote that keeps her in plus the biassed announcers on the BBC in NI that keeps touting for votes.
Nice lady, mediocre dancer at this level.

When she loves the dance and feels confident with it, Christine can really sell it - her jive being a prime example - however, if she's not feeling the dance, it comes across too. This was evident in the Cha Cha this week. I do like her but I feel that she is now the weakest of the dancers still left in the competition. While I can see the potential in Lisa and Tom to get 10s...I can't see it in Christine. Having said that, she's one of the more popular dancers left so I imagine she'll be through next week and Lisa will be the one to go home.

Last time I checked I was in London, which I was under the impression was in England, and I voted for her!?!?!

Great post!

(I keep saying this today...)