I like Rachel and Vincent.

I would not despair if Lisa, Tom or Austin made the final cut either, as they have impressed me a lot.

Christine seems absolutely lovely, but a great smile and the fabulous Matthew cannot sway me I am afraid.

I really do not understand the general consensus on here that Rachel has no public support.

Until Cherie left, the top of the leaderboard was all over the shop.

Rachel did not appear in the bottom two until the top was split and the points awarded to the other contestants that week were far less than usual.

People VOTE more if they think their fave is in danger. She did not look in danger, why is it not theorised that people didn't think she needed the votes to be safe instead?

She has only been top twice, and the margin is minimal now, so her support cannot be that far behind the Toms and Austins to not land in the bottom again.

I just do not understand the assumed air of negativity regarding her tbh.

Christine could well be next to go-if Jodies massive fan base let her down, why not Christines?

Nobody really knows the voting figures, I really think it is just speculation on the papers part to add to the JS saga, yet it seems to be taken as gospel now.

It just annoys me when assumptions about any of them are touted as fact, when really, she could just be popular to other people not on these boards. Strange, but it could happen!!

Some people appreciate a fighter, like the Jodie spirit-her comeback from the dance off may simply have inspired them to pick up the phone.

Tom/Austin have been at the top, never in the bottom two yet are automatically assumed to also have the votes.

Why??

I think Rachel's the best dancer in the competition and I have done more-or-less all the way through.

Certainly I agree that people make far too many assumptions to fill in the very large gaps in knowledge that we have regarding the contestants' popularity week-by-week. I recall quite a few posts confidently declaring that Jodie was very popular. Now she may have been a bit unlucky last week and gone out despite getting a decent vote...but it's also possible she wasn't nearly as popular as some people assumed...or maybe the voters are a lot more fickle than we might imagine.

I don't think there's any certainty that Rachel is struggling for votes...but then again I wouldn't be surprised...simply because she's the not the kind of character I would expect an RTV audience to pick up the phone for in large numbers.

I can certainly see why bigger personalities would garner more votes, I guess I just don't get why the two boys aren't showered with the same kind of response.

She was bottom two once, so I can see why it is easy to presume that she has no public support-I just can't help feel that should Tom or Austin have been in that position the reasoning would be far more positive-they were brilliant I thought they were safe etc...

It's the combination of her being bottom 2 followed by 'perceived' frantic overpraise and overmarking that makes people suspicious of her public support. Nothing to do with Rachel I accept but the judges did appear to have been making special adjustments for her. Attention on ITT tonight seems to have shifted to Lisa, that may mean Rachel's vote has picked up again. Whatever the truth only tomorrow night will tell. Good luck to all the contestants.

I have only just joined the forum. I am a Vincent fan, but have only started to vote for Rachel since the rhumba. That dance was brilliant. The foxtrot was also excellent. It took me over a year to sort the foxtrot - I know how hard it is and it looked perfect to me. There might be a lot of people like me, not on the boards, that now support Rachel - because of her dancing. I hope so.