er because shes the REIGNING champion. She also has a similar music background to Rachel.
If your referring to Jill Halfpenny she won years ago and not everyone will have watched that, i bet you the majority of the GBP know more about Aleshas dances then Jill (bar her jive) . And anyway Rachel is more similar to Alesha in that her ballroom is stunning. Jill is more a latin dancer i cant remember any of her ballroom dances.

Exactly. Rachel is herself and I'm glad she doesn't pretend to be anything else. She may not be over the top "look at me" but there's a lot to be said for modest, quiet manners. For me, Rachel comes across as really natural and charming and I like her as she is - maybe television makes her seem quieter than she is. I love her dancing and hope to see her go on to the final.

I always found Alesha's snort/laugh a huge problem!!

A pretty daft reason not to like someone though. I found her laugh infectious.

we haven't got a standout dancer like Alesha or Ramps this year do maybe they feel they have to build up Rachel. No idea what they gained by overmarking Lisa yesterday except keeping her in one more week than Christine ?

Exactly where did I exaggerate? The comparison WAS ludicrous. Rachel has the personality of a wet mop, and the dances have not touched me at all. I haven't felt anything when I watch her dance, and that is the criteria I have to use when deciding whether I like a performance.

WRONG

And you're still exaggerating in a very silly way...unless in your world wet mops are sentient beings.

Do you honestly not see the irony in what you're doing?

TBH, you may not like Rachel's performances because they do not make you feel anything- and I respect that- it's my criteria as well... To say she has a personality of a wet mop is just rude though IMO, as is saying she has dead eyes as I read in someone elses post. There is actually no need to get so personal- just leave it as she doesn't make you feel anything when she dances- the personal insults are just not needed.

Good post.

I wonder if iLoVeMaTtHeW would feel the same way about Rachel if it was Rachel dancing with Matthew this year instead of Christine?

I doubt anyone will replace Alesha and Mark R as my strictly faves. They were a combination of everything and had the ability to light the room up.

No one this year does that for me, so Rachel is no Alesha and never will be. However that'snot to say she can't dance technically well. Whoever wins this year won't come close to my two faves.

For me there is no comparison..Alesha was in another class.
Thats not to say Rachel can't reach that point before the final, however even if she or one of the other celebs does the reason I would still have them lagging behind Alesha is that she delivered consistently from day 1 (group dance). She is probably one of the only celebs to date to have ever maintained that level of consistency even her off dance(samba) for example was better than most other Sambas we've seen.
Just my humble opinion. She is also the reason I would not go to the tour as if she isn't there it would be lacking somewhat...oh well.

Alesha was last year and Rachel is this year. They aren't actually in competition with each other. Each has their strong points and their negative ones too. I may well be lynched on here for saying that whilst Alesha always performed her routines fantastically, she wasn't perfect and made quite a few errors. In fact, I think she was overmarked on several occasions. Having said that, she was the best dancer in SCD 2007. Rachel is not necessarily the best dancer in SCD 2008, but she's giving it her best shot and should be commended for that. It's plain nasty to say she has dead eyes and no personality. She's quieter than some of the more exuberant characters on the show, but why does that mean she's got no personality? Everyone is different and we should applauding that rather than trying to turn everyone into an Alesha Dixon clone.

I cannot see what anyone saw in Alesha - to me she was plain ordinary - an ordinary person that giggled a lot!

each to there own, im sure some people thought Gethin was "just plain ordinary"

Rachel would still have no personality regardless of who she danced with.

Her face has one expression on it for the whole of the dances

Each to their own and all that.......but don`t you think it`s just a little hypocritical when you then go onto to stick the boot into Rachel


........so I`ll paraphrase your support for Alesha and apply it to Rachel:
"A pretty daft reason not to like someone though....I find her shyness rather endearing"

Rachel is very hot but Alesha is another level above her again

Didn't you know Rachel is Alesha's long lost twin sister.

Lisa was overmarked this week in a bid to keep her in. And as she was at the top of the leader board last night, I would imagine that she is safe.

She probably won't be next week, however, when the judges overmark and overpraise Rachel, as they want her to be in the final (Arlene and Bruno pretty much said so last week).

The reason they are both getting this treatment goes back to the voting figures leaked to the People last weekend, which revealed that Tom, Austin and even Christine are all more popular than Rachel and Lisa. I believe very little of what I read in the papers, but they do scan against the results we've been seeing.

Rachel is technically excellent - but, bar her rumba, that's all. And that's just not enough for me - or for many other posters, judging by comments on here. Lisa's dancing has gone from strength to strength but her personality isn't engaging the public. The producers know this so are using the judges to hype them up. You would think they had learned their lesson about advising the public how to vote after JS, but apparently not ...

Quite why, however, the producers thought it would be a good idea for both Rachel and Lisa to cry on camera is beyond belief. It did neither any favours whatsoever and probably lost, rather than won them votes. They certainly lost their dignity.

But the producers are too stupid to realise what they are doing so expect more hype about them both in the weeks to come ... :yawn:

That's just Arlene being Arlene, she likes comparisons like that.

Tbh I prefer Rachel.

[quote=Servalan;29152092]Lisa was overmarked this week in a bid to keep her in. And as she was at the top of the leader board last night, I would imagine that she is safe.
QUOTE]

They were all overmarked in my opinion, but Lisa was the best across both dances.

That's right. She's no Alesha.
So what?
Do people really want identikit personalities?
WHY?

(I'm one of the ones who couldn't take to Alesha. Nor do I like Rachel.)

Yes!

Rachel doesn't want to be Alesha, she just wants to be herself. She is good as she is.