Erin and Austin should have been in the final - I know the judge seemed anti Austin the last few shows but Erin should follow the pattern that got her to that stage and not try something different - she lost out with colin and that silly dance (which was very good) and then not giving Austing his strongest dance this year. What he did in the final was amazing. good luck next year erin

You call it silly, to then say it was very good ?

I didn't think Erin made a mistake. The standard was very high when Rachel, Lisa, Tom and Austin were the last remaining celebrities. It wasn't his strongest night, and it was only fair that he left.

I don't think Erin made a "silly mistake". Colin was a silly mistake. Austin going out was just them not being good enough. Her choreography wasn't good enough, his dancing wasn't good enough, and her dancing wasn't good enough. There was no particular silly mistake made that can be pointed out - it just wasn't up to standard. So they lost out.

I am a big supporter of Austin & Erin and the dances they did on the night they went out on were dances that they got at the wrong time, they should have had them earlier in the competition. And I have to say that Austin, out of the male celebs this year was the most natrual dancer of all them, maybe as well with Tom.

Just my opinion that's all - make your own mind up about what I say, OK.

From Hayley

What was "wrong" about the American Smooth? He has proven himself a capable ballroom dancer, and as an ex rugby player he should've been the most perfectly suited to the lifts out of any contestant.

In fact, as has been repeatedly pointed out, the final was already lost by the time Colin danced the infamous puppet dance. It has dogged Erin's reputation on these boards and in dancing circles but had no effect on the result.
This year she and Austin were lost by a combination of the wrong dances at the wrong time [ a reasonably competent waltz at the latter stages of the competition will trump virtually any dance - see Matt and Flavia last year ]; bad luck going out first which usually lowers scores; bad karma with the judges who had a real agenda to protect the girls; the ridiculous retention of a dance-off at this stage of the competition.
Erin had no control over any of those factors. Arguably, she could have played tactically smarter, as Brendan did, and dumped her Latin in favour of putting more into the AS. But frankly, second guessing the judges is impossible. Their AS was criticised for not being Hollywood enough, despite classic Hollywood music, great floor coverage and classic steps (unlike for eg Vincent's second effort and James Jordan's very highly marked AS - both of which where as far from classic Hollywood as it's possible to be). Craig thought it boring despite the most difficult and dangerous lifts performed by any of the pros let alone the celebs in the series. Is his attention span really so short that he fell asleep waiting 65 seconds in for the first lift? Those are the breaks and the truth is if the judges have decided to ditch you, unless they really overreach themselves (as they did the following week!) there is nothing Erin or any other pro can do.

The nature of A&E's AS though, was 'Hollywood' and I don't think he pulled this off. He looked uncomfortable out of hold and the smooth 'lighthearted' style of the AS was not one that came naturally to him (unlike his assured, confident solo efforts in the Jive or Paso.)

I was also disappointed with the choreography and the two lifts at the end appeared strained. I was not surprised it scored as it did.

Perhaps Erin could have adapted the style a bit to suit him more, perhaps she just thought he could sparkle on the night - he didn't though.

Austin on his eviction night did the AS (34) and Salsa (36), and in the dance-off reprised his 36 Salsa against Lisa's 39 waltz, reminiscent of Gethin dancing the AT against Matt D's 4-tens waltz, and leaving after the judges' dance-off.

Austin on Final night commented on camera that he did a good latin, but it was no match markswise against a waltz. In SCD later rounds the waltz is like a Sherman tank, a doomsday weapon. Nobody, but nobody can defend against a waltz markswise.

Lisa's salsa in round 1 earned 22, and it would be hard to see Lisa dancing the salsa to evict Austin dancing the waltz. Austin's waltz was yet to come, and had he survived, would no doubt have used it like his own trump card the following week. Possibly Erin was saving the waltz for an even tougher round the following week? Camilla decided on her jive, but all's well that ends well, after divine intervention over 331-gate.

Having different dances done on the same night would enhance variety and entertainment, but for a deadly serious "dahhhncing competition" the same assignment for all candidates would seem fairer. In the semi-final all are assigned the AT, in the Final all did the VW.

Not only how you dance, but what you dance, can get you evicted under the rigid dance-off system. Home voters without dance-off might have saved Austin, making allowance for salsa-vs-waltz?

I guess it's all in the eye of the beholder. The judges also thought he was poor out of hold (so you are in company, although I can't bring myself to say 'good' company). I personally am not a fan of the throwaway lift at the end as I think it always looks a bit messy however well executed, but I thought the hands free spinning lift looked pretty effortless and was much harder than anything anyone else did. Maybe her mistake was to give him two very difficult lifts at the end rather than just playing safe with the ones every one does? Plus, on a more superficial level, those arm hankies on her dress were vile.

Austin's waltz wasn't yet to come - he performed it in his first week, and earned 32. It is sort of ironic that Lisa and Austin got each other's first dances in the dance-off.

(Actually, wasn't the American Smooth Lisa's first ballroom? The jive was Austin's first latin)

Agree about Erin's dress - I don't think he was 'poor' out of hold - that's too strong- uncomfortable is more like it, he didn't seem confident doing that sort of solo dancing. Tom was the opposite to Austin in this respect - he loves that sort of thing and appears MOST comfortable doing it, but Tom wasn't thorougly convincing at the more macho solo dances.

Yep the two lifts at the end were a shame - one at the beginning would have given everyone a thrill. Perhaps the two together made it look strained.

I agree with you Hayley apart from Tom being a natural dancer( I think he is not) I don't believe they have a choice re the dances they do week by week so it was bad luck they got them when they did. Austin was a great dancer with so much personality & should have been in the final IMO

Yes, my mistake. The mirror-image symmetry of Austin and Lisa's first and "confrontation" dances is quite a coincidence:

Waltz:
Week 12 Lisa -- 39
Week 1 Austin - 32

Salsa:
Week 2 Lisa ---- 22
Week 12 Austin- 36

AS:
Week 5 Lisa ----- 35
Week 12 Austin - 34

Jive:
Week 12 Lisa ---- 33
Week 3 Austin --- 34

The moral of the story seems to be: "Who waltzes wins"

I understand what you were saying, but my point was that the AS, on paper, wasn't "the wrong dance". Anyone could say that the paso was the wrong dance for Gethin or Rachel (when she was bottom 2), or that the jive wasn't good for Lisa, or that the samba wouldn't be good for Jodie, and so on. There is nothing whatsoever about the American Smooth that made it "the wrong dance at the wrong time" for Austin. It should've been perfect. They were just naturally substandard somehow.

The actual lift was good, but the entry wasn't great, and the exit was, frankly, horrible (for a lift that is easy to exit 'nicely'). It was a long way from 'dancing into and out of the lift'. That was pretty much true for the 2nd lift as well.


I think it was a mistake, not because it was inherently boring, but because I think it left Austin preoccupied about the lifts instead of the dancing. It's really easy to just "go through the motions" with the dancing because you're worried about the lifts. Conversely, it's a lovely feeling when you've got the lifts out the way and you know nothing can go (majorly) wrong.

Being strategic, the other advantage of sticking in a big lift early is that it gets the audience going. Which helps with nerves and adrenaline.

Real shame, as Austin was my favourite dancer and I'd have loved to have seen his showdance.

Although Austin was an excellent ballroom dancer, there is very little out of hold in any of his ballroom dances, both the VW and Quickstep go almost straight into hold. Had the AS been done Week 5 he would have very likely been voted through to the following week. If Austin had been doing a standard ballroom dance he may well have been kept out of the dance off or had a better chance against Lisa in the dance off. I think that's what people mean by the wrong dance at the wrong time.

Thinking about this, I've always taken the AS as being a bit of a gift but it isn't really anything of the sort. It's usually a fairly solid dance and good partnerships can generally garner a decent score from it but, like the foxtrot was until this series () it's a dance that's quite difficult to really shine in.

The highest scoring AS is Gethin and Camilla's at 38, which, after 6 series is quite a surprise. It's a dance that features in about week 5/6 and scores fairly well without being startlingly high. I think this is why I've always thought it to be easier to score highly in than it actually is - everybody tends to score pretty well without really sparkling. In point of fact, the later couples don't actually tend to score that much more highly than the earlier ones (as opposed to the waltz and cha cha for instance).

That said, I would still have expected Austin and Erin to do better than they did with the AS. I remember Erin choreographing a beautiful routine for Colin. It's still one of my favourite performances. I'd have put money on something similar happening with Austin before the event. I'm still disappointed (and a little baffled) that it didn't. He's a lovely ballroom dancer and he has great natural rhythm. The AS should have been made for him.

I thought the producers decided who did what dance each week. Don't the couples find out during the results show what they'll be performing the following week?

Hardly Erin's fault (re choice of dance) if that's the case.

i agree the showdance with colin was a silly mistake. they were brave and tried something different but unfortunately it failed.
but i don't think erin made a mistake with austin. they were unlucky that they got the dances they did in the quarter finals. if they'd had those dances a week or two before, they would have made it through. and she can't control that. and their overall score that night was higher than tom & camilla's in the semi finals and they made it through so i guess they were also unlucky because everyone else was really good on that night.

Don't know why exactly but Yellow is not really a Hollywood colour and leaving the lifts until last lost the impact and wow factor a better spread of lifts might have given.

It is an unfair system which does not compare like with like and there is the luck of the draw when it comes to who does what dance & when.

The whole dynamic of the series was altered when John dropped out. Who knows what might have happened had he stayed as I think it far too simplistic to say couples went out a week earlier than they otherwise would have done as they would have been on a different dance which may have favoured them the next week whilst working against others.

I think it was an unfortunate combination of Austin being tired due to his teething twins and them not having one dance that really suited them which I'm not sure if it's the luck of the draw, a choice made by one or other them or some combination of the two. The MSN blogger states that Erin played it wrong by not putting all the effort into creating one wow dance which for me illustrates the flaw in the system of having a dance-off in the two-dance stage of the competition. Lisa was able to get through the dance-off on her one good dance meaning her ropey jive didn't matter. It also made it harder for Austin's fans to save him from this IMO unfair dance-off.

I don't think it's fair to kick Erin - I think the fact she came into this series having had work done on her teeth and emphasizing she's not the oldest female pro to me shows that the unfair dismissal of Nicole scared her into thinking she might be next after all like Nicole she's one of the older female pros and isn't perceived as glamorous like Camelia or a big personality like Karen and with Anton moving into tv work more and more then that leaves her vulnerable too.

Austin is so light on his feet and so quick with muscle memory that he can pick up a new routine very quickly indeed. In rumba his lowest-marked dance at 29, he had all the steps right but not the flavour and atmosphere.

I suspect Austin is a down-to-earth practical chap not the highest celeb on imagination who was rather all at sea with the tease and interplay of rumba. I did not see his AS but suspect it was the same story - Austin went through the motions but was visibly saying to himself, what on earth is all this fancy posing and poncing around for?

By that week I had given up all interest in watching, and perversely it was 331-gate the following week which got me back interested.

The comment about the AS not being a high scoring dance is irrelevant. Who would've thought we'd ever see a contestant going into the final with a foxtrot and a rumba as their aces?

I really don't think there's anything about Austin that screamed "wrong dance for me" with the AS. He's proven himself quick footed and capable of dancing out of hold. It's not a fluid dance like the salsa so his physique wouldn't be a barrier, and as I said, he should in theory be the best one out of the bunch at doing lifts.

Perhaps - as has already been said - the 'error' was in trying too hard to get a good latin and a good ballroom. I agree Austin should have sailed through the AS - perhaps they just thought it would score highly enough and they concentrated on trying to get a good mark in the latin dance as well, so the AS suffered a bit.

I still would have liked to see A&E go through - whilst the girls may have been technically better they didn't make me smile or feel 'involved' like Austin and Erin did - and Tom did in his showdance in the final. But I guess that's what makes the show so interesting - we all like and vote for different things. I could appreciate Lisa and Rachel's ability but I couldn't warm to them enough to vote for them like I did for Alesha or Jill.

Absolutely, as I remember, this was the dance 'he had been waiting to do' and the training footage, was praised. I was expecting it to be great.

He had shown us he was good on his own, he was looking forward to lifting (though I think he had realised that lifiting is harder than it looks and) and his ballroom had scored highly.

It was a real let-down though, which I think was a surprise to everybody. I personally really disliked his Salsa, though it was energetic, so I wasn't surprised he was at the bottom of the leader board.

Did Erin make a mistake - yes, the choreography wasn't great for the AS. The Salsa wasn't great either.

Did Austin perform the AS well - no.

I think A&E went out to Lisa's waltz(?) which felt wrong as it was a simple dance, though performed well. But her waltz was better than either of Austin's dances - the judges couldn't really do anything else under the rules as they are.