Strictly Come Dancing

NOT looking at the spoiler!

A terrifically produced show I thought, although too long, but I suppose with so many contestants at this stage there is little they can do about the length. The make up, hair and costumes were sensational.

The standard is ridiculously high for so early on in the competition, I wonder if there is anywhere for the programme to go...so much for a journey.

Cannot warm to Will Young - who clearly thinks he is better than he is and quite clearly has an "attitude" - he will pay for this with the public voting and will be out earlier than he thinks too!

Danny Mac was fabulous - it just shows what 3 years at Arts Ed and 4 years in Wicked can do!!!

I like Danny Mac the best. Liked him in Hollyoaks but also love Carley Stenson so he was my favourite from the start. Also love Oti Mabuse (his dance partner) and am really glad she has a chance of winning the show this year because she was knocked out early last year.

Also like Louise, Lesley, Ore and Tameka.

Can't warm to Will Young - too arrogant. Not a lover of Ed Balls either

Yeah, just checked the spoilers. Didn't see that coming!

An impassioned plea... to our Theatreboard Friends and fellow Strictly Fans-

Please, please don't tell us your reactions to the Strictly result before the "Sunday" show. As two previous posters have suggested, this reaction (I'm in shock/Thud/Didn't see that coming) tells us something we don't want to know.

We all know where we can find the real spoilers. But some of us need a bit of genuine excitement on a Sunday evening!

(It's one of the reasons I've never been able to watch Titanic twice. Once I know there's an iceberg ahead...  )

Wow, didn't see Redknapp going out this early. Falling flat on her face attempting plié didn't help.

Thought if she had any of the grace of her husband on the football field she was a shoo-in

So sad for Tameka. I really like her. Someone's got to go but it's a shame it was her. I mean I doubt she could've won it but should've had a few more weeks in it.

Well that was (kinda) emotional, wasn't it?

Hope Burley is coping okay- calm down, breath into a paper bay, have a galls of water and put your feet up. Whilst Gorka's gone, Pasha's still there.

I am not in any way being malicious or machiavellian but I wonder what Brucie's doing?

This always happens in the early stages that some half decent dancers go in favour of poorer dancers. It's all down to popularity at the beginning and how big a following a celebrity has. Naga has a big following from the BBC breakfast audience so she will be there for a few weeks more. Once we get down to the last 6 or so then it turns into a proper talent competition.
Can't say I'm bothered Tamika has gone. She does my head in and don't find her remotely funny. Could Gorka come back on his own please?
I also thought Will Young would be better than he is and what is it with all the bizarre outfits he wears in practise?

I love to see their faces waiting for the results! Once the poorer dancers are through to next week - e.g. Ed Balls, the better dancers know it could be ANYONE that is in the bottom two. Poor Tameka must have known she was going home up against Laura. I was surprised she was in the bottom two with the EastEnders following - I thought she would have lasted longer!

But overall it is a terrifically produced show.

To be fair, people can be surprised about anyone. Ed came at the bottom of the leader board but I'd have still been surprised if he'd have been bottom two this week. Similarly, I wasn't surprised about Tameka. I didn't find her as entertaining as everyone else seemed to. I think Laura suffers from a lack of chemistry with Giovanni (as much as the papers are trying to make out otherwise) and the height difference isn't big enough for stuff like lifts. She did well with the waltz last week but her latin really suffers in comparison. Think it's a shame that the show paired them up (assuming for the publicity) as I really like them both but just don't think they suit each other as dancing partners.

Claudia and Ore were my favourites this week. Also like Daisy and Danny week in week out. Louise is a good dancer but comes across very bland to me.

I agree with Lynette both about the choice of dances for Tameka and that final costume.  The charleston suited her and she look cute in that outfit, but I thought her Paso was a bit flat and the cop costume for the tango was a disaster.  Not only was it not becoming, but I felt I couldn't really see her dancing well.  She did allude to it having been a hard week when talking to Claudia after the dance and she wasn't her usual effervescent self.  When she and Gorka were doing their goodbye dance she pulled up her skirt and showed that she had a huge blue knee brace, so it appears she'd been dancing with an injury.  I'm not sure Gorka was the best partner for her - he was cute and they spoke affectionately of each other, but I didn't get a sense of a lot of communication and his choreography was a bit blah.
It's such a strong year that some good people are going to go out early, but I found her one of the most delightful interviewees and think with some other dances she could have been really entertaining.  I had predicted it would be Anastacia and Naga in the bottom two, but Naga in particular must have more of a fan base than I had expected.