The end is in sight! It’s the Semi Final and the couples have not one but two dances to wow the public with. Who coped with the pressure of two routines and who is starting to crack?
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I’ve only been following this website since this series and over the series I’ve noticed a lot of negativity towards Ore and Joanne, but that quick step was immense. I think Ore is amazing – as a non-dancer he’s done brilliantly.
Well said. Good to see someone on his side
Just because he’s a ‘non-dancer’ does not mean he should get such obvious favouritism. Yes, rhythm and musicality may be something a singer, gymnast and actor may know just a little better but none of the other three have ever been trained in ballroom or latin dance so it’s just unfair to single Ore out because of this tiny little point.
I appreciate your point….but if you read through all the comments on this website it is massively anti-Ore. People obviously have a personal issue with him.
i completely agree with this. it just frustrates me to see that people view claudias gymnastics as such a disadvantage
Claudia’s quickstep was the dance of the night. That’s all there is to it.
It was amazing
Website not letting me vote for Claudia and the landline doesn’t recognise her number either! So frustrating.
I’ve had trouble logging in too.
It’s a tough one this week. They’ve all danced brilliantly
I don’t like Ore there is something about him I really hate and can’t get past.
Louise’s samba was over marked there was no energy. Worth an 8.
I love Danny and Claudia
Don’t hate him but there’s something about him I dislike
Poor Claudia. Thought she was brilliant.
Poor Claudia indeed. I got the impression that the comments after her rumba tonight were the judges way of saying cheerio.
She was fabulous (!!) but it looks like the Beeb don’t want her to get through
Same here, BBC Strictly website won’t let me vote online – saying error.
Tad convenient me thinks!
Won’t let me either
Anyone else struggling with the online vote page? When I click “vote now” it doesn’t go through to an acknowledgement page. Is this part of the Get Ore To The Final conspiracy that the judges (except Craig) have all bought in to?!
I think the BBC site is getting hammered which is slowing it down. Kind of like this site used to happen around when the spoiler is posted
Really hope that Ore goes out tonight. Not sure why I dislike him but I do.
Finally able to vote thank goodness; Claudia & Danny for me tonight!
Ore and Claudia tonight for me. Thought Claudia was underscored. How can they say they want emotion and life experience she is 19 for goodness sake.
Louise was overmarked in the salsa, something was missing.
Best of luck to them all.
Ore???
Did anyone else notice the strictly website not working for a little while after the vote opened? I call total sabotage for Claudia and AJ. As usual, the pair were thoroughly UNDERMARKED and Darcey was especially annoying and obvious as to her favourites. I used to respect Darcey’s opinion but this year, she’s increasingly got on my nerves, sorry to say. A fan of Craig’s, I don’t understand the 9 for Claudia’s quickstep- NOTHING WAS WRONG!!
Onto Danny, perfect as ever, that American Smooth was ah-may-zing and was, of course, undermarked courtesy of Darcey…
Ore continues to annoy. His posture is horrible, but will they ever admit that? No. He’s pretentious and clearly thinks he’s entitled to the win just because he’s a BBC presenter.
Louise is harmless enough but I hope I’m not alone in thinking she pulls the SAME face for every dance. Very irritating. Especially when she is never picked out for characterization while that’s all they ever complain to Claudia about.
My vote is for Ore and Louise to be in the bottom two, Ore out at long, overdue, last.
I’d go with that.
I agree – I no longer respect Darcey’s opinion as she doesn’t seem very knowledgeable and has clearly got favourites. She always comes up with some irrelevant excuse to under/overmark people.
I completely agree the judges (other than Craig) don’t comment on the dance they have just watched but have quite repetitive comments based around favouritism and the same with the scores
I agree with all of this expect Danny’s American Smooth, I don’t feel he should have got tens for a dance where he nearly dropped Oti, but obviously different opinions and that’s okay 🙂
Which lift did Danny nearly drop oti? I never saw that
The “round the world”. Don’t think the silky dress helped.
i must admit I could never find Danny overmarked by the present judges as they always have a predilection for the women.
Personally thought that the voting didn’t seem to match what they’re comments said. Had issues with sound on Louise’s second dance so actually didn’t know what she was dancing too. Thought we were going to have to score paddles at dawn at one point with Craig and Len….
Going out on a limb and say think it’s going to be Danny, Ore & Louise next week. Danny to win (probably)
p.s. I had no issues with the website straight after the voting opened…maybe I broke it lol
Personally thought Ore’s Argentine Tango was overmarked – it looked very unnatural to me! Getting bored of Ore being overmarked and Claudia being under marked which seems to happen every week.
I found Louise and Ore’s dances quite dull and repetitive. Nothing special
Though i love what claudia can do she doesnt show any emotion and thats what stops her performances being perfect so i understand where darcy and craig are coming from. Oti was the best i thought but as the GBP dont seem to like him id say his chances are slim. But i would live either him or claudia to win.
While I take your point about Claudia, Louise doesn’t show emotion either and that never seems to be a problem for the judges.
She has been hit and miss with emotion and i thought she was wooden tonight didnt like her dancing it lacked….. well i cant put my finger on what but it definitely lacked something
I think she was nervous in the Rumba but much happier in the Quickstep, which makes sense, but to be frank LR looked uncomfortable throughout the whole Samba and that seemed to pass by the judges.
Louise lacked energ and enthusiasm and it was badly over marked
I thought that too. She seemed a bit uncomfortable.
I think Louise has been out of performing for so long she is being absolutely plagued with nerves, which is a shame.
I would agree i think she seemed off tonight… shame really
This is what has wound me up tonight – the same [harsh] comments that they give to Claudia could often be applied to other contestants but they rarely are (and the other’s scores are not affected in the same way)
So agree with you about this. It’s the same with the schtick Rinder got for his face pulling and yet watch Kevin and Oti (who I think is amazing) gurning throughout every dance
Rinders faces only ever ever deflected fro me the dance when u could see him counting
Ore, right?
Oti is Danny’s partner
Sorry i meant ore of course
🙂
Why is everyone seem to be anti Ore. When you look at everyone else’s background he should have no chance. Against all the odds he finds himself top of the leaderboard. An incredible achievement. Despite this all I see is comments that he is overmarked and should be voted off. I wonder if the same would be said if his skin colour was different…….?
I wonder if you’ve ever taken a look through the list of past contestants on Strictly. There have been quite a few non-white people on it, who have done rather well, Simon Webbe, Louis Smith and Alesha Dixon being obvious examples.
I liked Ore a lot until the judges started over marking him. I think if he had been marked more fairly he would be more popular.
And if he didn’t cry at the drop of a hat, it’s no longer endearing it just seems fake.
You’re the only one bringing race and colour into it. Why? Do you have some kind of chip on your shoulder?
It frustrates me to see so much negativity. I hear comments that his jibe wasn’t that good / the judges always overmark him (why would they be biased?). I always look at the positive. He has done incredibly well. No doubt he will be in the dance off later but in my personal opinion he deserves to make the final. I appreciate very few others will agree
You always look at the positive but infer that anyone who doesn’t agree with your high opinion of Ore is a racist. That’s not very positive. Why would the judges overmark him? Have you considered BBC nepotism might be a factor?
Nowt to do with skin colour. He’s a bit too smug for my liking.
Nothing wrong with someone showing some emotion
Emotions , fine.
Smugness. Gets my back up.
That’s all.
If it was race wouldn’t Danny and Oti be disliked in the same way. It is his attitude.
I never usually comment on here but I am curious to see if anyone else is feeling the same way as me – in all my years of watching Strictly I’ve never felt truly manipulated by the program, but tonight the judges scores and comments were so ridiculously inconsistent I found myself not enjoying the show like I usually do!
How can Ore’s lacklustre Argentine Tango (in which he basically did not move as Jo danced around him) score 39 when Claudia’s impressive Argentine Tango (one of the best I’ve seen) scored 36? Do they really think we’re that stupid?! I know we’re not professionals but the difference in quality of those two dances is so obvious I feel like anyone would be able to tell…
And also the Quicksteps! For Ore and Claudia to score the same is a joke. Darcy mentioned gapping in Claudias, but, as Len noted, considering their height difference she did as well as any pro would. Ore and Jo are the same height and I saw just as much gapping in their dance but Darcy didn’t mention it. Claudia’s quickstep was incredible and I think if Darcy hadn’t made a negative comment Craig would’ve given it a ten.
They go on about Claudia’s connection and emotional but I feel Louise has the same expression in every dance she does (smiling through a Tango for example?!) and it never gets mentioned. (Side note; Louise’s Samba was never 36, it was awkward and stiff, the judges have given me whiplash tonight with this ridiculous scoring!!!)
I loved Danny tonight as usual, he’s such a great dancer to watch, I think he should’ve topped the leaderboard rather than Ore.
To be honest Claudia has become my favourite simply because I feel she is being done an injustice! I feel the judges manipulated the scores to put Ore at the top giving him least chance of being in the dance off, and made sure Claudia was at the bottom to give her the greatest chance of being in it. I personally think they’re being told to do this by the producers as Claudia isn’t going on the tour. Tonight has ruined the show a bit for me, I have never felt frustrated watching it before but I truly did not enjoy tonight’s show because of what I feel was clear manipulation by the judges, Tess and the producers.
So dissapointed!! If anyone else is feeling this way please comment and let me know, need to know if I’m losing it haha.
A little disclaimer – I mean no hate towards Ore, I just dislike how biased things appear to be for him
I agree with everything you said!
Thank you! Nice to know there are others out there who are feeling the same
No I agree. I just home enough people can get through to vote for Claudia and AJ.
I hope so too, I voted about 20 times, all the money goes to charity so I thought why not
I could not agree more!
Thank you!
Th judges need to realise their bias effects the vote in the opposite way
Very true, but they still have the power to send people home, if the dance off is Ore and Claudia and they send Claudia home for example I might not be able to watch anymore as the show will lose all it’s integrity for me
Our only hope is if the DO is between Ore and Louise…
Which it might well be if it follows the spoiler poll result above.
Are you talking about the “Who Do You Want To Win Strictly Come Dancing 2016?” poll?
I would expect that a lot of people (like me) want Danny to win, but would still vote tactically for Claudia this week – so perhaps that poll understates public support for Claudia. I hope so!
I want to see Claudia’s show dance!
Agreed both Anna and Kat…Anna you are right hopefully the public will see they are being manipulated and vote accordingly and Kat, I don’t know if I will be able to watch the show if she is sent home either. 🙁
Agree 100% though for me, the bias in the judging has so far ruined nearly the entire series. Injustice is the exact right word as well. It’s unfair and it really is destroying an otherwise fantastic show.
I think for whatever reason it’s been really obvious this season. You’re so right I remember I thought Ed’s fantastic Quickstep was undermarked! And that Cha Cha Challenge was a complete farce, they just made a list of the order they wanted the contestants to finish in and read it out…and it’s such a shame because the show really is fantastic apart from this 🙁
Problem is, since he was top of the leaderboard the judges will easily be able to save him. I initially found Claudia and AJ a bit sickly sweet, but have really been rooting for them since I realised how undermarked they are. Her Argentina Tango was the best I ever saw on Strictly and I thought the scores were criminal!
Ore’s Argentine Tango was rubbish tonight – yes good music, but he stood still most of the time, and was really wobbly in one of the lifts. I also noticed the gapping in the quickstep and didn’t think he held himself very well and couldn’t understand why the judges didn’t pick up on it. Darcey was so transparent tonight, it really upset me! Craig is the only judge with integrity.
I’m not sure there’s a big BBC master plan, but the judges picked their favourite from his jive and have overmarked him ever since. Danny is undermarked because of his background and because he has been so good throughout. It’s totally unfair. The judges are there to mark the dances on merit, background shouldn’t come in to it.
Thought Danny’a Foxtrot was so beautiful and the difficulty with the lift didn’t actually detract – I hardly noticed it because the rest was so mesmerising!
Simple, the ‘master plan’ is for a Clifton to win the show. No question about that.
I completely agree with you on all of this, thanks for the reply! I’m nervous for an Ore/Claudia dance off because I think you’re right there’s only one way it would go and it’s making me upset even though it hasn’t happened yet!
I’ve watched her AT again so many times and it just gets better and better, criminally undermarked!
Completely agree about Darcy, she was struggling to find positive things to say about Ore’s AT and it was very obvious she didn’t believe a word she was saying.
Agree about Danny’s foxtrot also, a clear 40 if ever there was one, all that rubbish about the ‘mood’ in Ore’s AT was actually more applicable to Danny’s Foxtrot, I got so lost in the story and atmosphere of the dance the lift didn’t matter!
You’re so right about the background thing, if they think a celebrity’s background is an unfair advantage they shouldn’t sign them up to the show, end of! Once they’re on the show they deserve to be marked on their dance ability regardless of anything else!
So glad you agree with me and I’m not the only one who felt this tonight!
Totally with you, Kat. And like you’ve I’ve never commented on here before, but tonight has me all in a tiz! Let’s hope Ore drops Jo in his dance off and then there can be no arguing about who should go home!
Do you think this blatant favouritsm will backfire with the public vote? Some who may have been tempted to vote for their preferred dancer (Danny in my case) could switch their vote to the one most hard done by (Claudia). In fact I did that AND got my daughter (who doesn’t usually vote) to do the same…
I hope it will, I think a lot more people see through it than they realise! I did exactly the same as you, and got my mum (who also doesn’t usually vote) to vote as well! So hopefully lots of people are doing that as well, cause if she winds up in the dance off the judges will no doubt send her packing
Totally agree, and as far as I can see, so do most of the bloggers and posters on the FB page, let’s keep fingers crossed we can do enough to save the pocket rocket!
I’ve got my fingers crossed too! Luckily thanks to Dave we don’t have to wait long to find out!
Whilst i agree with some of what you said i dont agree with parts . I think normally the judges are very fair but what they say is only an opinion. I think that all this Ore hating ive seen doesnt really make sense to me as he is a lovely person if left to the ppl he will be in the bottom two.He and claudia now are the only two left who have never danced before and personally i want to see them in the final. I dont think the programme is fixed at all.. its just 4 different judges 4 different opinions and i love it when they disagree
I completely agree that it’s just the judge’s opinion, but if it really was their opinion there would be some degree of consistency in the scoring – so the things they criticise in one persons dance they will criticise in another persons dance as well. The problem I have isn’t with their opinion – which of course they’re entitled to – it’s with the lack of consistency. So tonight for example Darcy criticised Claudia and AJ for gapping in the Quickstep, but Ore and Jo had gapping in their Quickstep and she still gave them a ten. That was the only reason she gave for not giving Claudia a ten, so if it applies to Claudia why doesn’t it apply to Ore as well? That’s the bit I don’t understand.
As I said above none of this is meant in a negative way towards Ore. I think he’s a nice enough guy and I have nothing against him. I just dislike favouritism. They all work so hard and deserve to be judged fairly and impartially.
I was always the first to dismiss fix allegations regarding Strictly, but tonight the scoring was SO inconsistent and when I saw that Ore was first in the leaderboard and Claudia was last, it was all just too obvious to me that the scores were being manipulated to help get their (either the judges or producers) preferred celebs (and pros) to the final. Of course I might be wrong, this is all just my opinion, I just didn’t enjoy the show tonight because of this and wanted to see if others felt that too.
I can understand that it might seem yhat way and hopefully on ITT we will find out why the judges scored the way they did. Im sur they will alk be on this week as its the last week. But though i love claudia (technically shes incredible) there is always something missing and maybe Darcy sees that too with ore nothings ever missing sure he makes the odd mistake but his performance always seems more rounded than claudias… this is all just my opinion of course. And if you think the judges are biased BOY!!!! The public sure are judgeing by alot of comments about hating Ore… he doesnt really stand a chance does he the poor lad
Glad we can disagree with each other without being rude to each other. Like you I’m interested to see what the judges will say on ITT! And in regards to some people not connecting with Claudia’s performance (I always find her incredible to watch personally) she is technically incredible; and Ore, while he might connect more with the dance, is not as technically good as Claudia, which is just as important as the emotion in dance. Based on that logic, they should really wind up with similar scores, not massively different ones like they recieved tonight!
I think they both have their good points and also bad points and over the weeks they have had similar scoreing i think with some weeks claudia and Aj coming out above ore and jo and visaversa. I dont think theres ever any need to be rude we have different likes and dislikes and personally i cant wait for the final… tho i will miss the show after xmas ? i love my dose of SCD each year.
Yeah you’re exactly right they both have positives and negatives and the scoring over the whole competition definitely reflects that, I just thought Claudia’s Quickstep was so incredible I’m gutted she didn’t get the 40 I felt she deserved… I’m going to miss the show too! Think they should do it in the spring as well so we can have it twice a year like they do in the US 🙂
Ooh i love that idea maybe we can get a petition going. Yes i loved the QS more than the rumba.. im not a fan of that dance it doesnt show the celeb at their best somehow. We have also said on twitter that Zoe and Ian Waite should get there own spin off show as they are so hilarious together, now that i would watch lol?
Agree with everything you just said…definitely favouritism going on and they think we the public are stupid. All my votes are for Claudia and AJ as I feel they’ve been woefully wronged. If they are in the dance off then that’s curtains for them as the judges will vote them off so important to keep them in. Hope Louise and Ore for the DO and Ore to go.
I’m hoping for the same result tonight, hopefully enough people have voted for Claudia and AJ! So glad you agree with me it’s nice knowing other people saw through it as well
The difference between louise and claudia in my own personal opinion (not an expert, just a former dancer) is doing the steps and selling the steps. Claudias gymnastics training helps her with the accuracy of her footwork which is almost always spot on, but beyond just the steps shes given, theres no performance. There’s also a lot more to performance than just the faces. It has to come from your whole body to really sell the dance, and as far as ive seen, you cant really teach it. you have this spark when you dance or you dont.
I did think it was unfair that the judges suddenly gave her all the comments this week that couldve applied to her this whole competition. not really giving her much chance to improve it, amd its quite misleading to her when shes done everything she thinks she needs to do and suddenly the judges say she doesnt perform and feel the music. couldve said this about the third week, so she could actually work on it and improve, no?
All my votes went to Claudia because she deserves to be in the final and she will be voted out by the bias judges if she is in the dance off
I did the same Penny. I think Claudia is the most improved of the remaining contestants.
I don’t dislike Ore, but I thoroughly dislike the judge’s attempts to get him through to the final with their blatant overmarking and high praise for a relatively average AT.
Claudia’s QS was utterly superb given the height difference – the speed was unbelievable and her control of her top line was incredible.
Danny’s AS was great, but I found both of Louise’s dances distinctly average as well.
I do hope Claudia gets enough votes to go throught to the final – maybe the judges are trying to get Danny in the bottom two against Claudia? That would be a travesty.
Quite bluntly, I think the production team are trying to get one of the Cliftons to win in Len’s last year as judge. They’re his godchildren. I’ve nothing against either of them personally, but to be honest, it’s hard to avoid thinking they’re being groomed to win this year.
I didn’t know that (but I’m new around here! 😉
Unless you were in the church during the christening how do you know they’re his godchildren?
OK I wasn’t but even if you don’t believe that, you still have to face the fact that Kevin has been given 4 partners with the potential to make the final in the 4 years he’s been on the show and both Karen Clifton and Joanne Clifton have had partners who were likely to be capable or popular or both, meaning that they were obvious candidates for the tour, which is a real money-spinner for the pros. The year Joanne Clifton was left without a partner she was given a presenting gig as well as being a mainstay of the pro dances. Seriously, I think we have to acknowledge the producers like the Cliftons.
i think youre focusing too much on this. is it so hard to believe that theyre both just good at what they do??
theyre both clearly good teachers, and amazing choreographers. kevin was part of the choreography team before he was one of the pro dancers. hes always seemed very enthusiastic and patient as well as pushing his celebrity partners to get the best out of them. i dont see why people cant just accept that the cliftons are good at what they do? they wouldnt be on the show otherwise?
I do like Claudia but really can’t take to AJ at all. I think his inexperience shows through in his choreography most weeks and the quick step was just that bit too fast for Claudia to keep up with. Maybe it’s just that she’s so small.
Also how many mistakes did the judges miss this week. Ore and Joanne made a mistake as did Louise and neither got commented on.
Danny all the way for me. I think Ote is amazing with the routines she puts together. It’s by far the best to watch.
Craig commented on ore and jo’s mistake but the others didnt but i dont remember anyone saying anything about louise.I agree that oti’s choreography is inspired shes really come into her own
Terrific semi final. Too close to guess this year! I think all four should be in the final and all four should share the title!
I don’t know why the judges keep over marking Ore. He is the least improved of the group. Well done Claudia. Louise and Danny are fabulous. I still think the judges are biased.
I think that’s been acknowledged by everyone except the judges and the BBC.
maybe because the scores arent based on whos the most improved? theyre usually based on how good your dancing and the overall performance was?
Oh, and another thing, has anyone else noticed how Darcy can’t even be bothered to say Claudia’s (of Claudia and AJ) name right? It’s pretty rude if you think about it.
Disgusted by the judges treatment of Claudia tonight. Her quickstep was amazing, the speed she was going around the floor and didnt mess up (Unlike 2 other dancers tonight) They judges clearly want their final 3 to be Danny, Ore & Louise
Ore was fab tonight, really hope he makes it to the final
How representative of the general public is this forum? Do the polls here generally match the actual outcomes?
The bottom two have tied up a lot in previous weeks but the way I poll is far from perfect. You have to remember my poll questions in previous weeks have been who is your favourite? And this week is who do you want to win?
These are very different questions that don’t necessarily transfer into votes. People don’t always vote for their favourites or who they want to win but they vote for who they want to get through
This site’s audience demographic may also not completely match with Strictly’s audience demographic