Looking Toward The Final...

So, no dance off on Saturday? Which means Ricky Whittle has little or no chance of making the final, because the votes for Chris and Ali will surpass him with ease, I would think (*note to Ricky fans - this is just the impression I get from forums/Twitter, I could be totally wrong!).

This leaves us with the typical Strictly final match-up of crowd-pleaser vs dancer.

Let's look at the trend to date.

S1: Natasha (dancer) beat Christopher (cp)
S2: Jill beat Denise (both dancers, with cp Julian in 3rd)
S3: Darren (cp) beat Colin (dancer)
S4: Mark (dancer) beat Matt (how did he get to final, again?)
S5: Alesha (dancer) beat Matt (cp)
S6: Tom (cp) beat Rachel (dancer)

OK, the above is a little simplistic, I know. And totally inconclusive. Jill, Mark and Alesha were all crowd pleasers in their own ways.

Crowd pleasers will win out, if they are also strong dancers. Chris is a crowd pleaser, but is he a strong enough dancer to win?

It could come down the the showdance in the end. A good showdance can win the competition (I thought Rachel & Vincent had it in the bag until Tom & Camilla's showdance).

A bad showdance can lose it (Colin & Erin could have had a shot, were it not for 'muppetgate').

I actually think a somewhat bland series could end up with an exciting final. The best finals are those where you can't guess the winner, and I think this could be one of those.