Ashley Roberts on Strictly Come Dancing

[Smellbellina]

She’s ruining my enjoyment! She’s a professional dancer and it’s very obvious. It’s like a professional ice skater competing on Dancing on Ice, why??

Plus why did not she go on the American version

Probably because she lives in the UK.

And the American one had already had Nicole Shitsinger on it....who won with Derek Hough cos the yanks don't care about evil ringer status

I think if they are going to have blatant ringers they should ask all the sacked/retired professionals back next year as contestants.

Gah, I really don’t warm to Ashley. Yuk. She might be able to dance but I don’t like her at all.

They’ve had Nicole Scherzinger and Heather Morris (Glee actress, formerly professional dancer) on The US version. Nicole won it.

She won't win because there's no 'journey'
The most memorable ones are the non dancers- I loved mark wright and particularly his jive with Karen - pretty much a vaguely recognisable bloke off the street who genuinely seemed to love it and learn so much . All the pop stars are at a massive advantage.

Meryl Davis on the US one (Olympic figure skating champion) is the best I've ever seen on any of the shows. And she won.

I’m not happy with this. You can have a broad spectrum of ability WITHOUT professional dances taking part.

Go Derxa !

Ooh yes, Meryl was terrific, just stunning.

I think if they are going to have blatant ringers they should ask all the sacked/retired professionals back next year as contestants.

I'd so watch that. And vote for Ian.

I loved Ore Oderra, he was fab

I'd quite like to see professional dancers from different genres on there learning ballroom. Someone like Ashley Banjo learning to waltz would be fab to watch.

I agree, it's so predictable and tiresome

It’s like a professional ice skater competing on Dancing on Ice, why??

They had something similar in Canada called Battle of the Blades, it was awesome...ice skaters training ice hockey players how to ice dance as the blade technique is different.

On Uk DOI you did have a similar situation with Chris Fountain who had an edge, pardon the pun, over the others because of his ice hockey experience. And Ray Quinn of course had blading and dance experience. Whether having the latter helps James Jordan out in January is another matter.

I love Ashley. She’s not a trained Ballroom or Latin dancer. Really hating all the negative comments every year about the same thing. Love Strictly and all the dancers.

I liked Ore Oduba's paso and the braceography in his chacha made me smile. But his crying every week was as irritating for me as Ashley's alleged fauxhumble is for others. Except Werewolf Charleston - any tears that week were completely valid.

I wouldn't worry, the great British public will do their usual thing in the final:

• we won't vote for her, she's American

- we won't vote for her, she's really pretty

• therefore too big for her boots
• fuck her, she could already dance

I call Stacey Dooley for winner.

Someone like Ashley Banjo learning to waltz would be fab to watch.

but not that different to seeing Ashley R then
Maybe they could have a series just with ringers...Ashley Banjo, Ray Quinn, Scarlett Moffatt, Darcey Bussell etc

I want to see beginners learn to dance week by week not someone who can dance brilliantly from week 1.

I just find Ashley boring. There is no journey. To me she doesn't improve every week because she could dance very well from the beginning.

I certainly don't hate her but I find her very irritating. Every time she tells us how hard the dance has been to learn and her fake surprise when she gets high scores really wind me up.

Plus, and I know it's silly, but I absolutely hate the fact that she can't pronounce Pasha's name properly. It's not a difficult name and, to me, it's bloody rude not to say it properly

I don't mind having ringers, it's nice to have some really good dancing to watch, especially the early weeks when a lot of the celebs are still finding their feet. The ringers almost never win, purely because they are ringers and the final is totally public vote, so from that point of view they don't have an unfair advantage. Jay is the only ringer that I can think of who went on to win, and even then he hadn't been a professional dancer it was just stage school dance training. The winner will always be someone who has had a 'journey', started a bit wobbly and scared, had one week where the turned a corner and did an amazing dance, and gave the appearance of really loving to dance.

Joe is going to win, we knew that from week 1. He could not bother training, just turn up and blag it and he would still win because of his YouTube followers. So I admire him for working so hard despite being a sure thing.

At least you don't get the endless VTs from Ashley claiming she's never danced, like those who went to Silvia Youngs do.

"Yeah I used to sit out the dance classes and do extra Geography. Can't paso to save my life but I can name all the tributaries of the Amazon"

Yes although Ray Quinn would be too ringerish. Other style pro dancers would be good though.

mydogisthebest, are you completely sure that the English say Pasha properly? I haven't heard any Russian's saying his name so I can't be certain that Ashley's pronunciation is any more incorrect than any other nationality's.

(Russians, not possessive, pah!)

BlackAmerican, well everyone in Strictly pronounces it the same way as does his girlfriend so I would assume that is the way to say it.

It just seems Ashley can't be bothered to say it properly. I guess it's like the way Americans pronounce pasta!

I used to hate it too that Tess could never ever say Ola's name properly