Red has it spot on.
The 9-6 split won't matter by week 4 unless Arsenal fans put a spoke in the works/someone else is deemed "safe" and gets fewer votes (hopefully not Montell or Punam or we'll have the GBP racial bias arguments again).
Giving Merson Vindaloo for an American Smooth is enough for a sympathy vote from me however. Plus I found it interesting when he said You want me to say I'm happy (or whatever it was) - I'd like to see him go "off script" live and say what he thinks.
I think Tom looked good with Nadiya (and had them paired pre-spoilers because of height) but she may have been better off with Nick. He seemed very low-energy around Luba and Nadiya's jokes about "diving in" at the "deep end" sank like a stone. Plus I had looked forward to her calling him Nicholas. Oh well.
Chris and Wynne have the potential to be hilarious or to not know when to stop.
But Red is correct that Dianne and Katya were chosen to give them both a shot and, whether I agree with it or not, Chris will get some sympathy points.
Toyah has quite a YouTube fanbase so I thought was a dark horse but the disdain for Neil across all fora is quite something (and I truly think is undeserved) plus she deliberately going for zany, means marmite to the voters. She'll have my vote I think - probably at the expense of a novice's perfectly respectable routine. We saw that with Kaye last year.
Montell looked brilliant. JB gives Amy her first final since Karim and the feelgood factor this series needed after the furore (the Beeb still hasn't had its official report published. At a cost of 250k, the license-fee payers do have a right to know). I hope they get there on their own performances rather than a Get Amy To The Final storyline.
In the same way Punam looks like Nikita 2.0 (no experience, no fanbase) Shayne looks like Will 2.0 (some experience, housewife fanbase). The dynamics are boring. I'd have rather had Punam with Carlos or with Neil (the latter did bangra for It Takes Two. They could have done a cracking routine).
Shayne was surprised to get Nancy apparently.
I'll need to rewatch Jamie and Michelle. I missed any chemistry. I thought Jowita and Pete, the smokers, were the obvious showmance this year. I may be mistaken.
Red is completely correct in saying production will slip them a ropey samba instead of a lifeline charleston when they want to. We saw that with Krishnan last year. All that said, it can all only be manipulated so far and once the audience have a favourite, they can change the trajectory. Take Hamza: he was unknown, unexpected and scooped the victory even though Helen performed better on the night.