All about Laila

So I have mixed feelings about Laila and Anton, and I have to admit that my pro Phil and Katya bias has probably had a negative impact on how I feel about this couple this week.

There seems to be so much hype about Laila being a real contender this year, but I just cannot see it, I am afraid. Part of her storyline of course was as "first real chance that Anton has had with a good partner" (which is not a little insulting to Lesley Garrett and Patsy Palmer). However, this spin seems to have ratcheted out of control in the public eye, and got somehow mingled in with a whole load of other stuff like "this could be Anton's last year and he is being groomed to take over from Bruce, so wouldn't it be nice for him to win", as well as the whole "It's PC-gone mad" that formed the aftermath to his earlier unacceptable remarks.

Laila looks every inch the part, and has probably benefitted from the best dresses of the series. But is this a question of style over substance, with the myth taking hold that Laila is a lovely dancer, underscored by the judges; or has she never really fulfilled the promise of the glamorous image and the hopes of Anton's legion of fans?

Even in her first dance, the tango, Laila made quite a huge error, and was unable to respond to Anton's lead to get her back on track, which could have been an early sign of a partnership that didn't quite gel, or a celeb who was prone to making mistakes/forgetting the choreography. But the judges were kind, it deserved a mid placing on the leaderboard, and the myth of the contender was born. It carried on unchallenged despite a lacklustre cha cha, possibly due to a field that included rumbas by Craig Kelly and Jo Wood, a cha cha from Richard Dunwoody, and Zoe Lucker and Tuffers signalling that ballroom might be their stronger discipine.

And so Laila came to be seen as up there with Zoe and Jade, just behind Ali and Ricky. But I don't think she has ever really deserved that position. We all know that the latin has been lamentable, and whether blame should be laid at the door of the teacher/choreographer, or a less than striking student, is a moot point. Even her paso, her best latin dance, saw a lack of performance, an unsteadiness out of hold, and a lot of smoke and mirrors choreography that included three illegal lifts. But she does look great in red!

As for the ballroom, the foxtrot was good and deserving of praise; but neither the quickstep nor the VW had any wow factor. Had she been dancing in a lower level medal test, I am sure she would have had a highly commended, but for a series of Strictly? The Anton bashers insist that he is not up to it any more, even for ballroom, and is lacking in ability to choreograph sparkling routines (I guess that means that Erin does all the work in their pro partnership then?). Is it that, or could it be that Laila is not capable of dancing the type of choreography that Ali and Ricky have been given from the off, and that latterly Natalie and Jade are cheerfully embracing? So Anton is playing it rather safe, getting good but not stunning scores, and the judges feel able to damn with faint praise, for example by bringing criticism of her latin into a critique of a ballroom. Is this a subtle signal to the voters that actually, this couple don't cut the mustard, but they are trying to avoid her being at the bottom of the leaderboard too frequently and thus provoking the sympathy vote?

It could of course be complete reverse psychology and the judges want people to thing of Laila and Anton as the underdogs and so vote them into the final.....

And so to the injury (in a series dogged by injury). Ali and Phil had previously danced with bravery and stoicism on injuries. It was always going to be a shambles of a dance - lacking in hip action, arm movement, chemistry and musicality. Was the injury exaggerated for the benefit of the sympathy vote?

Well we will probably never know....

But why was Laila seen barefoot in the VT one minute, with an icepack on her ankle, and then minutes later on the way to hospital, having squeezed her Ugg boot over a swollen ankle? Why was the tubigrip that she was wearing so inadequate as support? And how did she fit into a dance shoe with a swollen ankle/foot? And why? Couldn't she have worn flats, like Ali? And why did she get through 76 seconds of a routine and then stop? The lift all looked rather well executed for a spontaneous reaction to a problem.....Conspiracies, conspiracies...They are literally flooding the forums.

My own personal take? She did hurt her ankle, but was being a bit of a drama queen, especially when contrasted with the way other people have dealt with their injuries. She hated the routine, was distracted by thoughts of her ankle, some pain, forgot the routine, and they managed to end the dance with a photogenic, sympathy generating, illegal move (which they may or may not have thought about in advance, because let's face it, most people do have contingency plans for something that could go wrong)....So go ahead and hate me now!