Former England cricketer Mark Ramprakash and partner Karen Hardy are Strictly Come Dancing’s champions for 2006.

After 12 weeks of tense competition and in the final performing a staggering five dances, Mark and Karen walked away with the title in a live show on BBC One.

Mark and Karen scored top with the judges - a massive 110 out of 120 for their first three dances (the other two were viewer votes).

Mark said: “From the very first day Karen gave me the experience of a lifetime. It’s been such an experience. It’s been incredible. Honestly I want to compliment all the dancers.”

Runner-up Matt Dawson said: “There was no question, there was one winner here and that was final. I loved it. There has been one person that has somehow got me to the final and that is one special girl (Lilia Kopylova).”

The judges said of Mark’s performance tonight:

Tango (marks 34/40) -

Craig: “Well, I have to say it is a vast improvement on the last time. But it was still amazing. I think your timing is impeccable.”

Arlene: “Well, this is the final so everyone is demanding perfection. There were not enough heel leads and we can’t have that in the final.”

Len: “Very brave to have a go at the Tango as this wasn’t your best dance a few weeks back. Let’s face it Matt does the ballroom a bit better than you. It was far better than the last time.”

Bruno: “You two have incredible charisma and you sell the performance.”

Salsa (marks 40) -

Craig: “Totally brilliant. I loved it!”

Arlene: “Your rhythmic interpretation is nothing less than sensational.”

Len: “Watching you do that Salsa tonight has given me so much joy.”

Bruno: “The final has kicked in.”

Show Dance

Len: “That was fantastic.”

Arlene: “Mark, I have to say I was right, the boy can dance. Most dancers couldn’t do those lifts in 16 years, let alone 16 weeks.”

Craig: “Lifting dead weight was so difficult.”

Bruno: “The crowning glory of a spectacular night.”

Judges’ choice: Matt and Lilia – 36/40; Karen and Mark – 36/ 40

Craig: “It’s a massive love fest. You were both great.”

Arlene: “Matt and Lilia, it was light, it was bright, it was happy, it was skippy.”

Len: “You both did great.”

Bruno: “Very clever, you worked to your strengths.”

Mark’s wife Van Ramprakash said: “I am so proud of him, he puts in so much effort in everything he does.”

Host Bruce Forsyth said: “The atmosphere was electric tonight. After 16 weeks of blood, sweat and tears tonight was the culmination of all that hard work.”

Co-host Tess Daly said: “That’s it – it’s all over. Congratulations to Mark and Karen.”

Over the series more than £1.5m has been raised for BBC Children in Need. More than 12 million people voted on the final night alone.

All the competitors and dancers – including Jimmy Tarbuck - joined host Bruce Forsyth on the dance floor as he sang Come Dancing for a group dance special.

Strictly Come Dancing Grande Final. and Karen Hardy are the well deserving winners.

All fourteen couples participating in the Strictly Come Dancing 2006 competition over the past twelve weeks came together for the dazzling and entertaining final between Mark Ramprakash with partner Karen Hardy and Matt Dawson with partner Lilia Kopylova. Each couples had five different dances to perform, all scoring exceptionally high points. Mark and Karen’s Salsa stole the first half of the show with four tens and standing ovation and applause from all four judges. A brilliant performance putting them in the lead after three dances.

Once again Mark and Karen brought the house down in the second half of the evening, dancing the Free Style, becoming one with each other and the music as they sizzled across the floor with breathtaking lifts and twirls and steps never seen before. They received a double standing ovation with head judge, Len Goodman and Bruce Forsythe shaking Mark’s hand and the audience cheering and applauding. It was no surprise to see the very excited Karen, winning a series for the first time, and calmly smiling but delighted British Cricketer, Mark receiving the trophy to the delight of all.

This article was written by Evelyn Lewis . Thanks Evelyn!

‘Strictly Come Dancing’ star Karen Hardy, dance partner of Mark Ramprakash, has injured herself while rehearsing for tomorrow’s show.

According to the show’s official website, the professional dancer slipped and fell to the floor, injuring her knee, as the couple were rehearsing their Quickstep.

They had previously been having problems with their Angentine Tango, as Karen is not trained in this type of dance.

She said: “I have no idea what I’m doing. How can a dance be so difficult?”

Speaking about her injury, she said: “I’m hoping it’s shock more than anything. I’m going to have a cracking bruise there tomorrow.”

Why is it necessary to promote Emma Bunton so hard every night on Take Two and make it so much easier for her on Saturday by the choice of dances for the contestants? Is it because ‘they’ know Emma could not possibly win without first getting rid of the toughest competition, Louisa Lytton and perhaps Mark Ramprakash next and then giving all three the Argentine Tango where the two men will have to take the lead over their teachers and Emma can be led?

What happened to fair, honest winning by the best dancer? I have also noticed that the other choice of dances for the two men is going to be a real challenge due to past criticism by the judges during these dances. Craig has been pushing for our votes for Emma since the beginning, even getting into a fight with honest and outspoken Brendan Cole whose accusation was the over marking of Emma. Surely ‘they’ must realise that Emma is not the best dancer otherwise they would not feel the need to push for her votes.

The public have shown week after week that they do not agree with the judges’ leader board showing Emma Bunton at the top, by repeatedly voting her into the bottom two. We loved Louisa Lytton and love Mark Ramprakash for their exquisite dancing and great personalities so why have they been continuously knocked and Emma’s dancing shortcomings overlooked? Can anyone please explain to me what is going on? Are we to vote for the best dancer or who we think the judges will go for? Or are we to vote at all?

This article was written by Evelyn Lewis. Thanks Evelyn!

How does someone get voted out, who has consistently been one of the two favourite dancers, since the beginning of the series, with both the bookies and the public? What is going on? Louisa Lytton, who the judges classed as been on a par with the professionals has been voted out. Emma Bunton, whose shortcomings on the dance floor are often either overlooked or not marked accordingly, was apparently still finding favour with the judges, scoring higher than the public feels she should (as do I). while the judges’ were nit picking fault finding her toughest competitors, Louisa Lytton and Mark Ramprakash. The public obviously have not agreed with the judges, pulling Emma down from top of the judges’ board, to the bottom, by public vote. Surely the judge’s constant extreme fault finding of Louisa and Mark, which appears to be unfair and unwarranted, must have demoralised and knocked their confidence. In spite of this, Louisa has never failed to deliver the most captivating performances, as has Mark.

The most impressive dancer of the evening was Matt Dawson with his partner Lilia Kopylova in his second dance. He was utterly amazing and received well deserved praise from the judges but unfortunately not the tens he so richly deserved. Not even nines. I have not been a Matt fan in the past but willingly admit that he was phenomenal. The judges now have to get past two remaining outstanding dancers to get their favourite, Emma to win.

Is it a forgone conclusion that Emma is to be the next winner, in spite of the public and bookies’ opinion? Are the public wasting their time and money voting for their favourites?

Do the judges not value their reputations as, obviously, other experts in their field and the public, do not agree with their point distribution, favouritism, critisms of the serious contenders and weak excuses for their behaviour. Will Mark, the remaining favourite with both the public and bookies, be the next contestant to be ousted making way for the judges’ favourite, Emma, to win? None of this does anything for Strictly Come Dancing or Reality shows. Strictly Come Dancing was once one of the fairest of the reality shows and much enjoyed by all. Maybe it is time to replace the present panel of judges to enable it to be a more pleasant show for both viewer and competitor Do judges have training to judge, as knowledge of dancing is not sufficient. Viewers should be able to vote off the judges not fulfilling their positions of trust.

This article was written by Evelyn Lewis. Thanks Evelyn!

Eastenders star, Louisa Lytton was voted off Strictly Come Dancing last night and will not be dancing in the shows semi final.

Louisa had struggled with her training throughout the week and she and dance partner Vincent Simone collected the lowest number of points from the TV judges of the four quarter-finalist pairings. They received cumulative totals of 31 for their American smooth and 29 for their rumba.

Although former Spice Girl Emma Bunton scored the highest on the night it was she who was in the bottom two for the third consecutive week, but yet again found herself surviving the chop.

Next weeks semi-final will feature Matt Dawson, Mark Ramprakash, and Emma Bunton.

4th December, 06

Well now, that was a very interesting showing of Take Two by Claudia Winkelman

First we were taken to Head Judge, Len Goodman’s Dance Centre where he teaches children to dance, with tremendous humour. Then Judge Bruno Tonioli came on the show with Louise Redkapp, to defend his judging on Emma, Mark and Louisa on Saturday night.

Carol Smillie and Matthew Cutler, who were knocked out of the competition last Saturday by the public, were invited on the show to share how they felt about this after having received their highest score ever. They were at the bottom with Emma Bunton and Darren Bennett (The judges had put Emma and Darren at the top with a generous rewarding of tens, beating both Louisa and Mark and their partners, unfairly, many of us thought) last Saturday. Carol said she knew she was going that week but very happy to have earned her nine and thirty total, for which she and her partner had been aiming.

The really interesting part of the evening was when a panel of four public judges made up of friends of Judge Craig Revel Norwood, were asked to judge the controversial couples. The four public judges were dance performance coach, Doreen, theatre, TV and film director, Arthur, random friend Amber and West End stage and costume designer Christopher.

Some of their remarks were as follows, Emma not very Spanish, wrong dress, cleaning her hands down the front of her dress and Doreen hotly disagreeing with Arlene’s ravings of how wonderful Emma was, shouting ‘No way Arlene, we don’t agree with you’. ‘The judges must have been taking kindness pills’. They felt there was nothing Spanish about the dance and did not like some of her movements or her smile. (I think it was a grimace for the fierce dance). They also felt she did not tell the story. Matthew, they stated, was not allowing himself to be seduced, too much posing and a fixed smile. His upper body was too stiff and they had not seen him dance. They loved Mark’s whole performance, hip movements, etcetera and felt he had earned the nines but they would have liked to see a ten. Arthur emphatically stated ‘that was very nifty, I gave him a ten’ with nods of approval from the panel of public judges. They said ‘Louisa just lights up’ and ‘this is what a waltz should be’…Arlene was strongly against their fantastic, very graceful, interpretation of the waltz, wanting something more conservative but she stood alone there. Louisa definitely deserved tens especially compared with Emma who got three tens for two dances not that well performed. Louisa’s second dance brought the house down but once again she received only nines although the judges raved about their dance, as did everyone else, audience and fellow competitors.

As said before, judges, put your points where your mouth is.

THERE YOU HAVE IT, THE PEOPLES’ VERDICT FROM THE PUBLIC JUDGES.

This article was written by Evelyn Lewis. Thanks Evelyn.

Five couples remained at the beginning of the evening but only four could make it through to the quarter finals hosted by Bruce Forsythe and Tess Daly. This evening the very nervous competing couples had to dance two dances each, which they had never danced before. There was a very festive atmosphere with an outstanding band and exquisite costumes. With only three weeks to go one more couple must leave tonight. The excitement in the studio was electric.

Carol Smillie and Matthew Cutler who were in the bottom two last week and wanting to earn a thirty out of forty this week, opened with their fabulous Viennese Waltz, impressing all the judges who gave them a thirty four. Len Goodman described Carol as being like a great big red swan gliding across the water. Clever footwork and rotations, amazing, surpassed yourselves were some of the other judge’s remarks. A lovely start to the evening. Thirty four is their best score so far.

Rugby player Matt Dawson and Lilia Kopylova followed with the Quickstep. Their second dance will be the Rumba and Lilia has said that the Rumba is the hardest dance for scoring well. They did a beautiful and exciting Quick step with the high score of thirty four from the judges. One judge’s comment was ‘I’m on cloud nine watching you’, another remarked on Matthew’s growth as being the most outstanding of all the celebrities and Len Goodman, head judge, said ‘by golly that was good’ and ‘cant wait for the raunchy rumba’. Another 34.

Emma Bunton and Darren Bennett, aiming for a ten, impressed the judges with their Waltz. Craig Revel Horwood, who is said to favour Emma, said he was mesmerized and could have watched her all night and ‘Great Choreography’. Arlene Phillips felt that although Emma’s upper part was good, her footwork was a little ‘nasty’ Len’s opinion was that the song, routine and performance all came together. They received two nines and two tens giving them the highest score of thirty seven, earned only once before in this series. Ten is for perfection and faults were found so either they are scored too high or people like Mark and Karen and Louisa and Vincent are being underscored. Especially if one listens to judge’s comments, watches audience response and their faultless performances. Emma and Daren still have to get there and did not deserve 38 points.

Cricketer Mark Ramprakash and Karen Hardy danced the Foxtrot with a beautiful entrance, lines, twirls, falls, good head posture, to receive the ridiculous score of 28 from the judges. These are one of our two top dancing couples. Why are the judges underscoring them so badly??? Their remarks were weird, to say the least. Were we watching the same dance? 28 points!!! Enough said.

Louisa Lytton and Vincent Simone made a striking entrance with Louisa wearing a breathtaking white dress. They waltzed around the floor introducing steps we have never seen before. Their joy in dancing shone through every move and a sheer pleasure to watch. The judges remarks of ‘you rocked me’, good choreography, gorgeous and great, were well deserved earning them a thirty three. We expected nines with at least one ten. The judges are not consistent in their judging and do not put their points where their mouth is. 33 was an insult.

All the contestants are working flat out and should get what they deserve.

Carol and Matt’s second dance was a Samba with excellent moves and ‘wriggles’. The judges loved it and told them to keep up their good work, rewarding them with 34 and 68in total. Carol could be a good dancer but is inconsistent and lacks concentration.

Matthew and Lilia’s second dance, the rumba, brought much deserved criticism from the judges as Matthew did very little. Lilia was doing most of the dancing with Matthew on his knees half of the time. In spite of this, the very generous judges gave them twenty seven, added to their previous dance, they had 61 out of eighty. Lying bottom.

Emma and Darren’s Paso Doble brought mixed remarks from the judges. Pleasant to watch but not enough steps from Emma, bad beginning, brilliant choreography, liked it, beautiful interpretation but not enough from Emma, great and well done. You can guess who said ‘it gave me goose bumps’. They received thirty seven which was way over scoring. 74 grand total.

Mark and Karen danced a very exciting Samba with lots of hip and shoulder movements as they sizzled across the dance floor. Arlene was very excited as she gleefully shouted ‘the sexy hip movements are back’. Other judges remarks were liquid action, good hip and shoulder movements, legs, feet, routine, good line and lovely to watch. Mark and Karen certainly looked liked they were enjoying the dance tremendously. Bruno said it was the ultimate party dance, shouting excitedly, ‘You did it’. Craig said ‘you are back and burning it, it was amazing. (They really were all of that and more. Flawless)) Len said ‘You get it in my book, that was really jolly good. Mark you are right back’. Now tell me what would you expect the judges to give them after that, keeping in mind Emma’s score of two tens???? We expected four tens, full house as it was outstanding. No, they received 36 points and not one ten (giving them a total of 64 points and 2nd from the bottom). Can anyone tell us WHY?????

Louisa and Vincent made a sizzling entrance with new exciting steps, fast moving, sexy funny, a star. Joyful, fiery and amazing footwork. They just come bouncing back after knocks by the judges, determined to show what they can do. Good for them. Louisa has been told that she is as good as the professionals, in the mixed dances. There was an outcry over the judges underscoring them last week by audience, fellow competitors and even guests on the mid week ‘Strictly Come Dancing, Take Two’, hosted by Claudia Winkleman. Louisa was invited on morning and afternoon TV shows and all shocked at the underscoring of her brilliant dance last week. Do the judges not care about their reputations and are they trying to enforce their choice, and not for the dancing, to win? Louisa’s outfit was a gorgeous gold and silver sparkling skimpy dress with a wide belt. Judges comments ‘Cutest Cha Cha Cha’, Arlene said ‘a Cha Cha Cha must be cheeky and it was’, she loved it. Len said it was cheeky and lovely and suited Louisa. The audience went crazy and it was the most exciting dance of the evening. Bruno was so excited he had to make up words to describe his pleasure in the dance ‘beautidelicious’ being one of them. These two always look so happy as they thoroughly enjoy dancing together. The judges have expressed how they have become one, essential for successful dancing. If ever a dance deserved ten across the board, this one did. What did they get??? 36 giving a total of 69 and second to Emma and Darren with their undeserved 74, as beautifully as Emma danced and as nice a person as she is, the dancing was not of the same standard as Louisa and Vincent’s and Mark and Karen’s.

Final Judges Scores out of 80: Emma and Darren 74, Louisa and Vincent 69, Carol and Matthew 68, Mark and Karen 64 and Matthew and Leila bottom with 61.

After the public votes were added, Carol and Matthew and Emma and Darren were the bottom two couples. (Does this not tell the judges that their over scoring of Emma is not doing her a favour as no one likes such obvious unfairness). This is Emma and Darren’s second week at the bottom.

There was much tension all round before Carol and Matthew were announced as the couple to be leaving. Four couples left, who will go next week.

This article was written by Evelyn Lewis, a contributor here at Unreality TV. Thanks Evelyn.

Hosted by Claudia Winkelman.

Twelve weeks and with 2,181 hours of dancing has been put in by the contestants. We have the bookies favourites as follows:

Mark Rampramkash and Karen Hardy are the bookies No. 1 at 11 to 10 and will be dancing the Foxtrot and Samba on Saturday. Two extreme dances as one will be floating, sophisticated, suave and elegant with the Samba being the complete opposite. A charismatic couple who have put in the most hours of practice, 268 hours to date.

The bookies next favourite, lying second, is Louisa Lytton and Vincent Simone

At 2 to 1 with 159 hours of practice, the lowest, due to two weeks of unavoidable absence from rehearsals. Everyone was so impressed with their brilliant Paso Doble, last week, professionals included, saying they were underscored and should have received tens across the board. It was amazing. This week they will be dancing the Cha Cha and Waltz. Once again, two extreme dances. Louisa has been very excited about dancing the Waltz.

Matt Dawson and Lilia Kopylova have put in 233 hours and the bookies have given them a 13 to 2 chance of winning. They will be dancing the Quickstep and Rumba. Matt has improved tremendously over the last few weeks and earned the highest score for their waltz last Saturday. For the Rumba they will have to use shoulders, elbows, wrists and hands, well and not forget raunchy hips. Last week they received the highest score of the series, 37 out of 40

Emma Bunton and Darren Bennett with 191 hours of training in twelve weeks will be dancing the Viennese Waltz and Paso Doble. They are feeling more confident but dread being placed in the bottom two again. 5 to 1 by bookies. They stunned us with their British Waltz last week. Emma is fast catching up on the practice she missed when helping to raise funds for Children in Need, recently.

Carol Smillie and Matt Cutler have put in 204 hours of training. 12 to 1 by the bookies who have predicted that they will be the couple to leave on Saturday. It all depends on their performance, as they dance the Viennese Waltz and Samba. Carol is a beautiful dancer when she concentrates although the judges feel she needs to dance with her heart more than her head.

At the end of each day the dancers go home from rehearsals exhausted, yawning with some napping on the floor, beforehand. So many hours of extensive training before each Saturday’s show. The competition is getting tougher as the gap closes between the couples and anyone could go on Saturday. We have three and a half weeks left to find a winner.

This article was written by Evelyn a contributor here at Unreality TV. Thanks Evelyn!

Claire King and Brendan Cole have been voted out after being one of the bottom two couples with Carol Smillie and Matthew Cutler. They have entertained us all with their wayward ways, raunchy dancing, Brendan’s fights with the judges and surprises each week. Actress Claire, an arthritis sufferer, has impressed us all with her cheeky cheerfulness and will be sorely missed.

The dancing has reached a very high standard with a nice variety of dances, gorgeous costumes, excellent progress, brilliant floor shows and good music. The competitiveness has reach boiling point with many contestants putting in longer hours of practice than ever before. It is going to be a real tough competition with the remaining five couple.

Mark Ramprakash and Karen Hardy impressed the judges the most, with their beautiful Viennese Waltz, floating romantically around the floor, fantastic choreography and intricate steps. Mark was told he danced with great Panache! After being told they were beautiful, fantastic, wonderful, very professional and charming they were rewarded with the highest points of the evening, 36 out of 40

In tie position with Emma Bunton and Darren Bennett, we have Louisa Lytton and Vincent Simone dancing the Paso Diablo. The judge’s comments were passionate, fearless dancing, excellent timing and full of drama. with Louisa dancing like a professional in only eight weeks. Brilliant choreography with a great variety of exhilarating steps, well executed spins and drops. She was called a feisty cracker. 34.

Emma and Darren also earned 34 points and were told that their dancing had much improved and Emma was back amongst the top dancers. Emma’s regaining of her balance after spins was excellent but she must watch her spine. They danced the American Smooth, in the judge’s words ‘with the wow factor’, splendid lifts (stunning) and exciting to watch. Emma’s arm movements are extremely graceful.

Carol Smillie and Matthew Cutler received a thirty from the judges for their Viennese Waltz which the judges said, although very beautiful, graceful and romantic, was ordinary with Carol dancing with her head not her heart. Loved the reverse spin.

Matt Dawson and Lilia Kopylova’s jive was described as being like a warm, bubbly Jacuzzi, pronounced flicks and a job well done. Tremendous footwork but needs to be lighter on feet with more extensions. Great improvement all round. 28 out of 30

The judges liked Claire and Brendan’s samba but one judge described it as a dance after the night before. The other judges found it entertaining and said Claire was a very likable person and always made them laugh. All four judges felt that they should be the couple to go this week. They received 25 points.

The group dancing with all six couples participating found Louisa getting the highest compliments from the judges, being told she was as good as the professionals and hard to tell them apart. ‘Girls Aloud’ sang their new single and ‘danced’ with the male professionals

Next week we will see the remaining five couples dance it out to win. What surprises have they in store for us?

This article was written by Evelyn a contributor here at Unreality TV. Thanks Evelyn!