Radio Times

It was the week of The Big Clash. There was national outrage at the news that a marathon-length episode of Strictly Come Dancing would air against The X Factor on Saturday night, forcing viewers to choose between the two - which one to watch?

On the contrary, I found this week's scheduling a relief. I don't care for The X Factor at all, feeling it's a dull, formulaic show that routinely humiliates vulnerable people in the name of "entertainment".

For me, Strictly not airing on Friday meant that there was no clash with Derren Brown's excellent Events on Channel 4, a series that just had to be watched live in order to take part in his fascinating experiments (by the way, was anyone else glad that Derren "failed" at the roulette wheel with toff Ben's money?).

More importantly, I prefer my weekly dose of Strictly to be self-contained, with the competition and the results on the same night. It's more of an occasion this way; waiting 24 hours for the outcome can dampen the excitement a little. And last year's Sunday results show was just silly - you knew it was recorded on Saturday night, as they were all wearing the same clothes.

And Strictly was a real occasion this week - watching all 14 celebrities dance on the same night, making it easier to compare. Sometimes I think it would be even better if they all performed the same dance for this very purpose, although I appreciate that the producers mix it up for variety. But would Rav have survived had he performed the paso doble and Joe the quickstep? It can seem rather unfair.

Whether it was indeed the paso doble or perhaps the gimmicky cape and sparkly boxing belt that saved Joe "BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2007" Calzaghe, who knows. I genuinely felt sorry for Rav, who was visibly upset at being voted out - but it was right that Lynda was saved over him.

Special mention again must surely go to the two Rickys - Whittle, who is mesmerising to watch for his natural ability, and Groves, who is mesmerising to watch for entirely different reasons. How he's going to keep this crazy comedy act up is beyond me - I can't wait to see what he does during the waltz.

I think Alesha is settling in. She offered meaningful advice to the celebrities, borne out by the fact that several times Bruno and Craig agreed with comments she had just made, such as Ali needing to remember to breathe during the quickstep.

However, Alesha appears at pains to answer her critics and compensate for her relative inexperience by focusing heavily on technical ability - perhaps overly so. But I admire her ability to get on with the job in the face of such a public backlash, which unfortunately shows no signs of abating.

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What did you think of the Strictly v X Factor scheduling clash? Are you warming to Alesha? And did the right person go? Post a comment below.

I felt terribly sorry for Rav-watch my mini show 'Strictly Clementine' on bbc.co.uk/norfolk to see how upset i was to see him go!

Miss Arlene very much she like Bruno commented on the performance. Len continues to get up my nose but Craig is ace. My husband always seems to guess what points he will give.

the public's love or otherwise still has a big effect on their voting.

I don't care if it's Alesha or Arlene as it's the dancing that is important. In terms of the dance off the right person went home but maybe the right people wasn't actually in the dance off.

Anyway I actually wanted to comment on the scheduling, in the days of broadband Internet and watch again then it's easy enough to watch both. I wasn't in for either but have since watched them both. Failing that there is always hard drive recorders, SKY+ or even a good old fashioned video recorder.

Rav did look gutted but he wasn't helped by Aliona - great dancer, evidently not such a great choreographer for people who aren't pro's. The more interesting question could be would he still be voted off if he'd had have Kristina as his pro-partner instead?

Alesha is getting better but also more technical - though this subverts Arlene's comments that she wasn't hired to be the technical voice. However asked by Bruce who could go home, she basically said 'anyone'. Be a proper judge Alesha, have an opinion! I prefer her now but I miss Arlene dreadfully!