Nobody should leave!

I guess every year there comes a point in the season, athat you realise that you don't want anyone to go. All the really bad dancers and people who aren't enjoying have been eliminated. There's usually been a shock elimination of someone who should have progressed to the final, this year Zoe Lucker. Then you realise that what you actually want to do is lock everyone up in tv centre and simply not allow them to leave, having them dance each week in perpetuity for our enjoyment.

Every year you think it's the first time you've felt this. You completely forget as each season is caught up in its own little bubble.

This year, the eight couples left all have their unique selling point which endears them to the public.

For Ricky Whittle the attraction is obvious. Apart from his ability to dance, the man is, shall we say, not at all bad to look at, especially in Latin costume.

For Natalie Cassidy and Vincent Simone, it's her obvious love of what she's doing. She's like a wee kid in a sweetie shop and she sees every single dance as a challenge and an adventure. She needs to do a bit more on technique, but what she lacks there she makes up for in performance, throwing herself into the spirit of whatever dance she's doing. I can't remember hearing her whinge once.

For Laila Rouass it's the beauty of her ballroom dancing and her struggle to get to grips with the Latin. There's also the fact that she's dancing with Anton. He is back to his usual funny self after his faux pas earlier in the season. At least he had the decency to apologise and Laila the good grace to accept that and move on. The only real weakness is her Latin. That is not her fault. Anton, bless him, wonderful though he is in every respect, is not the best Latin dancer and choregrapher and it shows. He's competent, but he just doesn't get it. He also doesn't have any sort of love for it, thinking the samba is a silly dance.

For Jade Johnson, it's the fact that she's learning about being part of a team and not competing solely for herself, she's getting to grips with the girly side of the dance as well. I can't wait to see their Tango tonight - Ian Waite's first since the legendary performance he did with Zoe Ball 4 years ago.

For Ricky Groves it's the combination of his sense of fun and drama along with Erin's choreography which really gets the best out of him. I fear for them tonight however as they have struggled with their Viennese Waltz training and they were in the bottom two last week.

For Phil Tufnell it's the triumph over adversity thing - imagine going through surgery on your knee and being back in the training room two days later. He's been surprising in his ability to take it all seriously and he seems to have rediscovered his competitive spirit in the last couple of weeks. He could last a while more as long as he can stay out of the dance off.

For Chris Hollins it's been his fall from grace and slow rebuild after a fantastic start. That, and the fabulous and funny partnership he has with "Mrs Jordan". What is it about these BBC Breakfast presenters? Bill Turnbull was exactly the same. I've never really warmed to Ola as a person until this year but she and Chris obviously get on so well and have very complementary senses of humour. With Chris we've all been gutted for him in the weeks when he just lost it with the live performance and cheered when he rocked the house with his Foxtrot in Blackpool. His Paso looked fantastic in training - he's clearly been learning from Ola's tough love. I'm not sure about a Paso to the Darkness' I believe in a Thing Called Love, but I suspect it will turn out to be a real crowd pleaser.

For me, Ali Bastian has it all - a great chemistry between her and her partner Brian which they've had to endure a fair bit of teasing about, a fragility, grace and elegance that I don't think we've seen in anyone before. Alesha talked about how fantastic her arm work was. She really seems to have a good instinct for what she needs to do to make a beautiful line. Their Viennese Waltz last week thoroughly deserved its perfect score.

So I hope I've made the case for a BBC TV Centre lock in, but, sadly, it's not going to happen. I will be voting for Ali for sure this evening - the fact that she was in the dance off from fairly high up the leader board a fortnight ago worries me and I really want to see her in the final. Chris and Natalie also must stay, for me - they embody everything the programme is about - entertaiment and good dancing. I suspect that Laila and Ricky will be vulnerable - Laila because she's doing a Rumba which looked a bit awkward in training, and Ricky because he's doing a Viennese Waltz which is magical done well but uninspiring if not.

While we're on the subject of Viennese Waltzes, Ali's last weekend was so enchanting. It could have come straight out of a fairy tale.

Here it is again - it is simply not possible to watch this and feel miserable. Enjoy!