Ola Jordan voted sexiest woman of 'Strictly Come Dancing' 2009

It remains to be seen whether Ola Jordan will win the Strictly Come Dancing crown with her partner Chris Hollins in Saturday night's final, but she has clearly won the hearts of visitors to this blog, with a landslide victory in our 'Sexiest of Strictly' poll. She won nearly half of all votes cast in a packed field. Fellow professional dancer Lilia Kopylova was in a distant second place, with Ali Bastian the highest-ranked celebrity in joint third. Here are the final results -

1 Ola Jordan 49%
2 Lilia Kopylova 15%
3 Ali Bastian 5%
= Flavia Cacace 5%
5 Kristina Rihanoff 3%
= Katya Virshilas 3%
= Martina Hingis 3%
= Laila Rouass 3%
= Erin Boag 3%
= Natalie Lowe 3%

Laura Tobin voted UK's sexiest weathergirl

Our UK weathergirls poll has now closed, with the BBC's Laura Tobin winning a decisive victory over Sky's Irish-born forecaster Lisa Burke. Wendy Hurrell finished in third place. Here are the final standings -

1 Laura Tobin 46%
2 Lisa Burke 26%
3 Wendy Hurrell 11%
4 Lucy Verasamy 7%
5 Gail McGrane 3%
= Carol Kirkwood 3%

Featured : Ola Jordan

Currently leading the way in our Strictly Come Dancing poll is the beautiful Polish professional dancer Ola Jordan. In the current series of Strictly she is partnering TV presenter and former sportsman Chris Hollins, but she has appeared on the show since the fourth series, previously partnering former tennis player and TV presenter Andrew Castle, former Scotland rugby international Kenny Logan, and DJ Spoony. She is married to fellow Strictly professional dancer James Jordan - her maiden name was Grabowska.

In her pre-Strictly days, Ola notched up a number of more conventional achievements as a dancer, including a semi-final place in the amateur worlds.

Ola and James Jordan's official website includes a biography, news section, and most importantly a stunning photo gallery of Ola.

Poll : Sexiest Woman of 'Strictly Come Dancing' 2009

Well, they're subjected to a public vote every week anyway, and the outcome rarely corresponds very closely with their dancing skills, so why not another? This poll covers all female contestants on Strictly this year, so includes both professional dancers and celebrities, but of course excludes presenter Tess Daly as well as controversial judge Alesha Dixon. Here is the full list of contenders -

The Celebrities :

Ali Bastian
Zoe Lucker
Laila Rouass
Jo Wood
Natalie Cassidy
Martina Hingis
Jade Johnson
Lynda Bellingham

The Professional Dancers :

Ola Jordan
Erin Boag
Katya Virshilas
Lilia Kopylova
Kristina Rihanoff
Natalie Lowe
Aliona Vilani
Flavia Cacace

The poll will remain open until November 30th.

Poll : UK weathergirls

Well, it's been a good five months since our last poll closed, and as it's now chilly October, what better than a poll about the women who always shine even when they're forecasting rain? As there are countless weather presenters on countless channels and regional opt-outs, there was no way I could provide an exhaustive list this time, but hopefully I've picked the obvious contenders. Here's who you can choose from -

Laura Tobin
Gail McGrane
Lucy Verasamy
Lisa Burke
Carol Kirkwood
Becky Mantin
Wendy Hurrell

The poll will stay open until November 15th.

Hadise voted sexiest woman of Eurovision 2009

She may have only finished fourth in the contest, but it appears that Turkey's representative succeeded in making quite a few hearts go 'Düm Tek Tek' after all. For the second year in a row it's been an incredibly tight result - in last year's poll Kalomira edged out Ani Lorak by just one vote, and this time round Hadise held off the challenge of enigmatic Estonian singer Sandra Nurmsalu by just three votes. Here are the final results -

1 Hadise Açıkgöz (Turkey) 21%
2 Sandra Nurmsalu (Estonia) 20%
3 Aysel Teymurzadeh (Azerbaijan) 9%
4 Jade Ewen (United Kingdom) 9%
5 Elena Gheorghe (Romania) 7%
6 Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir (Iceland) 7%
7 Karoliina Kallio (Finland) 3%
8 Soraya Arnelas (Spain) 3%
9 Chiara Siracusa (Malta) 2%
10 Svetlana Loboda (Ukraine) 2%
11 Kejsi Tola (Albania) 1%
12 Marilin Kongo (Estonia) 1%
13 Lidia Kopania (Poland) 1%
14 Mann Helstein (Estonia) **
= Sinéad Mulvey (Ireland) **
16 Anastasiya Prykhodko (Russia) **
= Mari Möldre (Estonia) **
= Martina Majerle (Slovenia) **
= Christina Metaxa (Cyprus) **
= Andrea Šušnjara (Croatia) **
= Daniela Varela (Portugal) **
= Noa (Israel) **
= Susanne Georgi (Andorra) **
24 Patricia Kaas (France) **
= Johanna Mängel (Estonia) **
= Nela Pocisková (Slovakia) **
= Mira Awad (Israel) **
= Inga Arshakyan (Armenia) **
= Malena Ernman (Sweden) **
= Andrea Demirović (Montenegro) **

(** - less than 1% but more than zero)

337 votes were cast in total.

Intriguingly, there was a huge surge of support for Aysel Teymurzadeh after the final was broadcast on Saturday night. My strong impression is that, if only post-final votes had been counted, she would have won convincingly.

Finally, apologies for my inadvertent mistake in leaving out the Portuguese accordion player. She might well have been a contender!

Poll : Sexiest Woman of Eurovision 2009

So apologies for the delay, but at long last the big poll of the year is open! I haven't been keeping track of which singer Keith Mills has particularly got it in for, so you don't even have to worry about me attempting to rig it this year! After the complaints about the women I omitted from the curling poll I've tried to be as exhaustive as possible - I've even included non-singers when they're integral members of bands (although I have left out backing singers for solo artists).

Here are the full list of contenders -

Andrea Demirović (Montenegro)
Malena Ernman (Sweden)
Inga Arshakyan (Armemia)
Anush Arshakyan (Armenia)
Susanne Georgi (Andorra)
Hadise Açıkgöz (Turkey)
Noa (Israel)
Mira Awad (Israel)
Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir (Iceland)
Elena Gheorghe (Romania)
Karoliina Kallio (Finland)
Daniela Varela (Portugal)
Chiara Siracusa (Malta)
Andrea Šušnjara (Croatia)
Sinéad Mulvey (Ireland)
Lesley-Ann Halvey (Ireland)
Asta Milleriene (Ireland)
Nicole Billings (Ireland)
Lidia Kopania (Poland)
Christina Metaxa (Cyprus)
Nela Pocisková (Slovakia)
Martina Majerle (Slovenia)

Aysel Teymurzadeh (Azerbaijan)
Nelly Ciobanu (Moldova)
Kejsi Tola (Albania)
Svetlana Loboda (Ukraine)
Sandra Nurmsalu (Estonia)
Mann Helstein (Estonia)
Johanna Mängel (Estonia)
Mari Möldre (Estonia)
Marilin Kongo (Estonia)
Mirjam Mesak (Estonia)
Patricia Kaas (France)
Anastasiya Prykhodko (Russia)
Jade Ewen (United Kingdom)
Soraya Arnelas (Spain)

As with last year, they're organised in the order in which they will first perform, in case you want to keep track. The poll will close on Monday 18th May (ie. two days after the final). Vote wisely!

Zöe Salmon wins battle of Blue Peter babes

I'm a couple of weeks late in pointing this out, but Zöe Salmon defeated Konnie Huq by a landslide margin in our Blue Peter poll - by 73% to 26%.

Jennifer Jones voted sexiest woman of 2009 World Curling Championships

Her team may have traded the status of world champions for the dreaded medal-free fourth place, but Jennifer Jones held on in a tight race against Carmen Schaefer and Eve Muirhead to be crowned the sexiest competitor in this year's women's world curling championships. (Do you think I might be in danger of over-selling this slightly?) In fourth place was the early frontrunner Marianne Rørvik, who rallied somewhat after falling back midway through the voting.

1. Jennifer Jones (Canada) 18%
2. Carmen Schaefer (Switzerland) 16%
3. Eve Muirhead (Scotland) 15%
4. Marianne Rørvik (Norway) 8%
5. Eva Lund (Sweden) 7%
6. Jackie Lockhart (Scotland) 6%
7. Melanie Robillard (Germany) 6%
8. Liudmilla Privivkova (Russia) 5%
9. Madeleine Dupont (Denmark) 4%
10. Camilla Jensen (Denmark) 3%
11. Debbie McCormick (USA) 2%
12. Ekaterina Galkina (Russia) 2%
13. Allison Pottinger (USA) 1%

183 votes were cast in total.

Another update on the curling poll - Jennifer Jones storms into lead

I know I did hopefully mutter something along the lines of 'there might be a late flurry of votes' but that was mainly just my optimistic nature. But thanks to an unexpected plug for the poll on the Curling News blog (albeit with some understandable reservations about ethics!) it's actually happened. So, several dozen votes later, Canadian skip Jennifer Jones now holds a slender lead over Switzerland's Carmen Schaefer, with Scottish skip Eve Muirhead in third. Former leader Marianne Rørvik is now trailing somewhat in fifth place.

Update on the update : China may have now claimed their historic first world women's curling title, but as promised the poll will remain open for a couple more days. As things stand Jennifer Jones and Carmen Schaefer are deadlocked for the lead, with three-time world junior champion Eve Muirhead very close behind in third place. Here are the current standings -

Carmen Schaefer (Switzerland) 16%
Jennifer Jones (Canada) 16%
Eve Muirhead (Scotland) 15%

The real battle of the Blue Peter babes

The latest edition of FHM features an article billing itself as the 'battle of Blue Peter' - ie. who is the sexiest, Zöe Salmon or Konnie Huq? There's a stunning pictorial of each contender to help you decide - the only snag is (as far as I can see) there's no such poll to vote in! I suppose the idea is you can vote for either one in the annual '100 Sexiest' poll. So anyway, I thought I'd step into the breach and offer you the chance to vote in a one-on-one, death or glory, Zöe v Konnie poll.

Curling poll update : with a few days left to vote, Norwegian skip Marianne Rørvik is leading. However, we've only had a tiny number of votes so far, so if we get a sudden flurry over the weekend things could change dramatically. Incidentally, I realise now that Russian alternate Margarita Fomina would have been an obvious contender, and I also forgot about American Nicole Joraanstad, who like her skip Debbie McCormick also posed nude for Ana Arce's Women of Curling calendar. So apologies for excluding them from the list, and any others you think should have been there!

Poll : Sexiest Woman of 2009 World Curling Championships

With the 2009 world women's curling championships now well underway in South Korea, you can vote now for your choice as the sexiest competitor. Obviously to include all sixty players (including alternates) would have been a little unwieldy, so I've taken the liberty of picking out the leading contenders - a touch subjective, of course. Many of those included in the poll have at some point posed nude for Ana Arce's now legendary Women of Curling calendar. The full list of contenders are -

Jennifer Jones (Canada)
Madeleine Dupont (Denmark)
Camilla Jensen (Denmark)
Eve Muirhead (Scotland)
Jackie Lockhart (Scotland)
Eva Lund (Sweden)
Debbie McCormick (USA)
Allison Pottinger (USA)
Marianne Rørvik (Norway)
Liudmilla Privivkova (Russia)
Melanie Robillard (Germany)
Ekaterina Galkina (Russia)
Carmen Schaefer (Switzerland)

Obviously I'm slightly going against the spirit of this blog by including a few women from North America, but as the majority are European I feel I can make an exception! The poll will remain open until a couple of days after the championships conclude. As ever, vote wisely!

Ines voted all-time sexiest Estonian singer at Eurovision

Our Estonian poll has closed, with the nation's 2000 representative Ines claiming a narrow win over the previous year's entrant Evelin Samuel. Here are the final results in full -

1 Ines 35%
2 Evelin Samuel 29%
3 Sahlene 17%
4 Gerli Padar 11%
5 Sandra Oxenryd 5%

Bear in mind that the poll covered all those female singers and girlbands who have represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest, rather than those who are Estonian citizens. Therefore Vanilla Ninja were excluded, while Swedes Sandra Oxenryd and Sahlene were both on the list.

Featured : Vanilla Ninja

Vanilla Ninja are a girlband from Estonia. They were the overwhelming favourites of the public when they competed in Eurolaul - the Estonian national selection for Eurovision - with the song Club Kung-Fu, but were overlooked by the international jury of musical 'experts' who made the final decision. Strangely they were then invited to compete for Switzerland in the 2005 competition, which at least had the advantage of allowing the Estonian public to vote for them in the televote! They did so in droves, and the group's rock track Cool Vibes finished in a creditable eighth position on the final leaderboard.

You can visit Vanilla Ninja's official site, complete with photos and videos, here. Please note the site will first appear in Estonian, but there is an option in the top right-hand corner to switch to English.

Featured : Elena Paparizou

Although raised in Sweden, Elena Paparizou has twice sung for Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest. In 2001 in Copenhagen it was as part of the group Antique, and the song Die for You finished a creditable third behind Estonia and the hosts Denmark. In 2005 she returned to the Eurovision stage in Kyiv as a solo artist with My Number One, which swept all before it to score Greece's first ever victory in the contest.

You can visit Elena's official website (where she goes by her now-preferred spelling of Helena), complete with photo gallery and biography, here.

Suggest a poll

This website is going to continue to focus heavily on polls as it develops, so if you have any bright ideas for polls you'd like to see in the future feel free to leave a comment. As I said in the previous post, there are other Eurovision-related polls on the way, but there's room for plenty of others. The only criteria is that they should be at least vaguely related to topics concerning female European celebrities (and Europe includes the UK).

Sportswomen? Actresses? Socialites? Let me know what you think.

Estonian Eurovision poll

It's still a couple of months before all the entries will be known and we can open our 'sexiest woman of Eurovision 2009' poll, but in the meantime we'll have some other Eurovision-related polls to whet your appetite. We're starting today by asking you who you think is the sexiest singer or girlband to compete for Estonia since the country first appeared in the contest in 1994.

Among the contenders are Ines, who famously performed in a green cowboy hat in 2000. She started as favourite to win the competition but ultimately finished fourth. Others are the Swedish imports Sahlene (who controversially carried the hopes of the country when it hosted the contest in 2002) and Sandra Oxenryd. Also there is Maarja, who has the rare distinction of having sung in the Eurovision in two consecutive years.

Vote wisely!

Eurovision 2008 poll

Kalomira of Greece won a knife-edge victory over Ukraine's Ani Lorak to be crowned the sexiest woman of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in our poll. Both women polled 14% of the vote, but Kalomira was one ahead in terms of the absolute votes cast.

1 Kalomira (Greece) 14%
2 Ani Lorak (Ukraine) 14%
3 Vânia Fernandes (Portugal) 12%
4 Maria Haukaas Storeng (Norway) 11%
5 Morena (Malta) 7%
6 Jelena Tomašević (Serbia) 6%
= Nico (Romania) 6%
8 Tereza Kerndlová (Czech Republic) 5%
9 Rebeka Dremelj (Slovenia) 3%
10 Sirusho (Armenia) 3%
= Tamara (Macedonia) 3%
12 Regína Ósk (Iceland) 2%
13 Olta Boka (Albania) 1%
= Soetkin Baptist (Belgium) 1%
= Hind (Netherlands) 1%
= Isis Gee (Poland) 1%
17 Kathleen Burke (Ireland) **
= Gisela (Andorra) **
= Diana Gurtskaya (Georgia) **

(** - less than 1% but more than zero)

Gemma Atkinson poll

The Gemma Atkinson poll has now closed. The most popular option was 'four', with 45% of the vote.