Now, it's clear from this forum that I'm not the only one to whom Chris has endeared himself - his sparky attitude and partnership with Ola are such good fun to watch.

For me, this is coming through in their dances, which always seem to be reasonably well-executed and full of the right sort of feeling, though it's clear that there's room for improvement. Yet Chris has found himself close to the bottom of the leaderboard for the last couple of weeks.

I can't help feeling that we've seen some unbelievable dross from several couples over the last few weeks, which has nevertheless been marked higher than Chris's efforts.

Am I biased because I like them so much, or are Chris and Ola actually suffering at the hands of the judges? I need to know for my sanity!

I understand your point completely. I'm a big Phil and Katya fan and was dismayed to see they had scored the same as Natalie and Vincent who I thought were awful in comparison. What I think about Chris is that he's letting his nerves get the better of him and that's when mistakes start to fly in. The more mistakes he makes, the more marks the judges are bound to take off. I would have given him a 6 last night at most but I think Craig gave him a 4 which I thought wasn't too fair. He's brandishing that 4 out more easily this year than all 4 judges were brandishing out 10s last.

Chris undermarked?

Last week - yes, slightly
This week - not at all

For your sanity, just remember. Nothing really matters except living your own life.

Absolutely!!

Worse than Jo and Brendan, the same as Laila and Anton and only 1 mark more than Joe and Kristina last night? I thought it was ridiculous. He should have been higher than Ricky and Erin imo.

Only 1 mark higher than Lynda and Darren and Craig and Flavia last week too.

I find it bizarre.

I agree with you all last night I thought their dive was better than everyone else. What I thought was good was the energy.

Too right, at least he did more than one step. I mean, I love the kick ball change but it's a bit boring when that's the only step actually in the routine. I mean seriously, people don't like the VW because of it's lack of steps (but that's just the dance not the fault of those dancing it) but some of the VWs last night had more steps in them that Ricky's jive

Yes!!! I think thier Jive had the most oomph & the right energy.
Bruno constantly gives them negative feedback, Im not sure why?

Thier Jive wasnt perfect but it looked better than all of the others.

Perhaps the judges felt that Chris had given them carte blanche to do him in, by standing next to Bruce and saying how much had gone wrong in the dance. Ola was trying in vain to gag him.

Don't forget, the judges have seen rehearsals and will have been disappointed with him.

The impression I get is that Bruno doesn't like either Ricky G or Chris

At least Craig is fair to them both, Len seems to like them both. But Bruno tends to like the cutsie wootsie types - and overmarks them.

He was out of line with the 5 he have to Ricky and unecessarily harsh on both him and Chris


While neither dance was perfect by any stretch of the imagination Ricky deserved a 28/40 not 25/40 and Chris deserved the same score as Ricky G

but haven't the judges given their scores by that time because they have to punch in their scores on the computer system so that it matches up with their paddles on the TV screens when they come to give their scores so even though Chris has said all that, the judges wouldn't particularly be listening to that

I might sound cynical but is there a chance that the judges have a pre-determined order of what they want their leaderboard to look like and mark to that specification

In my opinion - Yes

How could they have ended up with the same score as Anton and Laila?

OK, their Jive wasn't perfect, but it was miles better than Anton and Lailas.

Last week I thought they were undermaked as well.

then based on that theory my actual point would still stand, which is that they wouldn't have been listening to Chris babbling on about him getting this, that and the other step wrong with Ola in the background trying in vain to gag him because they have already given him a mark regardless

Well then it is time they started being equally as kind/harsh on everyone. Ali and Laila were both overmarked last night- God knows why Bruno thought Ali desewrved an 8- it only warrasnted a 7

agree with that. Maybe not even 7 though. I agreed with Craig (which I don't normally do) who gave Ali a 6. I was gobsmacked when Bruno and Alesha gave her an 8

You and me both - they are too busy tryoing to protect their chosen ones

it makes me feel sorry for people like Chris. Maybe his 22 this week would look more justified if other celebrities (Ali in particular, both Rickys Zoe and I'd actually put Natalie in there) would be marked to the standard they actually produce rather than the standard they are supposedly capable of. I personally prefer Chris and Tuffers to Ricky G. His jive really upset me last night - 25 for a series of bad kick ball changes and I was then left waiting all night to see Chris and Tuffers reap the consequences and boy did they reap the consequences - although Tuffers making that huge mistake by lifting Katya did not help his cause.

I think they are being undermarked too. I really don't get how they scored the same as Anton and Laila. At least Chris and Ola's dance actually looked like a jive, with Anton and Laila's it was hard to tell exactly what it was!

Len giving a 6 for C&O and a 7 to L&A beggers belief. In what way was Laila and Anton's better?! Maybe Ola should stary playing golf with Len, that way they could up their scores!! Len's favouritism to Anton is too blatant for my liking.

They weren't under marked last night. Chris lost his timing very early on and as Anton showed with Laila it is very difficult to get a partner back on time when that happens.

Plus point for Chris he kept going and recognised what had happened.

On a critical note for Ola: she taught Chris to dance the Jive walks like the girl is supposed to do. The mans steps/action in jive walks is different to the girl. The man should not be turning in and out.

There were no kicks or flicks from Laila- there were some from Chris so that for me is an element missing from a routine- sorry 4/10 should have been L & A marks = 16/40

I don't think Chris was overmarked as others have said he did lose his timing and lost it a bit when I watched it back. But Laila's jive was worse than his and shouldn't have been given the same marks.

The judges do same to have taken a dislike to him after that first week- could they thought- Oh no he could mess it up for our favs

No, and I say this as someone who is a big fan of his.

Chris messed his Jive up. It was written all over his and Ola's faces. It deserved a 6 at most.

But they were better than L & A - to have them level is insulting to C & O who at least had kicks and flicks- there was none from L&A

I agree that they were marginally better than Laila & Anton whom I'd have given a 5 (as did most of the judges).