For me, it was a 9. If you look back on it, there were a few little errors and for me, a 10 dance should be fault-free. I am one of the few Ricky W fans on here and I wouldnt have given his VW a 10, I would have given it a 9 for the same reason: there was a glaring error close to the end of his dance.

For me, Bruno's 10 didnt mean more than Aleshas 10. People are going on and on about how she doesnt know what she's talking about and I think that is clearly ridiculous. She is the top ranked celeb of all time on SCD, has received the 2nd top amount of 10's and had shown her dedication to SCD since she won the glitter ball.

I hope either Ali or Ricky win, they are the only ones worthy in a SCD which I said to my husband last night had terribly low standards of dance and is turning yet again into a popularity farce.

But you're just one viewer. That you didn't think it was worth a 10 is not a reason why anyone else should have started a thread about it!

Your argument that it didn't deserve a 10 seems to be that "It didn't give me goosebumps and I did think it lumpy in parts"

How is that a reason that no judge should have given it a 10? Surely a judge is allowed to have their own opinion and don't have to survey the audience to make sure no one thinks it would be undeserved.

Then you should disagree with all of the 10s that have ever been awarded on SCD.


How does any of that mean she knows what a judge needs to?

(I thought her 10 was justifiable last week, btw, even though I didn't agree with it, if it was meant to say that she thought it was significantly better than the dances she gave 9s. That's what 10s very often mean in SCD even though those who think 10 should mean perfect don't like it.)


But so far, the poor dancers that many feared would stay and stay and stay because of their popularity have been going. Which makes it less of a popularity farce, surely.

Hi Veri. I think you may be missing my point. It's not that she was given a 10 per se it's that this forum didn't go into melt-down like it did last week. Yes I am just one viewer as we all are but, collectively we are a lot. The judge, like you, me and everyone-else has a right to an opinion. Using your own logic then even you must be surprised that given the outrage last week towards Ricky's 10 there wasn't the same this week. A 10 implies perfection and there are a lot of people (even in this thread) who didn't see it that way. However, the main differences as far as I can see between this week's 10 and last week's is that[list]A-It was given to a forum favourite[/list][list]B-The 10 was given by a more established judge[/list]

I must admit I thought the reason for the OP starting the thread was her surprise that there wasn't any uproar at Ali & Brian getting a 10.

Of course it doesn't follow that someone should get one. The argument is that a better dance should get one.

In any case, if someone gets a 10 that's more deserved than one in the previous week, it does naturally follow that there would be less outrage about it (even if the 10's not deserved in some ideal, absolute sense).

BTW, was there outrage about Louisa's 10? The dance certainly had flaws.

Was there a significantly better dance the next week that failed to get a 10?

I give up! Ali is the best dancer EVER to grace the floors of SCD. I had absolutely no right what so ever to question her 10 in fact I should have started a thread asking why she didn't get two, three or even four. Her latin is up there with the best and her ballroom is beyond compare. Why I should feel a little irked because people were critical of Ricky's 10 and not her's is unforgivable of me! Ricky W should be thrown out of the competition ASAP because his performances are mediocre, lack lustre, heavy footed and completely lack timing.

There I said it. Ali for the win. I have become morphed into the general consensus that nothing should stop Ali and Brian's showmance picking up the glitterball. I should have stopped myself from cringing when Brian was fawning over Alesha last night and instead cringed when Brucie hinted at Ali and Brian's off-screen relationship (which incidently didn't stop them from gaining 9s and 10s this week). I'm really sorry that I didn't see any of this until you posted.

Laura: I understand your stance but I don't agree with it. We don't HAVE to agree with it.

The point is, people DO think she deserved the 10. People thought she was better than Ricky.

People didn't think Ricky deserved a 10.

That doesn't mean that NOBODY deserves a 10. In our opinion, clearly not in yours, Ali's dance was a lot better than Ricky's, therefore much more deserving of a 10.

Just because we don't agree with you doesn't mean that you have to morph into a sheep and agree with us. Just be happy to disagree.


For me it's nothing to do with Ali being a favourite, or Bruno/Alesha giving the 10s. I've screamed at the TV for Bruno giving 10s to people before (like Lisa, Kelly). I've also rolled my eyes and glared at the TV when they overmarked Rachel and Alesha with 10s for dances I didn't think they deserved (notably Alesha's samba, for example). If I didn't think Ali deserved a 10 I would be happy to leap up and say it.

But we do think she deserved it.

Funnily enough I do disagree with a lot of 10s, even for my fave prev contestants on the show (Alesha and Tom as I didnt watch the other series due to work)



Errr, because she's got more experience than the many of the armchair critics on here do and she danced many of her dances close enough to perfection as you will get on SCD, hence she will know what deserves a 10.

Her scores last night clearly indicate she knows what she is talking about. Craig, Bruno and Alesha were rather harsh last night and I agreed with their scores. The judge with the most experience - Len - I hardly ever agree with his scores as he gives the symptathy vote moreoften than not.


I never said I didnt like it. The judges are there to give their opinion and Im here to give mine. Im not kicking off because a 10 was given out that I disagreed with, unlike a lot of the Anti-Alesha-and-Ricky-W brigade were last week. Im just saying, FOR ME, I would give a 10 to a fault-free performance.



I was referring to the Anti Ricky W feeling on here. Because he hasnt got gimmicky T shirts and routinely shouting 'Yeah Baby' like Chris (whom I love, dont get me wrong) or Ricky 'spreading a lot of jam' Groves (whom Im not bothered about and not sure why, I think its the irritating shoulders) everyone thinks he is a dullard. I really dont understand the 'faux-humility' argument. He comes across as a decent guy, enjoying himself thoroughly, wanting to do well and being honest about it (which I find so refreshing).

I was also referring to the Jade and Ian/Zoe and James being in the bottom 2 debacle to. In particular Jade, who despite the fact I dont like her personality, I think she is a great dancer and I want her to do well (unlike a lot of others who cant see past their first impressions of some of the celebs and hate them on site).

But you've got to remember, not everyone agrees with that and they are allowed to debate it on here. I didnt think either dance deserved a 10.

Thanks Psychosis, I've no problem with people thinking that she deserved it, but, I did have a problem with the lack of dissent from others in the forum. Rightly or wrongly, I do feel that people who want to disagree with a judgement given for/against a forum favourite are hesitant to do so. This forum can be pretty intimidating at times and I just wanted to see if people loved the dance to the point they thought it was worth a 10 or didn't want to say anything for fear of being flamed.

But why should there be any uproar?

Or, put another way, why be surprised that there wasn't?

I was questioning what seemed to be the reasons that were being offered. And, for outrage to make sense, there has to be, in there somewhere, a reason why Bruno shouldn't have given it a 10. After all, many people might think it wasn't outrageous for Bruno to give it a 10 even if they would have given a lower mark themselves. (That's essentially how I felt about Alesha's 10 last week.)


But those two things are closely connected. It's when a lot of people feel strongly that a someone shouldn't have been given a 10 that the forum goes into meltdown.


But collectively, we decided not to go into meltdown; collectively, we weren't outraged. What's the reason for thinking we were, collectively, wrong?

The dance wasn't perfect, sure. But 10 does not imply perfection in SCD. And the degree of imperfection matters: people aren't, generally, outraged when relatively minor imperfections are overlooked. Especially when the 10 doesn't affect the positions on the leaderboard.

Ali is popular in this forum, but that is largely because of her dancing. Her popularity goes with her being a good dancer which in turn goes with thinking it's not outrageous to give her best dances high marks. Even Craig gave it a 9. (He gave Ricky an 8.)

I think you'd have a better case if you were arguing that there shouldn't have been a meltdown about Ricky's 10, rather than arguing that there should have been one for Ali's too.

BTW, can anyone answer my questions about Louisa's 10 for her jive:
[list=1][*]Was there outrage about Louisa's 10? (The dance certainly had flaws.)[*]Was there a significantly better dance the next week that failed to get a 10? [/list]

It was my favourite dance of the series so far. I am a softy for the AS anyway but it was just so lovely, I smiled as I was watching it.

I also thought Alis was a 4 x 9 dance but certainly better than Ricky's VW. On the basis judging is subjective I wasn't surprised to see a 10 for Ali.

I've not seen any 10 material yet. Ali's was lovely but needed a bit more wow factor for 10's - IMO.

I was indifferent to Ali before last night so hopefully I can offer an objective view on the matter.

I thought her American Smooth was as close to perfect as you can get. I'm surprised she didn't get another 10 from Alesha.

It was outstanding.

Maybe Alesha has been reading all the nasty stuf written about her (and Ricky) after she gave a 10 last week so has decided to be a bit more careful with her 10s now!
Who knows, i do think if she had given out another 10 people would have been moaning that shes giving out too many!

If you want to explore the unfairness and inconsistency of humans in judging situations, you've picked a bad example....and not necessarily because of the relative merits of the dances in question.

Scoring is highly subjective and this particular scoring system is a very crude one. In normal circumstances, it's a piece of cake to justify agreement with one 10 and disagreement with another because of the range of factors involved and the importance of personal taste. This applies even if the opinion is not a genuine one.

Much better to choose an issue like 'illegal' lifts for which 'offence' couples may be attacked hysterically whereas for other couples it's literally almost totally ignored. Even then you'll get people saying things like it was a 'jump' or the lift was 'accidental'...as if that should make all the difference....but at least your starting point has more solid foundations.

Let's face it viewers who do not like either Alesha or Ricky W would say the 10 was undeserved.

As for whether Alesha was qualified to give a 10, surely it all depends on whether she thought it was good enough and she obviously did, so hard cheese.

That's exactly how I felt Sid.

Although not in the same class technically (obviously ), watching Ali & Brian's AS gave me the same feeling I got watching Vincent & Flavia perform the Tango-Waltz.

I have no idea if it was less than perfect, because a) I am a non-dancer and b) I was so swept away in the romance of it, I wouldnt have noticed.

Given Bruno is the "performance" judge, I am not surprised he found it worthy of a 10, even if other judges didnt.

Laura, I understand what you're saying, but for me it was a bit of a "une fois le Rubicon passé" moment - once we got one ten they tend to all come out so it almost becomes a moot point. My major issue was that I didn't think that Ricky's VW was that breakthrough dance which should have lead to the first ten. Would I have said the same if Ali's was the first ten? I'm not sure - I certainly enjoyed Ali's AS much more than I did Ricky's VW, and it certainly seemed less of a bolt from the blue than it did with Ricky. *shrugs* I'm not sure I'm explaining myself very well!

This is a Saturday-night entertainment programme.
Lots of the marks are for effort or for sympathy. Otherwise some celebs would score zero weekly whether on artistic or technical grounds.

Zoe's marks last night were boosted to ensure she escaped the dance-off. This happened with Lisa last year when she wasn't popular publicly. The judges in the following week would lift her up the board.

Once the floodgates are opened as far as 10s go then the deluge is just a matter of time. So that's why I barely noticed a 10. Plus Bruno is given to doing that - remember Kelly and Brendan's infamous AS with illegal lifts? So that's another reason not to bat an eyelid.

I like Ali very much but I would have also given four 9s. However perhaps part of the reason for the less fervent reaction is that (at least as far I could see) Ricky's dance had more apparent errors than Ali's (albeit not perfect) routine, and perhaps (probably in large part because she is more popular here) Ali's had a touch more sparkle. Then again, with an AS it's easier to bring that to the floor for a talented dancer.

When Craig is giving an 8, one is immediately more hesitant about another judge giving a 10 (the Alesha issue was/were (!) definitely part of it too). Or at least, I am.

Agree with this.

It was almost inevitable Zoe would be top or near top with her routine which, to my untrained eye & with the wardrobe malfunction, went awry and was, therefore, overmarked.

Before Ali danced I suspected 10s were on the way (surprised there was only one) because the routine was being tee'd up for 10s.

We know Ali is a beautifully elegant performer in the ballroom and Brian acknowledged he was going to listen to the criticism and make the routine simpler. This begs the question of whether the professionals should continue to play it safe with choreography and ensure high marks or do they push the envelope for more wow factor?

Ricky's VW last week seemed to contain complex choreography with more Fleckerls than you could shake a stick at. Ricky's samba routine was a toughie too - Len pointed out that some of the steps required a lot more training than a few days' rehearsal could achieve. Should Natalie be playing it safer or should she push on?

Honestly, I think she'd be able to do a slightly less complicated routine which was still more complex than anything most of the other couples could manage. I do think Ricky and Natalie's latins are almost violently aggressive and harsh, and I think she might be getting slightly carried away with Ricky being such a good student in the same way that Brian was with Ali (though not so markedly, perhaps). I want to see Natalie choreograph something difficult but a little more subtle - I think it'd do wonders for them.