Hmmmmm

Looks like we have a touch of the Lisa Snowdens again this year.....

Ricky underperformed his Tango, you could see it in his eyes at the end. Not only did he make glaring mistakes he was also out of time with the music for most of it.

Yet Len admitted glossing over them when he said "We're not gonna talk about that thing, I'll let someone else do that", then the other judges praised this flawed dance. Whilst Craig was summing up Len interrupted saying "you were out throughout"... then goes and gives him a NINE!!!

How can a dance full of errors be awarded a 35??

This is FAVOURITISM, and the judges are idiots if they dont think the public will see it...

Im sorry- Ricky can be very good, but he can also be lacklustre (salsa) and I dont think he's got the dreaded "J" word to win over the hearts of the public in this comp..

Im increasingly finding both Jade and Ali more interesting as dancers and I would be more than happy to see EITHER of these 2 lift the trophy...

I agree , all said he was wrong , all saw it and the marking was bullshit

Agree it was overmarked... but he is a far better dancer than Ms Snowden (she of the dying silver turkey showdance) EVER was!

I was amazed that they brought out 9 paddles for that when it had mistakes in it....it wasnt BAD but certainly wasnt better than Jade and Ian.

I feel sorry for Ricky because he is a great dancer (his feet bother me but hey ho) and the judges giving him such high marks when there are obvious errors will go against him when it comes to the public.

I agree with everything you said, the dance was severely overmarked and it is favouriteism.

Bit like Zoe and James' AS a few weeks ago which was also marked as if it wasn't strewn with error and out of time with the music. At least Ricky's tango was quite a challenging routine. I am increasingly of the view that the judges decide their marks before the dances happen. Perhaps on the rehearsals and training footage? The marks certainly aren't coherent when you only take the performances on the night.

Your thread title has made me LMAO!!

The SCD contestant Lisa "just call me Everest and please don't mention my Showdance" Snowden, formerly known as Ricky "The Thong" Nipple.

Richard Nipple, if you please!

The judges want Ricky W and Ali in the final and they'll get them there by scoring one or the other top of the leaderboard each week and, mistakes or no mistakes, they'll start them off on a higher tariff than the others each week. Whether you agree with that or not, 'tis the way the cookie crumbles and nowt you can do about it till the final.

Basically, a flawless routine from a, say, Ricky G or a Phil Tuffnel is calibrated on a scale that equals a top mark of 8 ... which Ricky W or Ali will also get if one of them falls over.

I do agree that Ricky was overmarked but, at the end of the day the leader board looked right to me.

However, he's a far better dancer than Lisa Snowden so the comparison made by the OP was very unfair.

So what happened last week then if your theory is right ?

Half the problem with Ricky's tango was the song. For once he was right - that was fast!

Depends what you do. If the dance you have is worth 40 without errors you can have errors and get a high mark. If its worth 32 if done 100% right you can only get 32. The question is how much you take off for the errors and what you like more that offsets that.

Problem too is how far you take it - Phil's routine had less content than Ricky had in 30 seconds so should he get more than say 24? Do you give Ricky W 30 if he sits down half way through? On the other hand, Ricky with lots of errors is still better than any other male if you judge what he's got right rather than the performance as a whole. Its all pretty subjective.

Nothing that I'm aware of. To get Ricky W and Ali in the final, they just have to make sure BOTH of them don't meet in a dance-off. Only one or the other needs to be top of the board each week. Then they save the other one with their second vote if the public dump them in a dance-off against anybody else. They can take turns which one they put top of the board each week. Ricky W last week, Ali this week, Ricky W again next week ... you get the point, and so do they.

I'm not blaming them here. If they've made their minds up they want those two in the final for the two places they control, the judges are perfectly entitled to do that.

Neither Phil nor Ricky G have put in anything like a flawless performance although Phil is certainly going in the right direction. I also seem to recall Jade being top of the leader board.

They appeared to be giving high marks to Austin last year but he didn't make the final.

Even with mistakes Rickys dance was still head & shoulders above most of the other dances

Its all theory and we will never know .I dont mind as long as the bad dancers leave !!! Criag so needed to go , he was even boring poor Flavia .!

The 9's tonight for a Tango containing clear errors were absurd.

But to be fair to Ricky W, he's not the only one to be over-marked this series.

And arguably the 8s would be generous if you look at the difficulty involved. Not only is it easier to avoid mistakes if you do something simple and slow and that repeats the same move, its easier to learn, easier to remember, more difficult to lose your way in and easier to concentrate on being funny or acting.

I felt that Ricky W was overscored but only because I thought Jade and Ian's was better

apart from that the leaderboard was about right

Oh, I'd agree with that. In fact, though I quite like Tuffers, I thought his rumba tonight was one of the least passionate dances I've seen on Strictly. Definitely not his dance and I was amazed at the marks he got.

I was just making the point that, whether folks like it or not, we're on an unstated tariff here. Ricky G and Tuffers, for example, are on around a top mark of 8 before they dance a step IMO.

8s were ok based on the difficulty of the routine and the first half of it being done well, but 9s were ridiculous. Both Jade and Chris should have been ahead of Ricky.

Sure, I didn't say the judges were wrong to start out like that. If it's the way they feel that Ricky W and Ali are way above anybody else, they're perfectly entitled if they want to mark them on a different tariff scale to others.

Their problem - and the disconnect they get with a broad audience public of 8 million+ people - is that dance, like any of the arts, is a subjective thing, not an objective one. Folks at home can see someone not in the judge's good books do something they really liked with no obvious mistakes get an 8. Then on come Ricky W or Ali, maybe they trip up twice, don't dance it so great according to the judge's comments, then also get given an 8. At which point, they start chucking things at the telly, kicking the dog and shouting teacher's pets. But it's all part of the fun.

SCD tis neither one thing or the other and there's the problem. If Ali does difficult moves and looks good she won't score as many votes as someone who is effectively doing a 1910 or 1920s local music hall act or doing whatever they find gets them votes. As it is , I suspect Ricky W and Ali could act well enough to play the other game but they are being choregraphed to music that goes somewhere else more serious.

Looking at DWTS in the USA they seem to go there for the big Tom showdance like production numbers (with camera effects too on things like Melissa's Charleston ) - you wonder if Ricky G would look a bit thin compared to what a better dancer and actor could do.

Probably a step too far - but you also have to look at X Factor which seems to be putting on very big and expensive numbers with its acts and may be reaping the benefits in audience share?