Why were Ricky & Natalie given a higher score than Jade & Ian when Ricky's performance had "a few mistakes".

Don't get me wrong, Ricky is the best dancer on the show, but I think he was over-marked.

I'm a bit tired of the muted responses to Jade & Ian, they consistanly perform well each week but the Judges seem to be underwhelmed with them.

In all fairness to Alesha she did say tonight that Jade and Ian were the "dark horses" and I'm sure there were fans all around the country nodding in agreement.

As for Ricky yes, he was overmarked but, so were a lot of other people. After being in the dance-off last week I doubt very much if many people were surprised that Ali received four 10s this week. Yes she danced well but, if someone-else had come out and "faffed" around at the beginning of the routine Len would have had a field day and used it as an excuse to mark the couple down. Don't get me wrong I thought Ali did a great job, but it gets more than a little tedious when Ricky is the one singled out.

And, whilst we're on the subject, if Ricky had said "Well at least I don't have to go through that again" after finishing his routine, this forum would have had a field day. What I'm really happy about is that watching SCD and listening to the audience he always seems to get the loudest cheers before he performs. Yes, the forum doesn't like him but, those who enjoy obviously appreciate him.

Bearing in mind they've not all done the same dances, I had a look at who has the top scores for their dances.
Ricky W - 7/8 shared 2 (lost out in the Viennese Waltz to Ali)
Ali - 3/8 shared 1 with Ricky (Salsa)
Jade - 3/8 shared 1 with Ricky and Zoe (Samba)
Chris - 1/8 (Cha Cha)
Zoe shared the Samba with Ricky and Jade

I agree with you here. Whilst Ricky W is an excellent dancer and did a good dance, he made mistakes tonight, and I felt the judges were somewhat generous. I do feel the judges are somewhat more 'forgiving' with their marks when a high standard dancer messes up. The 9's were over the top, he messed up 3 times that I saw. 8, imo was about right.

I wasn't particularly wowed by Jade's jive, but have felt she has been somewhat overlooked at times.