I know Chris and Ola are a very popular couple with both viewers and judges, but for me, their Viennese Waltz was bordering on cheating.

There are only 4 steps in VW - natural turns, reverse turns, change step (to change from natural to reverse) and fleckerls (a sort of run-around step).

Chris clearly couldn't master the (not particularly difficult) change steps and resorted to endless pivots. He didn't even attempt a fleckerl.

However, the main reason I think they were cheating is because of the speed. It was so slow. This makes the dance so much easier.

Imagine if everyone decided to slow down the faster dances? A slow quickstep, for example, or a 'walking speed' samba or jive?

I love Chris - he and Ola are my favourite couple, but I have to agree with you there. Thought they had a lovely connection in the dance but the actual content wasn't great. Too many pivots and not enough VW steps, although that seems to happen frequently with VW on this show. I thought it looked like he was attempting a very slow fleckerl at the start, but would need to watch it again to make sure.

I do think many of the pros take liberties with the VW - Brian for example choreographed a lot of pauses in Ali's routine when going into the fleckerl and that's fair enough, they are just learning, but I think Ola and Chris' was a little bit too far last night. Bit like Lisa Snowdon's slow quickstep last year.

She did alright with it though .

Ive literally just this minute rewatched his VT and:

He did attempt a fleckerl (0:32) but it was v slow, clumsy and there was no contracheck.
There was a change step (albeit clumsily executed around 0:54)
There were 3 pivot sections and I enjoyed them because I think they went with the music.

I agree, it was too slow, but I dont think that was a cheat. In fact, I think it will make it harder, like Bruno said to Ricky about the slow FT, slower VW's will show a poor technique much easier than a fast one.

For me, I thought it was a reasonable attempt at a VW, it was quite pretty and slightly undermarked.

Ola did mention something about the speed on ITT in the week she gave a reason why it was going to be slow but I cant remember what she said..........to be honest I dont care all the pros do things to enhance their celeb or 'hide' things from the judges Lilia and Darren told us some of the tricks on ITT a couple of weeks ago. Now Jade is gone they are my favourites and will get my vote anyway.

Thanks for posting this as that's exactly what I would have said!

Even with the pivot sections, I thought that was a good way of changing the pace of the dance.

It won't go down in history as a good VW by any means, but I'm sure the judges would have said something harsher if they thought it was bordering on cheating too!

I am really pleased that I wouldnt know a fleckerl from a pivot from a twirl , so can sit back and enjoy the show without casting an eagle eyes on the right moves

Cant say the same for Greys Anatomy or E.R where I shout out things like " that IV line is kinked " and "he looks too well to have liver disease" and annoy myself and those around me .!!!

Im the same Abba, I cannot watch Casualty or ER etc because they insist on defibrillating unshockable rhythms! I mean, COME ON!!!

My biggest bugbear and makes me want to reach in and fix the pilows, is the patient sitting with his neck at an awkward angle and no support behind his head .!!!!
My poor husband has to suffer a dig in the ribs when I tell him "She needs another pillow for heavens sake ""

LMAO. We were talking about this in work the other day funnily enough, how medical dramas irritate the hell out of us. I can only watch Scrubs, as at least it makes me laugh and it actually is the least incorrect medical show out there.

What is it you do do Abba?

(sorry, I know Im OT)

A paeds nurse , worked in the surgical unit for years .Now work in paeds home care and love it .

Back to business though . I simply love Chris and he could stand still and have Ola spin around him I would still love him , fleckerls or no fleckerls !!

I don't think the term cheating is really fair here.
They didn't do anything wrong, just were light on content, which the judges note and mark accordingly.

... and all medical dramas gloss over how much of nursing involves body fluids and hysterical laughing. Though not normally together.

Absolutely. You need much greater control for a slow VW.

IF there was any hint of cheating involved in Chris and Ola's VW, why didnt the judges pick up on this and mark accordingly? Cheating? I really don't think so, and are all the steps mentioned in the OP's post Compulsory, or is the pace of VW compulsory also??

I dont know enough about technique to tell if he was cheating or not!

I was just enjoying the dance

i think that Chris and Ola are not the only couple to take liberties with a dance. It happens quite a lot. At least Ola was upfront in saying that Chris was having a problem with it. In some ways it seems no worse than a couple dancing a flashy and sexy cha cha or rumba, which doesn't have the basics in it (e.g. straight legs or correct hip movement).

As a general point, I think the standard of the VW has gone down this series. There has been lots of topping and tailing (to reduce the number of consecutive turns that they have to do) and pausing during during the dance, and generally speaking these interpretations do seem to go down well with the public who tend to find a 'straight' VW rather boring . When I think back to Mark Ramprakash and co attempting the VW in previous series, they were much more rigorous in following the letter of the dance.

If the judges let them get away with it, you can hardly blame the contestants for doing it.

Ditto!

And his marks weren't all that high anyway.

This year, I'm past caring about who is good and who isn't.

Because the ones who are performing fleckles and heel leads etc bore me and the ones who are struggling technically are still managing to entertain me both on and off the dance floor.

Whoever wins, they are going to be criticised for either being dull or of a poor standard.

Black humour keept us going through 12 hour shifts, never intended to mock but never for untrained ears .!!


I am like Sid and Sparkle Pink , could care less if they are technically right and I simply enjoy them
, they could twirl each other around their heads for all I care !!

I agree with Sid and Sparkle Pink also, I enjoyed Chris and Ola's dance immensely, and don't see why certain people on the boards need to assume "borderline cheating" claims. Why not just enjoy the dance for what it is? Then again there are certain people who i'm sure who would turn a blind eye when situations like BC&KB pop an extra lift into their routines.

Chris and Ola's VW slow? They were like Usain Bolt compared to Natalie & Vincent.

And how about Ricky W's slooow fox plus weightlifting practice?

I was clapping at the end because their sheer exuberance is infectious. I thought they were undermarked and wanted to poke Aleahas eyes out for her comments.......I think she was hormonal last night she was so up and down and seemed to dissagree with all the other judges but was particularly cross about her Chris comments.

If you don't like it, fine, that's your opinion, but I think it's very unfair to call it cheating. Part of SCD is how the pros will interpret the dance and how they'll mix up the moves - if they'll put disco in a samba, what kind of lifts they put in an AS, etc. We vote if we like it. Where's the line. Was Natalie 'cheating' because she couldn't do the samba very well?

Chris and Ola had feeling. It had emotion and connection and a sense of a partnership. I LOVED it.

I didn't enjoy Chris and Ola's VW - but I certainly don't consider the routine cheating!

The pro will always choreograph to the strengths of the celeb, whilst minimising exposure of their weaknesses.

This is what Ola did without breaking any rules. It was up to the judges to take note and impose a penalty if they felt strongly that the dance lacked the required elements. Any voting viewer who was of a similar opinion had the perfect answer at their disposal. Vote for someone else.

I wouldn't go as far as to call it cheating but it was very slow.
I can't condemn Chris for the choreography, as it's not his choice but it was very dull.

Nice guy, though, like on the news.

Regardless as to how easy the steps were, and how the dance was interpreted, if they remained within the rules, then they did not cheat.

You play to the strengths of the partner, and sometimes better marks can be obtained for an easy routine performed very well, than a difficult routine performed less well (or even badly, as we have witnessed earlier in the series). That is a judgement call for the pro, and in no way could it be described as cheating, or even bending the rules.