She said had he danced later in the show he would have picked up a few tens for the charleston. Also she criticised Brian's erm "driving" in the Viennese Waltz, saying he really should have been able to avoid having two collisions with other couples.
She ended by saying that she was still tipping Ricky to win but was about to go and give Chris a couple of tips of things she wants him to improve...

Incidentally, during the interview they played clips of the charlestons, and it seemed to me that Ali and Brian's one was somewhat lacking in rhythm. I know it was a semi-pastiche of the ventriloquist routine from Chicago, but it just seemed too sloppy to me. Yes Ali can do the splits (that's what ballet class as a child can do for you) but Chris and Ola's routine was much tighter rhythmically. In my opinion that's quite important!

I have put the other things she said in a post on greytops.

What did she say about Ali, Laila and Ricky?

Ali is the Rachel Stevens of last year. She's always get preferential treatment, even if she isn't dancing that well. For a lot of the early stages she was marked on potential than what she actually produced. then she was saved over Zoe in the dance off when she didn't deserve it. She magically got a perfect score the next week in the VW and then suddenly there's a group VW chucked in and she gets yet another 10.

So I'm just going to expect it, like I did last year, and hope justice prevails, like it did last year.

She never mentioned Laila at all.

Ali she said she did well to dance the charleston after her injury but criticised the 10 for the group VW because they bumped into 2 other couples.

Said she was suprised Ricky was in the dance off but it could be a sign that he isnt getting the public support and it doesnt look good for the final if you have been in the dance off......then went on to say that all the couples left had been in the dance off which ofcourse is not correct, she was corrected by Bill and then said oh yes ofcourse Chris has not been in the dance off has he.

Karen seen what i see as well. Ali was giving a break because the judges feared an Ali vs Ricky dance off. Laila and Ricky done the best two Viennese Waltz hands down. It is disheartening when you know sometimes the judges are not marking it on the day. Another poster commented that the judges were passing notes to each other while they were dancing the Viennese Waltz . It looks a bit of a stitch up imo.

You should have titled your thread differently. That opening post looks more like a lets slag off Ali and Brian than a lets praise Chris.

I was all ready to post that i agreed that Chris probably did deserve higher scores for his Charleston (although i wouldn't go as far as 10s) but i don't like this new trend of supporting your favourites by slagging off the competition.

Alesha was in the danceoff at one stage - anyone else ?

Natasha Kaplinsky was in the bottom two once, but the other four winners never were.

I actually like Ali and thought her charleston was great. The Viennese Waltz is another story. I just found it unbelievable that it was giving a ten.

No Series 5 was first year of the dance off.

Series 5

Matt had one appearance in the dance off about half way through the competition

Alesha being in the dance off was the week that Matt was saved when he forgot his dances so there is some argument that the vote was slightly skewed that week.

Gethin was never in a dance off until the semi final

Series 6

Tom was never in a dance off

Rachel was (more than once ? cant remember)

Lisa was

Series 7

Ali once in the dance off

Laila once in the dance off

Ricky once in the dance off

Chris not so far.

No slagging off intended I assure you I was trying to comment on the extracts that were shown on Breakfast (and were kind of relevant to Karen's comments about the scoring) - perhaps they happened to choose a particularly unflattering clip from Ali and Brian and a particularly good part of Chris and Ola's dance.

Not for the first time I agreed with Karen. Chris/Ola and Laila/Anton were much better than Ali/Brian. It was good, but a bit dull.

I only noticed Ali/Brian in the VW when they bumped into Ricky W. It was probably Ricky's fault, but Brian in the professional - he should have been able to steer away from it.

Chris was highly underscored for his charleston and I won't even start on Ali & Brian (bland).

The judges do have their favourites like every year.....
I'm so done with their machinations...I'm sure the GBP will set them all straight at the end of the day.

I take you haven't heard - we CAN'T set them straight, due to the rigged system The judges can take whoever they want into the final, and there's very little the GBP can do about it...

Thats slightly overstating it, it does get more difficult for someone who is popular with the public but not the judges to get through but its not impossible.....its the dance off which is the big problem ofcourse.

This is my concern for next week- Austin Healy anyone??

Even if Chris is the highest scorer with the puclic he will probably end up in the dance off if he is scored the lowest by the judges?? Then, if they do what they did last year and overmark the others he will have no chance....

We shall see!

I like Ali and Brian, but I agree with karen completely about the Viennese Waltz. Ali does a great VW, but I didn't think that Brian showed good floorcraft at all, which surprised me.

Floorcraft? Non dancer here, what does that mean?

Which is it?...'should' have got tens (as per the title) or 'would' have got tens (or was it both?).

It makes a big difference.

Agree with this.

I agree about the VW but I don't think Ali was over marked in the Charleston, maybe not a 10 but it definitely deserved top of the leader board, if anyone was under marked it Laila, she was better than Chris I thought.

Floorcraft is your ability to move around the floor whilst you're dancing to show off your dance in the best light. Dancers with good floorcraft can avoid collisions, by showing awareness of what's going on around them and suddenly changing the choreography to move out of a collision. Bad floorcraft is when you don't show that awareness or flexibility and you then end up boxed in, hidden or you knock into people.

Sometimes you can't avoid collisions or a couple will just cut right across you. Some couples are also deliberately boxed in as a naughty competitive strategy. The top dancers can get out of it though and they can come up with some pretty funny ways to get out of the situation, which also charms the audience and judges.

Exhibit A - Franco Formica! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhW8tTjae0k

Totally agree that had Chris danced last he would have scored the highest Charleston looking at the video of the VW I still think the two best VW were Ricky and Ali though would have marked Ricky top

She said both as far as I can remember - at the start of the interview she said she thought Chris and Ola would have got some tens if they had danced later on in the show. Towards the end of the interview when they mentioned Chris, she said he should have got tens.

(Remember of course this was on Breakfast, with Bill Turnbull, who mentioned that before the series started he had predicted Chris would get to the last four, so Karen may well have been saying nice things about Chris because he is Breakfast's representative in this years series. Mind you she also said she had expected Joe C to be very good, so there you go!)