Karen's recognised qualifications won't mean a thing if she starts talking out of her arse. The judges clearly didn't think Chris deserved 10s -- so she's on her own there, as far as the "expert" opinion is concerned.

And I'm not going to have another Alesha debate with you. I'm bored of it -- so, give it a rest.

I agree. Karen is one of my favs but having watched Chris and Ola 3 times, their dance deserved no more then four 7's.
For 95% of the routine he just walked around and stamped, completely flat footed.

That must have been a very different routine to the one I saw ...

What's your name? Arlene?

Well Paace and Servalan, why don't you watch the same YouTube of their charleston, and report back the minute:second count of any stamping you see?

I have watched it enough, thank you!

There is no stamping. The use of the word itself is just an attempt to regurgitate an old criticism made by queen bitch Bruno and create a suggestion that Chris is only capable of walking and stamping. :yawn:

So sorry - not interested.

I'm not sure about 10s though I do remember a few routines in the past getting 10s that were certainly less than perfect.

But I think they were shockingly undermarked. I think 9s across would have been a fairer score. It was pure theatre; brilliant. Could have been in Singin' in the Rain even.

In fat this was the first show that had me replaying routines a LOT of times. The Charleston gave the series a much needed shot in the arm. I'm passing understanding Craig's 6 for Laila and Anton. They were brilliant.

Last year it was just the 4th best dancer winning and he had a claim to be third- this year it would be the sixth best and someone who would have been even lower last year.

The only comparison between Rachel and Ali is that both are the best or second best dancers in their year, both are pretty, both are female, both are southern and both are not working class which inevitably gives them a problem with the voters.

Just before he does his lift he plods along, does a stamp then the lift. He is completely flat footed for most of the routine and what part of any dance is that ridiculous seal impression at the end. Completely overmarked and even four 7's is been generous.

Sadly there's nothing new about it

Had to laugh at that bit. Zoe's a working class northern girl. How'd she do with the viewers?

To answer the OP. I think Karen makes a good point, couples dancing first very rarely receive tens - other than in the final - Chris and Ola's routine had a wow factor that none of the other routines had; and if they'd been luckier owth the draw they may have received tens but on the other hand Chris isnt one of the judges favourites so he probably wont receive a ten unless he makes the final.

It wasnt Ricky's fault at all. Rewatch it and see that as Laila and Anton were doing natural turns down the centre of the dance floor, Brian and Ali cut across the 'outer circle' into the centre of the dance floor and go smack into Laila and Anton and then after that, Brian waltzes directly into Ricky and Natalie. Ricky had his back turned on Brian when he was waltzing in his direction so could not have seen him, otherwise he may well have steered Natalie in another way. I agree with Len, Ricky in particular showed excellent floorcraft and it was Brian at fault.

Well they got 34 and you're suggesting 36, so not exactly shocking undermarking then.

2nd point - totally agree even though the dance purists will have had their teeth on edge.

Anton was totally brilliant. Laila was very good. But the judges noticed that mismatch, which didn't occur in the other two Charlestons.

They bumped into other couples because they were blocked by somone moving at half speed in front of them and had to take the diagonal. The purpose is to dance at full speed and you don't fall down the rankings because you hit the odd sunday driver, you get marked on what you dance like .

Is true no winner has been in a dance off but with only two cases this isn't a very good predictor - particularly as nearly half of contestants go in their first dance off and there are 2 left..

I have been saying the same thing, she dose not impress me, to me Rachel and Ali are like Stepford wives perfect but no personality. They are consently been overmarked.
I also hope she dose not win the title.

I know only by two...but still a downer, they really should have had 36.

Laila and Anton should have had 34 by my lights. I was more gobsmacked by Craig's mark than by any other mark I've seen this year.

I just rewatched it. They nearly bumped into Anton and Laila because they decided to cut across the dancefloor rather than follow the line of dance, Anton showed good floorcraft in halting his and Laila's progress. Anton and Laila were heading into the centre to do the fleckerl (where it should be done). They then shoved into Natalie and Ricky in what can only be described as sheer bad manners. Brian was going forward and should have been able to see Ricky and steer Ali out of the way, only a slight adjustment would have been needed. Ricky had his back to Brian and was also parallel with the audience, so it would have been very difficult for him to steer around Ali and Brian. It looked like Ali and Brian knew the end of the routine was coming up and wanted to finish right in front of the audience so decided bad floorcraft was the way to do it. Or they were just incredibly bad mannered and had decided to shove other couples.

The judges don't mark wow factor and the show isn't Find a Comic. 10 is for dancing skill and with something extra in terms pf presentation which amounts to dancing wow factor. JS had "wow factor" in the sense he made some people look and laugh. On that basis you could put Basil Fawlty on there and you would have to give him 10 for wow factor doing a silly walk. Omid Djalili is packing them in in Oliver with added Iranian dancing and jokes but he wouldn't get 10 for a Charleston either. Chris is a bit better dancer than Ricky Groves with a similar problem pulling silly faces and less acting ability. You can't give him 10s for a routine with limited steps and a lot of ham acting and inappropriate faces and not logically give Ricky Groves 11 as a reward for actually being able to act more convincingly, do better slapstick moves and be funnier too. If females were allowed points for being funny and acting badly too ( and you allowed for the impossibility of Vincent lifting her) you would probably end up giving Natalie a 10 too on that basis. Ola probably deserved a 10, but Chris was more like an 8 for effort.

A 10 should indeed be for dancing skill, thenetworkbabe. However, the first two words that come to mind when I think about it are Lisa Snowden...and I will never believe in the veracity of her maximum scores if I live to be 1000 years old

Too right Stu - Lisa couldn'd do Latin - and that40/40 for her cha cha was the wind up of the year - it was only worthy of 34

Quite - and I think that's rather the point! I don't think Chris' charleston deserved 10s any more than Lisa Snowdon's cha cha did - and two wrongs certainly don't make a right!

So what excuse do they have for giving Ali a 10 for the VW - when she and Brian managed to crash into two couples

I've no idea, footygirl - I'm not a judge. Personally, I don't really think there should have been any tens on Saturday.

I have just posted something on Cracking Chris appreciation - You might find it interesting

The problem starts before that. Brian is moving around the outside lane at full speed and finds someone (Ricky) lurching outwards in front of him. He has to cross the centre to avoid running into them or going off stage. Learner drivers in outside fast lanes. Its then billiards as the diagonal is being crossed by others too. Can't see how Brian avoids the diagonal or crosses it any slower to allow for the slow crossing traffic.

There would be no advantage in ending up where he did - the audience don't have a mark or a vote. You want to end up either infront of the judges or a camera thats on. Anton gets the camera (but only a long shot) and Vincent the judges. Given they all end up facing different ways and fairly well spaced they may even have been told roughly where to go.

Am not sure what you're referring to, footygirl.