I thought Kara's charlston was excellent this evening but as always, the judges gave her rather harsh comments. I know it's because they think she's good and are trying to encourage her to do better but I did feel rather sorry for her as I thought she did really well. The judges did eventually complement her on her footwork (well deserved) and her score was pretty good but I just wish they would praise her more. I thought she looked fantastic - oh, to have a body like that....

[

Yes, I absolutely loved Kara tonight, and she at very least deserved as good if not better than Pamela

I love Kara and thought hers was the best Charleston but I agree with the judges that it lacked a bit energy. Kara even said herself on ITT that she was finding the dance slow which puzzled me at the time as it is supposed to be a high energy dance. That was Artems choreography of course.

In a word, yes! Kara was the best dancer for me tonight,totally beautiful, I was very surprised she didn't get more generous comments and marks.

The past couple of weeks I think she's been the victim of undermarking.

In the long run, though, this will do her good. It will get the audience on side.

I'm beginning to find myself championing Kara a bit - purely because she's not getting the credit I feel she's due.

She's fab!

I agree with this. They're doing her a huge favour by undermarking her.

In the past they've made the opposite mistake - over marking the talented young females to keep them in the competition (I'm mostly thinking of Lisa Snowdon). Kara is better than Lisa (and also more likeable I think). This is a better strategy than the Lisa Snowdon approach.

I definitely feel sorry for her tonight. Mistakes of those above her were glossed over, but in comparison the judges were harsh on Kara. Unfortunately I think her technique and content got a little bit lost on the judges, which is certainly a shame as she had better swivel action in her ankles than some of the pro females tonight! It was sassy rather than pure slapstick and so I think it struggled amongst the others (I have a feeling that was Ryan and Jenny's choreography rather than Artem's) leading to the "low impact" comment. Overall though I thought she did a fabulous job with the dance and certainly didn't deserve to end up fourth on the leaderboard!!!


She's a natural dancer so I think it's assumed it comes easily to her. Not always the case - it looks to me as though she's putting a whole load of work into getting it right! Her routine wasn't rewarded enough tonight in comparison to others in my opinion. I understood criticism last week for her Quickstep, but I feel sorry for her tonight.

Agree with this.

Week 1 I thought Kara would be unpopular, teacher's pet contestant, but Scott and Matt seem to be more in that mould.

I think she was undone by the music choice, it was far too slow to ever create the energy and vibrancy that everyone looks for in the Charleston.

I enjoyed it and thought she was undermarked, but it shouldn't do her any harm, especially if she gets an impact dance like the jive or paso next week if she stays in (as she should)

Maybe it is a good strategy because Kara is rapidly beoming my favourite....I thought Matt and Aliona's Charleston was good but that Kara and Artem's matched it in a jazzy quirky way.

And I definitely preferred her dancing to Pamela's tonight.

Just said exactly the same thing on another thread.

Kara looks like she has the potential to outdo Jill Halfpenny if you ask me.

I agree. I think it's a shame on the one hand because she puts a lot of work in, is fabulous week after week and never really gets the prize if you like but on the other hand it's good because the public will hopefully see things the same way and vote for her. With no dance off this year, the road to the final is all about the audience and not really about the judges.

I agree with a lot of what you guys are saying about Kara.

She is lovely - she is one of my absolute favourites - she is such a good and beautiful dancer.

BUT....the one area where I do think she is a bit lacking is in performance - she really needs to dig deep and really make it fire.

I love her and Artem - I love the classiness of Artem's dancing, and Kara, though just learning, is in the same "mould". Sometimes you need one of you to be a bit more fiery than the other and I think they are a little bit too similar - Artem is quite serious yet laid back, and Kara is giggly, yes, but she also suffers a bit from the "nice girl" kind of image.

I want her to come out and really give it some! Would so love her to win.

Hope Artem can fully drag that out of her and if he can, I think she could be one of the best dancers Strictly has ever had.

I like though, that she has room to grow and improve - my only "sadness" for want of a better word is that the public en masse might find them together a bit unexciting - I though just absolutely LOVE them - I look for their dances the most, along with Scott and Natalie's, this series.

Really wanting to wish this utterly lovely couple all the love and luck in the world - to me, they are fabulous!

I'm really, REALLY pleased to see Team Kartem gaining fans every week. Looks like I might be backing a popular contestant for the first time!

I agree with Sid. I actually think the judges are doing this on purpose knowing that there is no dance off and if the public feels she is being fawned over and favoured, she could be a shock elimination. She is being held to the strictest of standards and her mistakes are pointed out with slightly lower scoring which means she has room to move up the leader board.

I don't think the judges are that bright.

I don't think they are doing that. There were quite a few very strong performances tonight. Kara was great, there is no doubting that, but there were several others who were just better on this occasion.

I mentioned in another thread that I think it was the choreography that let her down this week. Not that the choreography was bad, but compared to the other charlestons it lacked the crowd pleasing gimmicks and props. She danced it very well indeed, and yes, I felt it was a little unfair. She had good swivel and suited the quirkiness of that style of dance, but it just got lost in the wow factor of the others, even though some of the others weren't danced as well.

I actually thought her trainer (can't remember his name) could of given her more to do, as she is perfectly competent enough to tackle more.

But saying that, I think the judges are just as guilty as the public when it comes to overlooking good dancing, when a big crowd pleasing dance has just preceded it.

I'm sorry but I preferred Tina dance, i haven't got a fav yet either

I'd pretty much agree - she's a very good dancer, very likeable, and I think not being perceived as teachers pet will help her long term. At the moment I think the over marking of Pam tonight, and if it continues, will probably cost her a place sooner then if she'd been marked properly tonight

I think even that bunch of morons - & the production team - have managed to get it through their thick skulls that the GBP don't like being told who they should make their winner.

I'm an optimist, I am.

I'm even starting to like Artem. As people have said, the man can dance!

Hi Tango Queen

So agree with everything in your post I am loving Kara and Artum and the lovely Scott and superb Natalie what a teacher.

That's because she is a good enough dancer, and Artem is a classy enough choreographer, to do the dance properly without needing anything else.

My bugbear about Strictly this year is that it is really trashy - so many props, which just look awful.

I'd rather have good dancing where you can recognise each dance for what it is supposed to be, even if it doesn't wow the majority of people!

Kara and Artem are just beautiful dancers together and I love so much to watch them.