I couldn't find another thread about this on the forum. Apologies if I've missed one. But I've certainly seen a thread arguing that Gavin was overmarked last night.

I'm finding the marking this season a little bit laughable in it's inconsistency. To be honest my major issue is with Len. Last night he gave Patsy the same mark as Kara. Now taking into consideration that Len in previous seasons has often commented in his feedback that the important thing for him as a traditionalist is to see the basic footwork, the technique, how can he argue that technique wise Patsy was the equal of Kara? If he has changed his mind and is now marking based on entertainment, then I find the change in viewpoint frustrating. Why change his mind after 6 seasons.

It wasn't just Patsy I thought was overmarked, Gavin was definitely overmarked for a routine which although entertaining from a dancing point of view wasn't very strong as he made mistakes. I like Gavin a lot and think he is a great competitor but I don't understand how any of the judges could give that dance a '9'

I think the problem for me is there is no clarity regarding what the marking is based on... is it based on how the dancers have improved, the entertainment value of the dance, the tecnique? There seems to be no consistency.I understand that maybe it needs to be a combination of all the elements. But in my eyes, the judges this year are just looking at one of those elements. For example, in my eyes for Patsy and Gavin, they are marking purely based on the 'journey' element, how much they have improved. But for me, that isn't enough to give them both '9's.

In past seasons there has been some interesting marking but nothing like for example Scott last week getting a 4 from Craig and a 9 from Len. And on ITT on Friday's corner when Craig questioned Len's '9' mark, i don't remember Len's response word for word but he seemed to be saying yeah it maybe wasn't a 9 but it definitely wasn't a '4'. As if he was admitting he had made a mistake with the 9 too.

I worry that they are voting for reasons other than the actual dance they are watching.

Hidden Agenda's - who'd have thought it

The judges marking is making a mockery of the show this year.

Clearly they have been told by the producers not to mark on ability, to ignore lifts and are probably given their agenda each week, in order to manipulate the result.

I know the producers have to make a TV show, but it really is showing contempt for the audience and I am surprised anybody spends their money on voting these days.

I really agree with the op. Len used to be high marks but with some sort of reasoning behind it. Craig seems to me be the only consistent judge. Basically Len gave the same mark to Scotts rumba as he gave to Matt, and while I don't necessarily agree with a four for scott, (5) it should never. Have been a nine (max 7, and that is pushing it to balance a four).
The issue, I think, is that Len wants to balance the combined scored from Craig which makes lens score all over the place. Something tells me that either Len has learnt from the past series that teachers pets don't win or he has something against Kara and in favour of Scott. Matt scoring I understand bacuse, as good as he is, choreography and style is not really up len's standard.

Totally agree with the OP

The marks have been all over the place, just look at Craigs 4 for Scotts rumba compared to Lens 9 - were they watching the same dance? Is Len overmarking to compensate for Craigs undermarking?

Its totally ridiculous

I though Ann actually did much more dancing than Felicity this week ....... the judges must have been scoring on something else.

If you look at this week's scores, Len, Alesha and Bruno were pretty much in sync. Just Craig's that seemed fair IMO

I don't think that's fair. A foxtrot can often look like a lot of walking around at the best of times to an untrained eye. I'm definitely no expert, but Ann didn't look very graceful to me, and the judges clearly agreed. Felicity did her best, but the choreography let her down, as it was too complicated. A Salsa is always going to be a much harder dance for someone of that age.

The scoring has been a total joke this year. Len has given Ann quite high marks for doing virtually nothing. Patsy and Gavin have been given ridiculous marks for displaying a little bit of personality and incorporating too many gimmicks.

Agree with that. No better example of Len than the last 2 rumbas. He gave Scott and Matt both 9, if Scott's was worth 9, Matt's had to be a 10.....at least

Exaclty. Compare that to Craig's 4 -8.

The marking is worse than ever but I'm so used to it now that I can't get too outraged about it.

The 9's for Gavin's QS though were absurd.

I'm not even sure that Len's credentials give him the right to judge. Owning a dance school in Dartford and winning a medal in Blackpool in the 60s makes him far less qualified than any of the world class pro dancers. And his never giving anything less than a 5 is a joke.

Even Arlene Philips says that celebs like Ann and Gavin are getting votes for just getting through a dance, and the lack of technical ability is ignored. It's one rule for them and another for everyone else.

To mark Anne in the foxtrot you would struggle to get above a "2"
"1" for turning up and "1" for getting the odd steps in place
"0" for top half presentation, no attempt other than to hang on
"0" for musicality as she gave nothing to the dance feel of a foxtrot and I do mean zero
"0" for entertainment in presentation and please picture this women clunking round the floor
"2" and reasonably lucky at that

That part of the show is becoming quite surreal to me as I can remember a time when I could understand the judges comments and marks and relate them to what I had seen.

Absolutely no idea what the judges are on this year - Ok I suppose a good wodge of BBC cash is the answer - Craig' marks are the nearest on the whole to a proper mark. The rest are just completely surreal.

Gavin getting a 9 was baffling.