I love Kara but tonight she wasn't up to standard, I think she deserved 7s and 8s to be honest but she got 9s! Even they seemed shocked by the scores - she knew she messed up... When they were giving their comments I felt that only Craig was speaking the truth. Call be cynical but I just found it a little suspect. It was like the judges had been told to praise the dance when it wasn't that good (obviously still loads better than many others) and then Kara said she didn't know what she was doing throughout - but didn't elaborate on why. I imagine it was because of Artem's tonsilitis but why didn't they say? Also Kara and Artem seem to have to go first a lot.

Not sure what point I'm trying to make here but, does anyone else smell something a bit fishy? A bit like they might want her out or in the bottom two? I don't know but the scores seemed odd.

I think all the scores bar Anns were suspect tonight. It looks like they were pre-determined. I know the judges watch the final dress rehersal and I think that it was discussed who would be where on the leaderboard and then all the couples were marked to reflect this however good or bad they did

I do think she was overmarked. However, I also think that every other dance tonight was overmarked.

Ann's Rumba deserved a 4 (in total).

Scott was grossly overmarked for messing up his steps.

Matt's dance was a bit of a mess IMO.

Gavin's jive was terrible.

Patsy's dance was OK, but didn't really deserve 30.

I liked Pamela's dance, but it was certainly overmarked.

The scores this year are utterly meaningless. Bruno and Alesha are being extremely generous and Len's marking is all over the place. I don't think Kara is being singled out.

sorry I forgot to add that I think Kara is usually undermarked, imo her AT was one of the best dances this year but the marking did not reflect this

Kara was way below par tonight and deserved no more then 8. Those 9's she got are just making a mockery of the competition.

Craig's 7 was about right and at a pinch she deserved 8s but certainly not 9s. She didn't know the routine and she didn't dance it well.

I agree that Kara didn't perform the routine well - but even if she had, the choreography was lacking too. I suppose we can put that down to Artem's fitness and health probs.

The forum police will pounce on you if you don't change your message parthena. Spoiler!

Thank goodness I noticed your kind message, Rosy - thank you so much :-x

No problem

There were still a couple of intricate moves that were clever and eye-pleasing and new to me. All very Artem, the guy is amazing.

Given they only started training on Wednesday, their routine was still better than most of the poor offerings from last night and I agree with others that everyone was overmarked. I think Kara's place on the leaderboard was right, though I couldnt say the same for everyone else.

I agree he's amazing, I was contrasting his movement with Kara's rather half-hearted effort during the dance. But I didn't think the routine contained enough kicks and twirls, and those that it did, Kara just didn't put enough zip into.

Don't get me wrong, if Kara and Artem win SCD I will not complain one bit! They're normally superb and have been undermarked more than once.

Tonight everyone was overmarked, which means that they were all marked right (if that makes sense).

Kara and Artem weren't up to their usual standard, but they weren't on top of the leaderboard either. Come to it, Anne and Anton did not deserve a 14 either..

It's not fair to single Kara out, the scoring as a whole was not up to scratch yesterday night.

Completely bizarre - I wondered what the judges were actually watching

No-one was great las evening. Tiredness and illnesses are creeping in.
Kara was overmarked, and this set off a weird sequence of events that saw marks all over the place last night. I think judges are manipulating the scoreboard to give the most able dancers the best chance of staying in. They need to be more subtle though - Pamela's 10s completely give the game away. That was just shocking.

Everyone was over marked, imo, especially Anne.

This!

I agree also, and would add ...

If the public voting order that a DS FM (who appears to have a SCD contact) has posted is correct, I think the producers, through the judges, are trying to protect both Kara and Pamela. Both of them get fewer votes than Ann yet are patently better dancers and are also popular with the judges. For both of them to go before the final would make the show a laughing stock (although I can foresee Pamela not making it) and so the producers are trying to balance the public vote.

The leader board was pretty much correct as far as the order goes, so I don't see any point in getting wound up about it. Especially when there are more alarming things on the horizon (the prospect of Ann in the final ) ...

I agree, everyone was overmark but some overmarks were ridiculously high while others where just a tad over. Overall I don't think it did really matter, but it made quite a few fans upset.

Given that the scoring has been pretty shaky for a while (9 for Scott's Rumba?! 6's/7's for Ann for less than good performances... the list goes on.) I'd say the mockery was made of the show a long time ago.

Kara's 9's last night may have been a bit much, but so were the 9's from Alesha & Bruno for Scott's shaky American Smooth. Ann was marked 5's for an awful Rumba, which I'd say was more than generous.

Pamela's Charleston was worse than Kara's a few weeks back, yet got 10's simply because they can give them out now. Matt was slightly undermarked in comparison to Kara's scores. Scott got 8's and 9's in blackpool for a stiff Samba.

I love all the top 4 (Matt, Kara, Scott & Pamela) but there's no denying they can be overmarked. They all can. Unfortunately, I think the judges set themselves up for the fall when they start scoring highly in the first weeks, and then score the person who dances first so high it leaves little wiggle room.

The scores for everyone (except Ann and Gavin and Patsy) were bonkers last night.

What was refreshing was that Kara herself looked a little confused at getting 9s. They were under rehearsed because of Artems injury and illness.....they will be back with a bang I am sure (fingers crossed) and have lots of wonderful dances left including Waltz VW and Rumba all of which I think she will excel at

Even when Kara has a couple of timing issues she I still a joy to watch. I was concerned that she had forgot the routine and was improvising.

If this is all true though, why is Kara first or second on practically every week? Surely if the two people the DS FM says have led the public vote since week one are so safe, why not put them on first a bit more often?

Exactly.

I'm really not buying the fact they're unpopular since they're always a favourite in the poll, and go first 24/7 yet have never landed in the dance off.