Watching the show last night the judges said in the VT that Kara has to be perfect, why?

Scott gets good scores for turning up, Pamela gets brilliant scores for stumbles, emoting (poor Matt's emoting isn't half as gurning but he gets picked up for it) and being about as graceful as a hippo.

This is not a slagging off thread, I'm just interested to know.

My issue is not why does Kara have to be perfect , my issue is why does Pamela not have to be ? The same rules should apply to all and they quite blatently dont .

'Twas ever thus. I remember getting very hot under the collar when Arlene criticised Alesha's samba, saying 'I only want perfection from you', and then gave her an 8, whereas she gave Gethin a 9 for his salsa. They were both good dances (she added hastily, not wanting to re-ignite the Alesha v Gethin debate), but were judged on different criteria, at least by Arlene.

They do it all the time in Strictly, unfortunately. Alesha is one example, and I seem to remember people complaining that Rachel got marked a lot more harshly than both Lisa and Tom. Hopefully the public can see past the huge scores being given to Pamela and realise that Kara is a far better dancer.

Putting the standard so high for her is a compliment to her, I think, as it shows they think she's capable of perfection. Better to just fall short of high expectations than to achieve low ones.

I'm just wondering if Craig is being tactical - people might fail to vote for "obvious shoe-ins" and possibly Kara fans could have deserted her for one night - dangerous at this stage. So Kara fans worried by Matt's apparently consistently huge public vote should not desert her at all, for fear of giving place to one of the others.

Agree that Pamela did not deserve two full houses if Kara still has to earn one. Also agree that Kara just has to be *********** good rather than perfect. Hellish of Craig to dock one point for a lift when lifts have been à la mode for the rest of this series. Remember Brendan-Kellygate?

I don't think Craig is being tactical to help Kara i just think that he really wants Pamela to get to the final and is a bit blinded to her mistakes when she dances.

I was so infuriated when for Kara's VT they kept going on about her making mistakes throughotu the competition. The only dances I can thing of that she made mistakes were her cha cha cha which was more a wardrobe function hardly a mistake and then the salsa which fair enough she forgot some of the routine. It hardly means she makes tonnes of mistakes and not any more than other competitors this year.

Then we got to Pamela's VT and they had nothing at all negative to say about her and worst of all tehy said she had been consistent throughout in both ballroom and latin which is about the most ridiculous thing they could say as she has not been as good in latin.

I'm not denying the fact that Pamela has done brilliantly and i think she deserves to be in the final. But the judges are portraying her all of a sudden as this perfect brilliant dancers which she isn't. But then Kara is expected to reach this seemingly unachievable level and is portrayed to have made quite a few mistakes during the competition.

Plus, with Craig focusing so much on the lift side of things he doesn't leave any room to talk about hwat he did love about the dance. Esp the rumba. all he talked about was the lift. It's frustrating.

As I said in another thread, I think Kara is being marked harshly (mostly by Craig) because they want to keep improving and aim for absolute perfection instead of great dances with small errors. It's a compliment or sorts, and one which I can live with for now.

But I think Kara will get 10s from Craig in the final/for her last dances anyway. The justification for the harsh marking just won't be there any more. Hopefully, she & Artem will finally produce something that nobody can fault.

There are two issues - tactical voting by the judges to manipulate capable but unpopular celebs into the point of competition the judges feel is consistent with their talent and the fact that a simple dance danced perfectly or near perfectly gets marked higher than a much more difficult routine containing minor faults. I have always maintained that dances should be marked according to their difficulty level (as in professional skating, for eg)

I've seen worse mistakes in the professional showdances. They all make small mistakes otherwise there would never be a result in a pro competition.

I think Craig expects too much of Kara, it isn't enough for her to be better than anyone else, which surely is all that is required to win this supposedly "fun" competition?

It reminds me of the year Alesha was dancing. The judges kept saying they expected perfection from her, nothing less. Len even said one night that he could forgive others for mistakes but not her, he expected perfection. I found it unfair then and I find it unfair with Kara this year. The rest get 10s for trying and partially succeeding but Kara only gets them if she is practically perfect.

I hadn't thought of it this way before, but I would agree, now that you've mentioned it.

I do find it strange though how certain dancers are marked to certain standards by the judges instead of them just judging everyone the same... and then in that way the scores would be alot more accurate I would have thought.

Not only is it a compliment but also it is possibly to Kara's advantage. The public seem to be turned off by high marking. Rather ironically, Pamela fans probably have more cause for complaint than Kara since any perception that someone is being marked slightly too high is likely to lose them votes not gain them. I don't go for conspiracy theories (I tend to think the judges mark how they see it), but if there is a conspiracy at all, it is probably not so much to get Pamela through as to keep the Kara story fresh by saving the high marks for her until the final.

I hope Kara wins, but I really don't think she needs all this indignation expressed on her behalf on this forum. Her dancing and personality should get her the glitterball.

Because she can be.

It's not just on Strictly, I've seen it on International versions as well. The best dancers often get undermarked because the judges' expectations are (too) high.
Maybe it's their way to encourage the talented ones to bring the very best.