This is the first season of Strictly I've watched and so I'm only learning about the references from past seasons. But, I understand and your point and I'm glad.

39 out of 40 is a great mark. It was a beautiful dance and Kara deserved the praise she received.

I like 39. More of my favourite dances have received 39 than 40.

As others say, Kara shouldn't have got 40 - it wasn't perfect - even I saw a wobble. But that doesn't stop it being one of my very fave dances ever. If not THE favourite.It was incredible and enough to get me to vote for her if she makes the final. The final is the only time I ever vote and I didn't even bother with that last year.

Pam should have got nowhere near a 40 and Kara should have beaten her with 39. That's where the error was.

People remember dances not scores. Jills Jive, Marks AT and Salsa, Colins QS, Kelly's AS, Chris' Charleston and others and now Karas Paso and Rumba. No one gives a damn if they ever got 40 first time.

Many 40 dances came via overmarking - Matts forgettable Waltz, Lisa's forgettable everything and Pam will just join them. I cannot think of one dance of Pam's which will go down in history (nor Matt's) although Scott's Jive might.

Given current attire and James penchant for Pam stripping off, if they get through to the final I am thinking will we be in line for another horrific bacofoil leotard from Alien the Musical?

not horrified but annoyed that other dances less deserving than hers get 40

and I dont remember anyone calling Kara miss perfect

Jill's paso "only" got 37 points, but it's still one of my reference dances.

I hate that piece of music (it's a bit Y Viva Espana), but I think that dance is a good illustration of a technically difficult paso with lots of spins/spotting and synchronization and tricky footwork for the female celeb.

These days, pasos seem to be mostly about stomping and posing and pulling silly faces and inappropriate music. And horrible/scary dresses in Pamela's case.

(I haven't seen Kara's paso)

Actually your post is a perfect example of part of the problem with the show now.

You've only watched this series of the show and I've watched from the very first episode.

Lots of other people like me have much more to compare this series with and plenty of those people will know that getting a 10, let alone 40 was rare before Series 5. In Series 5 there were several real contenders and the standard shot up that year. In the two series that followed a 10 became more common, even though many would say the standard had not shot up again. The number of 10s and 40s given in Series 6 (the worst series ever for me), broke so many records and the outrage at the judges for over marking was through the ceiling. Series 7 was slightly better, but not by much.

People are expecting to see full marks far too often now, when it should be a rare and special thing. Look at how it used to be -
[LIST][*]Jill & Darren in the final of Series 2, with their Jive
[*]Mark & Karen in the final of Series 4, with their Salsa
[*]Matt & Flavia in the semi-final of Series 5, with their Waltz
[*]Rachel & Vincent in week ten of Series 6, with their Foxtrot [*]Lisa & Brendan in the semi-final of Series 6, with their Quickstep [*]Rachel & Vincent again in the final of Series 6, with their Foxtrot [*]Lisa & Brendan again in the final of Series 6, with their Foxtrot and their Cha Cha Cha
[*]Ali & Brian in week eight of Series 7, with their Viennese Waltz [*]Ali & Brian again in week thirteen of Series 7, with their American Smooth [*]Ricky & Natalie in the final of Series 7, with their Quickstep [*]Chris & Ola in the final of Series 7, with their Charleston
[*]Pamela & James in week ten of Series 8, with their Viennese Waltz [*]Pamela & James again in the semi-final of Series 8, with their Quickstep[/LIST]
The outrage at Matt Di getting 40 for his Jive was phenomenal and as you will have seen, is still a gripe for many now! And Lisa Snowdon has gone down in SCD history for all the wrong reasons! Now Kara will be remembered for getting 10s even though the judges knew her foot came off the floor.

Yes, the standard of the good dancers is good, but the judges and their over marking is keeping the expectation of the fans unrealistically raised.

Celebs CAN do benchmark dances without getting 40.

I curse Series 6.

PS Stats courtesy of Ultimate Strictly - brilliant as usual

No I wasn't. Her foot came off the floor in that dance and Graig picked up on that, so I expected he wouldn't give Kara a 10.

interesting list - not one of those dances has been my favourite, either of the series or of those specific couples

jill and darren's best dance was the paso
mark and karen's AT
matt and flav - salsa
Rachel and vincent - AT/rumba
lisa and brendan - ahem
ali and brian - can't actually remember most of her dances
chris and ola - come ON
pamela and james - ditto

I really don't understand people who would be horrified and waste so much emotion on such trivia. As far as I am concerned, it's just a fun programme to watch and shouldn't be taken quite so seriously by the viewers.

She made a mistake and should have been penalised. It was a wonderful, wonderful dance though and she has now given me a rumba that I can watch, which was unheard of before last night

The judging should be this rigorous with every dance. It's the over marking I find unacceptable.

Horrified no, but was fuming that the judges yet again gave Pamela a perfect score for dances that were'nt perfect and IMO very safe !!! I hav'nt seen Pamela being challenged and produce a dance as brilliantly as Kara has !! By giving Pamela perfect scores makes her out to be a excellent dancer, Which she certainly is'nt, good but nothing more, she dos'nt produce the wow factor for me !!!

Pamela is being given 40s by the judges because they know how good Kara is so this is to make Pamela look a bit better than how she actually is. If Kara doesn't win SCD this year it will be a travesty and nitpicker Craig knows that which is why he couldn't bring himself to give her a 10 for that Rhumba. In the final when the judges votes are for information only you can be sure that Kara will probably 10s from Craig for all her dances.

I do not for one minute think Kara will be remembered for having tens for imperfect dances !!! She is exceptional and has produced some of the most memorable dances week after week, that is what will be remembered !!!!!

If Kara doesn't win strictly this year it is because she didn't get enough votes from the GBP. If you want your favourite to win, then vote for your favourite. It is as simple as that.

I agree and if the judges scored the other dancers for their errors too this would'nt be such an issue, but they hav'nt that is the problem !!

Agree and lets hope so, she deserves it for all the exceptional dances she has produced. She has been given some of the most challenging choreography and delivered it brilliantly, for that I applaud her !!!!

Yep, that's a good way of putting it. If I had one criticism of Kara's Rumba, it's that some of the hand/arm movements were a little sharp for my liking. But there were other aspects of her Rumba that I liked more than Rachel's.

Overall, these are my top two Rumbas of all time though.

This is true and I have and will be voting !

Absolutely!

The marking has been bizarre. On the odd occasion they do mark accurately (Kara's rumba, Matt's AS) people are upset because compared to their 'normal' marking (Scott's most things lately, and Pamela's QS) it is seen as unfair

I thought Kara's rumba was lovely, but she did stumble quite clearly and there was a lift, so I would have said 8.

Get a life, OP. Horrified is what you are when someone goes under a bus in front of you.

No I wasn't horrified, not least because Kara ought to have got a 36 for the lift and the small error. I was however a little peeved at the judges for giving Pamela a 40.

As a Kara fan, I have to say, it wasn't worth a 10 because she did stumble slightly and her foot came off the floor. However, she's still head and shoulders above the others.

I think she was the best dancer, and if she didn't deserve a 10 then the others were probably over-marked. However it didn't matter in the end because Kara still topped the judges leaderboard for the whole semi-final.

There was very fine work in it but she also looked rushed; she needed to hold some poses a fraction of a second longer. Still the most convincing couple.