I agree, I thought some of the comments particularly Len's were very cutting. Emotions are high and one can only imagine what the contestants must be thinking/feeling. I just felt the comments for Matt were very unfair.
I really don't understand why the judges marked any of the dances. Their marks don't count so what is the point of marking? They should take a leaf out of X Factors book in that respect and for the final not mark and just provide constructive and encouraging comments.

Careful with the language TP. While I have disagreed with a lot of the changes she has introduced, I thought the final was excellent.

Len had the flu, so that's why he was grumpy.

thanks for telling me that, at least I'm not as rude as previous users. Standard practise I guess.

I remember Arlene giving Alesha her own personal standing ovation.
To my mind the reason for the negativity tonight is due to the lack of clear rules. Half the time the rules are applied and half the time they are not. The whole show felt messy and symptomatic of the fact that the standards of dance for this series have not been as high because celebs have not been rewarded for properly fulfilling the correct ballroom and latin requirements.

Whilst Kara was a joy to watch and a deserved winner, there were clearly techincial aspects of her dances that were not nailed. If a lead had been given by head judge Len at the begining about what has to be done, then perhaps this messy, less than perfect feel to the final could have been avoided.

btw I sent a pm to you.

Man flu, and if that's the case he should have stayed at home, to my mind the final should have been a celebration of the fact that three good dancers got to the final. It always amuses me that in dancing with the stars they would never have made such negative comments everything there is super dooper, maybe they should have tempered their comments a bit, they were a bit of a downer.

She did, but earlier in the show she'd given her one mark lower for her chacha than she gave her in the dance's first outing.

Now we know he didn't but I mentioned the same thing to my hubby. In earlier years much poorer dancers than Matt have been given nothing but praise in the final (when they went on to win).

It would seem that the judges know (and have always known) who the most popular couple is and give their opinions based on this. They don't want to appear out of touch with the common folk.

It was obvious since Blackpool who would win but the judges remarks took away any doubt early tonight.

I thought the judges were very negative in some of their comments which never happened in previous finals. In fact the whole show was rather messy. Whoever decided to put the showdance in the middle of the competition needs their head testing!!!

No matter how good or bad they turn out to be, the showdance is always the one dance to allow the contestants to relax and do their own thing at the end of a stressful competition.

I hope they go back to the original format of what a strictly final should be for next year, but that does not help this years celebs who were being used as part of a bad experiment to 'improve' the show which didn't help the pro's, celebs, or judges. Was it a dancing competiton or purely an entertainment show? I don't think the powers that be could make up their minds so it started off as one concept and then turned into the other part way through.

your not the only one lol.

This has been the first year we have seen the judges show their obvious dislike for a couple or celeb in the show, and I don't know what poor Matt did to be awarded the comments he got tonight. It ruined the show.

I think it also showed how out of step the judges have been with the voting public who if they didn't like what Matt & Aliona were doing every week would have voted them out of the show and not got them to the final.

I'm not sure if you think I was critising Matt because I wasn't. I think the obvious undermarking of Matt over several weeks had the only effect it could in the fact that it made people question/disregard Matt's abiltiy.

I didn't have a favourite but I would have prefered an honest final but all the manipulation that has been going on with the judges, press and behind the scenes has left a bad taste in my mouth.

report it to ofcom then.

Silly me, I thought the boos at any negative judging comments were just the pantomime mood. It's catching.

I thought that they were rude to Christopher Parker in the first series, but maybe that was right up to the final and then they were nice to him in the final. I can't remember that far back.

Totally agree - his comments to Matt came after Pam had been eliminated and I felt Len was annoyed with that result. However, he has consistently tore into Matt and not in a humorous way as he did with some of the others. I hope the producers replace Len next series - perhaps bring in one of the pros who were relegated to show dancers this year e.g. Matthew Cutler. I am sure he would do a better job than grumpy, old fashioned Goodman.

Matt should be proud of his achievement and would have been a worthy winner in any other year. Kara is a wonderful dancer and I was pleased for her.

Len is out of step with modern dancing - he has had his moments with Kara as well.

Matt;s showdance looks better on second viewing he really did dance it quite well even if the transitions were not that smooth - but that sort of goes with the music.

I don't expect judges to wax lyrical about dances if they don't like them - but in the final it's rude and unnecessary to be so nasty and negative. It's not as if you can give the couples constructive criticism so that they can improve something for the next week...

If Matt had won tonight his victory would have been very hollow after what some of the judges had said about him. I did think that he was getting some of the backlash, too, for Pammy not getting into the final 2.

People are going to complain about the marks if you are going to give out 7s without explanation. They will also note the relative marks. If you have Matt performing less well than he should be and you think 7 is right , and no one really getting into 40 territory, you are pretty much bound to get negative comments I should think. The mood is also set because the showdances were pretty dire, the new dances were too much for a week with so much going on and there's still big uncertainties in how you mark new style routines.

Last year, the judges had given up - knowing that Chris would win anyway - and, as they had no competition between Ali and Ricky to mark either, they just threw marks around with pro-Chris comments too. This year I think they had a clear winner on ability and an open competition and they wanted the marks and comments to reflect that.

Kara performed worse tonight than she has since week 4. But it's nothing to do with inconsistent application of the rules, it's because she quite clearly injured herself early on in her showdance, causing her to mess that up and the two dances that followed - you just have to look at her face to see the pain, and Artem is rubbing her arm in concern for pretty much all of the second show (apart from when they dance obviously).

and if the showdances had been at the end like they usually are she'd have been great in all her other dances.

I didn't like the negative comments made towards Kara by Len.

Well I agreed with every bit of critcism the judges had to throw at Matt last night. On the basis of those 4 dances, he did not deserve to be in the final, let alone the final 2 IMO. I thought his paso was dreadful, would have associated it with mid-series quality, his showdance was appaling, mostly because of Aliona's choreograpgy, not that I have anything against contemporary dance but it didn't flow one bit. His vienese waltz felt laboured and his samba was a bore to watch. I felt incredibly annoyed that we didn't get to see Pamela's AT or charleston and had to settle for his lacklustre dances. Just my opinion though. I haven't always disliked his dancing but at the semi-finals, I felt he no longer deserved a place in the competition.

i am glad the judges said what they saw,be it right or wrong.i've found them qiute sickly in previous years when they suddenly start being so nice to everyone.this way i actually believed them,whether i agreed or not.