Actually, Craig was correct - Harry and Russell's performances both merited the same mark.

Its a lot of extra work for the judges to mark several different dances in one show.
They have to have decided what standard would be worth a ten in each dance and then compare what they saw to that. That's asking a lot of them, so I would expect some anomalies - especially when they give marks for giving it a go.

I think you'll find that Craig was disingenuous, given that he said "His (Harry's) footwork, his danceability, is absolutely glorious" - relegating him to the same level as Russell Grant was just a dig at Aliona.

But it doesn't mean the dance merited a better mark it means that Harry has more chance of improving and getting higher marks- his dance this week was good but not brilliant and his posture, hold and some of his footwork was dodgy.

Aliona needs to work on this or do what some of the other pro's do and choreograph a number that will hide his flaws (see Karen's comments about Kristina and Jason this week).

I have no doubt that out of all of the judges Craig is the least likely to dock marks for Aliona's comments- he wends his own merry way every week regardless.

I thought only Len showed any animosity and all the judges gave constructive advice (and you could see Aliona acknowledging that).
Len was entitled to be annoyed and express his viewpoint, and I thought he might give a 6 or 7. Aesha's 8 was generous.

Len has had issues with Aliona since Rav's Rumba and I cant see that changing. This has just been a little blip on the chart.

Craig is I think, the judge who gets where Aliona is coming from the most.

hello - here's my elbow (looks at backside) - Karatem were not average - series seven had an uninspiring standard of dance but I thought the standard in series eight was very good.

I absolutely agree with you. The judges are there to JUDGE: probably half (if not more) of the pros disagree with most of what they say at least some of the time, but they are sensible enough to keep it to themselves. We all know we can't please all the people (or judges) all the time, but the pros need to try and please both judges & viewers as best they can. Len, for example, hates props (so do I) but if the couples use them and then get into a decent dance he'll judge the dancing, which is fair enough.

Aliona is silly. She is a lovely girl, and a great dancer; it's more than possible to choreograph a routine that is individual with maybe a few unusual touches to please the viewers, but stays within the accepted confines of that dance to please the judges. If she can't do it, she should do what some of the others do, and get in outside help.

Len's singling out Brendan has, I think, been different. He has sometimes choreographed, & his celeb danced, a really good dance, only to stupidly spoil the effect by breaking the rules, etc.

You thought Len might give Harry a 6 - when he gives virtually any old clod-hopper a 5 just for showing up?

I agree that Craig's marking is a lot fairer, but I think he was backed into a corner on ITT and had to defend Len's marking for the sake of the panel's credibility.

I think Craig was defending his own scores, as he gave both Harry and Russell sixes - same as Len.
You could see from Harry's expression when he finished that he knew he could have danced it better than he did.

Never heard of subtext?

Len may have been the one who referred to Aliona's comments on ITT last week, but all the others towed the line. They remarked about Harry's great potential - the implication being Aliona isn't harnessing it to full effect at the moment.

All of them mentioning Aliona's ITT gaff would have been OTT: only one judge needed to refer to it - and it was Len. But my guess is that Harry will be quite miffed by the whole episode - which is why, when the weekend's highlights featured in ITT, no judges' comments accompanied the clips of him and Aliona.

I suspect that their appearance on ITT tonight will gloss over the judges' comments from last weekend. The producers won't want an unhappy celeb on their hands. However, whether Aliona has learned anything from this is another matter altogether ...

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Just seen poor old Aliona having to eat humble pie and sheepishly praising the judges for their great skill and insight in an attempt to save her job.

She still had a giggle as if she was choking on her humble pie.

She didn't eat any pie at all! She KNOWS the judges were right about Harry's posture so why contradict the judges? Thank goodness she's not stupid enough to do her 'I don't care what they say' schtick. So at least that's good.

Len said Aliona said she didn't listen to the judges. Not what she said at all last week. So I think it is fine for her to say that she said she listens and respects the judges, because it's true.

Plus, as I mentioned before, Katya and Ola both criticised the judges so why only call Aliona out? Does seem weird.

I love Aliona's quirky choreography, and I think Len doesn't! I don't think he hates her, he just doesn't like that she pushes the boundries as the UK show is more strict.

I could watch Aliona forever. Love her dancing, love her choregraphy!

There will be more fuss next week because Ian Waite said on ITT on Wednesday that there is very little jive steps in their jive...

Why does she do that? It's bound to wind Len up all over again, and it's not like Harry is a useless dancer or overweight and can't manage the steps!!!

Memo to Len - you're the judge, that means you're supposed to play the role of the adult, not the child. Try it on Saturday, see how you go.

Remember that there is a bit of an intro to Greased Lightening before the jive-able (argh!) section kicks in. It is entirely possible that it was this section we saw them rehearsing.

I was being sarcastic; my intention was to defend Aliona against accusations that she was somehow the reason for Matt's failure to win - when in fact they finished in second place to a couple that had been exceptional throughout, and likely would have won even if Aliona had been fettered and forced at gunpoint to choreograph according to the inspired and infallible opinions of Digitalspy users.

Nice attempt to tar all of us non-fans of Aliona's oftentimes atrocious choreography with the same broad brush.

You are above this, Aleksis.

Well, Brendan admitted yesterday on ITT that their rhumba is really a rhumba-lite so it will be interesting to see how the comments compare.

I must admit to not being bothered one way or the other by Aliona's choreography, but i do think the 'Matt would have won last year if she had done things differently' is a bit of a forum tic in the same way that Colin Jackson would have won without the dummy dance ... no, he really wouldn't (in my opinion )

She is not the only dancer to do this, and Len always mentions it whoever does it.

I think they will have gotten over the comments from last week. It wasn't that big a deal.

It becomes a big deal when someone does what Brendan used to. He used to always add lifts because he was arrogant and wanted to be a rebel, even though it jeopardised his partners scores. I get why Len went mad at him several times!!!!

I don't think Aliona would do that, but her and several other dancers do have a habit of trying to please the audience and not the judges. I guess it's hard to balance.

While I know many people who think Aliona's choreography hampered Matt's chances last year, I don't think it can be said that there's any concrete evidence of this.

However, I would say that SCD 2010 was Matt's to lose: he fitted the perfect profile of the Strictly winner - a likeable male celebrity with boy-ish good looks whose dancing improved across the series. However exceptional Kara was, she was a less obvious 'character' and could just as easily have gone the way of Ricky Whittle or Rachel Stevens, who were technically superior but did not engage the public as Matt's obvious (althouigh less technically gifted) predecessors, Tom Chambers and Chris Hollins. In other words, as exceptional as she was, I'd still maintain Kara was the underdog in last year's final two.

So I'd argue Aliona could have strengthened Matt's position by delivering the kind of choreography that the judges will mark up. That's how James Jordan got Pamela to the final - and it's not rocket science. Instead, she delivered some routines more suited to SYTYCD than SCD - and suffered for it.

If she had been smart, she would have learned from this - but her comments on last week's ITT would rather indicate otherwise. I was surprised Len's comments from last Saturday were brought up - but, tellingly, Harry said nothing while Aliona delivered her disingenuous 'apology', in which she denied saying what she'd actually said. Again, not a smart move.

I suspect this one will rumble on for a while now ... ITT should know better and let sleeping dogs lie - unless Aliona's days are numbered and the producers are just giving her enough rope ...?

Did you watch last week? She said "I listen to the judges and I respect them but I kinda don't take it on board". This week she said "Like I said last week, I listen and respect the judges". I don't see the issue with that. Len said she said she doesn't listen, which wasn't true.

But anyway, I hope the issue is over. I still find it weird that people are talking about Matt last year. It was a year ago

Yes - in other words, Aliona thinks she knows better than the judges and their opinions aren't worth bothering with. Hardly a smart thing to say ...