I agree with the person for posting that, strictly come dancing is more of a popularity contest than a dancing contest. same with all the other talent shows on tv

thankyou. I believe this! I havent got anything against chelsee as a person i am on about the dancing. But this isnt a dancing contest entirely is it, its more of a popularity contest, i am sure

So where was the explanation for him giving chelsee a 10 with a clearly visibly flawed dance? No pick-up on the wobbly-ness and the ridiculous run to pasha at the end before the final move (when she leaned back with pasha supporting her head) amongst other things

Post 35 on page 2 suggests that it wasn't wobbly or flawed. Another poster remarked on a review by someone who dances, who said that Chelsee had danced it properly & that is just the flamenco style. I'm not a dancer myself, so I cannot comment further than that.

Another one who didnt read the post properly.....

Im kind of amazed right now, because i dont understand it at all

Im sure there are other people who see what i saw, or maybe im not describing it correctly

I take it you don't like Chelsee much?

Sorry, I can't resist after you accused me of not liking Harry much in another thread.

Yes, it always has been so nothing new there either or did you forget Chris Parker in series one, Julian Clary in series two etc ad nauseum. SCD has always been about people connecting with their favourite couple and never about who was the best technical dancer. Only on rare occasions have the two things married together to produce a winner who was both - Jill Halfpenny being the obvious example.


No, I have no idea what you're talking about either. The only possible "flaw" in the dance was that Chelsee didn't go down very far on the running splits step they appear to have attempted, something Craig picked up on.

There's also no such thing as a perfect dance really, there will always be areas where a judge can pick up for suggestions for encouragement etc. I've never seen anyone, not even the greatest dancers of all time, dance something utterly without fault.

or perhaps it's just that Craig saw flaws in Harry's charleston that you didn't see and didn't see the flaws in Chelsee's paso that you saw

personally I didn't see all the faults he said were in Chelsee's American Smooth and thought it deserved a 9 instead of the 8 he gave her, but he's the judge and it's his opinion ............ I don't think the heinous crime of giving Chelsee a 10 for her paso and not giving Harry a 10 merits him losing his job

if you go by that way of thinking the only judge we would have is Len - Bruno is stage and commercial, Craig is Theatre and Alesha......well enough said about her. Even Arlene wouldn't have made the panel if your rationale was adopted,
Each judge brings their own area of expertise ( apart from Alesha, I suppose she says she looks at performance)

I don't think it is time for him to go at all, he is the most consistant judge and always has been. The dancers all want high marks from him which should tell you its his mark they respect the most.

As for 10gate - maybe he thought despite not being perfect Chelsee's dance was more entertaining and more believable that Harry's. Dancing is about telling a story not just moving your hands and feet unless your at a disco
another line of thought of course is strategic marking

I had to read the title twice to check I'd read it correctly. Craig is the best thing about the weekend Strictly and ITT!!

Nooooooooooooooo! He's my favourite judge by far.

It is clear from all of your posts that unless someone says you are right, you won't be happy. Sorry, but I can't oblige you.

The only flaw in Chelsee's routine was when she put her arms out too early, but she had her back to judges at that point so I doubt they could see it.

All judges great except Alesha no pro talent, I mean that in the nicest way but still shes got chemistry with Bruno so it works

All of my posts in the strictly forum? or all of my posts in general on DS? No, ill repeat again, i was trying to, but could not understand why he gave chelsee a 10 for what i saw as a flawed dance, and harry a 9 for what i saw was a wonderful dance, as we all know what craig is like he never usually gives out 10`s unless the dance was techinically perfect, and he will pick a dancer up on the slightest of things.... i wanted to see if others could see what i was seeing. perhaps one of the posters is right maybe he gave chelsee a 10 because he thought there was more excitement and feeling in the dance, or maybe not. whatever im tired of thinking about it now LOL

Here's another expert view to help our appraisal of Chelsee and Pasha's Paso, originally posted in the Chels&Pash App thread by salsameg:


And for full disclosure, here were the negatives:


It's so interesting how the overall compelling feel of the dance (to a complete non-dancer like me) has roots in the techniques and traditions that an expert can find. Love that interface between in-the-moment and old tradition.


Many thanks to salsameg and Spanish gentleman!

If you want to lose sleep over Craig giving Chelsee a non perfect dance a ten while apparently snubbing Harry's attempt then go on then. Or maybe not. Calmed down now, perhaps?

I was surprised Craig awarded any of the dances tens, to be honest, as I think they all contained some minor niggles that he would normally be pickey about.

I think what happened is that he overmarked Harrys Charlston a little bit (gave it a 9 when it should probably have been an 8) which meant he then had to start getting his 10's out for dances that would usually be 9's for him.

In any case he is still the most consistent judge in terms of marking and saving the 10's for the Semis and Finals at least meakes them mean something.

Craig's undermarking probably helped Kara to victory it may yet do the same for Harry. I too felt the same way about Chelsee's Paso but Craig is the least bonkers of all the judges in his marking - I'd rather get rid of any of the other three judges especially Alesha who has proved to be utterly incapable of using her 10 paddle responsibly this series.

Seconded Katmobile - Dixon and Len need to go - Ian and Karen please to bring some credibility back to the panel and take it back to dancing.

I accept that would mean the lovely Ian could not do the Wednesday Warm up - but give that to Matthew Cutler and give Camilla Karen's slot on the red button.

Incidentally - did La Hardy mention who she will have with her on the red button this weekend- ideally I would love a series champion with Karen on Saturday, Chris maybe?

What we as an audience see is usually coloured by out preconceptions. A flawed performance by a favourite will be overlooked or glossed over, where a mistake by a rival will be blown up to epic proportions. Craig on the other had has always struck me a scrupulously fair and objective judge. He does on occasion seem to penalise some faults harshly but often this is due to exasperation at a fault mentioned but not corrected.

On Saturday he commented on Harry's head position which was not tilted sufficiently throughout the dance and docked a mark as a result. So 90 seconds of dance where he did not have his head tilted enough for Craig and Harry only lost 1 mark.

Chelsee may have made a small stumble which some saw but Craig overlooked or did not think an error or bad enough to dock a mark This was an error of a second or two out of 90 seconds of dance.

Perhaps this will help you understand what Craig saw and based his marks on.

Just listened to the comments on Harry's VW again & Craig said had Harry's head been slightly more to the right he may not have picked up on the fleckerl fault (so two errors Craig saw )

Wrong dance, Mona. SCDChick was complaining initially about Craig not giving a 10 to Harry's Charleston. We didn't hear Craig's criticisms of that dance, so we don't know why he docked a point. There was a clear moment of hesitation within the Charleston, and I suspect that from where Harry & Aliona were at the time it would have been visible to Craig.

And as far as I'm concerned, there may have been a slight stumble in Chelsee's dance, but that is as nothing to the tiny amount of content of AT in Jason's dance, which was poorly performed. Complain about Harry 'only' getting 39 in comparison to Jason's 40, and I'll grant you that there is an argument there.

Silly me. However in fairness Harry's VW was performed in the same half as Chelsee's Paso, and for me Harry's VW was much better than the Charleston yet scored the same.