I know accusastions of favouritism are boring, but Matt was so hideously overmarked this week I'm still annoyed.

Is it winding anyone else up? I think at this point he could just stand there doing nothing and he'd get the highest score.

I also don't think he's as humble as he's making out to be...but maybe that's just me.

For someone, who hasn't got a favourite (although I quite like Chico), but likes most of them, could you be a bit more specific how he was overmarked?

Personally I think he was on the right position on the leader board.

He's clearly liked by the panel but I'm not sure that he's being favoured as such. It's obvious (to me) that Louis and Katarina fancy him (maybe Robin too?) but I doubt their marks are a reflection of that, as well as just because they like him as a skater.

I agree, I don't think he's as humble as he makes out, but, tbh, there are others on this series (and previous ones) that haven't either. I think it's just the norm to (try) and look humble and not big headed about how good you are on these types of shows, even when you know you're way better than the other contestants.

Is it not a bit stupid to attempt to be 'ooh, yeah, well, I'm just doing my best and trying to stay in'-style humble when you've clearly got a massive head start over the other contestants, as both a former serious athlete AND a trained dancer?

Matt is clearly taking the competition seriously, which I personally admire in him. Apart from the whole 'why enter if you're just going to mess about' thing, there is no excuse for coming in at a high standard and then resting on your laurels waiting for the rest to catch up. He really wants to be able to do everything brilliantly and it annoys him when he fails to perform. It's the same mentality that some people have slated in Chemmy, that very competitive attitude of 'I'm in this to improve and I WILL keep testing myself'.

I think Jorgie, Seb and perhaps Chico's skills have genuinely spurred Matt on as well - perhaps he expected to be the Ray Quinn of his series and was shocked to find out he had real competition. Either way, he's responded by aiming to improve.

I don't believe there is an element of favouritism going on - Katarina said of this week's performance that she wanted to see the standard Matt was capable of and marked him relative to his standard on previous weeks. Robin said he agreed, but gave his mark because Matt was still at a higher standard technically than others so had to mark relative to them. Both are fine with me.

Why worry about favouritism anyway at this stage? There are plenty of people who are worse skaters and with smaller fanbases than Matt who will go first. By the time any sort of favouritism matters, there won't be room for mistakes and the public will respond if they think Matt hasn't performed to expectations.

Nicely put.

Of course the judges are going to extol over Matt and Jorgie as from week one they've shown how good they are. Now other contestants are catching them up so it's no longer a two horse race.

They will both have to work harder but that can only be a good thing for us.

If it was a 2 horse race (and it probably is if Chico's vote isn't higher than his ability) they would want to pretend it isn't.

I don't get Matt's marks either. He doesn't seem to me to be acting that well, he's not doing the level of tricks/lifts of a Ray/Chris or Sam (or sebastien) and he's getting lots of Robin marks for his feet - which the camera rarely shows at all. Louie seems to be marking on lines and looks - even though he's not doing much dancing compared to the girls or acting a role compared to Andy or Sam. His feet may be good, but he's not that impressive elsewhere yet.

When I watched the show on Sunday I thought Matt had been a bit overmarked as he wasn't as good as previous weeks & thought Sebastien should have been ahead of him but having re-watched all the routines I do think that he was in the right place on the leaderboard. He wasn't quite as polished as before this week with a couple of minor errors & I think the lack of rehearsals showed but he's still very good.

He is definitely the best technical skater in the competition, he has a good partnership with Nina - if you look back at their previous routines a lot of their moves have been side by side & they have been really in synch & he's doing big lifts as well plus he has the polish & finish you would expect from someone with a dance background. I don't get any cockiness from him either (as Lorelei Lee says he wants to do well & do his best and I will not criticise him for that either) & I liked his honesty after getting the marks this week & admitting he wasn't at his best.

I don't think judges are showing him any particular favouritism - Louie & Robin marked him the same as Jorgie this week and Katarina marked him lower. And to me he has deserved to top the leaderboard before that & also deserved to win the duel against Jorgie.

maybe he was overmarked but for me he is still the best one in competition.

I do think Robin favours Matthew over anyone else but I think Louie and Katarina are fair when judging him.

I disagreed with his position on the leaderboard this week. I thought Sebastien and Chemmy gave better performances than him. All three of them deserved to get through though and they did, and so that's all that matters really.

I don't see any favouritism towards Matt. - on the contrary I still cannot comprehend Katarina's lowly mark last Saturday - how she could score his routine with Jodeyne below that of Rosemary still defeats me. He gets good scores from Robin because Robin marks the skating skills; Louie is looking for dance and performance and although I think 8.5 last Saturday was a tad generous, there's no question that the moves (both dancing and skating) built into his routines are considerably more complicated than that of any other competitor.

There isn't any favouritsm towards Matthew at all. He deserves his marks!

Rosemary on the other hand, now that's favouritsm.

Matt's routines all seem a bit boring to me. Not sure why.

I think he is over-praised and over-marked, but at least there isn't the nightmare torrent of gushing that used to attend Ray's and Hayley's performances. I haven't had to reach for the sick bag yet this year.

I agree with you Matt does deserve the mark hes get and wot was with Katrina giving 7.0 to Rosemary when she only gave 6.5 to Matt. For me Matt is way better than Rosemary and deserved a better mark by Katatrina

What is he doing that is technically better than Chico and Sebastian ?

I think he's being overmarked, don't get wrong he can certainly skate unlike Rosemary but at the same time i do think that some of the marks are more based on his physical apperance/looks rather than his performance.

Louis clearily wants a piece of him !

Well that doesn't make sense with Katarina's marks this week does it?!

I think Matt's problem (to some but not to me) is that most of the time he makes it look so easy & effortless that people just don't appreciate that technically he is a cut above the rest at the moment.

If so, I think he's technically above in ways that don't matter to me, because I don't find his routines very interesting.

I agree with you and I als find Rosemary's skating deathly dull, I cant see why she iis getting good marks but maybe once they had overmarked Rosemary they had no where to go with Matthew

I liked Matt's routine during week one, and what he did with Jorgie during their duel, but otherwise I've found him very dull and don't get the hype.

Maybe if the camera crew actually allowed us to see the skaters foot work, I'd feel differently...

Where is this evidence of 'favouritism'.

Last Sunday Katarina gave Rosemary higher marks than Matt. Possibly the most ridiculous marks ever in the history of the show.

Matt - with Jorgie - are so far easily the best two in the show. And lets be honest its much tougher for the male celebs anyway - they have to do the lifts etc. The women celebs can just be dragged around - as long as they smile and pose they get credit.

The whole idea is ridiculous!

I don't particularly think the judges are biased towards Matt (Robin does seem to prefer his style while Katarina seems to prefer Jorgie's but that's personal opinion rather than bias) but I do take exception to the bib. I don't disagree completely that the men have it tougher - expecially early on when they have no place to hide but I'd argue that this balances out later.

Your comment appears to be a common opinion among viewers which indicates to me that actually the females have it tougher when it gets to the stages that matter. It's harder for a female to look as if she's done as much as a male when it appears that much of the work (liftwise etc) has come from her pro partner while her male equivalent has to spend every second on the ice and lift his pro partner to boot. It seems that a celeb woman has to show that she can skate as well (if not better) than a man and then add spectacular moves (merely showy ones won't cut it - anyone can do those apparently) plus superb performance skills. Then, and only then will she be considered over her male counterpart. The men on the other hand merely have to skate fluently, not look as if they're likely to fall over and chuck in the odd showy but not actually that difficult lift and they have undying allegiance from most of the viewing public.

Of course I'm over-simplifying things here. However, I do think that far from it being that much easier for a woman, it's actually more difficult for a very good woman to get the credit she deserves as many viewers seem to think that anyone could do it.

I can see why people might think that it is easier for female celebs. People like Charlene, Rosemary and Heidi do get a lot of support from their pro partners. However we must give Jorgie the credit she deserves. Matt was not holding Jorgie up last week. She had to skate very fast to keep up the speed that was required for last week's routine and she had to come in and out of the lifts and make it as seamless as possible. Otherwise the judges would have picked her up on that. Her transitions were very smooth which is not easy for a celeb to do in such a fast routine. It also takes lots of practice to do the dangerous lifts. The female skaters pro or celeb have to play their part going in and out of the lifts. Please don't assume it is easy for the female contestants.

I oticed the favouritism wasn't too evident tonight. Jorgie is way ahead of him. Matthew seems to have plateaud. No improvement from two weeks ago. Seb, Chico and Chemmy have improved heaps.

If anything, he was a bit undermarked this week.