Sorry if this has been mentioned elsewhere

At the beginning of the series we were told the standard was one of the highest ever and that the likes of Matt and Jorgie were streets ahead of their previous counterparts. If that is so shouldn't we have had at least one 'ten' by now? Tens have come out before the final in previous years.

So is the lack of tens this year due to
1) this years contestants aren'tt actually that much better than prev slebs and that the likes of Hayley, Suzanne and Chris who I think all scored 10s before the final, were better

2) Matt and Jorgie just peaked too soon and the rate of improvement hasn't continued

3) change of judging panel this year marking differently?

4) producers telling judges not to dish out 10s until the Final?

5) or something else?

Discuss

Jorgie was fabulous in the beginning, but really has not improved much since, maybe because her routines have not pushed her fare enough.

Matthew, great technically, not so good as a performer.

Chico really has improved.

In fact Ray Quinn had scored 11 full marks by this stage of the show including 5 in week 6! He also scored another 10 full scores in the final. Even allowing for 5 judges marking out of 6 (which still totalled 30) then instead of the three now that was phenomenal. However I do think he was a one-off as he was the complete package, dance ability, musicality, interpretation of the music, skating skills, charisma, enthusiasm and really importantly a total empathy with his partner Maria.

Hayley Chris and Suzanne, like Ray, were marked out of 6 by 5 judges making the total the same. From memory Hayley only got full scores for her Jai Ho routine and I believe Chris only received 1 full score before the final and all of Suzannes (again 10) were in the final.

I agree. I don't think there'll ever be another Ray on DOI!

I think that everyone on the show is contracted to say each year that this is the best standard etc. but we all know it's exagerrated. I do think this is a close final which will come down to who performs best on the night and that makes for exciting telly. However I'd agree that Jorgie perhaps isn't quite as good as the best girls from some previous series & Matt isn't as good as Chris or Ray. That's irrelevant as ultimately it's Matt, Jorgie & Chico competing against each other not Jorgie vs Suzanne or Matt & Chico vs Chris & Ray.

In all honesty i don't think anyone has deserved a 10 to date and I'm glad that over the years the DOI judges have reserved 10s/6s for when they are deserved (are you watching Len Goodman & Co) & not dished them out like confetti. All the maximum scores that bewest mentioned were fully deserved IMO as were Kyran & Clare's when they received theirs. Even Bonnie deserved the ones she got for her flying (though rightly she never got any for her other routines as her skating wasn't up to scratch). The only maximum score that i can remember which wasn't deserved was that silly 6.0 Zoe got from Ruthie.

I think Matt was on his way to getting some 10s last night until the stupid headbanger.

Mathew is better than some male finalists - not others. Jorgie is well up there - merge Hayley and Suzanne and shrink to Bonnie size.

Neither has had a great routine. You can remember what they were for Clare, Suzanne, Hayley, Chris or Ray. Sam wasn't that good, but even he a memorable routine because of its music and theme.

Mathew hasn't had much to act and hasn't been great doing what he has. Jorgie could have done more of what Hayley and Suzanne did in the way of spins, jumps and dance moves, but she hasn't been given them and she was parked with dull routines for two crucial weeks before the SF.

The judges are marking the choregraphy too much - no 10 class choregraphy = no 10s given as marks.

The choregraphy and music choices have rarely got to the edge of greatness. There's either no progression using moves again or they try for too much as with the headbanger and the exit too far.
With a long series they seem to run out of moves so everyone is regurgitating old moves as their imagination runs out or being pushed too far. The result is that Chico can actually top the leaderboard with a deja vue inducing routine with nothing new in it, while the other two stutter at doing something too difficult.

Robin and Louie's marking is decidedly sexist so only the boys are getting near to a 10. Robin is marking more like Nicky and holding back marks for irrelevant technicalities he would have ignored before. Louie is random anyway.Katerina is also marking on a scale where 10 is perfection.

The show is trying to be what its not. Mathew and Jorgie can both do a headbanger like Suzanne's first or second, but Robin now wants a professional one with a standing exit - for no good reason at all. So they try, and get marks deducted for not being able to do something that everyone who got a 10 couldn't do either. Same with routines. Jorgie has been kept out of what could have been 10 routines, because people wanted to show she could skate - and then penalised because the routines were deathly dull and incomplete. Mathew has had routines with not much but skating around, and fallen similarly short of a 10. Its as if Robin has triumphed over Jason - but produced a show more about Mohawks and edges than good complete routines that would get 10 on the old scale..

Last year the 10 was only given in the final wasn't it?

I think with 20+ marks now able to be awarded eg 0.0 to 10.0 - it is more difficult to get a full 10.0 IMO

whereas before it was simply 0.0 to 6.0

yeah but that was because in the old days a 3 would be the equivalent to a 5 now, so its not really. the only thing i would say is that chico would have only gotten a 27 for his performance last night and not 28.5 because there would have been no 6 involved.

I think it's true what was said above, for it to be a 10 it has to be so amazing that you don't forget. In the last two years the only things that really wowed me were Hayley's jaiho and SAMs river dance (although cant remember if it got full marks all round).

Jai'ho is still my all time favourite performance.