I know I am little late in this but last week I was asking if his tango, though very good, was overmarked (deserving eights, and maybe one nine), and this week, is it the reverse?

This week, his Samba, though very technically accomplished and he looked a little unsure sometimes, I thought it was a good effort. I've seen how male celebs murdered the Samba and so far the only two Sambas I enjoyed watching male celebs danced were Ramps and Smug Farmer.

Still, do you think Louis was undermarked, esp. considering he danced his Samba after that DISASTER version by Victoria?

I am referring to Craig's bizarre score of 6 in particular.

Then again, perhaps there are always ups and downs, so one week he's perceived as overmakered, and this week it felt that he was slightly undermarked.

It reminded me of the sort of deliberate undermarking they did to Kara in order to boost her popularity.

I thought it was very undermarked - I can't remember a better samba by a male celeb (happy to be corrected if anyone has any videos).

There was so much content in there as well, Flavia is obviously determined to push him to reach the best of his abilities.

But as Saturn says, I think the undermarking was deliberate. About as subtle as a sledgehammer, these new producers are.

Content wise maybe it was, but performance wise, definitely not.

Maybe subjective, but he didn't sell the dance to me at all.

Yup, I agree he looked a little expressionless while he was doing the Samba with Flavia. Ironically he was very animated during his training (the VT showed him aping Robin with absolute comic effects!).

But considering Victoria got a six from Craig for the same dance, I am comparing here apple with apple, and I do feel his score for Louis (same as for Victoria) was bizarre at best.

OMG thank goodness someone has brought this up, thought it was only me...he was FABULOUS. The boy is only dancing 5 weeks and to give such a wonderful performance a measley 6..well lets hope it's reverse psychology and folk vote for him. To date...he's my fave

He didn't really sell the dance that well but it did seem like artificial undermarking. It doesn't convince me he isn't going to win, put it that way

It's a subjective view, I know, but I didn't care for Louis's samba. It might have been technically proficient but there was little soul to it - it was all a bit mechanical, frankly, and therefore forgettable. I was surprised that Craig thought it was manly - I can't remember ever having seen such a camp samba! I agreed with Darcey.

On the other hand, I loved the personality he showed in the tango last week, perhaps because he was able to inhabit the zombie character better. I don't mean that he's zombie-like in nature, I hasten to add, but that make-up and costume can help to build a characterisation.

So, no, not undermarked, IMO.

I think definitely under marked and Craig's 6 didn't really match his comments which sounded to me like he liked it. I think it was more noticeable because it directly followed Victorias Samba which was really bad, and no way was Louis on the same level.

The actual samba routine in itself was fantastic and Flavia is very cleverly choreographing to suit his personality. It was all very cool and really suited his style.

I think Louis sold the dance the way he was meant to - Flavia didn't choreograph a full on party samba she choreographed it with his cool character in mind & loads of dance content.

I think despite the hiccup of his illness and few other issues, it was still a great samba - one of my all time favs .........it was very undermarked which was annoying but if it's going to help Louis and Flavia eventually win then I'm not too bothered.

Craig's mark was bizarre, but I felt the dance itself was good rather than great. He really needs to smile. He is too cool for school at the moment. I don't know the difference between a Sales & Samba myself but Len seemed to think it was more Salsa so I bow to his superior knowledge. Darcey did an "up yours" to the producers with her remarks/scores which may seem a bit petty but I can't blame her frankly.

I agree Jan.

As a total mark, (was it 29) I don't think it was undermarked IMO. I concur with the general forum view that Craig's mark for both sambas was daft.

I thought there were parts that were brilliant and parts that were a little awkward. There was clear improvement from his previous latin dances, imo, and I thought it was mean of Darcy to say she was disappointed. That bothered me more than the score. I think getting 25-30 for a samba or a rumba on SCD is like getting 30-35 for a quickstep or a waltz. It felt like Darcy was judging the jokes about her, not Louis. I think his overall position in the leaderboard is OK as long as he stays in "tonight". (If he went out I'd probably give up on this year.)

'Performance' is very subjective - it's like whether a joke is funny or not. I thought he had bags of character, little smiles, connection to Flavia, etc, though sometimes I could tell the rhythm wasn't quite there. Obviously that's not how it came across to others - fair enough. But if another male contestant does a better samba this year, I'll be surprised. Tbh, if he was better than that now, I'd be worried I'd be bored of him soon.

Of course we'll never know how good he'd have been if he was well.

Overmarked last week, undermarked this week. I think they seem to lack the chemistry of the really good partnerships we have seen. I thought that would grow as weeks went by, but there still doesn't seem to be that vital connection..and I don't mean a sexual one !

I agree completely. I think because he's very very bendy by profession, it's easy for him to do the slinky bouncy hip things that make it seem dynamic and he can be technically accomplished, but that's not the same as really feeling it. There's a picture in one of the papers, probably the DM, and his expression is empty. Mid-dance and he might have been getting the milk off the doorstep. But last week's zombie tango brought him alive in a way nothing else has, so for me the marking has been fair.

I can blame her, ha! I fully understand her frustration/embarrassment at having this picture painted now that she is panting after Louis; but all she needed to do after last week was have a word with the producers and make it clear she wanted it stopped. They are hardly going to turn round and say "No, Darcey. You're in the pay of the mighty BBC now and if we want to humiliate you, we will."
Instead she went all negative in her comments to distance herself from him. And then got out her 7 paddle anyway while sort of plaintively shouting "I still liked your performance!" when she'd just told him she didn't

I watched it in a group (5), and before the scores we rewound and watched it again. Everyone thought it was incredible (and most had just been saying how they didn't like him). We were all astonished with the scores. We didn't think there would be a mark lower than 9!

Shows how much we know

Possibly but she probably had no idea that Bruce was going to bring it up again & I did say it was a bit petty. I hope it stops now as I hated that "drooling" aspect in Arlene & Darcey is too classy to go down that road. She explained on Graham Norton show that the gesture had not been as portrayed.

Peeve! How could you!

I thought he was very manly and not in the least bit camp. He was hesitant and still lacks the full-on confidence to sell the moves but there was an improvement in his performance.

Rewatching his dance I think he was even better than I originally thought. His arms seem really long and sometime create an awkward looking balance, but there was lots of great content. Overall though I think he ended up in almost the correct the place on the scoreboard, but directly compared to Victoria he was underscored by Craig.

I think Louis's first move alone deserves a 10 - clever Flavia.

Putting the arguement about whether he's undermarked this week or not, I hope your comment about his camp samba is just a wind up. Did you see the VT, when he tried to 'camp it up' ala Robin style? It's the first time I genuinely laughed at his antics, and was pleasantly surprised he had that in him.

Just caught up on i-player; most DEFINITELY undermarked - what were they thinking?! Especially after Victoria's fiasco (sorry Victoria). Louis was brilliant, so nice to see the entertainer coming out in him, I thought that was a top notch routine and clever, clever Flavia with the choreography!

I thought Len was pointing out all the Samba moves Louis did after Darcey commented about him slipping into Salsa movements now and again ?

Must watch it again .

I just wished he looked like he was loving the dance Flavia needs to get him some acting lessons or else pile him with alcohol to relax him

Yes, yes, yes - what Dilly said. Given he was actually ill last week he did a damn fine job! Best dancer of the lot.

Slight correction, it was Bruno who said Louis one-and-two-and samba bounce sometimes became a salsa move. He said both were latin american, but he advised Louis not to lose the samba move and turned it into a salsa one.


I don't think Darcey mentioned about salsa moves, she was busy de-perving herself from Louis to say anything even remotely making sense. It was Bruno. But yes, Len was chuffed many recognisable samba steps were in it, and he was pointing out some error in his running promenade (sp?) and Louis shushed him.

It's almost impossible to make a samba look cool, I thought Louis (with help from some clever choreography from Flavia) almost pulled it off. It's normally car crash TV watching the male celebs attempt to Samba, but I thought he did a really good job. Craig marking it on par with Victoria's Samba and lower than Lisa's Tango was laughable.