I think you're quite right. I'm overweight myself (though not in the Lisa bracket!) and applaud her attitude and energy. She was expected to be complete rubbish - big fat girl blobbing about the stage, heavy footed and totally useless. However, like many big people, she's light on her feet and being overweight isn't QUITE the devastating drawback thin people imagine it to be.

However, the judges should have got well past their "OMG, just imagine - she's fat and she can actually move her body!" stage by now. Her footwork is all over the place and for her to get the same marks as some of the far better dancers is becoming a joke.

Lisa getting 8 and Kimberley getting 9? The difference in them is ASTRONOMICAL!

Absolutely. She is a 'special case' in the judges eyes and I think that is quite wrong.

She was appalling last night.

All of the above. Spot on! Very well put Yorkie.

But how do you measure enthusiasm? Others may be just as enthusiastic but not able to put it across so well.

I would have been commenting about the lack of samba content - admittedly that is Robin's fault - and I would have marked her down to a 5

The judges seem loathe to criticise her - could it be because of her weight. The problem is they are now being quite patronising and ignoring the faults

If you watched yourself back you'd have to admit it was terrible. How come she doesn't know?

Because it wasn't terrible.

Oh, Terry, I've told you before. That optician's appointment is WAY overdue... ;o)

Good post. I've loved watching Lisa perform and adore her relationship with Robin (had never heard of her before) but I did think the samba was pretty poor and certainly nowhere near the standard of Kimberley's dance.

I don't usually comment on this matter, because regardless the judges scores, is a public who decided who they like to save.

But I can't help feel for other celebrities and professionals, who spent time learning techniques of the dances and professional who spent time to put a lot of content in their routines and been judge different.

l like Lisa energy but she hasn't learned proper technique, and is the same dance again and again. But seems that the public like a performer rather than a good dancer.

Sometimes I wonder if the professional maybe go to the route to please the public rather than judges and to do justice to a dance.

I'm in the side of the public who rather watch a good dance, full of content and good technique rather than just a performer. And I'm possible in the minority of the public view.

She's an energetic woman. She knows how to perform. She performs with verve.

However the footwork could have been bettered by a drunken donkey in clogs. Her least accurate dance by far. Littered with errors.

I agree with most of that except when it comes to the public saving who they like. Especially with the dance off this year, the judges are artificially inflating the scores of someone like Lisa and then if she's in the dance off, they'll save her again, so someone the public may like more will be lost to the judges' overmarking and having favourites.

I think you might have hit on something here, her role was to be the joke contestant like Russel last year and she is too good a dancer to be that. I am aware he too was a reasonable dancer but was hampered by injury.

This is why people are frustrated and want to see more from her but she is stuck in the producers, Robin or her own mind in the role originally assigned to her.

Just like Anne Widdecombe, Nancy and Russel the public backlash will come as this type of contestant is the sort the public tire of.

I would give her 3 weeks tops now

I dont't usually go with the 'xyz was overmarked' threads, but I agree with the OP on this. Lisa has a lot of positives but the lack of constructive criticism is not helping her to develop and is giving her a false sense of secuirty. Where is the journnnneeeee we all like to like to see on Strictly? Her Samba was not very good and compared badly to her Chacha which was a pleasant surprise.

Although she was marked generously I think it's okay.....
The others with poor technique don't perform well so the lack is obvious
Lisa gets her extra marks for presentation, enthusiasm, sheer enjoyment, fun, she's infectious ...the crowd feel the joy and the connection with Robin

Dani and Vincent have this same enthusiasm plus technique.......could be a winning combination ( boo to biggins )

Agree. Despite the obvious nay sayers on here, she is certainly pulling in the public votes.

That was one of the worst Sambas I have ever seen on the show. When the 8 paddles came out I just imagined James and Denise high fiving each other in the Tesspit knowing that their 10s were secure.

Lisa is enthusiastic, but extra points shouldn't be awarded for that. Her weight hampers her, but shhhhhh, the judges can't be seen to be fattist.

True, but then give the same marks to Richard who's also hugely enthusiastic - or are they juding him by a different criteria?

Fully agree, as I said on another thread, it's laziness on their part and the sloppy performances reflect this....however why should they try and change this winning formula of jazz hands, rictus smiles, and humble pie eyes at the judges desk when they know they will not get critiqued on the same par as others.
I don't see a "performance" I see a lazy mess.
I admire Michael for his hard work and improvement and don't need to see or hear a shouty, in your face persona to know that he and others are just as full (if not more) of enthusiasm.

And we know that because.......? She's never been that low on the leaderboard.
All we really know is she's pulling in more votes than Kimberley.

I really like Lisa and want to see her do well. If I could give some of the other celebs this year an injection of her enthusiasm and performance I would. But I think the public should vote for enthusiasm and performance. I think the judges should by now be commenting that her samba, salsa, jive and charleston are pretty much impossible to tell apart. I don't think it will do Lisa any good to be so protected. It doesn't have to be about her weight - I don't think that's the issue. The judges were willing enough to criticise Flavia's choreography as not being what they expect of an American Smooth, so why can't they tell Robin the samba wasn't a sufficient samba? People would still vote for her, probably even more.

I've never been a fan of the judges, but I've never felt the gap between what they see and what I see as much as this year. Making Richard camp everything up because apparently that's what all gay men must do. Ripping into Louis but never mentioning he needs to improve his performance. The kid gloves for Lisa and until this week Victoria. I don't understand.

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The BBC team blogs are a fairly good litmus test of the popular.
Louis is well ahead of the rest, with Lisa second. Dani, Nicky & Kimberly are about level followed by Michael & Denise.

Oh ok. I guess tonight's result might tell us a bit more.

Last year Harry was streets ahead of the rest on team blogs right from the start. So there you go.