I thought all of last night's were fairly rubbish too. I don't judge it on the showdances, there's only ever been one amazing one (Tom) and 3 others I've liked (Chris, Alesha and Jason).

Judging on the proper dances rather than the stupid showdances, the series 8 final was amazing.

Anyway, my point wasn't about the final itself but rather that the 3 finalists were all far better dancers than any of this year's contestants. The standard was much higher back then and they actually learnt correct technique, rather than getting away with not doing heel leads or having bad hip action.

I have watched Strictly from day 1 and this is the first time I didn't miss a single week

Really loved this series - thought Darcy was brilliant. Most constructive judge without jumping up and down (Bruno), talking non-sense (Len - Humbum??) or being negative for the sake of it (craig) and much better than Alesha & Arlene

There was no way to pick a winner and this was the first time that 4 people could have won and (most) people would be happy. Best year yet...IMO

There used to be a shared dance such as all the couples doing a VW at the same time, the swingathon or the jointly choreographed Rock & Roll. Would prefer to see that brought back in the semis and have the Fusions for the final.

I think the final was so good because everyone was close in terms of strengths and weaknesses.

Louis absolutely had to be on form in the final because beforehand, I found him to be the weakest of the four due to inconsistency. And he was.

Dani was the most consistent but never had a dance that left you open-mouthed. She had to be on in the final and sadly, she wasn't.

Denise is a superb, superb dancer but had to win over the public. She beat Dani who had never been in the bottom two so she kind of did.

And Kimberley, I felt, had to give the best show-dance to stand a chance and she didn't. Denise and Louis were better there.

This.

I'm sorry but anyone saying this is the best year yet clearly wasn't around for the pure vintage joy and drama that was the likes of series 3, 4 and 5. Live results shows, real dance talent, endearing friendships and relationships, no silly VTs, when getting out the 10 paddle was an EVENT, a general narrative "JOURNEY" that didn't try to patronise, no stupid dance fusion, Claudia on ITT (Zoe is good but not as brilliant as Claudia). Although Kimberley and Pash grew on me towards the end I found this year's contestants dull as dishwater.

Oh ... and back in the day when we used to find out who was 2nd and 3rd!

Best thing about series 10 has been Darcy Bussell.

Phew ... I feel better.

x x x x x

its been an odd year - on paper, it should have been fantastic with the final 4 all being potentially great dancers, a solid middle ground of improvers and triers, and the no-hopers being slightly more amusing than usual this year...yet for me, it never really took off. losing jerry hall so soon was a reflecting of the dogged lack on humour around this year, and watching this forum troll victoria pendleton and then lisa riley was dreadful. i didn't particularly like either of them but i never felt it necessary to launch lengthy or repeated written attacks on them. and in the end, none of the glorious final 4 really fulfilled their potential, denise came closest and was hounded for it. i suppose its the recession or something but the level of bitterness and unpleasantness on this forum has been depressing. so all in all, not a vintage year. but still enjoyed watching the show, and will watch again next year, but may not bother with the forum, so au revoir and merry christmas to all.

It's been an odd year in my book

Best thing was Darcey such a huge improvement on Alesha.

Wow dances were very few & far between.

Very predictable winner

For me I really missed a real shock elimination they spice things up a bit

Although the winner was predictable, it has been in the past, too. Darcey was a brilliant addition and I've really warmed to Karen. And the final... oh, the final. Literally out of this world. I'm not being funny, but any of the dances would have been worthy of 40s, IMHO.

TBH, no years of Strictly have been bad, as such. They're all pretty level for me. For me, the formula is perfect, and Strictly is as good as ever. IMO, Strictly 'vintage' years don't exist!!

I completely agree, it wasn't a classic series. It only got interesting in the last three weeks. I also hate the fact that four people were in the final, it did not feel right. They've only ever had three or two in the final. It should have been kept that way. When they announced the winner, it felt like an anti-climax. Favourite series is Series 5 with Alesha, still remains the best series. Series 8 with Kara and 9 with Harry were also classic series. However series 7 with Chris Hollins remains the least enjoyable one.