...when the judges were on crack in week 1.

Honestly though, on the first live show, Denise performed a wonderful first dance, len was the only one who pointed out a mistake and yet the other three gave 6s - she deserved at least 7s from each judge.
Also, I think that 2 from Craig for Nicky was pretty harsh.

The fact that we had seen some good dances from Colin and Denise and the judges were supposedly digging them and then came out with sh*t scores left a bad taste in the mouth.

Then, we went on to night 2. Seeing as Kimberley was up first she was given unfairly low marks... She deserved at least 2 eights for that excellent cha cha cha. Then, the worst thing of all were Dani's marks... Her getting 21 for a fairly decent first dance really irked me. She deserved ar least 26 IMHO. Then the cherry on the cake was Lisa topping the leaderboard. Yes she was a surprise, but the blatant favoratism of her from Craig meant that it was her who topped the leader board for week 1 when it should have been Kimberley.. So yes, week 1 on the whole left a bad taste in my mouth ladt year...

But it didn't stop there... The judges went on to undermark Denise's jive and foxtrot and Kimberley's quicostrp which was very irksome. Karen Hardy in choreography corner said that Denise's jive was up to Jill standard - 4 nines were definitely called for that night...

There were various other things throughout the series as well... Constant berating of Louis, Richard suddenly improving 12 points with this 'fantastic' Charleston, and kimberley suddenly getting 40 out of the blue...

So overall there was some very strange marking last year (not as strange as a 10 from Alesha in week 4, mind), and I hope the judges get their sense back this year!

Good post, but don't hold your breath.

Thankyou, I know I shouldn't

Craig will be Craig. :P

My opinions:

BIB 1 - I agree Kimberley should have been above Lisa (me being slightly biased)
BIB 2 - I think it's difficult since it was so early on. I'm glad they didn't give out 9s because it was too early, and I like it when they phase each score in (if that makes sense) because I don't like seeing 10s in week 4 etc
BIB 3 - I agree, his Charleston wasn't good... most Charlestons last year were overmarked.

Not the earliest 10 though - that honour goes to Bruno who awarded a 10 in week 3 to Louisa's jive.

I know, that was terrible!

Yes, bit Denise's dance was brilliant - they shouldn't have held back just because it was week 2...

You might want to know (if not *like* to know) that 9's have been flying around the first week of the new DWTS season........

I couldn't agree more.

Nickys performance want anything special but deserved at least 20/40 as did Victoria.

Dani in my opinion deserved at least 6s from everyone, I actually think she deserved 7s but I couldn't see it happening.

Richard was crap however Colin was great.

Denise deserved at least 30 as did Kimberley whilst Lisa deserved about 26.

Someone with the posture of a toddler with a full nappy (I couldn't remember who said that, but it fitted how he danced perfectly) with a routine that broke the rules and someone who remembered as little of their Cha-Cha-Cha as possible deserved at least fives? Are you sure?

Agree with you regarding everything but Victoria - she was pretty awful... In fact I was surprised Craig gave it 3... Not cuz the dance was terrible, just coz Craig is harsh - I expected no more than a 2 from him...

The judges can't win, really. Mark too high and they get moaned at for being too generous too soon. Mark too low and they get accused of not rewarding good dancing. Mark too high and they get accused of favouritism. Mark too low and they get accused of being picky. Viewers want to see good dancing rewarded with good scores. Viewers want to see their favourites marked well. Viewers want to see a journey (drink!). Viewers want to see innovation rewarded. Viewers don't want salsambchas. Viewers can't tell the difference between a salsa and a samba and don't care anyway. Viewers want to see a dance competition. Viewers want to see an entertainment show.

Oh, dammit - just give them all a SEVEN!

I imagine it's really tricky to be a judge, as what criteria do you mark by?

Do you mark by comparison on the night - in which case you really should give the first dance a middle mark in the 5-7 range, which gives you room to go higher and lower as the evening progresses. However, what if the first dance is exceptional, and everything else is rubbish, and you've given the best dance of the night a 6?

Or do,you mark by progression - so as a contestant improves, so too does their score. In which case, where do you draw the line? If someone comes out of the gates strong (Kara, Denise, etc.) there isn't much room for progression, compared to someone who starts off middle of the class, but improves dramatically over the weeks. If this is the criteria you mark by then as everyone starts off at a different level of ability but is being judged against their previous performances then surely everyone should be given a 5 in week one.......I'm thinking of the time Len said a dance wasn't good enough for a competitor of that standard (I think it was Kelly Brook), but if the exact same dance had been performed to the same standard by someone with the ability of, say, Natalie Cassidy or Victoria Pendleton, would it have been more acceptable and gotten a higher score?

And if you use a combination of the two - then how much weight do you give each criteria in deciding what score to award?

I got about half way through before I figured out who Mark wasn't

Now that's a plan.
It makes no difference anyway.
A favourite will emerge as the series gets going and the judges opinion of him (might even be a her) is largely irrelevant.

I think they should give them something to work towards - improving. So the first week scores should be realistic. If that upsets some people rather than spurring them into try harder thata their problem.

I wouldn't have him any other way. Best judge by far and the only one that the contestants want to impress.

If somebody does a dance worth a 10 in week 1, then they should get a 10. Then the show should think about why they cast someone who can already dance in the first place, rather than pretending it was only as good as some bumbling footballer who managed to fluke a half-decent waltz, honest.

Indeed. The first eps are full of BS where the judges try and pretend that some people are great dancers.

The judges do seem to have some sort of idea of marking to potential in the first couple of weeks.

That is to say, those that are good are undermarked to an extent provided they were expected to be good (young, fit, prior musical experience, previous dance lessons etc).

Those that are truly awful are marked down but those that are not expected to do that well are marked up if they produce an effort that about matches where, say, a golfing pensioner with no dance form should be.

Where things kind of go t1ts up is when someone who was expected to be bad/awful is kind of okay. The judges then wet themselves at the UNEXPECTEDNESS of it all and give them the same/more score as those who are obviously significantly better but didn't surprise in the same way. You then have either a case of Mr Unexpected (Sid Owen and Phil Tufnell spring to mind) not being able to match the week one performance because the shock element has been removed and they weren't actually as good as they were made out to be or Ms Unexpected (not really) carrying on being overmarked because the judges have painted themselves into a corner.

It's all kind of irrelevant though because it's all a bit half'-@rsed and the judges soon put things right and start marking the best ones highest and the bit carp ones where they should be. Which can pee off certain celebs if they don't get this (*cough* Jan Ravens *cough*). Which is fun.

Were we watching the same show??

Very true :P I love his voice whenever he says 'darling'. :P

He was very much berated from weeks 5-8.

And this was a problem?
Seems he won by a country mile.
His final showpose has attracted more viewings on Youtube than all of his competitor's final dances put together.