It does seem this year that the "learning to dance" element of SCD is little more than a story now to draw in viewers.

Here are three routines which were rewarded with marks guaranteed to impress the voters:

1. Natalie could have FAILED to make the most of her Viennese Waltz - had she tried to deliver an elegant floating whirl around the dance floor with seamless, swaying contra checks when changing the direction of the turns and spins.

Instead she played to her strengths - and delivered a routine almost entirely out of hold including eye-catching ballet-style moves in perfect synchronisation with Artem, rewarded with 38 points including 10s from Darcy and Bruno.

2. Abbey could have FAILED to make the most of her Rumba - had she tried to deliver the classic Rumba hip/leg action and armography, with lots of walks and spins.

Instead she played to her strengths - and delivered a beautiful routine almost entirely in hold, rewarded with 34 points including 9s from Len and Bruno.

3. Ben could have FAILED to make the most of his Paso - had he tried to deliver flamenco-style moves with arched back and curved arms.

Instead he got his chest out - and delivered an eye-catching routine, rewarded with 32 points including a 9 from Len.

Btw - I do appreciate that it's the professional partners who choose the choreography.

It was obvious from Week 4 - when Ben delivered a Salsa rewarded with 31 points comprised almost entirely of a succession of lifts (rather than the flowing Cuban-flavoured moves we all associate with the Salsa) - that the judges were prepared to look the other way if a couple failed to deliver the right choreography for the dance.

Rachel was paired with one of the most creative choreographers. Pasha could easily have choreographed a Week 5 Paso comprised almost entirely of elegant moves which suited Rachel, throwing in one or two spectacular lifts - and been rewarded with 7s and 8s.

But Rachel first and foremost wanted to learn the dances. And Paso moves were always going to be the most difficult of all for her to deliver convincingly.

The 22 points she received for that Week 5 Paso sealed her fate. The voters wrote her off at that point, as she appeared to be progressing far more slowly than celebrities who were being marked for appearance rather than technical content.

Her "back in the competition" Week 6 American Smooth left her lower on the leader board than Ben's bare-chested Paso - and luck would have it that the public vote wasn't sufficiently high to save her from a dance-off with Abbey.

So .... the new rule is that eye-catching performance is all that matters.

But not for every celebrity .....

Ben delivered an entertaining Week 6 Paso including very little correct Paso footwork and shaping. He was awarded 32 points - including a 9 from Len.

Mark delivered an entertaining Week 6 Paso including lots of correct Paso footwork and shaping. He was awarded 25 points - with Len explaining that it was "long on performance but short on technique".

Mark's technique was still better than Ben's however. All four judges criticised Ben's technique. Why did Ben's Paso warrant an almost-perfect score from Len?

I found it quite ironic that immediately after awarding a 10 to Natalie for a Viennese Waltz with very little Viennese Waltz in it, Bruno then marked Mark down telling him there wasn't enough Paso in it.

I would so have loved Mark, or Len, to point out his hypocritical nature.

Yup,you got it.
It's like Jason's 40 for his AT a couple of seasons back,so nothing new.

I was tempted myself to draw the comparison that Bruno marked Mark down using that excuse, yet failed to mention to Ben that his Salsa was in fact a dance new to SCD - a Balsa.

That would be Balsa wood I take it. He really was very wooden and stuck to one spot.

I do agree, though I thought Jason's characterisation in that dance was the best ever seen in Strictly. I had far more of a problem with the perfect-score AT of that year which lacked both characterisation and the legwork required for a high-standard AT.

Absolutely. With Kristina climbing all over him

Nice one!

It did look a bit wooden.

Perhaps next week he should be dancing to that old Everly Brothers' tune.
"Ebony Thighs."

Ah,yes,that other one. I had forgotten but then I find most of that person's routines forgettable.
At least Jason's characterisations were memorable.

To be fair, I don't expect anything of a Strictly Salsa other than it's going to be danced by a lady wearing sparkly, tasselly dress to anything from Robbie Williams to the Spice Girls and distringuisted only from the Samba by the fact the dress doens't have the off cuts from the Andrex factory stuck on the back of it.

I think both Craig and Bruno are guilty of this.

I suspect the judges work as a team, and all four are guilty.

I'm absolutely certain a professional partner would never recklessly endanger the continued participation of his/her celeb by choreographing a routine bearing no resemblance to the choreography the judges were looking for. I'm sure Kristina first cleared it with them.

Can one jive to "Knock on wood"? Oh, the fun that could be had finding songs for Ben to dance to...

You can and they have: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3C_AIBF8qE

Excellent! That's his song sorted then!

That was great, I enjoyed that 'cept for the bit at the end where Bruce couldn't keep his mouth shut. Nothing changes, does it.

The pros do as they are told by the producers of this,now vastly becoming a Pantomime, show ! Because if not they would not compromise their art so readily if they were actually given a free hand, as it were.......!

It's the Lisa Riley, Michael Vaughn, Louis Smith effect.

It started much further back than any of that.

Strictly set out it's manifesto in Series One when Chris Parker got to the final, and it's stuck to it.

Nothing that has happened since has changed that.

Thanks. I love it when someone posts links like this being a relative newcomer to SCD - although it makes me cross with myself for not watching sooner when I see someone like the lovely Gethin.
That was fun and lively and I would love to see Ben do that. I do hope it isnt just going to be another Kristina show dance with Ben just being the lifting machine.

I agree with most of the content of these posts..The judging inconsistency has been farcical..Last night on ITT Craig pretty much admitted that the scores were engineered (total judges scores, that is) to place the dancers in the correct order..how can they do that, full stop..but how is that accurate when not all of the dancers have danced...Are they basing this on dress runs?? Certainly seems that way..and would explain the cock ups by Sophie and Fiona..attracting mixed comments, with scores that dont match what they said.
Maybe..just a thought..they should let all the dancers dance..then have a live act and/or pro dances..let the judges have their discussion and award a true score for each dancer as performed ON THE NIGHT...Then the bottom two are declared..and the public vote on which of the bottom two they want to save??
I think youd also see Susannah top the leaderboard..as her dress runs are apparently never as good as the live shows.
I am seriously considering taping next weekends show..the shenanigans and illogical comments and marking just are not doing it for me.
I would love to see Ben, Dave, and Fiona..all fighting for their place in the DO..all are less improved and less entertainining than Deborah and Rachel..and even Julian for that matter.

It is starting to look like the judges are going slightly easier on the more glamorous contestants. Abi is good but I honestly don't think she's as amazing as they make out. A couple of weeks ago, sorry I can't remember exactly which week it was, I remember thinking there really wasn't that much difference in performance quality and technique between her and Rachel yet Abi was fawned over by the judges and Rachel's comments were mostly harsh with a little faint praise thrown in.

And Ben is ok, and he's improving without a doubt, but he's been seriously over marked for the last 2-3 weeks. As others have said, his lack of technique and the wrong/lacking content of Kristina's choreography are glossed over while less physically appealing contestants like Mark get no such free pass.

It does make me wonder whether they want to protect the supposedly best looking contestants because they think the show needs them more. Possibly for tabloid show-mance opportunities and so on?

They have both had dances that suit them better than others. Abbey's best always looked more assured than Rachel's but Abbey's jive was woeful.

Yes! It was Abbey's jive I was thinking of.

Easy for the celeb to look assured if anything remotely challenging is omitted from the choreography Jim