I guess there are two ways the professional partner can approach the competition - either choreograph a routine each week calculated to keep the celebrity in the competition for as long as possible, or choreograph a routine which is a mini version of what the average dance enthusiast would expect to see in the assigned dance.

Ideally the judges would encourage the second approach. In practise the overriding objective is to maximise the programme's viewing figures - which means the judges do whatever it takes to keep in the competition for as long as possible the celebrities most viewers are tuning in to see.

So the judges encourage the professional partners to omit from the choreography elements of the dance the celebrities are unlikely to be able to master by Saturday, due either to limited training time or limited talent. It's much harder for the judges to award high marks to a celebrity they want to keep in the competition if the celebrity messes up parts of the routine.

But each time the professional partner omits the more challenging elements of a dance, the celebrity loses his/her chance to master that dance - and is less prepared for dances later in the series.

The choreography Kristina created for Ben's Salsa illustrates the problem. It allowed the judges to award the 8s which kept Ben away from the bottom of the leader board - but if Ben and his mates visit a Salsa club over Christmas/New Year, and his mates ask him to show them how it's done, and Kristina isn't in the party .....

I really feel for the professional partners, who I'm absolutely certain would love to be able to choreograph routines which include all of the elements of the assigned dance, and deserve the perfect score. I'm sure they must be embarrassed when the judges award 10s for choreography designed primarily to conceal what the celebrity can't do.

Arguably the most obscenely over-scored celebrity in the history of Strictly was Harry Judd - who the judges had to throw 10s at like confetti to sell the illusion that he was the best all-round dancer. They awarded him 25 10s, and only Ricky Whittle received more, with 28.

Harry's Argentine Tango may well qualify as the single most over-scored Strictly dance if we include the Tour performances, and the clip encapsulates all that is rotten in Strictly -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-brNVdVUVE

The combination of an eye-catching routine, only praise from the judges, and a score of 40, shouted from the rooftops that Harry was the best dancer in the competition.

But Aliona must have been bitterly disappointed - given that Harry was an excellent dancer in hold, and could play the drums with his FEET - when she realised she'd be unable to choreograph a classic performance loaded with the intricate AT footwork. Doubtless she wanted to, but gave up when Harry started kicking lumps out of her in training.

Play that clip looking only at Harry's feet and you'll see what the judges saw but ignored. The few AT steps Harry does deliver are stompy, and delivered at a safe distance from Aliona's legs. Check out the AT Pasha choreographed that year for Chelsee if you don't know what Aliona would have wanted to include.

Like Ben's Salsa, if Harry wanted to take part in an amateur AT competition he'd virtually be starting from scratch. But his routine, sadly, ticked all of the judges' boxes.

It will be interesting to see, assuming Pasha stays with Strictly, what he does if saddled with a popular celebrity who has no chance of making the final by mastering all of the elements of the dances.

It's overscored, but they did pick the dance that suited his deadpan expression. Harry wasn't particularly good in latin despite all the McFlee fans protestations that he was, so they have to pick that AT. Also, Chelsee did very good AT (during the semis?) but Chelsee often made tiny mistakes and appeared to be a little clumpsy in terms of balance at times, and so her AT didn't look as 'polished' compared with Harry's.

edit: it was Paso that Chelsee danced in her semis, not AT.

Chelsee's AT was around Week 8/9 I think. Her semi dances were the AS (the only one of her dances spoiled by nerves) and that amazing Paso.

Lets stop with the rant...Natalie should have been getting 10s 3 weeks ago! And your original comment....Ben was terrible in my opinion. How on earth can Len award Ben and Natalie the same score they are worlds apart??!!!

Sure. But let's be careful to preserve the distinction between the scores Natalie SHOULD have been getting and the scores she deserved to get.

I took another look at her dances last night. If we add up the time she spent in hold in her Waltz, Quickstep and VW it probably still wouldn't be enough for a single VW. Either Natalie or Artem has some sort of problem with delivering a prolonged routine in hold.

Her hip/leg action in her Rumba and CCC was poor. The double-bounce that should have dominated her Samba was conspicuous by its total absence.

Shower with tens for what she does really well if you want, but I personally would rather the judges deduct points for what's not there but should be.

Thanks for this - it got me to watch Chelsee's paso again. And then her quickstep and her jive and her rumba. Magic. I think what makes her dances for me is her faint hint of a wobble, even at her best. It puts your heart in your mouth when you're watching, and then when she gets through, you feel so happy for her. It was lovely to watch them again.

And that cutsey off-beat Charleston! It was pure class and fun at the same time.

I was in tears when I watched her rumba, which Pasha put in two splits in there because she messed up her one split in her AS in the semis.

Harry? *sounds of a fly flying past*

Yes, that all came back to me watching it again. I was in tears at the time as well. The fact that Pasha got her to do it again because it had gone wrong before. It's good to think of that in all the talk this year about pros protecting their partners or asking too much of them. Pasha really pushed Chelsee and taught her to the absolute limit of her ability and we got some wobbly dances from it and some that are among my favourite ever. (Goes off to rewatch Charleston.)

That Paso choreography Pasha created had so much going on - even down to short drops into "neutral" when she switched from one role to another. Unbelievable technique from her. When the two of them start walking down the floor in that mirroring sequence it still looks so good for an amateur it makes my scalp crawl.

Mind you, when Pasha and Kimberley sweep out into the centre of the floor at the beginning of their Final Tango it has that same effect on me

Yes. It's strange how they pick and choose which couples are pulled up on mistakes in comparison to others. Right from the first dance they should be noting key elements to mark from and refering back to that marking points each time (which they prob do, but you'd be forgiven for thinking they don't). ANd with Mark, he didn't have as much Paso as could have done (due to the space theme getting slightly in the way) but Ben didn't even attempt some of the most recognisabe Paso steps in what was a more traditional dance-styled Paso (or did but just didn't do it well enough to see he had tried them) and got a ridiculous mark from Len for his...effort? He got the same flipping mark as Natalie which was ridiculous. She sould still have got more than Ben, even with the lack of hold. She lacked content because of Artem's choreogrpahy and Ben lacked even more content because he can't dance very well. A 5 score would have been suitable for him, and then maybe a 7 or 8 for Natalie if they were going to mark down on the out of hold section. It's so annoying generally that a mistake with one celeb is deemed as more punishable than another celeb who does the same thing but might get off more lightly.

Kim was a little wobbly at first but to me their Charleston was again (and the fusion dance too, but hard to categorise that dance) the highlight of the show for me. I asked that Louis Smith show some character in his dance and when he did that Dr Wannado Charleston I nearly gagged. Awful, awful, awful. Not in technical or dance terms, but the performance terms, and for judges to say it was his breakout dance in terms of performance. *shudder*

It's a shame they can't change the format so that the judges no longer score the performances. Without the scores there would be less need to lie about the performances. Perhaps give each judge the right to waive one or two couples through (much as they do in a dance-off) and throw the remaining couples to the public vote.

But that would only be practical if the BBC did NOT benefit in some way from the public vote

Another popular misconception about BBC benefitting from the public votes. If you are talking about the money generated from phone voting, they are not allowed by law to profit in any way from the revenue generated from the phone voting. But if you mean by allowing public voting it keeps interest high thus help in sustaining the ratings of the show, you've got a point there.

I always wonder when this issue crops up whether the income BT receives as a result of the public vote might influence any 'key customer' discount on the phone bill BT sends to the BBC.

Okay, but why should BT give BBC any discounts? I am not sure about that too. Hmm.

The judges did the same thing with Ben's Paso as they did with Harry's AT - they furthered their private agenda by ignoring the fact that the choreography dressed up a sow's ear as a silk purse.

Ben danced a Paso with poor shaping and very few correctly-delivered Paso steps, and Len scored it as a 9.

Rachel danced a Paso with poor shaping but loaded with correctly-delivered Paso steps, and Craig scored it as a 4.

Ben's routine looked miles better than Rachel's, but primarily because the music Pasha had to work with was unsuitable for a Paso.

Strictly is now a lot like wrestling. When we're young we think we're looking at a genuine contest. Eventually it dawns upon us that the fighters and the referee are actors.

I somehow doubt Pasha is a wrestling fan. Strictly will be a lot poorer if being penalised for teaching his celebrity to dance results in him leaving.

What Strictly alltogether?
I doubt that will happen.

Thanks to you too - I have just watched them too and reminded myself how good Chelsee was. She completely won me over (I was quite negative about her at the beginning of the series).

I suspect Pasha would much rather be remembered for Chelsee's Paso than for Rachel's Paso.

But Pasha's approach to the competition prevents him from creating something of really high quality unless he can avoid elimination in the early stages.

That wonderful American Smooth Kimberley delivered last year in the semi-final could never have been possible much earlier than that.

Thought Marks paso had loads more shaping, paso moves than judges gave him credit for.
Disco silly bit in the middle made people (including the judges)
decide not enough paso in the routine. In fact Mark's was far more traditional than Bens but his physique affected people's perception of the routine.
In conclusion ... Mark is a better dancer than Ben but Ben is prettier so gets more points from the judges!!!!

From the moment the judges accepted a Balsa from Ben instead of a Salsa it was obvious Ben was one of the Chosen Few. Presumably they believe a lot of female viewers tune in to watch him.

Natalie's another - really basic elements of her assigned routines either delivered poorly or entirely absent, which might have been dealt with far more harshly had the judges not made a rod for their own backs by over-scoring other celebrities from Week 1.

In last year's final Bruno guided as follows -

"It had everything a Viennese Waltz need to have - grace, skill, timeless elegance. Perfection."

He tells us that a Viennese Waltz NEEDS to have timeless elegance - and then scores Natalie's VW as a 10?

Even if we ignore the bits where she wasn't even upright, let alone in hold, the bit at 48 seconds in following on from being side-by-side holding hands - where they attempted a mirroring move back-to-back didn't come off. It looked as though they'd got bored and decided to do their own thing.

Timeless elegance Bruno? Really?

Gosh, I may not be Natalie's fan but scores aside I actually enioyed her VW-lite VW. What are those basics which she was given that she wasn't doing quite right? You sound like you know about the technicalites of ballroom dancing so your input would be interesting...

All I know about the technicalities is what I've picked up from the judges' comments and those of posters in this forum who know what they're looking at.

But it was obvious even to me that Natalie's hip/leg action in her Rumba and CCC wasn't right, and that there was no double-bounce in her Samba. Why shouldn't those elements have been outstanding, given the head start she had and the amount of time she's been able to devote to training?

As for the short length of time she spent in hold in the three routines she should have danced in hold, I don't believe she should have been excused because Artem choreographed the routines like that. I believe the professional partners want to choreograph classic routines, and are almost invariably looking to conceal a weakness when they deliver something else.

Oh gosh this makes me sad to read.

I criticised Pasha for his paso and QS routine for Rachel as too difficult and out of character for her. In some ways she might have been better with a male Kristina equivalent who choreographed the bare minimum with tricks thrown in to show her off because there wasn't much dancing skill to show off. But a show populated by Kristina pros would be terrible. Pasha has contributed some good routines over the years, I like him lots and he's a great dancer. I'd be really sorry if he left soon.

I suspect the concealment might have been the open and vase shape one needs to maintain in a ballroom hold which might aggrevate Natalie's back injuries. This is purely conjectural on my part though...