Stop asking pro's and judges "What do you think of the standard of dancing this year?" because never once have they not said "It's getting higher".

Last year Craig admitted that he only gave Chris Hollins a 10 because the standard of dancing "wasn't up to much" in series 7 so I guess in series 14 he'll admit that the standard of dancing wasn't up to much this year even though he's trotting out the same old "they're all so good" and "the standard is so high" rubbish at the moment.

There's "not up to much" and there's "not up to much" though. I think Ricky Whittle would have stood up to most comparisons had he been in other series. He'd have matched or outclassed Harry Judd or Jason Donovan for example, he was at least as good as Matt Baker or, probably, either of the top guys in series 6. His problem was we never really got to know him, Natalie was in her first series and came across as unduly competitive and not so much the fabulosa that we know she is and there was an unstoppable people's "fairly decent, ordinary person's" juggernaut to contend with. Craig gave Chris Hollins a ten to try and add a surface veneer of judge respectability to an otherwise viewer driven series. No other reason. Didn't really work either.