Does anything else feel that Ray did not deserve three of the judges to give him a full score of 10 on Sunday night for his routine with Maria.
I didn't find it anything special. I actually thought Sam was better and he only got two 10s.

I think it is in the bag for Ray to win the whole series.

I enjoyed his solo skate but also thought Sam did very well too.

Jason said the synchronicity was slightly out, so maybe he should really have had 9.5's. He did get the 4 x 10.0 for his solo so would have still ended up top over all. But I agree Sam should be above Beth and Hayley.

Karen mentioned it wasn't perfect, but maybe the rest of the routine was done so well that it made up for the small imperfections?

The routine was beautifully artistic and as Robin said was "so difficult and pushed through" so I imagine the level of difficulty was very high even though that may not have been so evident to the viewer as e.g. A big lift! I imagine that Robin and Karen are looking at technical content as well as speed over the ice, flow over the ice, use of edges etc. Which it is impossible for viewers to judge really. So personally I would not challenge their view.

As regards Jason's comment I think it may have been Maria who slightly lost balance so her arm was out of synch with Ray.

In the past, Robin has described Ray's skating as a bit scratchy, and I am sure I have heard Karen agree with him. No mention of that this time. But as Jason said he spotted errors and Ray agreed, perhaps it was a performance error and not a skating one?

an error is still an error tho, whether it be for performace or skating, 10 is supposed to be for perfection........

or are Karen and Robin just marking on skating and Ashley and Jason just marking on performance

That's highly likely which would explain the 10s from the skating judges. Jason's mark would then be understandable too.

I agree with you.

I agree with Olive on this.

Of course but if they had already given 9.5 for lesser technical content where could they go?

This is the dilemma that the judges have. I suspect that as usual they saw rehearsals and were primed to score each pair as they did.

Personally I don't think judges should be allowed to watch rehearsals. They should come to see the routines 'fresh' the same as the viewers. Then they only mark on what they see on the night.

Even with tiny mistakes Rays skating is wonderful - so yes for me he deserved the 10s - I suspect that what we see as beautiful natural gliding around the ice encompasses difficult technical stuff in order to achieve and the judges mark accordingly.

We don' t know what 10 is.

I suspect the judges have no idea either.

Is it the choreography performed perfectly - or as well as other 10s? Can you get a 10 for dull choreography and no difficulty? Whats difficulty - how do you count skating steps v steps, tricks and lifts? Is it 10 worthy choreography performed perfectly, or well enough? Does it just mean better than Hayley's 9.5 we gave her a few minutes ago ? Does the routine have to have 10 marks worth of difficulty in it? Does the routine have to have all the difficulty we expect from that person in it? Is Suzanne's 10 harder than Hayley's 10? Does it mean nearer 10 than 9.5 - or perfection?

Many of the better celebs on twitter seem to think Sam is being undermarked, and Hayley over marked. Kyran had massive difficulty in his routine last week and three big moves Ray just can't do. How do you compare that to Ray's routines? Is Ray's dancing and tricks really a better combination than Sam's speed and Sam's lifts - now Sam is actually competing and getting decent routines? If it is, how do you measure the difference - and are the judges up to it.

I was wondering when the weekly 'did Ray deserve 40' thread would appear.

It would appear that you accept the routine was worthy of a 10 - because you say that he didn not deserve three of them so presumably he deserved one of them. The judges mark independently of each other so if one of them is entitled to score it as a 10 then they all are.

What does 10 mean - nothing really except something that is better than a routine that scored 9.5. Despite what Jason says, it doesn't mean perfect (because if that were true none of them would ever get a 10).

The key question, therefore, is was Ray the best on the night? (Obviously yes)
Did the 2nd best on the night get scores of 9.5? (also yes)
Ergo - Ray deserved 10's simples

I thought the synchronicity was quite good and commented on it at the time and I thought the routine had quite a lot of difficult synchro in it. Ray did really well, he deserved a 10 because they were little flaws which were hardly noticeable.

I also agree Sam was better than Beth and Hayley and I think he has improved more over the series both technically and artistically.

Quite. The whole picture needs to be looked at rather than simply pick on the score for ray.

People may feel the positionings were correct, but that a maximum score should be reserved for flawlessness. The problem lies with the scoring overall before Ray performed.

I agree with your comment. I said the same thing when Suzanne made a big error and slipped, yet her marks did not reflect this. I was informed on here that even Olympic skaters have gone on to gain top marks despite errors. Therefore I am as confused as you.

That said, Ray is still my fav and I hope he wins

If the maximum score is to be reserved for flawlessness then it would never ever happen. How many skaters have ever in the history of ice skating been awarded the maximum score - in world class competition, it has only ever happened once to my knoweldge (at the Olympics in 1984 )

Even that wasn't a maximum score. There were several 5.9s for technical merit so some judges didn't deem it perfect .

Those judges obviously also did not know what they were talking about!

Wouldn't agree - this is a celebrity show, not a professional competition. You will never get flawless in this sort of contest so a 10 is fair for excellent performance and a high degree of technical skill.

The olympics abandoned marking out of 6 or 10 beacuse it didn't allow for difficulty. If you have a routine with 110 marks worth of moves in it, and complete them all, you get 110 marks . If you fail on a couple, you may still get 100+. Thats always going to beat a routine that starts with 6o marks worth of difficulty in it. A Suzanne routine has far more difficulty in it than any Hayley routine, and most of Beth's - it should get more - even with one error.

Exactly what I wanted to say (and pretty much exactly what I said on the same thread last time Ray got 40). If it's worthy of a 10, it's worthy of a 10. Even if you think the judges split into two camps - technical and performance - then if it's worth one 10, it's worth at least two, so I don't understand how three of the judges should've given 9.5.

Ultimately the scores don't matter, the points from the leaderboard position do, so as long as he was in the right place relative to everyone else (which he was), it's fine.

But it would not have been needed if others were marked accordingly. I've always said position matters in the end, so no argument about that necessarily if the judges thought he was first. But the 10s were probably awarded because a) they'd seen rehearsals and already done provisional placings and b) by the time Ray skated there was nowhere else they could go.