I remember Alison on BB3 - she hung onto Kate (the later winner) as her new BFF and tried to prevent her striking up any other relationship.
Alison split the viewers between those who liked her 'exuberance' and those who felt she was all about 'me, me, me'. I vaguely remember comments made on Radio 1 about this, just before she was voted out, quite early in the show.

But of course that didn't stop ITV taking her onboard for This Morning, where her 'natural exuberance' was exaggerated at every opportunity. I remember not liking her, but quite liking some of her interviews...the ones she kept focused onto the interviewee, rather than on herself.

When I saw that Alison would be on Strictly, I sighed, thinking she would be another Lisa Riley, but at first I quite liked her (or more to the point, her relationship with Alijaz), whereas Lisa I couldn't bear to watch.

But the judges do seem to be going the Lisa Riley route and over-marking Alison, which is a shame.

I don't think it is simply about size either. It's about the 'larger than life character' that big TV shows seem to go for.
I don't mind watching Alison (in small doses), but I just wish she was learning to dance a bit better!

I am pretty sure she already knows why her technique is, and will continue to be, limited.
Maybe the judges are harsher with Scott and Judy because their critique indicates things they can actually work on rather than "you're footwork's rubbish and will continue to be rubbish unless you lose several stone before next week" which is no use to anyone.

The main barrier to Alison's improvement isn't something she can rectify during the series. There's no point highlighting it except to embarrass her on national TV by pointing out something she's already fully aware of.

In that case, they needn't mention her size, but just reflect it in their marks. Instead they give Alison a 6 (or even a 7) for a dance worth a 5 (being generous).

I presume you think she was worse than Judy and possibly Tim then (if you think a 5 is being generous)? I don't. She's not much better (her footwork's awful) but she has a sense of rhythm and movement denied to both of those above.

I'm not meaning her weight, though I'm sure it does hinder her. Her footwork is non existent whilst her top half is in full swing. She is obviously flat footed, as obvious as Judy is stiff as a board. They don't need to embarrass her, just be fair when critiquing her.

They try and point it out in a round about way, why?!
Just tell her the way they do the others.

Judy Murray has had some extremely nasty stuff said about her posture / her footwork / in hold / out of hold, and everything else they care to throw at her.

I think she may have a few weeks left..

if people stop voting for ANTON.. she will be gone

over marked

No, I can't remember their marks to be honest. Wasn't she above both of them on the leader board ? I would have given Tim a 3 and Judy a 4, but given her awful footwork I wouldn't have given Alison more than a 4...she was worse than Judy in that department.
I guess it's all subjective, Alison is bubbly and obviously has rhythm and musicality, if that overrides her lack of ability "downstairs" then I suppose she deserves her marks.

I do understand what you're saying.

However, I think that the main reason her footwork is so awful is her size/weight and I'm wondering if the judges do too. If that's the case, no amount of criticism (however fair) is going to change things. It's just going to be the same stuff pointed out week in week out. You'd then get viewers having a go at Alison for not improving faults that were continually pointed out by the judges despite the fact that she knows, Aljaz knows and the judges themselves know that the reason for those faults is something Alison can do nothing (in a relative sense) about in the time she's got. That may be the reason the judges aren't mentioning it.

However, if Alison can do something significant about her technique and footwork and the problem isn't mainly her size then the judges (and Alison herself) have no excuses.

It all doesn't explain her apparently inflated score last night either. Just one of the judges deciding to give her a 6 instead of a 7 would have done it. That wouldn't have hurt anyone too terribly.

She was given a 4 last week by Craig, two lots of five's by Darcey in the previous 2 weeks, I can't remember Len and Bruno's marks to her last week but I don't think they were above 6 and I don't call that overmarked at all, The opposite is what I think.

Scott should be the next one to go, followed by Judy. Then we will see from there.

It doesn't. However, it does make her better than those below her. And what you've just said indicates that generous marking happens across the board and not just with Alison.

Tim averaged 4.75 and Judy 5.5.
Alison averaged 6.75 which, admittedly, was a bit high.

So, going by that logic she improved that much this week that she gained two extra points from Craig and Darcey? Think that most people would tend to disagree.

Furthermore, did anyone catch Aljaz guiding her through the dance with his voice (you can clearly see him talking to her, when they have their backs towards the judges)?

Assuming she survives the dance-off, she will have another tough dance next week (well, apart from the salsa all the dances should be tough).

I 'm not a fan of Alison, was dismayed when she was paired with my favourite Aljaz, but I did enjoy her dance last night, however, she is being overmarked and that really is the top and tail of it.
Her footwork is non existent and I feel the "bubbly" agenda is being forced down out throats. Tess telling her...."we love you..... they love you.....so condscending.

She is the judges pet and is being allowed away with murder.

Just wanted to say I feel your dismay. I felt exactly the same when Vincent got lumbered with Natalie Cassidy after slim, pretty and talented Rachel. To get Alison after Abbey - what a waste of his talents !!

Exactly how I see it.

Alison is a very big woman and she won't really be able to dance until she loses a lot of that weight . The most she can do is what she's doing at the moment, and that is move her legs up and down, stroll about and move her top half in and out .

All she can do is pretend to dance and look happy .

And yet he seems to be having a ball and showing more of his own personality than the whole series last year

I'll admit, I'm liking Aljaz a lot more with Alison! His personalitys really come out this series!

Well I suppose he's smiling - maybe through gritted teeth though ! Choreography very dumbed down for Alison - hopefully next year he'll get someone more competent to work that magic with.

Ms FUNNITY FUN part 2

They don't judge based on how much they've improved or not from the previous week, they judge on the actual dance in front of them.

There seem to be plenty of picky arm chair dance judges on the SCD sections of DS, I wont pretend to be an expert on the tecnical detail but I thought in general her dance was very good as was one of the most entertaining I've ever seen on SCD. I'm glad the judges marked her for the entertainment and energy of that dance too.

I loved Alison's first dance since then she hasn't improved. In fact a few of her dances have left me cold I mean didn't do anything for me.

I don't mean to be nasty but she doesn't seem to have lost much weight and it can't be easy dancing carrying so much extra baggage. She has a great personality and is fab with Aljaz but unless something dramatic happens I think she should be voted out soon.

See whenever I make the point that people can't see beyond her weight, they deny it but people on this thread are pretty much admitting it.

I think you can judge how well someone is doing the moves, overweight or not. Yes some adjustments have to be borne in mind as it will be natural to maybe compare someone who is overweight with those that aren't overweight but if an overweight person does a dance good, then they should not be slated because they are overweight and I think that is what is subconciously going here with a lot of those who think her dance wasn't good, when on the whole it was.

I am not slating Alison because of her weight just saying it must be a disadvantage. I loved her first dance but that was obviously suited to her technique or lack of. She seems to be very flat footed and as she herself said recently although a lot of effort is going into her dances at times she doesn't appear to be doing much. Too much going on up top not enough down below.

I agree her footwork was not that good but surely thats why they didn't mark her higher than a 7? Footwork aside, her general dance was really good. I think the entertaining dances like that one are only seen a few times at most every series or every few years even. That's how much I lked it.

A fair few people on twitter liked it as well as of last night. Camilla Dallerup tweeted about it and gave her a 6 and Louis Spence also tweeted about it and he seemed to love it.