Abbey in dance off...not always popular
Improved dancers....don't always get the vote
Alesha good from day one....wins
What hazy group of voters are you talking about?

And yeah i said there are numerous reasons people vote there is no 'one point' of the show

I wasn't watching when Alesha won. Do you remember if the judges would say to her things such as 'You're amazing. You always were. You're every bit as good as when you started. Well done for consistency', or did they suggest that she was getting better week by week in whatever aspect?

I'm saying a very simple thing. Improvement excites and engages the audience and puts you on the side of the contestant. In less cynical moments, I'd say it's essential

Alesha got 36/40 from the judges on and off from her second dance to the final.

i don't think i have denied improvement is one reason why people vote just that it is not the only reason so this 'simple thing' is something i've already posted !!!

Ah, ok, I got puzzled when you said Ola knew she didn't need her partner to improve to win votes. And I thought, nooo, that's crazy! Charm will get you so far and then you'll be dumped out on your arse if you don't work at it.

Any way, to get back on topic, I'm generally happy with Steve's scores. As Chachachavvy said, sometimes he might not have been in the right place on the leaderboard exactly, but, hey, he's still here

36 is a huge second week score!!!

They have a problem with their marking I think.

They have a very good top 4, but they are noting technical errors, mistakes , and probably keeping 9s and 10s back for later on - so they are getting 8s.

They then have people who are not so good , by some margin, - who are getting scores like 26-29 - for motably weaker performances than those earning 32 or 33 just a few marks above them

And they have Steve. Steve, though, is difficult to mark because he does somethings weakly - as he is limited by his body (eg hips) - but does other things (lifts) thats no one else can do, and definitely some things better than anyone else in the 26-28 band can do. He's not getting an upside from his difficult moves , and is being lumped in with those who also have weaknesses, but no similar strengths. They really need to either mark the Allisons lower, or give him a bit of credit for his added difficulty.

The problem is but they have left themselves too few marks available to really add marks to Steve for difficulty, and, if they mark the Allisons lower, they may boost their votes by looking mean.

I expressed myself badly. I completely agree that voters can vote for any reason they like and do, and that people have won for a variety of reasons over the years. I think I mean just that the celebs, whether they are Pixie or Scott, are all learning, which is the 'point' from their point of view, getting better from wherever they started. I wasn't really thinking about why people vote. To take it to extremes, you'd never get someone doing the show with an attitude of 'I'm so good I only took 10 minutes to learn that routine.' (The closest was maybe Louisa's jive which was fantastic.) Alesha was always good but I remember how much was made of how many hours she was training as well, even so. But it wasn't a thought-through post!

When I re-watched Steve's dance I was surprised how much content there was in it - his enthusiasm is infectious.

Alesha's "journey" wasn't really about the quality of her dancing (in fact I remember one spectacularly bitchy comment from Arlene towards the end of the series about how Alesha was very good at fooling people into thinking she was a good dancer), more to do with her "becoming a lady". They made a big deal of this "rapper" (which...lol) doing the waltz and being elegant and refined and wearing nice floaty dresses.

That and her nans. And putting one over on Harvey.

Steve (just to wrangle my post round to the topic) I think did what you'd expect a man of his skill-set to do - do the big lifts and muscle stuff to compensate for his lack of hip action (which even Ola said she knew was non-existent). I thought 7s was about right.

I totally agree OP! I was sure he's been undermarked compared to Thom, who, although nice, has about as much personality as a wet sponge, and Mark. Go Steve! He got my vote this weekend.