is the American Smooth meant to have three Lifts in the American Smooth, I asked this because tonight Steve and ola's one had more than 3 lifts which has now got me wondering if the is no limit on how many lifts there meant to be

Have the Producers decided that the American Smooth can have more than 3 lifts or is this up to the Pro Dancers to decide and should this also be reflected in the scores

3 lifts as always been the rule.

It started out as two lifts in the AS, then was increased to three.

They always bend the rules on 'specials' Halloween, Blackpool, Wembly etc.

Two lifts used to be the rule (in fact was the rule for years).

Around the same time all the stupid ideas like props and theme weeks were introduced the rules appeared to be relaxed, then thrown out altogether. Nowadays an illegal lift or assisted jump generally doesn't even make the judges bat an eyelid...

This!

Two used to be the limit, I'm sure many here will remember the amazing routine of Kelly Brookes and Brendon, but it had a lift in the middle and one at the start and end, he said the music lifted then so he put another one in.

Craig, Len and Arlene gave I think eights when they asid the number would have been tens and Bruno gave a ten and the other judges were having a go at him and saying 'was he a judge or a joker'.

It now seems every judge has become a joker looking at the scores tonight and the overlooking of extra lifts.

ISTR back when it was first introduced in series 4 it was only one lift.

Wow, by the year 2025 they could be doing the AS on a trapeze!

I can see the choreography now. Floats down on a flying carpet, slipped into a canon, fired out of a canon onto a trapeze. With a bit of luck they will have done the 1.30 without a single step on the ground

It was 2 (hence the Kelly Brook controversy when her and Brendan did 3 and Bruno still gave it a 10). The rule was changed to 3 lifts allowed in a later series and then gradually they stopped mentioning it so couples went for >3 lifts in their routines.

I wish there was some clarification and guidance given at the beginning of the series (to the public as well!) so that we could understand the marking standards!

The rules used to be crystal clear and everyone knew them. Even things like assisted jumps were frowned upon as basically the rule was two feet off floor = lift.

Now, besides 3 lifts seemingly being standard in salsa, AS and AT, and there being no lift limit for Charleston, all the other rules appear to have gone out the window as well - I thought Janette would have been ripped apart by Craig for her choreography at the end of Jake's Quickstep, as in years gone by that would have been completely outside the rules, but no-one even mentioned it! Same goes for her AS choreography - Len penalised Artem twice for breaking the % in hold rule in his AS with Kara, and also vilified Aliona for reinventing the wheel in her AS with Matt, but now it appears that there's no minimum requirement and any style goes!

So I think the conclusion now has to be that really there aren't any rules - there's so much stupid faffing around with props and flying these days that no dance really would fall within the old rules - I think of all the dances last night only Simon's AT would have been acceptable back in series 4 or 5 (and Mark's Charleston given that didn't exist back then and has never had a rulebook), the rest had too much faffing or rule-breaking content.

...Halloween, Blackpool, Wembley and and show which falls on a Saturday.

Maybe as the show is now over halfway they will start tightening up on illegal lifts? There's been quite a few so far and no one has made a comment about them.

It was series 3, but I'm fairly sure you're right on the number - both Colin and Zoe's routines only have one lift in.