Before we get started I just want to say these are my own personal opinions and so anyone else can have different ones and that's fine. One previous Thread on a similar subject was locked due to people insulting each other, lets not go down that road should we people? We're all grown up ... I think Some people hate certain celebs, some people love them and that's just great, but some people do seem to like spreading their heated opinions far and wide and so draw criticism to themselves.

Now, I just wanted to say here that I thought a few dances were a little off in the scoring. Yep, I know, nothing new there with these Judges, but still. Lets start with Jay and get that done with as he seems to draw the most flak from people. This Paso was amazing. As good as his Jive? No, but still by far one of the best I have ever seen on Strictly and MUCH better than Peters attempt. I think the Judges remarks about him needing to put a little more emotion into his face when dancing is true, or at least the right emotion. He could have had more passion for this Paso and on the Jive his expression seemed to go from serious to boyish fun. I do feel he was under marked in this one though. One 9 for the best dance of the night? Were they scared to throw out more than that one in case he got more people shouting how he is a ringer and its all a fix as they did after his Jive? Whatever the reason other couples got 8's for far less polished dances tonight.

Kellie. Hmmm, she has put out a lot of quality dances but this Jive felt a little heavy and by the end it was pretty obvious she was flagging and yet no one mentioned it. Despite this she got good reviews from the Judges and two points more than Jay. She was probably feeling it after a week of rehearsing such a fast number so her energy levels were low, but she kept them going for her amazing Charleston <shrugs>

Jeremy was a little under marked I feel tonight to. I mean 18? I thought his Waltz was by the numbers but still good enough for a little better scoring than that, especially when considering some scores like Ainsley's.

Talking of which. Ainsley seems to have the same dance for every Latin number he does, and this one was way over the top even for him. Jives have quite a lot of content where the couple is side by side mirroring, but he was not in time with Natalie much at all and just looked manic. I like the guys personality and exuberance on his cooking shows but he might need to rein it in a little for his dancing. So over marked IMO.

I'll leave it there and let others add who they may have thought were hard done by, or who got off easy

I don't think the scores were that far out tonight to be fair.

Personally, I would have given Peter and Helen a few less points and Katie a few more.

Celebrities that really irritate me - always get overmarked. Why, why, why - don't the judges know anything?
Celebrities that I really really like - always get undermarked. Why, why, why - don't the judges know anything?

This was the first time I thought Anita was definitely under marked.

I also thought Jay deserved at least one more 9.

Kellie looked fantastic in rehearsal but didn't quite nail it live. Think Kevin gave her too much to do. So maybe a point or two over.

Helen was about right.

As were the others.

Jamelia was overmarked actually

I thought the scores were way off tonight, I was going to raise it myself. There was no way Katie was worse than Jamelia, I also didn't think Helen's foxtrot was better than Peter's rhumba. I thought Jay's paso was better than Helen's foxtrot, and Kellie's jive not as good as Helen.

But I'm not an expert!

I felt Peter was overmarked and over complimented. That rumba wasn't really that good, a couple of lines and a walking steps isn't enough.

As Helen did quickstep, not foxtrot, clearly not!

Agree 100%

Thanks to the thread title I now have the wombles song in my head..... Undermarked, overmarked compliment free, the dancers on Strictly Come Dancing are we.....

Ahem. Anyway. I think Anita has been the most undermarked especially that Charleston which I loved.

I think the marks do take into account the previous dance experience of the celebrities as well how they have performed earlier on in the show. The marking is a lot closer than it really should be.

The Judges mark according to:
1) technique for the dance
2) timing
3) partnering
4) entertainment value
5) to motivate
6) to leave room for getting better marks in future
7) to stress a point about something that needs to be addressed.

Comparative marking again. Yay!

Anita - under marked (again)
Georgia - over marked
Helen - over marked
Kellie - over mraked

I agree with you on most of those points OP. I think there was some odd marking tonight. Jay and Anita, were most notably under marked, definitely. Peter, Helen and Kellie were slightly overmarked I reckon. I do think Jay did the best dance of the night and this wasn't reflected in the scores, in my opinion.

Undermarked Katie Ainsley
Overmarked Jamelia Helen

The leader board order isn't far wrong but I might swap round the top four a little. I'm guessing that Anita was always going to score less than Kellie since the producers had put Anita on early and used Kellie to close the show.

Anita, Jay and Katie undermarked

Peter and Kellie overmarked

Anita, Jay and Katie undermarked

Peter, Jamelia and Kellie overmarked

I thought Kellie was overmarked, her flicks and kicks looked decidedly lame compared to Kevin's. I think Kevin and his sister are favourites of the judges, though, and that's worth extra points.

Comparatively, as they all scored 21, I think that Katie was undermarked and Carol & Ainsley were overmarked.

Similarly, Kirsty undermarked compared to Peter.

I think that the BIB is about right, I thought the marking was very strange tonight and that it was all very obviously so, though we can only guess the reasons why.

I thought that Jay's dance was well above all the others even though I did think a little more shaping would have given it a wow factor just like his jive did. Jamelia's dance was a mess and I think well overmarked.....Peter also got more marks than deserved though to be fair he has been overmarked and overpraised every week so far.
On the flipside I think Anita has been undermarked most weeks and especially last night, I thought she was fab and the choreography for her dance was amazing given the music.

Helen imo was over marked, I just cannot take to Helen at all, she always appears stiff and stilted and none of her dancing has so far been that good to justify the marks she gets.............As for Kellie, well although she is technically good and the timing is great she did nothing for me at all and last night, I was bored and underwhelmed with that Jive and really could not understand such great comments and marks, I also think that Katie was a little overmarked too as her dance was an utter shambles.

I always think the marking becomes more consistent and fair towards the end of the series when the poorer dancers have left. I think the judges have a difficult job with so many celebs with such varying *cough* talents.

Peter, Kellie and Helen were overmarked - Anita and Jay were undermarked.

Totally agree with everything here

I thought georgias marks were quite honest really.

I think sometimes it might simply be better in the room than through the camera. We are very limited in what we can see at home. For instance there was one weird bit in Kellie's jive when we were just watching Kevin run back and fore to the briefcase and couldn't see Kellie at all, when she might have been dancing her socks off for all I know. Plus Kellie's performance levels are pretty theatrical, which might be better from a distance.

In the same way, I wonder if Anita, who isn't an actress, has just the right amount of performance for the camera, but isn't quite reaching the judges in the room in the same way? And Jay, who I thought had just exactly the right level of performance, might have worked one way for the camera and another for the judges.

Just a thought. I've once been able to see a RSC screening in a cinema of a play I also was able to see live but from up in the gods, and it was so different, with some performances much better and some worse.

Peter is overmarked every week 😬