I guess it depends on what you want to overlook but if you are honest then you can't miss e.g. this which was one of a couple of errors

If you look she is behind time climbing the stairs, then she stumbles and then she's out of sync with Aljaz and the other dancers. Watch her feet
https://gifs.com/gif/y3jYlZ

I didnt point out that I thought she had injured herself as an excuse for anything . I am still convinced her gait at the end was indicitive of an injury or an overstretch of her thigh muscle

Just rewatched it and it was just terrible. Something went wrong, very wrong. Don't think it was the lift as straight after that she went into her tap routine. Will have to wait til ITT to find out....if she spills the beans that is!

The judges have been overlooking quite a few mistakes already this year, and coupled with the fact that you get up to two extra points just for being in Blackpool (drink), might explain the overscoring. It's a shame for her, because the Charleston can be a gift of a dance, but she's just better suited to ballroom.

How much earlier was that recorded?

This wasn't an attack on you Ducky, you are only one of many people who mentioned she might have been injured and I did say that I was not sure whether she had been injured or not. I don't know one way or the other. I was just stating my own opinion that in rewatching the dance it didn't seem to me as if she was.

Thats fair enough . I guess none of us know unless she tells us !!

She should've got 7s at the most. Grossly overmarked considering the errors made.

Really felt sorry for Helen seeing how upset she got after the dance last night. The dance wasn't perfect but she did give it her all, and given the hype that had built up around the dance (especially given the previous 2 Charlestons) those scores must have been a real disappointment for her.

Exactly, she was full of vim and vigour at the beginning, but then got more and more tired and her form and swivels etc just disappeared, culminating with that slip on the stairs.

I don't think she was injured because in Sunday's show when she was backstage she just said she had given it all she could - no mention of any injury.

As usual, the judges see a dance in dress rehearsal, formulate their views and comments and then stick to them despite what happens in the live show.

I'm beginning to think there must be something in that theory ^ .
I cannot for the life of me comprehend how they can babble on about elbow heights and thumbs and then miss a huge elongated series of mishaps such as helen had . I actually like her as a personality and think her dancing rather good most weeks , but that charleston was merely passable for the first 30 seconds and then just full of errors for the rest . Sorry to be prudish too, but I also hated the upside down lift with her legs splayed . It just looked manky and undignified . I know charleston is meant to be funnity fun, but that was just nasty looking .

Helen said on twitter that she didn't hurt herself but she could hardly walk down the stairs after doing that dance so many times that day and it's probably why she had a little trip. Perhaps Alijaz had been training her too hard so she was exhausted by the time she did the dance.

"I wonder if the judges dais is at the wrong angle"
I think this is the point, the dancers perform to cameras and therefore us, not the judges or the audience. We are going to see things they don't and vice-versa. I think in this case Helen was lucky in that the worst faults did not occur under the judge's noses

Two nine's and two eights for a dance isn't a bad score at all, it's only a disappointing score if you were expecting her to match or exceed either Peter's or Georgia's scores from the previous two weeks and because the short clips that were seen in training looked to be good so it was maybe a possibility.

I agreed with Craig's sentiment when he said overall it was missing an element of Quirk for him, too placed not free or wild enough and therefore came across as too controlled, I knew what he meant because I felt the same.

That said up until the first lift I thought she was doing well, she was in time with Aljaz, matching him step for step, it didn't have the same kind of character as Peter or Georgia's, it was more of an old school Hollywood vibe but that was what they were obviously aiming for so appropriate. From there on though it all sort of went downhill. The dismount from the first lift was awkward and if you slow it down the first kick after that at 0.55 on the clip they start off on completely opposite legs, Aljaz lifts his right knee up as you're looking at the screen and Helen her left although they get back in sync almost straight away and it's fast so not really noticeable on first viewing maybe.

Then they go out of sync again after the 2nd lift from about 1.18 onwards as they go around each other with Aljaz bending his legs from the knees so his heels are coming up almost to his behind and Helen barely seeming to lift her feet from the floor so her legs look tired and she looks like she's struggling to keep up with the him and the pace of the dance, this is just before she trips up the stairs and as others have said is noticeably out of step with the other girls and him at the top. So I think overall her marks were fair on this occasion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-k2mcA9J-M

I really felt for Helen last week. She looked completely done in by the end. I'm looking forward to her VW this weekend though.

In fairness to Helen she does not usually make a mistake- I think she worked too hard on her Charleston and not best dance spectacle for Blackpool - she will bounce back this week

I hope so Polly.

My internet is being stupid tonight so I can't go look, but if you mean what I think you mean (the step she does on her own?) they weren't star jumps, but "wings" which is a tap dance move (and it was a weird thing to include because wings *look* awful, but it's a celebrated/famous tap move because it's done on both feet at the same time. Without actually wearing tap shoes and doing the tap sounds, it's just a funny looking little jump.

Edit: Wings video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwgkY8CNj00

Is it me or does it seem Helen's just not enjoying it anymore? In the beginning she was very chatty and upbeat but in recent weeks she seems more withdrawn. Maybe it's nerves who knows.