I didn't think he was overmarked last night but I agree, for quite a few weeks, he was undermarked.

Was it Kara or Rachel levels? No. But male and female rumbas are scored on different scales (transparently so - they bleat on about how much harder it is for men than women, but the average scores for rumba are about the same for both sexes, so that's the only conclusion I can come to) so compared to other blokerumbas it was about right, especially now we're at the end and 10s are being handed out like copies of Ola Jordan's calendar. The "I CAN'T SPEAK I'M SO MOVED!" from Darcey was embarassingly phony and hammy but so it is every time she does it.

And the OP's dance credentials are ..........?
Every broadsheet newspaper this morning has a dance experts comments on Jay's rumba and they unanimously say that it was almost flawless.
I'd rather believe them than any FM with a dislike of Jay

Jay is stiff or flaccid as appropriate, according to what erectness or fluidity is required in each dance. He always gets it right as he understands interpretative dance and artistic transference.

Me too, and what has added to my enjoyment of his flawless performance is the teeth knashing and hair tearing of the Jay haters, so hilarious, and so, so predictable. It used to annoy me, now I just enjoy their frustration

Comments goes to show you can get away with being dull to the other sex if you look pretty. Women didn't give the same latitude to Helen of their own sex I notice.

Personally I thought his Pulp Fiction Jive was better, that blew me away, but it scored lower than his rumba!

What about those of us who really like him but didn't like the dance? Do we get lumped into that category too?

Anita is my favourite but I didn't like her AT and didn't vote for her this week.

Some of us can dislike something without being a teeth knashing and hair tearing [insert celeb of your choosing] hater.

Darcey wanted to give him a 10 for his jive, but as it was only week three she thought that it was too early in the series.

I'm female and Jay doesn't look pretty to me but I appreciate his dancing. Not everyone is an extrovert.

I agree, he did do a good job in a few days, although I am sure that Aliona would have gone through the basics of all dances a while back. However good it appeared for a beginner, he was way over marked. 10's should be ( near) perfection in terms of SCD, and this was not even close. It was good but not that good

No, but I am sure that you recognise the usual few who have their knives out for him every week, they even criticised his jive.

A fully agree with all your points Ann. Good but not that good......

Absolutely! But not every opinion comes from that mindset. Some times this board gets a set of extremely 'passionate' supporters (I'm not saying you are one, I don't know you really) who shut down any less than positive comment with the haters description.

I've experienced this twice in the past, with supporters of Chris Hollins of all people and Artem fans. It shuts down discussion and that's bad, No one is above criticism.

Though for the record I loved Jay's jive and his tango, and his foxtrot,

The judges have been quite generous with their 10's this series already, to several other routines that weren't perfect. One of them (Len)? did say previously that if theyve already given a 9 then sees something better it gets a 10, so if it's been acceptable for other celebs to get 10's based on this criteria, shouldn't it be ok for Jay last night too?

I actually would prefer the scores to stay lower overall giving all the couples the opportunity to progress throughout the series, the judges mark way too high overall, IMO, although 'usually' the leaderboard ends up about right.
Last edited by myla5trolo : 06-12-2015 at 10:38

Well exactly!! Jay isn't my favourite but that doesn't mean I'm a hater. I neither loved nor loathed his rumba last night but think it was a bit overmarked..... Again it doesn't make me a hater.

I'm getting very bored with this forum this year where anyone who doesn't fawn over every routine Jay does is classed as a hater. His jive was on a different stratosphere to anything else we've seen this series but since then I haven't seen anything from him which makes him stand out from any other good male celebs the show has had over the years..... All of this being said WITHOUT teeth gnashing or hair tearing.

It really doesn't take much to excite Darcey where men are concerned It's like she has the self-control of a 14 year old girl.

I don't think Jay's Rumba was very fluid. He creates some nice lines, but I don't think he's a very fluid dancer in general and he never really captures the essence of a dance for me. Len said he wasn't convinced about Jay's dancing before last night and Jay still needs to convince me.

I absolutely agree with you on the highlighted bit .I saw it happen very early in this years show . I dont remember the Chris H fans being quite as blinkered but maybe they were !!

I was 100% immune to the whole Chris Hollins/Olachops (ugghhh it still makes my skin crawl) bandwagon so maybe I was extra sensitive. I once suggested he had played a magnificent PR/media campaign and was overwhelmed by hate. It stopped me posting here for a few days as it was so bizarre

Jay is very good. I look forward to his dances and I usually enjoy them. I did not enjoy the rhumba last night. It's telling however that to say the latter I have to include the former.

I remember there were Chris Hollins fans dedicated to arguing that he was the best technical dancer of the series.

*sigh* memories...

Beautifully put (Jay fan here) but sadly your objective, reasonable comments make you a minority as most seem to delight in Jay bashing. That said, the forum generally has gotten a lot more nasty over the years, from supporters of lots of the celebs, it's a shame people can't just support their fave and discuss why they might not have enjoyed others, without all the viciousness evident. And this usually happens to one or two of the better dancers each year (Pixie and Natalie are prime examples).

The "them and us" mentality is tedious - I feel like I'm back at school sometimes. I don't dislike Jay at all, but I don't like the histrionic hype surrounding him. I think he's one of the most overrated dancers in strictly history.

Well, that's interesting - we have at least two of DS's very knowledgeable and impartial posters saying that he was overmarked.
I certainly thought he was, but I know nothing about the finer points of dance, I just thought that he was a given a relatively minor role in this dance.

Of course there are quite a few posters in here who adore everything about him and would say he was wonderful even if had fallen on his backside!

Even worse for me was the overmarking of Kellie/Kevin - about 30s of a VW in hold, and that pretty ordinary - unbelievable!

Anita on the other hand they ripped to shreds....

A really poor performance from the judges - I give them 1 !

Please no!

It's all coming flooding back to me now

I certainly wasn't including those with constructive criticisms, just certain individuals being downright nasty about him being a Mummy's boy, his trembling lips, and tear filled eyes (which I have never seen), and dancing like he is wearing a full nappy.