I got exactly that feeling also fatskia. Why else smile in the Paso? No wonder they said, "On our terms."( Would love to know who they fought.)
I hope their win becomes the modernisation of Strictly.

One year they definitely didn't score the final dance, can't remember which year but guessing not last year so it must have been the show dance not scored.

So yes I agree with the OP if the judges scores don't count for the final anyway don't bother to score them.

From memory:
Natalie topped the LB but runner-uped 2 years ago.
Ditto Denise 3 years ago.
Jason topped the LB after 2 dances but was eliminated before the final round 4 years ago.
Ditto Pamela 5 years ago.

Given that recently it's more the norm for the judges' winner in the final to lose, I'm intrigued as to why it's such an issue this time.

Was thinking this myself this morning. The judges are there to offer critques through the series. By the final the viewers and they have more than had their chance to progress their favourites. When it's the final it should only be about the contestants and the voting public. Let the judges do their VTs etc but the focus should be purely a celebration of dance and the series as a whole. We're the ones who actually pay to decide who the winner is!

No, what was "on the board" was the judges' choice, not the winner who is always the public's choice.

OT - I agree that marks are unnecessary, but they will always be used as a means for the producers to try to have a final go at manipulation and influencing the outcome.

#championjay

I don't think it's about the marks (bar the lack of 40 for the Paso) but more the comments. The final had a very nasty feel about it from the off and it never really left. It was akin to Dancing on Ice 2014 where the judges were desperate for Beth Tweddle not to win and showed it - that was unpleasant to watch as well.

My Christmas wishes:-

Please do not change SCD one bit, it gets 11 million viewers.
I wish all these proposed changes and false fix claims stop, as there all based on nothing.
The tabloids to stop printing lies.

It is worth remembering that judges will mark down for small mistakes but the public will only change their vote for massive mistakes. Some of the public will be swayed by the judges comments though.

If that happens then Hell will freeze over.

That's the issue though, sometimes they ignore mistakes. Other times they acknowledge a mistake but reward someone for 'recovering well' with a 10. Other times someone dances perfectly but gets 9 because they didn't emote enough.

We wouldn't be discussing all this so much if the judges were actually consistent and followed their own rules!

The judges mark the dancing; the public can vote for their favourite - regardless of mistakes, big or small.

Also worth remembering because of the camerawork we - the viewers - do not necessarily see what the judges see - poor footwork especially. A dance colleague of mine was recently in the audience and said afterward how shocked he was at how poor the quality of dancing actually was - and yet it looked great on tv!

I suppose the question is would non dancers notice this if they were in the audience..I suspect not so their votes would mostly never be based on that anyway

You nailed it! All hail Poshnosh, the voice of reason!

This really annoyed me. I thought Anita would have been far better than Katie in the Final. At the very least, Anita and Gleb would have livened up proceedings, but Len, Bruno and Darcey decided last week that Katie was deserving of a place in the Final instead.

Ended up feeling sorry for Katie with their comments, yes she was out of place being there in my opinion, but they decided she should be there. Inconsistency much