I remember when Craig used to complain about illegal lifts Len used to give off and say that it doesn't matter.

Then tonight he goes and complains about something that looked less a lift than the ones Craig complained about in the past.

illegal lifts should not be allowed so Len was right. To be honest I have never notice Craig complaining about them, I thought he liked them

I think it depended who was doing them as far as Craig was concerned but he did used to be very harsh on illegal lifts and deduct a point. He never Kara Tointon a perfect score because her feet were 'lifted ' a couple of millimetres off the floor in her rumba.

Len used to warn about lifts but didn't deduct points in the early rounds so his stance on Saturday night did seem particularly harsh.

It's Len that makes it an official statement, but it's usually just in a form "Listen to nice uncle Len, next time points will be deducted." Now he just did it the first time. But it's better to get the warning early on rather than have that one point be a difference between staying and going.

Len only praised putting an illegal lift in once - in Brendan and Lulu's Rumba.
Craig said Brendan should be punished for putting an illegal lift in, but Len thought putting the illegal lift in made the routine complete.

http://www.dancing-times.co.uk/strictly-speaking-12/

Possibly in the case of Lulu, she couldn't do much else, and given their partnership, I wouldn't be surprised if Brendan deliberately broke the rules to get less marks so they'd get eliminated quicker ...

Other than that, I've never heard Len praise an illegal lift. There were a couple of years when lifts we almost ignored in the first couple of weeks, especially if the pro dancer was new to the show. But in Aljaz case, he's been in the show long enough to KNOW the rules, and his partner is good enough that he doesn't have to resort to cheap tricks to gain viewers votes.

BIB
Len wouldn't be that cruel - would he?

I don't know if he's being a hypocrite, but he is very inconsistent.

Last year he did his usual "speech" about illegal lifts not being tolerated in week 1 (think it was during Jay & Aliona's cha cha - they didn't do a lift, but he thought they came close).

Don't think he really penalised Anita & Gleb's rumba for the illegal lift, but it was a crap dance anyway and he found fault with many other things.

However, he was completely blind to the many illegal lifts in Kellie & Kevin's VW as well as the illegal 'extra' lifts in their AS.

Must be an age thing

There were 3 routines with 'lifts' in it on Saturday night

Claudia and Aj had an obvious lift and to everyone saying how else could she get down she didn't have to start on a window or take so long getting started with the actual waltz

Will had both feet off the ground and lifts are not allowed in the jive but it seems to be one rule for females another for males

It was unfair & inconsistent to only point it out in one routine

not really

I think the judges, Len in particular, do leave it up to their judgement when to penalize lifts but this is a light entertainment show and the dancers do drop down from high window props as part of a waltz. Len gets serious when it's near the end of the competition and when he can safely punish one of the better (safe) pairs who should be able to perform to the rules. Len is never going to take a point from the Judy Murray types.

Craig marks differently, seemingly to separate out the couples, and he'll use illegal lifts to do that.

I hate to point out the bleedin' obvious but, by definition, a lift requires the dancer to be picked up from the floor. This does not qualify. I've no idea what you're referring to with regard to Will. I've just rewatched the entire dance to confirm my memory and there is nothing even remotely resembling a lift in the routine.

Possibly the move which actually looked like it had gone a bit wrong, when Karen crouched down and he stood on her thigh and swung his other leg over her head - or something like that

I'm pretty sure he did make a deduction for the lift. He definitely had something to say about it. They were my favourite couple and I remember getting that sinking feeling when Gleb lifted her


You took the words right out of my mouth AJ assisted Claudia to the floor in order to begin their waltz, from an already aerial position. I'm not even sure it would have been AJ's choice for her to enter that way, but either way once their waltz got started Claudia maintained contact with the floor at all times. AJ was actually very clever in giving her a number of stand out moments without breaking the rules.