As it says in the title, for me, DEFINITELY YES.

The poll will be up.

I find them pointless and hard to focus on

I think they put them in to make it feel a little more like a "proper" dance comp but they don't really work on TV imo and I'd be happy to see the back of them.

I always think oh no not another one but then I end up liking them tho I don't usually agree with the results. I enjoyed it and it probably helps ease the couples into doing 2 dances.

May be things might get better next year, when there is no Len. Can only hope.

I like them.
They appeal to my orderly technical mind. I like the fact that they're the nearest thing in SCD to proper dance comps. The competitors can't bamboozle the judges with gimmicks, props and fancy lifts.
It's a bit disappointing, however, when the points are awarded in a way that doesn't change the leaderboard at all ( like tonight ). Just feels like a waste of time and seems like the judges already had their order worked out before it began.

I like them, but one one does not get to see why judges decided the way they did. Leaves room open to speculations. I would put Danny as #1 from what I have seen.

Yes.

ThereS no criteria, and no ability to mark to that criteria accurately - or watching 6 people at once , with 4 markers who spend most of their time playing around with an order sheet and not watching. What they see is random, how they mark it is random.

And its impossible for the audience - as they can't see what any judge who may, or may not be watching at all. sees, or claims about seeing. We can't see more than one or two people at once, anymore than one judge not looking at the table can see 6.

It serves only one purpose - to allow the judges to reshape the leaderboard for the producer's, or their own ends.

And that can only have one result - - their scoring can't often be defended from whats seen , or obvious , so it suggest that there's something else going on.

The marks did change the leaderboard. Ore was made safer, Claudia less safe, and Louise was made safer.

I like the concept of keeping the couples on to let them do their whole routines. The trouble is the producer choosing the camera views does not have the same savvy view of the content of the dances that the judges have

Yes................

NEXT............

Actually it made Louise less safe.

The Cha-Cha-Challenge was dull and pointless, but the previous years' have been better. They should stick to the Swing-a-thon or Quickstep-a-thon for future series.

I completely agree.

As someone else has said, it made Ore and Louise safer and Claudia less safe, judges favourites perhaps.

to act as a "filler" I'd like to see all the celebs do a group dance, not marked, but just for fun, to see how they've all improved from the group dance in week 1

I quite liked the Cha Cha Challenge, aside from the dreadful camera work from the production team. Much better than last year's at least.

Let's not kid ourselves, it is simply a useful device to order the leaderboard so the best dancers have the best chance of getting through to the business end of the competition. And that's fine by me.

Bring back some good group dances instead, I remember the really good dirty dancing and remembrance jitterbug ones in Alesha's year and a good swing one the series after that. Unmarked by the judges but well choreographed and entertaining.

In one sense they are always accused of being fixed so yes. But in another sense every series there are fix accusations at different points so no.
The bottom line I suppose is that the judges and the public look at everything with different eyes.
Everything from themed weeks to 'athons' to quality of performance to choreography.
It is all a matter of interpretation.

Why peeps here have to make with tha conspiracy theories? Could it not be the producers are padding out the show and making the episode a bit special every chance they can?

They should all do a progressive (i.e. change partners throughout) Barn dance. I say it as a joke really, but it would be interesting to see them change partners and do all the same dance steps together!

I actually liked this cha-chathon better than the other -thons. I wouldn't mind it coming back.

Having said that, I don't know why they don't have another camera view and show that as a replay after the dance has ended. Many sporting events can do that sort of thing nowadays. Give the judges an extra few minutes to review the scores and then announce the results.

It's more logic than a conspiracy theory - the better dancers are always going to do better in the "athons" than the weaker ones, so the extra points help if they've had a bad night on their main dance, or create an even bigger gap (and therefore perception of the difference in class) if they had a good night. That's not rocket science.

And in a way, that's why the "athons" are perfect for this stage of the competition - the dancers left are predominantly very good, so why not have them face off against each other dancing the same dance, and experiencing as close to proper competition as they're going to get.

Yep. Agree with this. It's a good idea.
I also think the changing partners idea might have legs.

I like the idea that they spring the music as a surprise, and it was fun for the audience and viewers to see that all couples were able to dance good styles and keep going in them after 15 seconds; could not say the same back in Series 2 up to 9.

The PasoDoble-a -thon will be a right amazer!!

Almost two thirds. Much better than the referendum. They should go.