I was shocked to see there was a lift in Louise and Kevin's waltz this week and the part that shocked me was when it still received three 10's despite the rule break!
I looked at it a few times and it definitely happened, both Louise feet left the ground on one of the spins - if you want to look at the youtube clip it happens towards the end of their dance around minute 3.00 (it's long because of the intro being included).
And the BBC come out and say there is no way there is any fixing going on the judges vote independently - makes a joke of it all really

Don't be silly, just because she didn't get marked down for an illegal lift doesn't mean it's a fix. You have no more evidence of a fix than any of the other ridiculous conspiracy theories flying around here, let alone any rationale for there being any sort of fix in the first place.

Yes, I spotted the illegal lift, looked to me as if she was meant to keep her foot on the ground but failed to do so. It's quite likely the judges didn't spot it - it was near the end of the dance so they were probably keying in their scores or writing notes. Or they'd already submitted their score before that happened. Or they cut her some slack because they viewed it as an unintentional lift.

Doesn't change the fact I thought she was overmarked, but conspiracy? No.

At least we agree that it was overmarked

I think it has been said before that the judges submit their marks about 10 seconds before the dance actually finishes, so if the couple mess up their finale and fall over in a heap it won't change any scores.

I think if it's totally unintentional rather than choreographed they tend to let it go. I've spotted similar with other couples in the past who haven't been penalised.

If it was Claudia that did it the judges would've made it known.

It might be OK to "let it go" in a dance that is getting middling/average scores ... but when a "10" is being awarded I don't think there should be any such leverage

It makes a mockery of getting top marks ( a faultless score )

None are faultless.

Well, without generalizing, and sticking to the particular dance we are discussing, Craig down-marked for Louise's no-neck hunched shoulders

So that's two faults, at least, that have been identified

Not a 10 at all really, was it ?

If it was any other celebrity. Yes, both her legs were off the floor. I noticed it when they performed it. I thought it was very bland. When they can say that Louise was the best Cha cha dancer, this is nothing. Add to that the raised shoulders, I didn't see that but
Craig was really annoyed that the other judges had ignored it.

And the other judges seemed to be really annoyed that Craig was so concerned about it.

Claudia asked Craig about his score of 9 and he said that the dance was not perfect to get a 10, I think he is right, add to that an illegal lift?? Normally Len is the first to raise the red flag.

Yes I did, but dared not mention it on here. After all, St Kevin of Grimsby can do no wrong

Illegal lifts normally gets a point deduction, so even if you ignore the elbows, maximum 9???

And Craig himself said he thought it was a part of the choreography he didn't like but let's not let that get in the way of a bit of bashing eh?

I'm pretty sure there are plenty of faults in many dances that haven't been obviously picked up on. Good job it is an entertainment show rather than a proper dancing competition mind.

Hi Domestos, Come on. We are discussing some facts here and why are you calling it 'bashing'??. Why are we not allowed to say anything negative or say that we don't like Louise's dancing??

Hi Sarah, of course people can dislike Louise's dancing, I mean you have done nothing but air your views very plainly but to say any dance is perfection (in competitive terms) is pretty much untrue. And there is a huge difference between a deliberate lift, such as Aljaz and Daisy a few weeks back and an accidental one and all I am saying is that I think the judges know the difference.

I would say that whoever the celebrity was. Would you?

No, not really.

If I am not wrong, I think the judges have deducted points for accidental lifts. Brendon is the only one who used to defy the judges, but I am sure the accidental ones have been punished before. I still remember Len saying there was an illegal lift and the celeb didn't realise that she had raised both legs. It has happened before. We are talking about 10s here, if another celeb had got a 10 with an illegal lift, yes. If they only got a 8 or 9, who cares. I can't remember Daisy's dance, may be I didn't watch that week. What was her score?? Did she get 10s??

None of the judges have said that a 10 is for a perfect dance. Craig said that for him it's when he gets completely taken by the routine, Len said in a previous series that he'd given one dance a nine and he thought that one later on in the night was better so scored it accordingly.

Craig was referring to her shoulders in what he called the Jazz section and recognised that it was part of the storytelling but he would have preferred the shoulders to have not come up so far.

The fact that it was mentioned is more evidence that Louise is not subject to favouritism. They could have chosen not to mention Craig's critique of her in Len's Lens if they had wanted.

No, because it was a deliberate illegal lift and Aljaz admitted it, or at least didn't deny it.

If it was an unintentional lift then it was a mistake and therefore not deserving of 10s.

Another not picking thread about Louise...there must have been a dozen of them this weekend. I get it..you want your favourite in the final instead of her. Now maybe that will happen and maybe it won't, but let the dancing do the talking and don't rely on conspiracy theories and mud slinging. I'm being quite put off of some contestants...sometimes their fans really are their worst enemies.

I spotted it, but then I was watching a different dance to the judges.

Craig has penalised plenty of celebs for "illegal lifts" in the past...

For example, Kara was deducted 1 point by Craig because her toe was 1 cm off the floor, it could have been the rhumba but I may have been proved wrong, even though it was an accident he still classed it as an illegal lift.

Craig is not consistent regarding down-marking lifts... depends who is the celeb, he has his favourites and will mark accordingly