Louise and Claudia had fairly suitable music. Danny had a disco track to do a tango to which nearly everyone on here predicted would be frantic as it would have to be to stay in time with the music. The music wasn't staccato at all and had no stillness to it. It'd be impossible to strangle an authentic Tango out of it.
To me it was as good a performance, if not better than anyone else's and they had to mark it in accordance. I definitely recognized plenty of Tango steps but they were over in a flash. Ore got high marks for a very lacklustre dance so there was nowhere to go scoring wise and Danny could have danced Louise's routine in his sleep.
Claudia was horrendously overmarked two weeks ago with that jive which ultimately lead to another dancer ... who danced better on the night ... going home. Last nights salsa was great but it was a gymnastic display ... something she excels at obviously. There wasn't a lot of salsa content otherwise (something Will got hammered for) and she looked unsteady and a little hesitant at times.

yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,yes,no,

It is a matter of opinon

Aren't we all at the stage now when our faves are being 'undermarked' and the ones we don't like are being 'overmarked'? I do wish the judges's marks didn't count next week so that we really could get the three most popular couples in to the final. As it is, the scoring and the power of the dance off will rob us of one set of great dancers and carnage will ensue amongst posters.

While those comments are valid, they are totally unrelated to Danny's ability - the lack of stillness is a choreography issue. Yes, the tango wasn't very good, but not entirely down to the sleb dancer. Oaty is a good choreographer but this was flat and dimensionless as a dance.

Don't you know that everybody was overmarked

Fascinating group thinking though.

collaw - can you add some spaces to your yes no string - it looks a real mess with the fixed width DS has.

Thank you.

Danny - stupid music, technical errors
Claudia - still stopping and starting, clear error at end
Ore - boring, boring, boring, what is wrong with his top line?
Louise - boring, boring, boring, hardly any of required dance
Robert - recognisable dance but worst technician left

Honestly. I found the show really disappointing. Nobody should have got a ten. Including Danny.

If they had not given 36 to a lackluster dance at the start, they would not have needed to give 10s to Claudia, Dany and Louise.

And does it matter, 10s this season don't mean much.

I'm actually not disagreeing with you. Sorry, didn't phrase it well. Danny had some technical problems but the choreography did not allow him to dance a characteristic tango in the first place. Not entirely down to the music, although that didn't help.


No, not at all. Danny has been my favourite of the better dancers and I've been complimentary about his dancing and Oti 's choreography in the past. In terms of ballroom, I loved his QS and thought his foxtrot was a good attempt with just some unfortunate errors. I have liked his latin too. I just didn't like this tango.

Exactly. The judges do seem to have painted themselves into a corner rather to frequently with the scores this year.

I am getting very peeved that most couples get a decent critique, where one seems to get away with nothing but nice comments which then confuse people with the scores that follow. Are Louise & Kevin snowflakes who cannot take criticism?

Or (cynical hat on) are they trying to build up an "they mark them unfairly" vibe about Louise and Kevin to try and push them over the line? After realising what they did last year are they treading carefully in the hype stakes with her?

I don't think so. I think its about giving 'notes' and encouragement. The comments I think seek to provide some positive feedback together with a few things that are wrong. Perhaps the things that will make the biggest overall difference ( 80/20 rule) or ones that are easy to fix like thumbs!

If the critiques really were a resume of all the faults then the 'feel good' essence of a Saturday Night Family show would be rather flattened and the participants might become demoralised and demotiviated for the following week. Imagine how you would feel if you went into a work appraisial that simply listed every mistake you had made in 12 months and gave no praise. Chances are you would start to disengage and maybe give up trying.

Its not a real competition so we don't really need to hear every detail that was wrong, the aim is to make the show enthusiastic and cheery.

I mostly agree with this except I also agree with other posters that with the previous 9's and 10's it was hard not to give Danny 10's as imho it was the best dance. Then I'd choose Claudia's although too many lifts detract I think but she still really sold it and was fab.
I really enjoyed Judge Rinder's too, even though sometimes when you really love the song like that one, the band can't possibly live up and that can flatten a performance but I think he overcame that.
Whereas I love the Willy Wonka song too and was expecting great things because Ore's Singing in the Rain dance was so good and even though this was a slower dance...I expected more and it was just a bit dull. Is he toning down his natural exuberance and maybe shouldn't?

Also I wonder if having two great pro numbers topping and tailing the show is bound to make the celebs look a wee bit ordinary though even if they are very very good.

Same every year!

Small critiques help to explain the marks, such as the lack of heel leads as to why Danny & Oti did not get a 10 from Len. Made sense and obvious.

Why, given the lack of criticism did Louise & Kevin not get 10s across the board? No mention of lifts or minimal amount of in hold QS.

This is what I am getting at. People at home can see the obvious errors, but these never get mentioned to L&K by the judges.

It does not need complete evisceration of a routine, but a dash of critique, ameliorated by a dollop of praise to explain the marks.

LIve and learn thanks

That's fair enough if all competitors were treated the same, ie only ever given positive comments.

But they are not, a lot have a litany of errors given to them where as Loiuse and Kevin manage to incorporate a lift last week without it being mentioned. Just one thing. There are others,

JRs rumba was slated for not telling a story but others whose dances leave you going ehhhh? They have nothing said.

Personally Louise missed the whole spirit of Calamity Jane yesterday,

Loiuse was pretty dainty neat and placed carefully, not one word of which is associated with Calamity Jane who is crude, awkward, dirty and uncouth. There was an ehhhh moment for me but not one word rom the judges.

It's obvious Craig and Bruno fancy Danny. Both judges are gay men and Danny is a nice handsome chap so a bit of attraction results in them boosting their marks.

I dont see why the judges can't use a wider range of marks.
when they start off with a 9, it doesn't leave them much room if a better dance follows.
And if the third dance is even better? They're stuffed.

I think all the judges should give 5s across the board to the very first dance, regardless of how good or bad it is.
Then dance 2- is it better or worse? if it's better give it 7, worse gets a 3.
Then at least the dances are ranked in some sort of order.

Last night Len and Craig gave 9 to everyone apart from Robert (who got 8 from Len, 7 from Craig)
So Len and Craig thought that Ore, Louise, Danny and Cloudier all deserved the same mark? Really?

Add Darcey and the fact that Len has his nuts already pickled and it explains a lack of appreciation of female celebs.

I know you put a grin at the end, but that's a pretty sweeping statement.
Not everyone, gay or straight, thinks solely with their genitals

I don't think it'd work in terms of how you tell a story using the marks week on week. Using this system last week Danny's samba would have got 20, but this week his (much worse) tango would have got about 30 or 32. If they'd stuck Rinder on first instead of Ore, it would have ended up getting even higher. It doesn't make sense, in terms of talking to the audience, to have a system where a poor dance can score so much higher than a really good one, just because of the order the dances are performed in or how everyone else does. It'd really confuse people. Now at least all the "OH THAT WAS NEVER A 10!" is part of the pantomime.

Can you point out where Oti could have put stillness in a dance to THAT song?

Whilst I feel that the music Danny and Oti were saddled with was wildly inappropriate for a Tango, they danced it very well but....

... I felt it had too little tango in there and was danced quite a bit more out of hold than you would expect to see. The segment in hold with the backing dancers was very creative and in a different context would have looked great but it was really not, in my view, appropriate for a tango.

... and yes, I think it was overmarked.

None of the dances looked like the dance style that they were meant to be doing, e.g. Claudia and Louise.