There's no light & shade, it's all sunshine & roses & a ten from Len!. Its tainted what has otherwise been an enjoyable 1st series for me. It affects the whole show knowing each dance will score an 8 or above. Just think how much more interesting it'd be if they had to really fight for a good comment. Only Craig seems to give an assessment that isn't showered with praise. Even X Factor isn't this lenient & we all know the manupulation behind that .

Have to blame the audience, they boo and hiss anything remotely negative. They even boo constructive criticism. So depressing.

Totally agree audience let them have there say, I would like to know what they really think of some of the pro's performances, the wife was a good amateur ballroom dancer and sees things I don't I have know dancing experience other than some rather bad Bacardi induced dancing at various venues around the north east

Louise's Samba was praised by all the Judges and IMO was way over marked. Louise through out her Samba was looking at the floor & not one Judged picked up on this

Its ridiculous, they should score it accordingly to how its professionally danced without room for error. If they **** up even slightly they get a 5 end of story. On Take Two the other day it revealed that Louise had the highest score at this stage compared to past female contestants. Louise said its satisfyin getting ten's & I thought well its not hard this series!. Its no coincidence these celebs are breaking records this series when the judges are this easily pleased. I think even Rinder scored a 10.. So they sayin someone like him performed it to perfection like a professional would? Ridiculous .

The counter argument is that the show is trying to promote the celebrities and their successes rather than always criticizing their failures. The celebs will always have some faults in their dancing (compared to professionals). The narrative of the show is the same every year - celebs start off as untrained dancers and learn to become good dancers.

Its Strictly Dancing & should be critiqued as such. No one this series should have scored a ten except maybe Danny & perhaps Ore's jive. They shouldn't dish them out like free dinners. It kills all sense of anticipation, hearing their scores knowing its guaranteed to be above 8 even if it was average at best.

I agree. If two dances are different in abilty and quality, then mark them differently.

Many on this forum have questioned the crazy number of draws we have been seeing this year in the final leaderboard when many dances are clearly not equal. In one week 8 of the 14 couples shared a rank with at least one other couple. That in part is caused by the judges using such a small range of marks as you have highlighted.

Thank You Karen, you're the only one that has mentioned Louise's eyes

You've come in a bit late. It's been very good in the past, but now it's degenerated into pretty much a farce.

I don't expect it to improve...

Don't blame the audience . It's the producers through their enforcers/floor managers who are responsible for all that wooping/shouting/clapping/booing . They instill into them before any show starts they want lots of OTT noise and if you don't, I've read people who've been say, they've been intimidated by them .

That's why Len doesn't bother anymore because the audience have been told to boo any negativity

The bit they record for Sunday, certain parts are recorded again and again, usually because the audience weren't enthusiastic enough .

This was mentioned during Jameliagate! Apparently no-one stood for Peter's dance and they filmed a standing ovation again and added it in!

I wonder how much of that is encouraged by the producers?

Probably most of it. Its all very pantomime these days ( oh no it isn't).

On a serious note, I really don't know why the producers think it funny or even acceptable to encourage the audience to "boo" Len, when he is simply doing what he is paid to do - judge and offer critique and comments. To be honest, if I was on the panel as a Professional judge and the audience started booing when I started to talk, I really wouldn't be very happy about it - its really rude and disrespectful - but perhaps the pay compensates for that. Additionally, whilst they are booing, its clear that they are not even listening or trying to understand what he is talking about. I really dislike this and don't find it remotely amusing.

I'm with you I always used to look forward to Lens remarks probably the only time I would learn anything in the whole show

Pantomime sums it up exactly. I yearn for the earlier series when you could enjoy the dancing and, when there was an exceptional dance - usually towards the end of the competition - then there would be a standing ovation. These days they are up and down like yo yos regardless of how good the dance is and all this whooping and booing is getting on my nerves. Its about time the producers realised that we, the viewers, don't like it. I'm sure the audience don't like being made to do it either.

I hate it too and wish the producers would stop trying to engineer it.