This is an honest question - not looking to stir trouble up ....lol .....

I keep reading about Darrens massive improvement over the weeks yet I have the impression his marks and position on the judges leaderboard has been pretty much consistent throughout the series.

(I could well be wrong - feel free to tell me so if I am).

Hasn't his marks actually dipped just recently. I remember him dancing fantastically well around week 3 time with 8's and 9's in his score.

As a quick guide, he got his worst ever score (19) in week 1, and he got his best ever score (35) this week. A few kinks in the graph on the way, as you would expect with a variety of dances, but it looks like an improvement to me.

Can't say fairer than that - if he got his best score this week - I stand corrected.

He's done so well. But above all, he's always smiling, happy, loving every minute - brilliant attitude to the whole thing!

With Darren it's not like he has come one week and stunned us all of a sudden. He's just graudally improved over time. I think that's why you don't notice it as much.

I think it has been a gradual improvement but I do feel that when they started doing 2 dances a week the standard stayed pretty much the same and hasn't noticably got any better. Of course, the fact that they can do 2 dances and not dip in ability shows improvement too but in a different way.

I would just point out in my defence though , the general concensus is that he has shown massive improvement, off the BBC official website his sequence of marks has been :

19, 30, 33, 34, 28, 30, 34, 30, 32, 35 ,29

Which would coincide with what was my overall impression, however well or otherwise he has danced the figures (for what they are worth) does not indicate 'massive' improvement .

Darren has improved but he has dipped in the last couple of weeks despite getting the 35 (should have been 36 naughty bruno), i think that it needs to be taken into context with zoe and colin, his scoring has dipped over recent weeks it wasn't so long ago that he was scoring as much as colin and even beating him, as the series goes on the stronger colin and zoe have got darren's plateau has started to flatten out a bit over the last 2/3 weeks.

Be interesting to see the other two in comparison.

Tend to agree with Hellywelly regarding them having to do 2 dances each week.

I would say Darren has definitely shown improvement over the weeks. He is comletely focussed on what he is doing, in a way that James, for all his protesation, was not.

I think Darren has worked hard and has a good attitude and certainly, if he doesn't win, will not be a bad loser.

I think being a top sportsman helps with the determination too. You can see it in Colin, setting targets and aiming to achieve them. They get all the sports psychology stuff to help them focus.

Same with Denise in Series 2 - she was so driven!

True - and Darren has that as well. In fact, the sports psychologist they had on ITT commented on it and how he psyches the others out.
Wouldn't want to play Monopoly with either of 'em - but would pay to see them play each other!

The thing with Denise was as well, she had just finished competing in the Olympic games at the event where she was the reigning champion. You can't just flick the switch to non-competitive and do 'just for fun'.

[quote=thinker]Be interesting to see the other two in comparison.

Combined scores, starting with Week One

Zoe 35 32 29 36 35 36 38 32 36 36 33
Colin 32 36 27 31 32 32 34 36 37 37 30
Darren 19 30 33 34 28 30 34 30 32 35 29

By dance = Zoe score first, followed by Colin then Darren

Waltz 35 37 35
Foxtrot 36 32 34
Quickstep 36 36 30
Am. Smooth 36 37 32
V. Waltz 36 34 28
Samba 35 32 29
Tango 38 27 33
Cha-Cha 32 32 19
Rumba 32 36 30
Jive 29 30 30
Paso Doble 33 31 34

Hope that helps

Can anyone tell me from grittys figures who has got the best combined Ballroom/Latin total using their best score in each category.

Zoe: Tango 38, Samba 35, Total = 73
Colin: Waltz 37, Rumba 36, Total = 73
Darren: Waltz 35, Paso 34, Total = 69.

I'm not sure it's possible to assess a dancer's improvement from the judges scores alone because:

- the judges are not totally consistent from week to week

- there's always going to be an element of "relativity" in the marking

- the judges expectations rise as the competition progresses resulting in harsher marking in the later stages

In addition, if a dancer is significantly better at ballroom than latin (or vice-versa), the week-by-week scores are bound to be a bit up-and-down.

Just to add that of the couples who have reached the final, Darren & Lilia have been the firs to take to the floor on 3 separate occaissions; not likely to be anything sinister, just the way things worked out.

The judges have a stated policy of giving middling marks for the earlier couples to perform on a Saturday night, in order to retain the ability to give higher marks to couples who perform later (hope you can understand my meaning with this one, been a long day). This means that for at 3 weeks, one couple had no chance of achieving the higher marks, regardless of the quility of their performances on those nights.

thanks SCD_Dave

but wouldn't that be unfair if the first couple to take to the floor will get lower marks irrespective of their performance?

It is, but if you watched ITT tonight (13th) Len mentioned it.

Going back to the questions posed. Darren's first week produced a very low score for his cha-cha, from the second week his scores have been consistent.

I wonder if that first week gave the impression that he was going to be awful, and bob along at the bottom until he was voted out. But, he upset the applecart the second week by putting in a credible performance.

The third week he in fact beat both Zoe and Colin and I think that's when the 'ugly duckling to swan' storyline began.

I see Darren in the SCD hurdle race.
The first week hurdle was the judges.
The second week hurdle was beating James.
The third week hurdle he drew alongside all his competitors
The fourth week hurdle he started chasing Colin
The fifth week hurdle differentiating his style from Colins
The sixth week hurdle is there enough time to catch Colin
The seventh week hurdle with the public support he believes he can do it
.............................................