That'd be it in a nutshell.

Ok I didn't realise sorry, but I do not think thats its the Zoe factor all over again. Emma did make mistakes last night, but she managed to act professional about it and cover them, like she did with her mistake in the Jive. I don't think the judges 'bumlick' her. This series I think that every judge has their favourite, which I do agree is wrong, because as you say it does give this impression that celebrities are being favoured and its wrong. I just think that this year we have such a selection of celebrities that have potential to improve that to say who's going to go next is impossible.

I couldn't believe it when the judges gave Emma and Darren 8's after saying that her footwork was dreadful. It was the same last week when Bruno gave Louisa 10 even though she did not deserve it. No matter what mistakes Emma and Louisa make, the judges will still mark them up.

Same with The judges having a go at the cape part of Mark and Karens routine yet still giving them a high mark. It happens to all the couples, so I don't see why people are just on about Emma and Darren, if someone could explain it would be nice.

Yeah but last week Bruno had no option but to mark Louisa 10 seeing he had given Emma a 9 and Louisa was better... This week there was no need to mark Emma 8 no matter what was said... Her footwork was poor (from what I saw) and I felt she was off beat (but that's just the music being a musician I could be reading too much into that)... The 7's maybe were ok to be given but I thought it was a performance worthy of 6's at the most...

I honestly think Craig is blind to Emma's faults - and a lot of the viewers can see it - that's what could cause her a problem in a few weeks time, I'm not saying it's the Zoe factor yet, but there's a real possibility it could happen. Emma's not my favourite, but it will be a real shame for the competition is she does go too early because of prejudices the public build up about her - which will be down, mainly, to some of the judges. I also think Louisa could have trouble later on for much the same reason. Jill never suffered from this because she was as good as they said, so there was no percieved over marking, Zoe (who was my fav last year) did suffer because on occassions, although good, she seemed overmarked in comparrison to others, especially when she made clear mistakes that weren't commented on.

Mark's my favourite, and Arlene obviously has a huge crush on him and gushes about him, but her marking is always in line with what the others think, in fact she's marked him lower then other judges on at least one occassion.

The only thing that went wrong in Mark and Karen's dance was the cape part - and I think they got docked a mark for it from all the judges - outside of that Mark's footwork was spot on, he held the pose, the dance flowed and the whole routine, which was very difficult, worked brilliantly. Throughout Emma's routine her footwork was bad, her posture wasn't great either - so the marks should have reflected that. Mark made one mistake, Emma made numerous ones.

Please don't think I'm getting at Emma, I want her in there as long as possible, doing good and getting better, I just don't want her in there with her mistakes being ignored by at least one judge, I want her there on ability, which I believe she's got, not on a judge's blindspot for her.

With the disclaimer that I haven't seen the routine yet - the impression I get about Mark and Karen's routine last night is that it was a shame about the cpaes going a bit out of sync, but it was very good, and might have got even better marks (the routine itself being of a very high standard) had they not had the out of sync bit.

Bit like Craig (I think) talking about (I think) Emma, maybe her Jive? Not sure. Anyway the impression I got was "it would have been a 9 without the mishap) - basically how low a mark someone gets when something goes wrong is not just about what went wrong but also about what mark they would have got if everything had been spot on. So sometimes a routine will be danced perfectly but only be worth an 8 or a 9 total, whereas if a routine is exceptional and might have got a 10, then a small mishap will still leave that couple with an impressive score.

Just my take on some of the "making mistakes but getting high marks) thing - once again, I haven't seen last night's dances yet, but I know this has come up in previous series, with judges giving high marks despite criticism because they were zeroing in on detail and because of high standards in the routines to start with.

I agree with that...

I would hate for people to dislike her just because the judges overmark her... The same can be said about Louisa though I think that they are both kinda being played off each other... Everyone keeps comparing them and so on...

I know what you mean, but then I think that Bruno is blind to Louisa's faults. I just don't think with this series anyone can say who goes next, its too unpredictable. I think that Darren and Emma can pull it out of the bag again, this is Darren were talking about, he can make her excellent. I understand what your all meaning I'm just hoping your wrong because I believe that Emma has the potential to go far in this competition, and I would hate to see her go early in the competition. I just think that we have the same problem with other couples in this series, like Louisa said "If we're in the middle we have more of a chance of going"
Last edited by *Nikie* : 29-10-2006 at 15:33

Spot on about Bruno and Louisa - need to watch my tape, but part of his mark seemed to be based on the fact she's young

Emma's got real potential, but away from the judging issues, it does slightly worry me that her performances seem to be going in a downward arch, whereas pretty much all the strong contenders are going upwards. Hopefully Darren and her will get time to turn things around

I'd like to see Emma go far, but if she keeps getting good marks for lacklustre performances, the judges are doing her no favours in the long run. When there are 10 couples there's a huge difference between coming first with the judges or last in terms of the points system: get it down to 5 couples and suddenly everyone's in a lot more danger.

I think they will. I do think that Bruno almost fvaour Louisa because of her age, and the fact that Vincent and her are Italian. Like he did with Ian last year, although I'm not sure why?
I think that when Darren and Emma get more time they will turn things around again, as I said before not every celebrity is good at every style of dance, like Peter with the Latin situation, yet he's pretty fab at the ballroom. I still think she will shine.

If Emma continues to be favoured or overmarked by the judges I don't think it will have the same effect as Zoe. Emma and Darren both have a massive fanbases that would have been voting for them no matter how good or bad they are. They'll lose on floating voters but still be more popular in the dedicated fan vote than say Matthew and Carol or Ray and Camilla.
I don't think Zoe or Ian had as a large fanbase from the start last series
Last edited by Eclipse80 : 29-10-2006 at 16:44

absoulutely not true

I am glad some of the girls are getting better scores - if it were down to this forum, I think we would have to hand the crown to Mark now!

Dont see how Emma and Darren are in trouble?
Judges marked them 8,7,7,8 -2nd highest score of the night and not a lot of discrepancy between judges marks which must mean they all thought it was pretty good?
If anything, Louisa is more in trouble due to Bruno - her marks had much more discrepancy so viewers become confused then realise more that Bruno is overmarking.
I like Emma and Darren (they are my faves) -emma just needs to listen to darren more and train as much as she can.

Also agree with Eclipse about Emma and Darrens fanbases - not likely to let them down.

I think Emma and Darren should still be given a chance and still have a lot of potential. They cannot be blamed for any of the judges' bias or overmarking, which Bruno is usually guilty of in every series! They just need to polish up the performances.

Thank you! Someone agreeing with me. They have the most consistent scores with the judges and the thing is they must all agree seeing as the scores are all similar. I totally agree about Louisa, with Bruno ludacris markings.
It seems like some people are blaming Emma and Darren for the judges being biased. I think that Emma and Darren have a very big fanbase, and to be honest I don't think Zoe did. I think that as I have said before this series is unpredictable, so we can't predict what happens next, look at Spoony for instance.
That was what I'd been trying to point out in this thread all along...

I agree. I think the judges have forgotten what a good celeb dancer looks like. Jill Halfpenny, Zoe Ball, Natasha. Nobody in this series is anywhere near these three. Also Colin Jackson. Bruno - 10 for Louisa's Jive? Could you even start to compare this to Jill's Jive? They really have lost the plot

The pressure seems to be getting to Emma, and I don't think she's relaxed or enjoying herself at the moment. It's still a bit lack lustre, and I would have expected Emma to be more "Eyes and Teeth".

Might be different next week when they have had more time to rehearse, but I don't think they are certs to win by any means.

Really? I'd say a lot of the better people this year are as good or better than Natasha. Jill just simply can't be touched, she will always be the best dancer on the show. Louisa, Emma and Carol have shown they are better at latin than Zoe, and Carol is getting very good at the ballroom. Matt has been more consisten than Colin was at this stage, nailing both the tango and the paso which were probably Colin's weakest dances, It's difficult to say whether Colin is much better than Mark or not.... At this time I'd say he was but if Mark continues to improve he'll probably reach Colin standard. I think he is allready better at the performance side of it (helped by Karen's great choreo).

I also do not see that Darren and Emma are "in trouble" either. The judges were consistent in their marking of their foxtrot, they pointed out the errors, which was essentially a lack of heel leads. The choreography was superb, hitting every single punctuation in the music, which was commented on by Craig, who is there to look at choreography, which is his speciality, and it was the routine which pulled their marks up, which is part of the overall performance. Emma "sold" the dance well, for want of a better word. I fail to see how coming second with a mark of 30odd is being in trouble. Emma was asked to do the CIN video very recently, which meant they had little time at the last moment for this particular routine. This does not mean they are in trouble any more than say Louisa who is favoured by Bruno for being a"little girl you can't be cruel to" as he put it, or anyone who has a y chromosome who is lusted over by Arlene, or ideed anyone else who ends up in the bottom half of the table. Emma and Louisa and Mark probably have the most natural talent for dance in the competition, and on that basis I would like to see them go a long way in the series.

Emma Bunton is not "in trouble"
No way will the BBC allow her to go out with so much effort put into her charity CD/video for Children in Need.

She's safe until after the17th of November, the date of the TV show.

Do you think they're daft or summat?

I have no sympathy when these celebs come on and say "we had no time to train" tough
They know they are going on the show so why book loads of other work in ? Or don't moan about it and do what James did last year or rather what Camilla did.

I don't rate Darren and Emma as a partnership it just doesn't sparkle they are over marked by all of the judges and I wouldn't pick up the phone to vote I can tell you.