This lot have forgotten that the dancers are the stars, not the judges.
Their illogical, erratic and irregular markings are turning the show into a travesty. And as for their postulating and posing , not to mention Arlene’s panting dribbling and lusting after men young enough to be her grandsons are just time wasting and boring.
I don’t suggest we go back to the days when they just held up their score paddles and kept quiet, but this bunch of four have gone too far the other way.
Well done Brendan for speaking out.

The arguing between the judges has become very X-Factor-esque, and SCD is above that IMO.

I would personally keep Len as he tends to be the most reasonable of the bunch. He has his moments and doesn't generally mark anything below a 5 by he's usually pretty fair within his own 5 mark scoring system and I'm glad he's there to look at the technical side of things.

Arlene is cringe worthy and embarrassing to watch, Bruno must be on something and Craig....well he can and has been very fair in the past but I'm afraid his biases are making his marks a total mockery. He is starting to come across as not having a clue.

i really wish it wsn't the case but right now i couldn't agree more

well, maybe not toally new, but improved..they're turning into caricatures of themselves and it's getting ridiculous, i've always liked the fact that they are from different backgrounds and look at things in different ways but that's no excuse for being unprofessional

absolutely!

Craig should stay.

Craigs only failure is to be openly biased. Not so much with marks but with his comments. If he loves E and D he should explain and describe why, not say 'You know what I think of you two'. With comments like that he does not do his intelligence and experience justice. When it comes to marks, Craig, generally, uses his paddles 2-9 with extremes of 1 and 10. That's exactly what he should do.

The others clearly fail on over use of mid range paddles, and then they get themselves into sticky situations where they have no room for manoevre.

I think the judging lacks quality because they all spend so much time trying to think of witty comments and not enough time looking at the dance. OK, I am no dance expert, but some things seem straightforward to me..........either Emmas footwork was technically good, or it was not. Which one was it please?
Last edited by Kez100 : 29-10-2006 at 15:14

I agree with that but the rest can go.

I posted this on another forum but its the views of my father a dancer, a competitor, teacher and judge he is known for being outspoken but here is the relative bit that agrees with you fleckerl

"Well firstly the standard of judging on this show is appalling I have always thought it lacked quality - yes it is an entertainment show but surely the judging should be of a high quality.

I would change the adjudicating as follows:

Have a panel of judges 50% made up from ballroom and latin adjudicators of quality ie of a standard that would judge Blackpool (sorry Len but your not one of them)

The other 50% from different areas of performance.

Instead of 4 have maybe 12 and pick a panel of 4 for each week (regularly changing the panel to avoid one couple becoming judges favourites) failing that have a regular panel of 3 and add a guest judge each week through the series.

Last night was farcical the judging terrible, how could georgina be given an 8 yet Carol and Matt be given 6 by the same judge. How was Ray marked so low and to give Brendan a 4 was an insult. If the series is to have a fifth run, these things must be addressed - the viewing public are not fools and I would wager that many of them last night were puzzled by the marking that took place "

I really like Len, and Craig (when he doesn't give Erin a 2! ) But the other 2 gets on my nerves, especially Bruno.

Bendy, this would make two good debate threads.

Pasos and judge marks on one thread.

Foxies and judge marks on another.

I know we all have our favourites on here but I think we are all adukt enough to forget those to concentrate on these two threads. We all know where the strength was last night and with snippets from dancers and those in the know it would be very interesting. We could debate them and give Claudia some great ITT ammo in defence of Brendan.

agree Kez it would make good debating but unfortunately personalities will come into it. Brendan said it as it was last night whether the BBC liked it or not. The Bitter reaction of Arlene and Len saying he should go was pathetiic and thankfully the decision on who should go was not theirs.

Normally I'd agree with you but he lost the plot last night...His marking of the foxtrots went:

Emma - 8
Louisa - 7
Claire - 7
Carol - 6
Georgina - 5
Jan - 5

which is utterly ridiculous. Carol was better than all three he marked above her and Georgina was probably on par at least with Louisa. But he wasn't the only one. Take Len's for instance:

Carol - 8
Georgina - 8
Emma - 7
Jan - 7
Louisa - 6
Claire - 6

Georgina and Jan both too high there. Arlene surprisingly wasn't too far off...

Carol - 7
Emma - 7
Georgina - 6
Louisa - 5
Jan - 5
Claire - 4

Claire clearly wasn't the worst though and Carol should have been one mark higher than Emma. Finally Bruno:

Emma - 8
Carol - 8
Louisa - 8
Georgina - 7
Claire - 7
Jan - 7

Well, he didn't actually hurt anyone with his scoring but I'd say only 1 out 6 of those was actually 'right'.

You can see why the pros (as voiced by Brendan) are stumped by the scoring because there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. Each judge had their 'wtf?!' moments with their scoring last night.

The whole judging on the show is becoming a joke, it is inconsistent and biased, Craig decide-ding on what a couple may get from training footage in the week. I believe the couple should be marked on what performance is given on the night. Also the judges in not just SCD should learn that Simon Colwell has that persona they need work on their own original gimmick.

Whether or not the "judges" feel they have to perform to try to keep up with the in fighting on the x factor god alone knows - but they REALLY REALLY DON'T the x factor is a real turn off because you know the minute Simon says something nasty the other two gang up on him if Sharon is nice about one of Simons acts then so is Louie - yawn yawn soooo predictable :yawn: :yawn: - SCD is a fantastic show please don't stoop to the behaviour of the three wise monkeys on x factor you are better than that!!!!!

So Craig marked the foxies:

Emma - 8
Louisa - 7
Claire - 7
Carol - 6
Georgina - 5
Jan - 5

The only thing I see wrong there is Carol, and Craig found her routine boring (I disagree, but he always loves creativity). His Emma score was in line with his Emma comments. He said he thought her footwork was good.

The other three, as I said before, really get themselves cornered by lack of use of the ten paddles:

Carol - 8
Georgina - 8
Emma - 7
Jan - 7
Louisa - 6
Claire - 6

Georgina was nowhere near as good as Carol and there is just not enough differentiation.


Carol - 7
Emma - 7
Georgina - 6
Louisa - 5
Jan - 5
Claire - 4

Very wrong for Claire and Carol who should have been higher, and Georgina who should have been lower.

Emma - 8
Carol - 8
Louisa - 8
Georgina - 7
Claire - 7
Jan - 7

Just plainly ridiculous. Bruno has lost the plot. No way you can put all five girls just one mark apart.
Last edited by Kez100 : 29-10-2006 at 17:58

Its Ok staying get rid of these 4 but this is light entertainment and NOT a dance competition.

IF you say it is then

You will be saying Gladiators is related to the Olympic Games next

There is no conflict between light entertainment and consistent marking.

Len is a big disappointment for me this series. He is so rude and insulting. Why did he have to tell Brendan to leave the elegance to the others? They were the most elegant couple there. Out of order, Len. Need to apologise in public for this.

To give Jan the same marks as Claire just doesn't make sense. Jan forget her steps and their performance was full of errors.
Last edited by dottiep : 29-10-2006 at 18:25

The Judges were particularly poor last night and the squabbling all got a bit too playground for me. They were biased, inconsistent and the whole thing has the air of a 'performance' in itself these days, which is a big disappointment.

If I wanted panto I'd watch The X Factor.

THink they ALL SHOULD GO!

What annoys me, is people posting on here to the effect that, we must expect OTT judges and marking because it’s preordained to bump up ratings.
This isn’t X Factor, Flop Idol or Lame Academy.
These professional dancers are at the top of their profession, not only do they dance but they also teach. They are putting their reputations on the line. To have personal insults heaped on their amateur partner is not good for the pro’s image.
Look at it this way: A pro gives 1:1 intensive dance training to a celeb, but all the judges do, is ridicule the result… ‘Like Frankenstein’…. ‘All the charm of an autopsy’ etc, etc.
The public may wonder if it’s worth signing up their sons/daughters or even themselves, for dance classes from that particular pro.
You can’t turn a pigs ear into a silk purse overnight. Ask the dance students who post on here. It takes years of dedication to get it right and yet these judges are, each week, trying to outdo themselves in the insults and daft marking of people who are attempting to do the impossible and should be credited for trying and then constructive criticism given apropos how they can improve.
I too am fed up with the judges and am fast going off the program. The first two series were good, last years started to go a bit pear shaped with a few of the judges thinking they were bigger than the show, but this years is pure farce. I really hope that we can get a whole new bunch for next year, or I can see the viewing figures plummet

Brilliantly said Tasi

Well said Tasi, I would just add to this that being on the US version of strictly has perhaps given Len and Bruno (is that the right two ?) big heads and has contributed to the fact that they feel like celebs themselves now.

After four series, the judges seem to think that they are 'personalities' in their own right and that the show has become as much about them as it has about the actual dancing. It's a shame things have turned into the Simon Cowell School of ham play-acting!

Tasi, thank you this was such a good post.