A 146 people agree with Brwndan accordng to the poll on the top of The page and 29 people dont agree with him

My opinion of the judges hasn't changed much at all. I still like them all (and still like taking the mickey out of them).

It's still just an entertainment show, and whether they give a score of 6 or 4 or 8 to a celeb who is mostly on there to revive or enhance their career (yes, unfortunately, that is the reason a lot of them are on there, as well as to learn a new skill and have fun), it really isn't going to make much difference to justice and fairness in the world.

If people would get as passionate about the real injustices in this world as they do about the scoring on an entertainment show, I have a feeling that 800 million people in the world wouldn't be starving!

So I reckon Brendan isn't much of a hero, just another entertaining aspect of an entertainment show.

Yes it should be just an entertainment show.

Be nice if the judges realised that as well.

I'm sure they do, why else wheel out all those cliches every Saturday night when commenting?

Or spend all week rehersing the spontaneous and off the cuff quips?

Exactly!

They're on far too much anyway compared to what it was before.

*yawn*.

To me the dancers, costumes, music, - before Laurie Holloway's disappearance- that's the Beeb for you, spend 10million a year on Jonathan bleeding Ross, and can't spend on a decent orchestra for a top dancing show -are more important.

The Judges have been given too much of a role now, anyway.

It's supposed to be about the dancing, not the Judges trying to outdo each other with the best quips, which they have probably been practising for the entire week

Brendons criticisum of the judges is completly fair .

How can the same dance be judged s differantly scores ranging fom 4 to 7 or 8

All the judges this serris seem to have faviourites apart from Len

Craig Emma
Arliene Mark
Bruno Louise

Looking at a site from US about dancing with stars

Copied this one comment talking about Len

"I can't remember the judging being this non consistent last year. You can't praise someone one week for doing non foxtrot moves in a foxtrot...and then begrudge someone the next week for it. Hell if I was Cheryl I would have seen Joeys and been like hmm...that got good scores? Maybe I can shake ours up a little...I have seen this kind of judging all season long and it's driving me crazy. "

Do we see a pattern forming?

THanks for that Tissy.

Craig explained Emma's marks exactly in those terms - - and he mentioned most of what you did - everything else but the heels was good or very good and in most professions you would mark anyone at the 8 level if you had a really good performance marred by one consistent fault.

They don't have the time to explain more and it might not help anyway. If they say they like it and give more reasons the technical woks will still claim that they saw some mistake. If the basis of the mark is an overall impression that it looks "good", is dynamic, is dramatic, interprets the music or flows well it will still look odd to viewers who don't think so or are marking on some other grounds.

The point about Brendan was that his complaint personally had nothing to do with anyone elses. Craig LIKED his performance and marked accordingly. Brendan's problem was with Arlene who marked punitively and Len who marked it lower than Craig,. Peter's problem was with everyone - no one liked his effort - its nothing to do with favouritism or upseting a judge. Craig gave it two because he couldn't see any artistic or technical merit - which doesn't leave much to give marks for. Ray. Brendan felt was undermarked but thats straight back to the subjective issue of what you give someone if you think other people look more natural and more impressive - if thats what you see they get fewer marks .

As you say the marks overall work out with the judges prefering at least 3 of the contestants - its not as if they all like the same ones. They also even out on individuals - in fact some of the over and under marking is to make sure the total is right by compensating for other people's preferences - thats why you get 4s and 8s when everyone knows the answer is going to be 24..

Beyond that though you are not going to please everyone. if people think Ray or Matt or Carol are as good as Emma, Louisa or Mark they will not agree with the judges who are marking something they obviously don't see or they would prefer the same people. The people who vote for Peter because the judges were unkind to him and who saved him at the expense of someone better that week are just going to carry on voting for the weakest link anyway.

I think Brendan's outburst was actually precipitated by Len's totally unprofessional remark without the semblance of constructive criticism or reference to their performance. He was already incensed by some of the comments and marks before he went on but I'm sure that is nothing new. However, had Len restricted his comment to Claire's performance and said something constructive as the ballroom judge, I am certain it would not have kicked off.
Having said that, I think it was a good thing as it has created discussion and maybe Arlene will think again before she continues with her embarrassing display towards Mark who is clearly very uncomfortable with the situation. People have complained about her sexual inuendos which they probably wouldn't have done had this not happened.
Maybe the judges will think again about how they tell someone who has practiced 150 hours they don't like the performance, will realise that it is better to keep their favourtism to themselves and their comments restricted to the performance. A bit of comedy is OK but they aren't there as the main performers - they need to realise that.
So I have voted that I agree with Brendan.

I agree if len hadnt come out with you stick to the dirty stuff and leave the elegant to everyone else, then brendan probably would have held his tongue on the main show!

The remark had no technical value!! and was out of line, plain and simple!! top and bottom they dont like to be questioned!! they are not dancing gods! and they arent perfect!

Tomorrow is going to be very interesting - bearing in mind Brendan is doing the Salsa - "If they want dirty then they're going to get it" I just hope for the BBC, Bruce & Tess's sake we don't have the same Punch and Judy show that we had to endure last week. It would have been nice if the judges accepted on tomorrow's programme that their comments have been too personal at times. I thought as Head Judge Len was supposed to keep the other three in check - clearly not the case.

I can't help feeling it's Fireworks weekend in more ways than one!

I feel like Len has shot himself in the foot. I think his "stick to the dirty stuff" was an attempt to make a comment that didn't specifically criticise aspects of their foxtrot - in the same situation, Craig might have said "the footwork was shoddy, the routine was dull" etc., but Len tries not to make such specifically negative comments, but rather to highlight the positive. In this instance, probably not having found much he could praise, he chose to say the comment he made, which unintentionally ended up sounding worse than if he had actually made specific criticisms.

I hope Len learns that sometimes it doesn't pay to be over-nice!

Len wasn't being nice and there was nothing wrong with Brendan and Claire's foxtrot - it certainly was not so bad that he couldn't say a single positive word. He could have said Claire managed the foxtrot heel thingy and that she looked wonderful and that they look good together and should continue working like that. There was plenty to praise - he manages with everyone else. He was just being nasty and I don't think he even bothered to look at their dance but spent the 90 seconds trying to conjure up what he considered to be a witty comment. As Claire said, she is still waiting for some constructive criticism from the judges.

Well, there must have been something wrong with it! They certainly didn't produce a 10 out of 10 dance!


^ But this bit I agree with.


But maybe he didn't agree with you on those things!

It wasn't a10 out of 10 performance but if his comment was the best he could say as the ballroom expert then every judge should have given them 2 points. But they were as good as some of the others - better than Jan, Louisa and Georgina on the night. I don't suppose Len did see what I saw, I wonder if he was looking anyway - but he'd need glasses not to see how wonderful she looked and if he doesn't agree then it proves to me he actively dislikes the couple - experts have said she did the heel-thing so he could have said that. She made no mistakes with her steps - he could have said that too. I really can't believe he was trying to be nice, quite the opposite.
Last edited by Liz G-S : 03-11-2006 at 12:43

She wasnt hanging on to brendan she mearly held his arm tooo high!!

but she wasnt hanging on

and she did the heel leeds!!

i totally agree with Brendan. The judges would say it was bad and give it a 7 or they would say there was good things in it and it was their best performance and give it a 4.

I totally agree with what Brendan said and I have full respect for him for when, what and how he said it. If it wasn't said like Brendan did, the whole unfairness that felt by the viewers would be buried after the show. The BBC will ignore all the complaints (which I'm sure they are many) and try to illustrate a beautiful 'reality' of this show by using their typical and powerful papaganda technique. Leaving the majority of the viewers' feeling unfullfilled. Eventually this show will be killed because viewers will get fed up with it and either turn the telly off or switch to other channel and of course, no more vote.

For this reason I think Brendan is a hero for the show, someone who is genuinely passion about dancing.

Hes totally right!!!!! The judges have their favs..........

The Judges have been pretty clueless and shockingly inconsistent in their scoring, but its all getting a bit too X Factor now, what with all the controversy and mock fall-outs. They need to get back on with the dancing.

Right place and definitely right time - the judges had it coming - and for them to go that bit further in the results show and basically try to lead the voting public against Brendan for his outburst was unforgiveable and very unprofessional