...if they don't count towards the final vote? I can understand them not scoring Bolero, but scoring the performances only for the Bolero skaters to be decided by the public is outrageous!!! I mean, we are leaving the decision in the hands of the same people that kept a certain Australian actress in until the semi here!

Is anyone else cross/confused?

Dave

Yeah it does seem odd, and I think they should have contributed to the final score like all the other weeks.

According to Philip, it was to give us an "indication"!!!

An indication of how judges can go completely over the top. Clare's SUBG routine 29.5? WTf! Compare it to Kyran's Billie Jean which was superb and flawless. Clare was not as smooth over the ice and as a dancer myself, I wish that girl would straighten her legs!

I still cannot understand Duncan getting a 6! His routine was great and I really enjoyed it, but there was an obvious mistake. I was impressed with how quickly he recovered and how it didn't affect the rest of the performance, but I still believe that a 6 should be awarded for perfection.

The Judges awarded points tonight to give the public an indication of how they felt the celebs had performed tonight and to help us decide fairly on the technicalities and performance achieved, as coming from Bristol myself as does Robin, I understand he was not really happy with the media hype and favortism shown towards Kyran, he has indicated locally that tonight should have been judged on tonight alone - unfortunately, in my opinion it was not. I have said on here already I really liked Kyran and thought he was amazing, but tonight, I consider Clare was the one who moved forward, skated 100% foot perfect and showed an improved skating skill as well as strength and total trust in her partner in the lifts, beyond anything we could have expected. Unfortunately, England rugby players are the in thing at the moment and Kyran won.

They wanted to point out who were the best dancers to make sure they got one to the final stage and hey want to set the record straight.

When it gets to the final stage here they have a problem because they will almost certainly end up contradicting the public vote which will go on umpteen other things apart from the dancing. If they point out that Clare's Bolero matches Kyran in her skills and movement on her own and that her pair produce the more spectacular results they look like lemons when the public vote for someone they have just marked in second place.

Its the same with most reality shows. the public vote for all sort of reasons and the judges or producers knowing where the votes are going either avoid commenting any more or invent some story to make it look as if what is going to happen is somehow reasonable
.

Having been an ice dance fan since the years Torvil and Dean became British Champions, I can assure you that it s not necessary, nor possible for your legs to be straight on all lifts - techically, Clare's legs tonight were perfectly placed, straightened and in the right places at the right time for the lifts she performed. They are established lifts and positions and tonight, particularly in the Bolero spin, her body was absolutely perfectly in line with the positions they should have been.

I dont' quite agree with you there. I think Claire was really good, but her second routine defintely didn't deserve all the 6's as it was quite wobbly in places. I don't mind Claire, and I quite like her partnership with Andrei, but she doesn't skate as well as the others. I really feel she was over marked tonight. I'm neither a Duncan or Kyran fan, but they did skate on the ice and lift their partners. It's a complete different ball game for those two. Claire is graceful in the air, but she has someone who is used to lift females.

I think that, because of his size, Kyran was at a disadvantage in the flying routine. Even though I think Clare and Andrei are fantastic together and their Bolero was amazing, I did prefer Kyran and Melanie's. That is why I think that they deserved to win.
Having said that, I would have been happy for either couple to win - they all skated brilliantly!

Jason tends to mark for the performance rather than skating excellence.

Its all relative though and with only six marks to play with you don't have much leeway. If you see Kyran and give him 5 or 5.5 or whatever and then think Duncan is better overall and he does something that really impresses you do you give him 5.5 or say thats better than that? Do you give 6 or 5 for 5.7 or 5.9 on a scale with no decimal points?

I wonder if that's why they went over the top with all the 6's, they knew it wouldn't make any difference. Don't know why they change the scoring for the final, I think they still should have a judges score and a public vote.

I think the high scores for Clare were so that they had Male/Female final. Clares second routine was FULL of obvious flaws and the step movements were nowhere near as well in sync. as Kyran's..

Clare deserved good marks. Obviously she wasn't perfect compared with professionals, but given the nature of the competition, her marks seemed fair to me. Duncan's 6 was a joke IMO. If there is an obvious mistake, no matter how well you recover, then you cannot get a 6. His routine had plenty of energy, which Jason loves, but it appeared messy to me. I thought the judges should have made more allowances for Kieran's size wrt to the flying, but as the marks didn't count, then I don't suppose it matters.

I thought it was odd that the judges and Holly said that we were judging the skaters based on their final performance. Nice suggestion, but people will vote for whatever reasons they see fit, and when it comes to the final, people will inevitably vote based on who they liked in previous rounds as well as who they think improved the most.

Before last night's final I was hoping Kieren would win. After the show I was torn firmly between him and Clare, but mainly I wanted those two to dance Bolero. Across the whole series, both have had much more to offer than Duncan.