I heard that it's mainly based on height and weight so Erin get's the tall blokes and Lilia gets the small blokes. That way everyone has a "fair chance".
Hope that helped

There was a clip shown on the preview show I think of Zoe's Tango being judged. Len commented that Zoe lost her posture occasionally - Zoe agreed with that but Craig argued with Len!

I went into last year liking Emma but I went off her because the judges marks never seemed to reflect her preformance - she never scored below 30, especially for her foxtrot and cha-cha they both should've fallen below 30.

How the GBP judge contestants is generally the same whether they be male or female IMO....

Those that want to do their best and are willing to put in the training are judged as being better than those who want to win and are willing to put the time in for that instead.

Wanting to win and wanting to do your best are two very different things, the difference usually being a bit of humility!

Hence, I think that is why the public had much more affection for Jill, Mark, Darren, and Erin's partner(whose name escapes me for a second!) who lost out to Darren!

Emma and Zoe came across as wanting to win (to raise their profile), and Denise failed to make the cross over to entertainment from athletics by not realising that winning isn't everything, but doing your best for yourself AND your partner is!

That is why the die-hards amoung us like to know the pairings and not just the clelbs - it's about the partnerships, doing your best for yourself, but also for your partner and wanting to provide a good performance - it's not about winning so you are given a contract by the BBC.

IMO, the ones who haven't been favoured by the public are more concerned about making a tv life after Strictly, than Strictly itself!

I completely agree it is about the partnerships, not just the individual celebs. Mark and Karen for example had great chemistry, which means the 'sum becomes greater than the parts' and they become a joy to watch.

And what you say about the celebs being committed to doing their best, rather than to winning, also makes sense.

Except.... I never saw anything that made me think Emma or Zoe wanted to win, rather than do their best. It is surely inevitable for sportsmen AND women to be very competitive, it was always said that both Colin (Erin's partner) and Denise were, but Colin was admired and Denise much less so. To be honest I didn't personally take to Denise, I thought she lacked chemistry with her partner and she left me cold - but I didn't find her 'over competitive'.

I'd be interested in an example of a male celeb who was criticised for being over-competitive and too focussed on winning - I have never heard that said (maybe I just missed it).

I agree - it is about the partnerships/ability/chemistry

and contrary to the view expressed which has been a tad harsh on us female voters - not everyone is against a woman because she is competitve - it is about commitment and ability - look at Georgina IMO she didn't try and consequently paid the price same with Fiona - in the past I voted for Denise, Jill and Zoe - I didn't feel they were too competitive - I just loved the way they danced

Zoe did come over in the latter stages as being a bit desperate to win, and it was the combination of that and the the fact she was the judge's darling which cost her the competition.

Emma, IMHO was over confident in the early stages and didn't put in the required hours of practice at the beginning, and that fact was picked up early on and of course the favouritism didn't help her either. By the time she realised what had happened - it was too late and the unfancied (at the beginning) Matt overtook her because of his commitment throughout the series, and the fact that he had NO dance training to start with. Mark was exceptional from the word go and Louisa just bubbled!

It will be very interesting to see how the panel respond to the comments made about them and their remarks over the last 2 series. Hopefully they will be able to keep their personal opinions to themselves and judge the couples objectively - but I'm not holding my breath!

It's always interesting how different people's perceptions can be. Personally, I never felt that Zoe was desperate to win. Especially since, to me, once she got to the final she seemed content to settle for 3rd place and her competitive performances suffered because she didn't seem to put everything into them. Her best performance of the night was their showdance, which happened after she knew they were in 3rd place and the pressure was off.

It must have been so disappointing for Ian, who would naturally have been giving his all to the performances right up to the bitter end!

The blatant overmarking by the judges last year was ridiculous - I wish they'd go back to the days when 10's weren't handed out like sweeties. Although, hopefully, SCD will never reach the excesses of the marking on DWTS which is occasionally beyond belief.

Same here, she seemed far too random and emotionally distraught most of the time to be focussed on winning.

Louisa seemed more lackadaisical about practising than Emma, I don't know if she got any stick for that but if so I missed it. And if we're talking about desperate to win, look no further than Carol Smillie! (IMO)

I think viewers (me included) just sometimes either take to a celeb or they don't, for no real reason. It is great when we get a winner that almost everyone agrees on, like Jill or Mark.

It was very refreshing to see on DWTS that Laila Ali did not receive any negativity (as far as I could see) for her competitive edge.

(Although the handing out of 10's to anyone who made it down the steps with going A over T was not at all refreshing!)

So why does Anton always seem to get lumbered with the bolshy/highly strung partners, like Patsy Palmer and Jan Ravens (we'll wait to see how Kate does). Maybe the producers think his charm will calm them down, didn't seem to work with Jan or Patsy though.