I thought a lift was both feet of the floor, so surely doing a cartwheel, then splits, is taking both feet of the floor, i've done enough of them to know that, so why didnt they comment on that, or does a cartwheel not count cos your hands are on the floor?

And I didnt notice, B&K lift till i watched it again, so it couldn't have been intential otherwise we would remember it.

But you do that yourself...... your partner doesn't assist you in it, therefore its not a lift

I disagree ALL the couples were overmarked only a few were.
Kelly's posture wasn't great and there were a few momets she wasn't keeping up with Brendan. As Brendan's mistake resulted in Kelly stumbling then I believe they should be marked down. Just as if the pro choreographs a poor routine or a routine that the judges dislike then this usually shows in the score, even if it wasn't the celebs fault.
I didn't even notice the lift first time, even more reason that I don't think the dance deserved three 9's

I do agree that Kelly & Brendan were overmarked. In my opinion, they were overmarked last week too - I preferred Alesha & Matt's rumba was better than Brendan & Kelly's.

BTW, I also think that Kenny and Ola were undermarked.

It's worse than I'd thought. Len said on ITT tonight that he gave Gethin and Camilla an 8 because he'd given them a 7 the last time they'd danced, and this time was better.

So it's not only within the marks on one night that judges can paint themselves into a corner -- earlier nights get in there as well!

The judges are being pushed up from below by their overgenerous marks for the poorer dancers, and pushed down from above by their desire to make 9 mean 9 and 10 mean 10, with the result that worse dancers can get equal or higher marks than better ones!

A possible example: Len gave Gethin and Camilla an 8 because he'd given them a 7 last time, and he gave Kelly and Brendan an 8 because of their mistake and because he'd knocked Gabby and James down to 8 for a similar reason earlier.

With 9s already being handed out, surely this cannot be sustained!


Yes, I think you're right. Where are they going to go from here?

If he carries on like that and Gethin improves this week AND next he'll have to give him a ten ...

I see what Len was saying, it was silly to mark it like that but if he had seen an improvement then he had to mark him up... They really shouldn't be marking so high...

If we ignore the actual marks.......at the end of the day the overall scoreboard was a fair reflection of the contestants performances. We could argue about the dreaded mid-table positions all day but it was pretty spot on for me.

Horses for courses .
I recall my daughter , who was home salsa weekend last year ( for the fireworks at the Castle which invariably coincides closely with her birthday ) watching Mark and Karen and asking who was the pro .
She does dance herself, and didn't know who Mark was , she loves the show but had no TV at uni to watch and had seen nothing last year at all .

Each to their own i suppose ...but i always enjoyed watching Mark and Karen

As for the original question yes i think Kelly and Brendan were overmarked last Saturday and also week 2 - didn't enjoy their tango at all but that's my personal opinion

Also think that Kenny and Ola were undermarked too !!

Well, i think the reason I missed the Gabby "lift" the first time round was due to the stupid camera work, which was more or less from the waist up at that point, so couldn't see at first glance.

But - and if there are any techinically knowlegeable dance bods out there please can you help me out? - did the moves by Kelly and Gabby count as jumps rather than lifts, as they were self-propelled, and could possibly have been done without their partner?

Having watched Brendan and Kelly's Tango back, I finally realised what this 'lift' was that the judges didn't like.

For me, using the correct definition, I do not think that this was a lift. Kelly's feet were below knee level and left the floor for about one beat of music. Yes, she jumped and this could have been danced without support but then she would have broken hold and in Ballroom that would not be allowed. Even so, the key criteria is the height of the feet and length of time off the floor.

I think Len was being picky, maybe to counteract reports of favouritism.

[quote=Thess;18874413]Having watched Brendan and Kelly's Tango back, I finally realised what this 'lift' was that the judges didn't like.

what do you mean Thess, the lift that the judges didn't llike
( I know you have said it was probably not a lift) but the judges never mentioned him doing one anyway, so I can't make out what this lift is that the judges didn't like

The judges never mentioned a lift in Kelly and Brendans routine, Len marked them down for the muddle in the middle that Brendan said was his fault. They were not marked down for a lift.

Well that makes sense then! I think I read it on this forum, that they did a lift in the Tango and the only part that I could see any evidence of a supposed lift, was near the end, when Kelly's feet were off the ground and Brendan kind of throws her away.

As you say, it wasn't a lift and I didn't understand those reports that said the judges remarked on it.

Thanks for clearing up the confusion - i thought my eyesight was screwed!!