As the title states, the problem I have with the marking (not the positions as they are by and large right) is that EVERYONE is being over marked and this is only hurt the best dancers. Only the top couples are getting the flak over this because they're the ones seen getting the 10's. I would say very few of the 10's this series have been deserved and the judges wouldn't have given them if they hadn't been too generous beforehand.

I wish the judges would reassess their criteria as well as making it a little clearer what they're expecting. How can a 10 mean anything if people pick them up so easily? These are pretty much some of the most talented dancers we've had and yet the judges seemed to have actually lowered their standards!

We had Alesha tonight being told they expect perfection from her and yet others were told it didn't matter about their mistakes. We have the problem of the judges seemingly changing their criteria from dance to dance - Alesha's samba was technically far more difficult than Gethin's salsa yet he performed much better so who do you give more credit to? His technical side was good too but he wasn't attempting anything as tricky as she was. Similarly Kenny was heavily penalised for not doing very much in his rumba but that was Ola's choreography, not him and should he be judged on what is there or what is not?

In the end I think the positions on the leaderboard were the fair and based on the evidence of tonight the final should be the between Alesha and Gethin (perfect for me since I wouldn't mind who won!). I just wish the judges wouldn't make things more difficult for them with the public by dolling out 10's like penny chews.

Only Craig seems to have maintained his standards through the series (although I thought his 4 for Kenny was too harsh).

They may've told Alesha they expect perfection, but they still overscored her Samba. 10 for that? Nowhere near.

God forbid she's not at the top of the Leader Board for one week though.

Gethin should've been top alone this week - he deserved it.

Personally, I think it's right they tied. In ballroom they were pretty equal in my opinion and in latin Gethin performed much better, but he had a much easier routine. Alesha had a lot more content and difficulty and coped well with it. (Although not saying perfectly.) Overall I thought the two things balanced out and so equal first was about right for me.

I agree with OP totally btw.

You are completly right, people keep going on about Alesha being overmarked but they forget that Matt was given two 9s, giving the judges very little scope for a better dance, but perhaps not a perfect one. Alesha's tango was much better than Matt's but it was still not perfect, should it get a 9 or 10, actually Len said that it was the same as Matt's.

It's not fair for her or us that the judges seem to be clueless this year, they also seem to forget the fact that for some strange reason the British public have a pretty stronge sense of fair play, and will take against anyone who they feel to be mistreated ( Kate) or cheating (kelly and Brendan and Alesha and matt)

Alesha and Matt have made this series for me, but they won't win, because of those stupid judges.

It's a pain in the arse - SCD is becoming more like DWTS and Craig is the only judge that is stopping the slide.

We need to get back to the days when four 9s were only awarded for very good dances.

No, they wont win because she`s a FEMALE celeb They come in for alot more criticism than the males.

Makes me wonder why female celebs even bother to go on SCD tbh.

Absolutely. I remember back in series 2 when people were really pleased to have gotten 8's or 9's - now they see an 8 as a poor result!

Jill and Natasha?

That'd be the exception to the rule then as SCD viewers now prefer to vote for men.

Alesha looks ominous to lose SCD like how Mel B lost in the recent Dancing with the Stars final.

Years ago.

Look at the recent years, Emma, Zoe, Louisa, Kelly, Alesha.

Overmarking, costumes, hair and make-up, previous experience, behaviour <giggling, crying> etc, they receive far more criticism than the males. Sorry forgot the fake tag !!!

Look at the least favourite polls, week after week Matt and Gethin have been bottom of the polls. Kelly has mostly topped the poll and I have a feeling now she`s pulled out it`s going to be Alesha topping the least favourite this week.
Last edited by Tissy : 02-12-2007 at 02:31

50/50 isn't an exception to the rule, I wouldn't have said. I'd be very surprised if Alesha didn't win, to be honest. But we'll have to wait and see.

As it stopped being a level playing ground 2 weeks ago, i'm now preparing myself for the worst, i can't be doing with that terrible sinking feeling when a pretty boy picks up the trophy.

Maybe it's simply because some viewers don't warm to the celebs. I admit Alesha is the best dancer but would never vote for her as i just haven't warmed to her at all. Can't explain why really, but i don't 'get' the partnership with her and Matt, i feel uncomfortable watching them on ITT and on the back stage bits, and all her 'oh no's' and shock at the high marks seem slightly fake.

Even Matt i don't taken to, so now i hope Gethin wins.

Oh and another point. The females always acting fake.

I think that it's quite obvious that she was genuinly shocked over her recent high scores, especially for latin as she has said that latin has been more of a problem for her.
And look at matt's face when the judges, especially Craig is gushing over them, even he is shocked.

I think you can like who you like but i would never accuse her of being fake.

Oh there we go, someone makes a slightly negative comment about a very good female celeb dancer, and it's turned into a generalisation of all the female celeb dancers. Please!

I was giving my opinion on Alesha, of which i am entitled, and it did not refer to other female dancers. I'd appreciate if you are going to quote my post, that you read it properly too.

Yours was an example.

Thank you for reminding me.

Its a trend everywhere (starting with the educational system) to give high marks. Its started in the US which is probably why DWTS marks high because from schooldays everyone in the US thinks the marking scale starts at 80%. You can get away with it if you know that an 85 is a lot worse than a 90 but when you only have a single number it is just inaccurate. Remember too that 10 starts somewhere in the nine point somethings so its a matter of which performance you mark up to a ten and which you don't give the benefirt to and leave at 9.

I agree about Craig . Len by comparison is absurd - poor is 7 as is quite good and surprisingly good is 10 as is excellent but flawed.

The other issue is really a separate point. Its totally unacceptable as you say to mark your high performers down on the basis of what little they get wrong and then to mark people who get most things wrong up on the basis that they got a few things right. Fairness requires you mark everyone to the same standard - if you don't its as absurd as giving people who have just managed to read Janet and John the same marks as the bright kid who got a word wrong in their Latin translation.

I agree I think it's a lot more to do with that magical thing "chemistry" in terms of pushing the eventual winner out ahead, especially when it gets to the final stages. I don't necessarily think being a woman puts you at a disadvantage.

I think "overmarking" only effects the best dancers when it is percieved as being significantly "unfair".... it's generally when the judges waft about 10's over eagerly

I don't think Alesha has suffered from this in any way like the manner poor Emma or say Zoe did. There is none of that vitriol flying about - which for me was usually more about folks preconcieved opinion of a fairly high profile celeb and less to do with the dancing + overscoring issue. No matter who the celeb is and whether I "like" them or not it's what they do on the floor that matters. If I get peeved off with the marks it's directed towards the judges not the dancers.

(If they are going to overmark then they should at least be consistant and overmark everyone - it's only fair. I'm really hoping that Gethin keeps up his game because I want a to have a good exciting competition in the final stages - plus having some proper competition at last will only be helpful to Alesha surely)

I've long advocated one simple change to the scoring system.

Two marks out of ten from each judge - one for 'technical ability' and one for 'performance'. The former would reflect the difficulty of the routine.

Firstly it would give the judges a bigger range of scores....less chance of boxing themselves in.

Secondly it would make the assessment that bit more transparent rather than wrapping everything up into a single number.

The argument against seems to be that the judges are focussing on different aspects anyway. I get that...but Len doesn't ignore performance any more than Craig and Arlene discount technique.

Of course the RTV realist in me knows that the producers like the current system because it's incredibly simple, rather vague, easily manipulated and very effective at producing 'controversy' and 'drama'.

I completely agree, I've said this before, but I feel Gethin recieves the most overmarking than anyone else. This week excluded (tho I thought Alesha's tango should've been a 40 if Gethin's was 39), and his VW Gethin has always been lacking somewhat in the performance aspect. The comments made by the judges usually reflect this but the marks haven't at all. If you looked soley at some of the marks he's recieved (save a couple of weeks when he was in the 20's) you'd think he was topping the board most weeks. In reality he's actually been outperformed and out danced by the likes of Alesha, Kelly and Matt most weeks. They therefore have to get silly marks so the leaderboard looks right, yet its their 10s which people coment about. For me Gethin is only marginally better than Leticia, he's had a couple of stand-out dances but usually he's of the same quality. This isn't an attack on Gethin by the way, I think he's a lovely guy, and he's improved a lot. Unfortunately I think an extremely talented dancer like Alesha (who is much, much better than Gethin) is going to suffer the backlash of the judges overmarking Gethin and, consequently, her.

I absolutely agree with this - Gethin has now only done three dances that I have enjoyed, the two last night and his VW which was given a 36

None of his other dances have inspired me at all and yet he's had pretty good marks for all. I think Letitia has also been overmarked - I always seen them on a par really, with Matt Alesha and Kelly at the top

I agree re perception and it's effects; but I also think that one reason Alesha hasn't had the sort of criticism Zoe and Emma did is that Kelly was getting it instead.

If a lot of people think it's Kelly who's the unfairly favoured one, then they aren't thinking it's Alesha; and a lot of people did think that about Kelly and were encouraged to by some of the newspapers.

Yup, as everyone is saying the marking this year has gone haywire. I generally only look at Craig's marking - he is by far the most consistent - and at the leaderboard. The 10s being given out like sweets is absolutely ridiculous and cheapens it.

I totally agree Kelly was the the one getting the abuse this time. But I don't think that Alesha will suffer now that Kelly has very sadly had to bow out.

That doesn't mean she will necessarily win (although she definately might) because it's always a combination of factors that make that happen - and the same was true of Jill....she didn't just swan her way to the final as the obviously best dancer - no one does and everyone will have an off week.... it's a marathon not a sprint..I'm sure most folk realise that.

I don't care who wins to be honest, but it's good to have 3 fab dancers competing near the end at the top of their game - it makes for a better show.

Honestly - I've not really read anything on here that's attacked Alesha in the same way as Kelly. There have been complaints about the overmarking and some people might prefer the chemsitry between the other couples etc but surely that's normal ? I think folk are worrying unnecessarily about the "teachers pet" thing because I really believe the "negativity" that effected Zoe, Emma, and Kelly was much more to do with their prior media profile.