Originally Posted by thenetworkbabe:
“Your first point holds - he gets credit for coming back from being dismal - which no one else could get credit for without being dismal. That is odd judging. The second one is more questionable - on their record the difference between Matt and Gethin isn't enormous. You could argue on the previous week that Matt might collapse in the final but thats offset by Gethin performing not as well that week - which was even nearer to a final.
The stronger point for me is that Matt should have gone the week before when he was dismal and Letitia, Alesha and Gethin all had records that were no worse or better and all had performed betetr on the night. Thats the voters fault though - not the judges. If performance had mattered, Matt would have gone that week and Gethin would have beaten Letitia last week.”
A very carefully made case, so I shall try to live up to the same standard.
Near the end of the foxtrot Matt forgot his steps, but did not know foxtrot well enough to get back in. I believe Flavia should have kept him on the floor at all cost, improvising the hokey cokey if necessary -- the show must go on. Once Flavia led Matt to the steps and both sat down, the game was up, and 11 million viewers cringed. Alesha also lost her steps in the foxtrot, but even the judges failed to notice. When the judges gave her 36 marks Alesha was shocked. More recently in the paso she again lost her steps, and by her own admission the last 20 seconds consisted of hamming it up with great conviction. Brendan also lost his steps in the tango, but it was considered no big deal, unfortunate but nothing to cry about. A dancer friend of mine said steps are lost in competitions all the time, but you covered up as best you can.
The perception of meltdown really began when Bruno went OTT, like a doctor announcing incurable cancer. Then Len as good as made sure the whole watching world knew stoppage equalled disaster, and what a pitiful situation it was. Craig then in a sensible voice decided to ignore the stoppage, instead to calmly evaluate the foxtrot before the stoppage. Left to himself Craig would have given his usual calm assessment, then deducted marks much as he did after Brendan's third lift in the American Smooth. Hardly the end of the world. Craig never got to a calm end. Len jumped in to shout down Craig, who stood his ground saying "I am here to judge." Len appeared to be on the verge of walking out, and Craig said "Don't do an Osborne" (Judge Sharon on X Factor did walk out). This Third World War between judges was the last thing nervous Matt needed, prolonging his agony while he needed the privacy of the back room to regroup.
Head Judge Len it was, who escalated the crisis with shattering effect evident on Matt's young face with watery eyes, which in turn prompted ideas of pity and rescue at any price from Matt supporters. Experienced 80-year-old Brucie meanwhile tried to make himself invisible while desperately thinking of a gag. With limited time to vote 50 times or more before the 9pm deadline, traumatised Matt supporters dived for the phone without thinking through all the repercussions which even now are unfolding.
The short-term victim of Matt's airlift rescue was Letitia who was denied a fair chance to dance off against Matt. More serious was the perceived damage to the bedrock of fairness supporting SCD, with viewers disagreeing over concessions for a 20-year-old. The longterm victim is unfortunately Matt Di Angelo himself, who from now on will wear a millstone round his neck, remembered as the object of pity and recipient of rescue.
Phone supporters did trigger an airlift rescue, seen by many as an unacceptable defiance of the spirit of SCD, but it was amidst the chaos of a crisis escalated by the Head Judge, whose job it was to defuse it.
