I have to confess I've relied on my memory being jogged by those who have posted about dances before this season, so I might want to add more later

Most overmarked:
Matt & Flavia's waltz
John & Nicole's salsa
Lisa & Brendan's AS
Lisa & Brendan's rumba
Kelly & Brendan's AS
Emma & Darren's paso
Matt & Flavia's foxtrot
Gethin & Camilla's jive

Most undermarked
Alesha & Matts AS
Tom & Camilla's AS
Jodie & Ian's AS
Louisa & Vincent's paso
Aled & Lilia's tango
Aled & Lilia's paso

Overmarked: Lisa's AS - at least Matt DA didn't actually obviously stumble during his waltz and end up as joint top of the leaderboard - none of the judges apart from Craig even mentioned it either.

Undermarked: James and Cam's Paso - I thought it was better than Lilia and Goughie's which I also think was over-rated - still think it's chronically under-rated.

Der Chef says

ummm some that stand out in my mind

Over marked

pretty much every dance Carol (slopey shoulders) Smile attempted

ditto Leticha Dean


Under marked

One that stands out for me was the Camilla and James puppeteer tango (one of the best bits of choreography ever on strictly)

I only started watching Strictly the last 3 series, and didn't post on here till last year but am so pleased that people thought Emma Bunton was overmarked! I remember her paso made me laugh out loud. or 'lol' if you will...

Overmarked

I agree with lots here that Matt DA's Waltz was highly overrated. There have been far more beautiful ones, and ones of an equal nature which failed to get straight 10s.

And John Barnes' salsa - what was that all about?!

Undermarked

I think looking back Jill's Paso (and maybe her Cha Cha too) deserved far better marks, possibly even the elusive 40.

Over-marked:

Matt & Flavia's Waltz (?) - the one where they received a score of 40 together with a standing ovation from Len.

Under-marked:

Louisa & Vincent's Paso, especially when Emma's embarrassing attempt at the same dance was scored so highly.

Overmarked - that horrendous Argentine tango Emma did. I didn't like Alesha's much either.

Undermarked - I still have fond memories of Matt and Flavia's rumba, which was as sexy as any we'd seen before this year.

And re: Matt and Flavia's waltz, that was about 29 marks for technique and 11 for the comeback, every one of which I reckon Matt deserved

Overmarked: Everything Emma ever did.
Alesha's Cha Cha Cha.
Matt DA's waltz.
John Barnes Salsa.

Undermarked: James and Camilla's Tango. The comments and marks were criminal.
Looking back at Jill's output, especially the paso, they should have been higher.

My memory can only latch onto the more recent series, but:

Overmarked:
Emma and Darren's Paso
Matt & Flavia's Waltz
Alesha and Matt's Argentine Tango
John & Nicole's Salsa – no way did it deserve a 10, but I understand Len's logic…

Undermarked:
Aled & Lilia's Tango
Louisa & Vincent's Paso
Matt & Lilia's QS
Alesha and Matt's QS

Overmarked Just watched Matt DA waltz on youtube did not deserve 40 and a standing ovation
also Gethin's VW was absolutely gorgeus and that only got 36 Listen to me as if 36 is a bad mark but if Matt deserved a 40 Gethin deserved 50
Last edited by Batisse : 23-10-2008 at 16:23

Much as I am not a Matt fan (nor Gethin's), I think it is only suffice for me to say: we all have different opinions.

Gethin's AS is nowhere as good as Tom's. Tom has much more musicality, better finishes, more sway. The only let down is that he doesn't have a pleasant enough grin like Gethin's (whom had a bewitching smile and charmed the pants off many women last year to have distracted them from his aeroplane hands throughout his stint in his SCD).

Gethin's was competent, but not worth the tens he's getting. I think it was the over-marking that partly contributed to his eventual 'downfall' in the semis. If he's marked sensibly in the quarter finals, Gethin would probably get the highest public vote the following week, leaving Alesha and Matt in the bottom two, and Matt would DEFINITELY be voted off even with a perfect 40 score. The judges will NOT lose Alesha for the finals.

Just think about it...

In real competitions how difficult is it to get a 10?

What standard do you think the judges are marking to in SCD?

Sorry just edited the post meant VW
Thought about and I think you are right to some extent but the VW was great

I'd go with Aled and Lilia's Tango, I thought the paso was undermarked as well that week, but i thought the Tango was much more undermarked. I was underwhelmed by Emma and Darren's Paso that seemed to be universally loved by the judges.

This is a great thread - I find myself agreeing with so many people!

I love Darren but I too thought that Emma was overmarked throughout that series. For me, Louisa was much better and should have gone all the way.

It's great to see so much support for Aled Jones! He and Lilia were one of my all time fave partnerships and I would loved to have seen them in the final.

I think that most of Kelly and Brendans dances were overmarked - I totally agree about the AS - ten?

Also - aside from an amazing salsa Matt DA (aw bless, he's only young!) was constantly overmarked while Gethin got the rough edge of the judges tongue.

Phew! What a relief to let it all out!

I love Gethin's VW! He's a good spinner and his flekrl is the best among the male celebs so far.

Camilla did add a lot of beginning and the end to 'lessen' the spinning. But when he's in hold it was beautiful and spun and spun like a top.

Camilla is very lucky Tom is also a very good spinner. That's what Camilla choreographed so many of it in his AS, and since Fred Astaire does a lot of those swinging and spinning movements, Tom really looked like Fred that night.

I think Tom will edge Austin in the VW (just about!) based solely on his penchant of spinning so well. Austin will get near the top of the leaderboard for sure, for his training footage yesterday showed a lot of promise. But somehow after seeing Tom's excellent AS (which I still think should not share the same spot as Lisa's significantly inferior attempt) convinced me he'll have a very slight edge in ballroom than Austin...

once again agreed, I quite like Tom and feel that the judges in particular Len will favour Austin as a sportsman as he is slightly inclined to do

Can't say I agree with that, plenty of people have made comebacks without being overmarked to that degree. Look at the difference between weeks five and six for Matt Dawson- like a different person- yet he got 34/40 which was about right for the dance, possibly a little low.

It isn't fair to the other celebs if someone is marked against his/her previous weeks rather than against the other celebs.

Yes definately Matt & Flavia's waltz not worth 40 as has been said before not even the best waltz of the series....both Alesha's and Gethin's were better.

Bruno's 10 for Kelly & Brendans AS

Len for giving 8's for where the routine was forgotten & a 10 for John's Salsa!!! to be honest I cant remember scores from previous series enough, but I do remember thinking that general Carol Smilie didnt get the credit she deserved.

I've been rewatching Matt and Lilia's dances,

definitely undermarked his waltz and jive.

For me, theirs is the best rumba across all series for emotion and feeling the dance, so that's undermarked for me as well.

I dont want to rake over old hurts and coals but Gethin being at the bottom of the leader board with only 1 point meant that with only 3 people even if he did get the highest vote that he still wouldnt have gone straight through as the maximum score he could get was 1 from the judges and 3 from the public = 4 Aleshas had 3 points from the judges and I dont think she would have got the lowest vote so she had 5 points even and straight through........so the ONLY way that Gethin could go straight through into the final was if he got the highest public vote (which he may have got we dont know) and Alesha had the lowest public vote .....I dont think anyone in their right mind would think that was possible.........Alesha and Gethin were the ONLY couples that were never in the dance off until the very last weeks (and Alesha would never have been there the week before but for the sympathy for Matt voting) so they were always popular in the public vote as Gethin was not always near the top of the leader board but never in the dance off...

So in a long rambling way my point is....Gethin COULD have got the highest public vote and STILL been in the dance off which is why Gethin's fans were a bit upset about it at the time.........

dont even get me started, not got over it yet

That's the most criminal act of scoring I can remember also!

Overmarked - Brendan and Lisa's American Smooth last week.

Undermarked - Alisha and Matt's waltz - should have been a 40 - shame on you Craig!

Oh dear, this IS raking up the past.

Gethin WAS the most improved of the semi-finalists, and in retrospect, I actually do think he deserved to be in the finals based on his sheer dedication alone.

But I don't think Gethin got the best routines in the semis. Paso is a difficult routine to pull off, and since it's a semi-finals, the judges will definitely try to pick bones to be seen as being strict (ironic since tens were still thrown around like candies even then). I actually believe that should Gethin, Alesha and Matt got to do the SAME dance apart from AT (i.e. waltz), then it's likely that the perfect 40 will go to him and not Matt. Waltz is a much slower dance. Flavia did a fantastic job choreographing it. It may not seem like it but Matt did an amazing job with it. Is it worth 40? In retrospect, no. But even if he doesn't get 40 (and received, say, 37 instead, which IMHO will be slightly undermarked), Gethin's overall score will still NOT be higher than Matt, thus still placing him third in the judges' leaderboard.

Going by that logic, Matt would still likely to be saved in the dance-off. It's sad, but that seemed at least very plausible, if not true.