I thought that when compared with the other routines, overall she was the best. The ten from Bruno for the Cha Cha was perhaps a bit excessive, but I thought she was the best overall and deserved to be top.

I saw yet another slow dance.......and no wow factor at all......

I agree that her foxtrot was really good, would have taken off a few of the 10s personally and changed them to 9s but still a great dance. Cha-cha was way overmarked in my opinion though.

maybe we should have a paddle for best effort.........


10 really meanst 8

I think the marks are all too high this year. It makes no sense to me that they talk about nearly perfect and give a 10. The weak excuses about choosing to ignore the 'little' faults don’t wash with me.
As a Strictly fan for years, I pride myself on picking up the good and bad dance elements.
This series doesn’t have much credibility in that respect.

With 10s like confetti where do we go from here??

That's the second time I've heard one or more of the judges say that Austin's dance had practically no dance content - The other being the Samba - and then go on to ignore the fact in their scoring...What's all that about? Doesn't it matter that much?

Apologies to fans but imo stomping around like an angry hobbit is not the Paso doble

The marking has got higher and higher as the series have progressed. Think of the marks received by Jill Halfpenny in series 2.

Next series those celebs seen as "good dancers" will be getting tens before the male and female only weeks have finished!

And Bruno! I thought that earlier on in the series his scoring had improved but he's back on form now. Tens with everything. Lisa's cha cha? Come on.

I thought the judges were really overmarking tonight and on my first viewing I thought no one was excellent enough to deserve a 10. The 10 mark should be kept for a really exceptional dance but tonight they were giving them out like confetti.

I'm as critical as anyone of the overmarking...particularly in the final rounds of a series.

However, given that the marking system is a very blunt instrument and, though simple, not really adequate for the task, I think the judges do a reasonable job of steering the better dancers towards the latter stages. That would seem to be their most important duty by far.

I concur.

My posts were perhaps more tempered - but you had the guts to say what you mean.

Agreed.

The judges do obviously have an idea of what they are talking about & will have different opinions but at times I do wonder if I am watching the same dance as them. Sometimes the scoring is so inconsistent.

Over the last few years there is no doubt that the scores have become inflated; people seem to get 10s for just doing a decent dance these days. Obviously some of the 10s are well deserved but when you think back to some of the better dancers from SCD (Jill, Denise, Colin, Aled) they hardly got any 10s but produced dances of similar standards to the dances we saw tonight.

Crikey, I was never into LOTR, but if that's what goes on, maybe I should start taking an interest in those 7 hour long films.

To sum up, Austin was overmarked but should have got a 10 from Len for the PD; Rachel was overmarked for her waltz but undermarked in comparison to Christine, who was marked equally with Rachel by Craig - so that is either overmarking or undermarking depending on how you look at it. Tom was undermarked but then has been all series, apart from those times when he has been overmarked. Lisa was overmarked so she wouldn't be in the dance off but she was the best dancer on the night, so wasn't overmarked in comparison with the others.

The judges should mark down if they see a fault or suspect there may be a fault but cant see; but should also not mark down if they cant tell there is a fault or if the fault doesn't detract from the dance. And the judges are doing this because they want to fix the leaderboard, they obviously have their favourites and they want Rachel/Tom/Austin/Lisa to win.....I think I've covered everything there.

I like that idea...or give em paddles 11 to 15!

Tonight, performing the American Smooth, will Frodo Baggins and his partner Gandalf the Grey please take to the floor...

I am so sorry. Is there any way of removing my post? Just realised that I have posted a spoiler earlier on. Will do the only thing I can think of.

austins 10's were ridiculous

it was ok for a show but not a dancing contest they seem to overpraise him on everythign and pick up on any little thing tom does wrong

Erin wasnt arrogant. She was standing up for her choreography. Len does obviously know what he's talking about thats why he's head judge. Just cos Erin is a ballroom specialist doesnt make her opinion any less valid. If she couldnt do the Latin well enough she probably wouldnt be a pro on that show. There is a very strong line between arrogance and standing up for yourself and all she did was the latter.

the routine was showdance to paso music - I was wondering how bad Erins Paso would be and wasnt surprised she opted for just not doing any - her lack of latin expertise is showing

Well the lifts would be easy.

I totally agree. The marking should be consistent throughout, it has made a mockery of the scoring this year.
Four 10's used to be the "Holy Grail" of SCD, reserved for those dances that received a standing ovation. I can still vividly remember some of those dances in previous series, could anyone really say the same of Rachel's performances of the last two weeks ?

No one had done either of her two record dances better though and no one has had standing ovations - partly because they are not dances that invite standing ovations. If she had dances that had had standing ovations and 40 before and didn't get that response the point might stand.

The same point though could be made about lots of other performances this series. I didn't detect massive enthusiasm for Lisa tonight and although Austin go it it was more for the same reason that JS had it.

The scores from the judges say different