Because the over marking got Austin in the dance off, putting him at the bottom of the leader board by over marking Lisa etc is what does it.

The judges void the public vote by over marking.
Lisa has been in the dance off three times now........how many more times before the judges get it....The public are NOT supporting her.

I watch this and dont have any favorites at all, must admit i think Lisa did perform the better of the two in tonights dance off. Going to miss Erin though shes a doll.

I totally agree with that!

The show needs a major revamp.

p45's need to be issued to Arelene Phillips; she can hardly get her pre-determined words out it's car crash TV. Also Erin, Ian, James Jordan should also be fired they are bland and boring. They need to be replaced with more exciting, dynamic pro's.

The dance-off should be a proper dance-off the same dance head-2-head not an easy Waltz vs a difficult Salsa - how unfair is that? See "Samba Smackdown" on DWTS for how the dance-off should be done.

The music this season has been dreadful. Again DWTS has put strictly to shame in this department. There is usually 3 categories of musical styles. Current chart hits, Classic Oldies, and traditional Instrumental music. All we seem to have had this season is the 'Classic Oldies' catgerory hardly any revamps of current chart hits or traditional music arrangments. Again, at the risk of repeating myself, see DWTS on how this is done. DWTS has far more traditional music than strictly.

Celebs. Bigger, better names, more interesting characters. Remove the 25k blanket wage cap. Also there is nothing wrong with putting people in with previous dance experience, it adds to the show. Alesha Dixon anyone? DOI are going down this route this year.

Finally I never thought I would see the day where a 10 in strictly was easier to obtain than one in DWTS. Awarding 10's for non wow factor dances is only going to dilute the show and cause a backlash for said celebrity. reinstall the integrity of the 10!

The most annoying aspect of this is that Lisa has zero chance of winning, and as a result the "contest" is effectively dead and buried.

I re-watched the judges comments as they voted Lisa through, and, as another poster commented earlier, it smacks of a stitch up.

I said at the beginning of the series that the low wage/fees for the series would put a lot of bigger names off. How many "big" stars are gonna put 5 months of their time aside for 25-30k?? Its ridiculous!!

I challenge anyone to watch the judges summary's pre the latin dances to say they are unbiased. Did they do anything but slag off Austin? Lisa got the usual eulogy. No surprise to hear she's lined up for a telly show.

Austin & Erin just needed to come out with a wow American Smooth which is what was expected. This dance is far easier to shine in than a waltz. The didn't. That is why they were at the bottom of the leaderboard & in the dance off. Nobody on this board in advance of the show last night would have said that Austin would be in the dance-off & doing the salsa as his best dance. Says it all. They messed up.

Also Erin. Len calling her an English barmaid was outrageous and for them to hear that VT before the salsa must have been upsetting.

i know. I didn't bother with all the crap first time around - just watchd the dances. Having watched back, I was quite shocked - it was all negative! They scarcely had anything good to say! The indulgence over the girls was frankly sickening, only Craig managed to temper the generally saccharin drooling. They managed a little more shading for Tom. It's funny, I was all right about the result yesterday - disappointed and I felt aggrieved at the bizarre latin scoring all around - but watching that actually made me feel like the script for the night was: Austin is tired. He is arrogant. He hasn't improved like the others. He's struggled with training this week. (Subtext...his time has come). I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but honestly, they should at least try for a bit of balance!

There wasn't any. I was shocked at the hostility of the VTs throughout, there was nothing there to tell a viewer casually watching that he had been the overall most consistent dancer of the series and was second last week.

For Len to describe a pro thus is unforgivable for me.

Austin actually led the average leaderboard going into the weekend, with Lisa bottom of it. Who would've guessed that one, I wonder...

I'm sorry Hayfever, but it is about the balance of the two scores and not just the best dance. Lisa's jive was grossly over-marked. She was all over the show! I wasn't a huge fan of the Salsa, either, by the by, but having watched back, i cannot credit that the sum of nice if simple waltz + abysmal jive was more than disappointing AS + moderately ok salsa. IF - and only IF - the public vote was in A+E's favour, this could have made a signfiicant difference. Who knows? The latin marking last night was utterly bizarre. That rumba ARGH. That Cha bleh!

Did someone on this thread actually just describe Ian as "bland"?! Seriously?!

That shocked me too. He's fabulous.

They actually introduced those VTs by saying that this was summarising what the judges would be looking for!!!!!!!!!!

I can only surmise (and it wouldn't surprise me) that the judges have taken a dislike to Austin's cockiness (that has been a persistent theme recently, I notice.) and wanted him out. I've no particular liking for the guy - hadn't heard of him before SCD and The Chest stuff really bored me rigid - but that kind of flagrant bias and nastiness does annoy me.

Also to appeal to Craig and Bruno

Quite frankly I think they have been overmarking Austin all series, and now they've seen the light. He can't dance Latin and had become quite arrogant thinking he was better than Tom.

I agree it has been a little tiresome with the horny housewives vote nor do I think he's the best at latin. I agree he came over as a tad on the love me side, too. But he was, IMHO, the most entertaining and skillful all round dancer, which is what, as a dancer myself, I am looking for in this show. All that notwithstanding, after that delightful foxtrot, I will hope that Tom continues to polish up his act and wins the glitterball two Saturdays from now.

That's true, but like the education system, I think most people would prefer the ability to compare marking on a year to year basis. Keeping a mark of 10 as an indication of excellence gives the show and the judges a degree of credibility. A mark of 10 has become so commonplace now it is almost meaningless. Hence the tantrum from Brendan for a "miserable" mark of 8..a mark which was actually over-generous !

Another thought on that same theme..in the dance-off Lisa was doing a GCSE routine and poor old Austin was taking an A-level exam.

Another thought on that same theme..in the dance-off Lisa was doing a GCSE routine and poor old Austin was taking an A-level exam. [/quote]

Quite!!! Ah well, can't win them all. I do hope they can manage to summon some slightly more engaging celebrities next year. This bunch have been a bit :yawn: