Hello

I've just re-watched Rachel and Vincent's two dances from last night and I've started feeling a bit miffed.

I've come to the conclusion that they were undermarked - in relation to Lisa and Brendan anyway.

I don't want to detract from Lisa and Brendan's hard work and improvement but Brendan was the first to complain about unfair scoring when it related to him.

The complexity of the AT was breathtaking - it was in a different league to the other two. And before people mention Vincent's unfair advantage which has been done to death - it was Rachel who was fantastic!

And I loved the AS - how can Craig and Arlene give it such wonderful comments and then not give it tens - after giving Lisa and Brendan's quickstep tens across the board.

I won't even comment on Len's 8 because he was obviously on another planet last night.

It's frightening to think that maybe only Bruno was scoring accurately last night!

So, we're left with a three person final which is great.

But - Lisa goes into the final thinking she's the best contender, Tom probably has the public vote and will possibly win - where does that leave Rachel?

IMO the best dancer has been sidelined.

Hey ho - I still loved Rachel and Vincent's joy at getting through to the final.

Maybe so, particularly in Len's case. On the other hand, Vincent and Rachel did have the massive advantage of doing his speciality dance whereas Brendan hadn't even done an Argentine Tango before.

Agree with you Mama - no way did Lisa's AT deserve a 10 from Len. It was better than Tom's but well, well below Rachel's.

I too was a bit puzzled about the AS. I thought it was smooth, elegant and beautiful and that it deserved a couple of 10s - but an 8 from Len - the same mark as Tom's jive?

It's a bit of a shame as I truly feel that Rachel was the best tonight - her AS was better than Lisa's AT (even Brendan said that Len was generous.)

Rachel should have come Top. She then would have had a chance to win the title.

It's very doubtful this will happen now.

I felt fine about it all yesterday - but today I feel sad for R&V (and a bit hungover!)

Len's 10 for Lisa's AT was ridiculous. He'd have needed a 12 at least to mark Rachel's fairly in comparison.

Personally I didn't think their AS was 'wow' enough but that's an individual preference for the style and I still think 8 was unduly harsh.

I'm more of a Tom fan but I think Rachel was by far and away the best last night. I loved her AT and I thought she was extremely undermarked for a beautiful AS.

The only consistent judge is Craig - he says it as it is and his marks match that ... Len in particular this year has been ALL OVER THE PLACE with his marks.

last nights scoring were spot on, for all three couple .... the judges have their opinions afterall

AAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

(Mama finds brick wall to bang head against!)

Do you think Lisa could have danced the AT the way Rachel did - even if she had an experienced partner? No.

Also - there are many SCD dances where I am sure that Brendan is far more experienced than Vincent. Do we hear people cry unfair then? No.

Rhumbatugger - I too feel a bit delicate today - although I don't feel I consumed nearly enough alcohol last night!

I think Rachel's AS was actually my dance of the evening. It was breathtakingly beautiful and I feel sad it didn't get the credit it deserved.
And for those people going on about Rachel's lack of personality and expression - you watch her and Vincent's faces in that dance - lovely! The joy of the dance is written all over them.

Thanks Noah'sAark - and may I say how criminally badly Tom was treated by the judges last night?

As for Craig - I agree I have had the most respect for him over this series. His comments and marks have been consistant. Until last night - his comments and marks for Rachel's AT were at odds. And ten for Lisa's quickstep? I nearly fell asleep!

But it IS different in that all the pros regularly do all the other dances (even if they are ballroom or latin specialists). Argentine Tango is not a regular ballroom dance, hence Brendan had never attempted it before. Yes, Brendan may be better at some dances than Vincent, but it's not quite the same as never having done a dance before.

I completely agree about everything, and Brendan's experience in the AT should be irrelevant to how it's marked. They're marking Lisa, not Brendan. Also, it's 100% Brendan's fault that he's never done it before. Knowing that it's in the show, nothing prevented him from skipping a few parties and taking a class or two.

I have so HAD enough of the 'Vincent had an advantage' argument.

All the dancers are better at some dances than others and therefore have an advantage when these dances are to be learned.

There is no reason that a pro can't go and get a few lessons in AT or Salsa or whatever.

Vincent and Flavia don't appear to have any serious weaknesses - they still take classes in the AT.

The only advantage Rachel has is that she is partnered with the best pro - but that's just my opinion.

The rest, however, is not opinion but rational argument.

But Brendan has always known that if he gets to the semi's he will have to do the AT - couldn't he have brushed up on it beforehand? Been a bit prepared like?

And it really doesn't matter how good Vincent is - if his partner is no good, and the partnership doesn't work - then the AT would have been rubbish. But it wasn't.

Surely we've seen that on SCD so many times? So many excellent pro dancers who just can't pass the magic on to their partners?

Brendan is an excellent dancer - so it should have been a doddle to teach Fiona Phillips to dance. Right?

Rachel has gone up in my estimation since she cracked the emotional aspects of the dances.

If she continues like this, I hope the public give credit.

Tom's dancing was poor by comparison last night and imo he should only win if his dancing deserves it.

I think Rachel and Vincent were marvellous last night, not just their AT but the AS, albeit not quite technically foxtrotty enough for Len (he still gave them a good mark). I do not see how they were undermarked. I believe they will win the contest. However we have to wait and see what happens next Saturday.

It's all relative. Like Brendan said last week. There was nothing wrong with the scores (except maybe Len's 8!) but in relation to Lisa and Brendan's scores they were low.

We are well into the 6th series of SCD and surely Brendan et el could have had a "few" lessons just in case they made the semis! Bad preparation could be cynically viewed as an attempt to manipulate the "sympathy vote". I'm sorry but, Karen had never done the dance before and pulled out what is arguably the BEST AT by a Celeb that we have ever seen. The excuse that "I've never done the AT before" is now wearing just a tad thin for me!

Surely Lisa was overmarked - as part of a plot by Len et all to put the two women autmatically into the final - but they got caught out!

Well that's one interpretation - but that's the problem with the judges vote its so arbitrary and they give 4 10s to some one before seeing all the dances. Frankly you could get any 4 people off the street who could give as credible a voting pattern as the one the judges produced last night!

I have just watched Rachel and Vincents AT again and it was truely amazing and it did get extremely high marks which were were totally deserved. I actually thought that Flavia could not have done better really, she was brilliant.

I thought their AS was pretty but didnt wow me.

Someone posted above that Tom was treated badly. I have just watched their Jive again, he was not in time with Camilla in several places and basically ran out of steam, he was marked correctly.

Yes but all pros have their special dances. Surely you would not give Anton the benefit of a doubt in latin, just because it's not his speciality.

I agree with the OP, Rachel was great yesterday in her AT (and it wasn't just Vincent, it was her) and her AS was definitely undermarked by Len. However, the public might have realised that she was undermarked and it might help her next week.

She was overmarked - show me the emotion and performance in her AT tango - it was technically great; but emotionally awful

It's interesting that you say that as if it was fact when you are clearly talking about the most subjective thing about dancing...

There's obviously a 'right or wrong' element of as regards the technicalities but the performance will always be less clear cut and divide opinion - see Austin's paso as a great example.

I'm sorry this is of course your opinion, but I'm getting the feeling that this has become a little bit of a cop out remark. We can't find anything technically wrong with it, so thus we need find something else wrong with it. There was emotion in it, and on top it technically brilliant. Her eyes didn't leave Vincent's face, while her feet were doing the talking.

Rachel's AS was undermarked, Craig and Arlene's comments didn't match their marks. Rachel is pretty, dances beautifully ..... but is mind-numbingly dull. However I think she was very under-marked last night, if you compare her marking to other marks given out -second week in a row of serious overmarking for Lisa - 40!!!

I am pleased for all of them they are through to the final. Rachel's performances last night were the best, Tom had a bad night but no chance to save him, and Lisa did not deserve to go out over Tom last night (every other week definitely she would have lost to Tom and should have lost to Austin IMO, but last night no).

She was incredible last night!!
Their American Smooth was so undermarked because it was stunning form start to finish

I still find Rachel's dancing dull, I really don't think she can perform but her dancing is amazing so I wouldn't mind if she won. Based on last night's scores, I thought she really deserved a 40 for the AT and a slightly higher score for the AS, an 8 is just ridiculous.