...like smarties?

If they had been, so many more dances from series one to now would be given a 40 from me.....not the two dances tonight that have been already. They looked good but not 40's to me, and have watched from series one.

Can you name dances you'd have given 40 for ahead of the two tonight?

Jills jive and Marks AT were given them I think?

But Zoe's Tango, Matt's waltz, Austin's Paso, Jills foxtrot, so many.....

Ridiculous the 10's this series..sorry.

Don't apologise for having an opinion- and a vaild one at that!

I don't think any of the dances this year have had any spark or excitement like last year- maybe that's why they are giving out 10s to make up for the lackluster performances...

I remember

hums the hovis tune...

The only dance that I've felt that should have gotten 40 was Rachel's rumba tonight - and it didn't!

40s and 10s were something amazing and now everyone gets them. We've had 5 40s this series! That's more than all of the ones from the previous series combined (nearly double the amount)! Ridiculous.

I do agree Rachel Rumba was a 40 dance.

Rachel's rumba was great, and I felt that she acted it very well. Why is it that Tom (who is an actual actor) can't act to save his life?

Yep
I can actually remember the days when 40's weren't handed out at all

Matt and Alesha's Waltz in the final last year should have got a 40........Len gave it a 9

Eeee, when I were a lad.

I totally agree. Been seriously underwhelmed with some of the allegedly iconic dances of this series.

Watching Don's dance again gave me goosebumps... but made me realise that I've been non-plussed with the judges far too much towards the end of this series.

I agree with you, 10 should be for prefection only and nobody was perfect tonight, in fact I think Rachaels rumba was better than Lisas dance and Toms was more nejoyable

Its partly a consequence of the anti-judge vote problem. if you don't give many 10s you have to give 3s and 4s. They give 6,7,8 too easily and don't use 1-5 to avoid boos and the anti-judge vote retaliating. That leaves them with just 9 or 10 for anything thats really good.

They also have a problem with only a choice between 9 and 10. Lots of 40s should be 38s or 39s but its increasingly random whether Craig gives it a 9 or a 10 to produce a 39 or not. Ideally they would decide a mark of 36 to 40 between them but that would mean people would complain they were fixing it rather than producing random results.

Great actors become their characters and act with the voice eyes and eyebrows. As they become he characters they are in role all the time. Tom acts when he thinks about it and does over-expressive looks -give him a silent moment and you expect to find him giggling or vacant.

They also have the problem that for 14 weeks they've been promoting this crop of contestants as 'the best ever'.

They also have the problem that the eventual winner has to be seen as being versatile and good in both ballroom and latin, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

So we have distinctly average dances being given crazy marks to perpetuate both myths.

Alesha never got a 10 from Craig

I feel a bit deflated that Lisa got the first 80 of all SCD (I think???) For me, there were many dancers more worthy of that record, from any series.

Yes she did in the final it was a 9 from Len that stopped her getting a perfect score.

I think I also judge (with a non dancing eye) on the dances I remember and thought were jaw dropping.

I have said alot of the ones I remember from previous series....can't say that I think of so many this year. Rachel's Rhumba originally was good....but not tonight. Austin's Paso maybe....Don's Tango?

Would be hard pressed to remember any of them in a few years whereas the ones I already mentioned, I still remember and have watched and rewatched.

Good post. My thoughts exactly.
Regardless of your "favourite"..can anyone, hand on heart, say this has been a "great final" ? It will be remembered for all the wrong reasons and the judges are to blame. Blatant favouritism and absurd over-marking have discredited this series for weeks.

So agree richmond Blue...another point I forgot...

The media/forums all go on about how the public get it wrong and always vote for the worst person and are bias...

The judges are so much worse imo....they are more OTT than us!