There is something that Nicky said to Holly earlier in the show about being given a directive from the head judge Robin what is this directive he has given to the panel

Is Robin telling the rest of the panel how to to cast their marks

It came across to me that they couldn't mark higher than 5.0

Nicky seemed to indicate from what he said that he would've liked to have gone higher but couldn't - seemed odd to me... but I guess it can give Ray somewhere to go within the weeks

I think he is just saying put the best couple in front so in all honesty you can mark on performance or skating but put them in the right order of their ability.

Nicky thought Ray was the best so he gave a 5.0, he obviously felt that melinda and Colleen were second etc.

Also it suggested that he couldn't go higher than 5.0 because then he has nowhere to go from there so if Ray gets better over the weeks then his marks can't show it.

He also said he knew what he was going to score before they skated

which is really REALLY unacceptable

He said he knew he was going to put ray first - not anyone else.

He didn't say before he skated he said it afterwards so maybe that's what he meant.

In all fairness, we all expected Ray to outperform the other celebs. I dont see why the panel should presume any different. If Ray hadnt been the best on the night I am sure Nicky would have also marked accordingly.

Really, Ray could have go 5.5's for that performance, and he will get them earlier than anyone else before on DOI, followed by 6.0's, when they're allowed.

Yes, I felt he was talking about the outcome and not any pre-conceived plan of action.

However, as I said above, I am sure all the panel expected Ray to be top skater as he is so far ahead the others, including Jess. To expect anything else would be a little dim, so as long as Nicky left room to manouvre - whether that is a .5 or a 1.5 - he marked in line with Robin's directive.

From what Nicky said, I didnt get this "we cant go higher than 5" presumption. I simply took it to mean they were cautioned to take extra care with regard to previous marks when scoring each individual. I.e if Ellory was deserving of a 3 from Nicky, then anyone he judged to be not as good should be 2.5 or less and anyone better 3.5 or more.

The best couple got the highest marks and that's the important point. This is surely what Nicky was saying.

Holding back the highest marks at this stage is probably wise, since I think people could get sick of seeing 6s (DOI has probably learnt that lesson from SCD and the plethora of 9s and 10s). And so I'm not surprised if they've been asked not to give 5.5s and 6s

I've criticised Ruthie for having a go at Nicky, but I also think Nicky was wrong to mention the directive.

I think this is normal. The judges watch the rehearsal so the have a fair idea of what each skater is going to do and how well they will do it. This means that they have a planned mark for each skater although they can change it if the performance is significantly different from the rehearsal.

I think what Nicky meant was that Robin had said that it was too early in the competition to give perfect scores and at this stage no one should be getting more than 5.0. If Ray was to be getting 6.0s now, then where is there for him to go? There's another 8 weeks of the competition left, after all.

After all, how many people complained in this year's SCD that there were far too many 10s given and that the judges shouldn't be allowed to vote higher than about 7 or 8 until at least the halfway point?