Devalued Tens

This series (in particular) has seen the series awash with tens from an earlier than normal stage and most annoyingly a pure and obvious obsession with T.ess and Claudia on wanting and almost demanding tens even though they are meant to be presenters and not judges. It is all most off-putting.

A score of ten is fair enough if it is dance perfection but far too many in this series have been awarded when even us with the untrained eye can see obvious faults/errors in the dance so in no way should they have been tens. It seems clear to me it is a plain attempt at brainwashing us (the viewing public) into bumming up the show which is totally unnecessary and if anything it actually devalues the show and the perfect dance (when that comes about). Not only that but when they started showering dances even from a few weeks ago with tens it leaves them nowhere to go when a true classic dance comes up. It really is annoying and needs addressing by someone in the production and judging team.

Rant over....for now.

Can I please join your rant, C.C?

My main beef isn't how many out of ten ,but more the consistency of the marks . Is it not more important that C raig  quite often marks three or four points less than the others in a contest where every point matters? ( He is also often rude enough to tell contestants they shouldn't even be there, etc etc) None of the contestant would get tens in straight-forward gold-medal class ballroom examinations, but some deserve them for entertainment in a show like Strictly.  How else would your John Sergeant's and Anne Widdicombe's get past week one? Ten awarded one week for one dance doesn't necessarily have the same value as the same score another week for a different dance. Would a Mandy Dingle ten be exactly the same value as a Louis Smith ten, for instance? Jake is almost twenty years older than Pixie and Frankie, yet younger than a lot of past Strictly contestants. It's never been anything like a level playing field ( probably why no heavyweights will ever win) and the reason why the Jimmy Mystry's and Gabby Logan's get unfairly voted off and the Russell Grants and Hairy bikers even get allowed in. They're all just d igits, but the j udges are the variants, not the n umbers.

I reckon we should have Strictly in the summertime at say, Wembley Stadium over a week's continuous dancing then the producers could get hirelings riding round in open-back bread vans chucking free barm c akes and chicken mac nuggets into the crowds. ( Entrance fee would be two grand per person of course). The contestants who reach the semi finals would do an Argentine Tango in mud and a Paso with a live bull, and be paid  minimum wages for doing it.  At the end of it all the survivors would get the standard fifteen quid polystyrene and plastic mirror-ball and a gold-painted paddle with a "10" on it and their tans would last a lot longer. Sorted!

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Yes agree with both of you - Mr T and CC - some great comments.

I always think that giving '10' out too early just doesn't leave anyone anywhere to go - judges and contestants and actually makes it less interesting for us the viewing public - not more so, as the production team obviously seem to think.

Just to pick up on something in CC's post - I am very irritated at the way that T ess is talking too much during the judging and trying to brow beat the judges - CRH in particular. I'm sure no one welcomes this from a presenter and it doesn't do her any favours in trying to cement her place after Sir B rucies departure. Say what you like about B rucie he always handled the judging bit well with the couples and never commented either way except to be generally supportive and do his 'your're my favourites' bit......................I almost feel that T ess and C laudia too are almost telling us who we should like...............keep your opinions to yourselves girls - that is professionalism -

I thought the 10 started becoming devalued as far back as 2007 (Alesha's year). I remember very clearly Matt de Angelo getting 40 points for what looked to me like a very ordinary Waltz. I just couldn't believe it! And am convinced they did it to lift his confidence or something (I seem to recall him being quite down on himself).

Then the following year they showered Lisa Snowden with 10s. How she got 40 points for her Cha Cha I'll never know. Or her Quickstep.

The next one to benefit from vast over-marking was Pamela Stephenson.

And so it continued.

I take very little notice of 10s nowadays, they mean so little.

I do feel the magic 'ten' paddle has lost its mojo and has little wow factor now.The only comfort is we haven't had a straight set of ten's yet! Maybe Tess has been advised by the ratpack oops i mean "Producers" to be both Miss Nice and Miss Nasty to the judges? If we have two sets of scoring how long would it be before we had ten after ten on both rows?
Love the way the show this year has engaged so many split comments.

But do you know what? Crai.g is the saviour. When he gets his ten paddle out (if he does) that will really mean something.

Another thing with all these ten's I think it may have been B.runo a week or two ago trumpeting a dance the best of the series anand giving it a ten but how can that be so when he has given so many ten's??

I like how Cr aig varies his marks. Sometimes he marks too low, but then sometimes the others mark ridiculously high for a mediocre to good dance.  Giving 10's so early (particularly if they are always given to the same couple) can also show who the judges are rooting for. I respect Cr aig for not bringing his 10 paddle out yet. Very few dances are so special they deserve 3-4 10's 6 weeks before the finals.

I hope whoever judges next year, that they offer remarks that are constructive and useful, and not just bits of personal spite that are neither use nor ornament. I also pray that T ess is reigned in to re-establish her neutrality and strengthen her position as a presenter and not agent provocateur.

B4p wrote:I like how Cr aig varies his marks. Sometimes he marks too low, but then sometimes the others mark ridiculously high for a mediocre to good dance.  Giving 10's so early (particularly if they are always given to the same couple) can also show who the judges are rooting for. I respect Cr aig for not bringing his 10 paddle out yet. Very few dances are so special they deserve 3-4 10's 6 weeks before the finals.

I hope whoever judges next year, that they offer remarks that are constructive and useful, and not just bits of personal spite that are neither use nor ornament. I also pray that T ess is reigned in to re-establish her neutrality and strengthen her position as a presenter and not agent provocateur.

But all that stuff that she does is scripted - for example, you don't honestly think it was Tess's idea to rip up CRH's paddle? It was all planned and rehearsed - hence CRH had some gaffer tape handy to fix it.... I really don't think it is Tess's fault - I think she is just doing what the producers ask her to do. There is very little room for ad lib or unrehearsed/unscripted comments and I think she is just given a general instruction to come back at whoever gives a low score (mainly CRH...) in order to be on the side of the celebs. It's just pantomime...

I'm sure you're right Daimonds, but as L en would say 'it gets on my wick'. In general, do the presenters need to be scripted? They've all got Uncle Tom Cobley and all talking to them in their ear pieces. I don't know what comes up on the auto cue, but I quite like a quip or a snippet of adlib. If they really need to be scripted, could Santa please bring the script writers an upgrade?

Off on a tangent slightly but during tonight's show L.en showed double standards. Before Caroline's dance as they assessed her as a dancer in a pre-recorded video L.en says that it was time to be tough as it is semis yet in the live show he was gurning at C.raig just because C.raig was saying it was the semis and he expects more which is a very fair and valid point.

CaledonianCraig wrote:Off on a tangent slightly but during tonight's show L.en showed double standards. Before Caroline's dance as they assessed her as a dancer in a pre-recorded video L.en says that it was time to be tough as it is semis yet in the live show he was gurning at C.raig just because C.raig was saying it was the semis and he expects more which is a very fair and valid point.

I wish someone would have said to L en it,s time to get tough , instead of telling us who should be here next week ( in this case the final ) can we have a bit more , instead of how good it was or how difficult a dance & how much content & what you loved , it was great , to some contestants & It wasn't your best dance , it lacked a bit of content , you went wrong there , it,s not your fault the choreography was crap , type comments for the one,s who don't get the biggest cheer or the longest standing ovation , aren't the best dancer , or you just don't like maybe you could shock us all & tell us who's writing your scripts

In the final you could go mad & be honest