Week 7: Half-term report – who have the judges undermarked?

As we reach the half-way stage of the competition, I thought it would be fun to compare the scores submitted by ‘Strictly Scoreboard’ voters with those that have been awarded by the judges.

First, let’s look at the average scores of the ten contestants who remain in the show.

• The judges consider Delta to be clearly the best dancer, with a gap of 0.7 points to Lacey in second place. Voters though see it as a much closer contest, with less than 0.2 points separating Delta, Tabby & Lacey’s scores.
• In the opinion of the public, Dani has been most deserving of higher scores from the judges, whereas Graeme has been most overmarked.

If we look back at which contestants were undermarked and overmarked by the judges, at the same stage in each of the last two years, you will see that eventual champions Karen & Chris were both ranked in the ‘top two’ undermarked contestants. This would appear to be a positive indicator for both Dani and Tabby’s chances of success in 2026.

Moving back to our current series, these are the ‘top ten’ routines as rated by ‘Strictly Scoreboard’ voters.

• Voters have really enjoyed the routines of the female celebrities this year; with eight of the nine top rated routines being performed by females.
• Eight of these routines were performed in either week five or six

These are the ten most undermarked dances as rated by ‘Strictly Scoreboard’ voters.

• Three of the top six are Quickstep routines
• Five of these routines were performed in week one

In contrast, these are the ten most overmarked dances as rated by ‘Strictly Scoreboard’ voters.

• Bizarrely, since becoming a dad, each of Will’s three routines have been rated as being overmarked by ‘Strictly Scoreboard’ voters. This is in stark contrast to his first three routines that were all considered to be undermarked!

I then analysed all of the voter ratings since the ‘Strictly Scoreboard’ first enabled visitors to submit their scores in week three of 2024, to see if any patterns were beginning to emerge. To start, here are the average scores for each professional dancer.

* Only includes the professionals that have had at least ten routines scored by ‘Strictly Scoreboard’ voters.

• It is interesting to note that the female professionals are at either end of this table; receiving differing average scores from the judges and public of at least 0.2 points.
• In contrast there has been much more agreement between the public and the judges for each male professional.
• Remarkably, after checking, all but one of Lauren’s 21 routines have received higher scores from the judges; the lone exception being Graeme’s milkman Jive.

Next, I looked at which dance styles have received higher scores from the public or the judges.

• The Cha Cha, Samba and Rumba are often thought of as ‘tricky’ Latin dance styles for celebrities. All three styles appear at the top of this list, with these routines being scored more highly by the public, than the judges.
• The dance styles which have been most overmarked by the judges are perhaps unsurprisingly the Show Dance, and the polarising Couple’s Choice

Finally, I thought I would check my theory that judges are more likely to overmark routines that are performed in ‘theme weeks’.

• So, the data does confirm that whereas the public score slightly higher than the judges in ‘normal’ weeks, the opposite is often the case in ‘special’ weeks.