Hi all! Hope everyone enjoyed the rhythm dance tonight. Here are some thoughts after seeing the competition in person. Sorry it’s long!
I’ve not read everyone’s comments yet so hopefully my take isn’t too controversial! So the judging was very FAIR tonight. Mistakes and untidyness/sloppiness were marked down accordingly.
Very sad for the Koreans, as was the audience. Everyone was into their performance and felt very bad when Ye was upset at his mistake resulting in them not qualifying for the Free. I wonder if he has had an injury since his twizzles have been off for most of the season and Hannah was very understanding and supportive.
The audience loved the baby Brits and their RD was so good. They should be so proud of how well they performed and placed. And so nice to see Penny with them at an event!
Baby Czechs also very good and have a lot of presence on ice. Taschlers also good but didn’t have the same speed or conviction of baby Czechs. It was very evident since they skated right before them. T/V skated really well considering the limited prep and competition time they’ve had.
The French (FB/C) were very good but they don’t have the presence on ice that I expected. I’ve seen them both skate in person with their former partners and they had so much presence in those former couplings. It’s not that they don’t have chemistry because they do, but it does feel like a new partnership in the way that they don’t convey that confidence and security yet because the partnership is so new. Saying all that though, they skated superbly.
Z/K, L/B, S/D and R/S were all fantastic and deserved their scores/placements. Im still warming to Z/K but I can’t deny their skill. They were very good and skate so deep in the knees. They were my husband’s favourite of the night. They skate with so much confidence.
Lala were wonderful. They skate with a lot of speed but their twizzles were a bit messy/out of synch. I feel like they are not skating with the same confidence as they did in 23/24 when they really made a name for themselves in making the top 5 at worlds. They need RD material that they really connect with (like their Thriller RD last year) as the skill is clearly there.
I felt like CPom skated with a lot of conviction and confidence in their material but they skated smaller and slower than Lala. Their costumes really flashed on the ice - it was nice to see Anthony in something that had bit of style and flare to it. The programme is perhaps a bit boring (those were my husband’s comments).
The Brits were good (they both skate with a great knee bend) but Lilah had a very visible bobble in the twizzle so deserved to be marked down. They were fun as always.
The Italians were also good (I always enjoy them more in person than on TV cause their presence comes across so much more) but I have to say they are a bit sloppy in terms of matching each other in their lines/timing and Marco’s twizzles were a bit messy.
Piper and Paul were so good. They were slower through the pattern step but everything else was quite fast, especially considering they were in hold a lot. They covered a lot of ice in their twizzles and they were very sharp. I think a lot of the audience didn’t know the RuPaul song so that maybe a lost a bit of connection because everyone loved the I’m Too Sexy bit.
Madi and Evan had a lot of presence on the ice (yes even Evan) and their movements were so sharp and they match each other’s lines so well. They aren’t as slow as they appear on TV but I also wouldn’t say they are super fast. They skated small (they did not cover the same amount of ice as a lot of other couples) and their twizzles, while clean and precise, did not cover much ice at all. They are more dynamic than the French but their placement is fair. I am biased but I don’t think they are 3 points better than Piper and Paul - 1 or 2 points would be more fair, but I’ve not looked at levels yet.
There is still a lot to play for in the Free. It will be interesting!