OOh, I'd best get my Du Beke complaint off to the BBC forthwith then

I'm liking this match up too!

That's right. When Julianne Hough had her appendix removed, Edyta Śliwińska danced with Cody Linley for one week until Julianne came back.



I completely agree with you, but now we are both being too reasonable!

well I suspect Karen Hardy was. Not sure about the men

who was the last male dancer to leave? There seems to be a higher turnover of female dancers or is that just the last couple of years?

Oops, sorry!

According to an insider, If Anton was to leave for whatever reason (pushed or quit) then a brand new male dancer that is on standby will be drafted in as a replacement.

It is because Matt is considered a contestant as much as Martina (his partner) as the voting was for the PAIR of them and not just to vote out Martina, and to allow him back into the competition after the public had paid money to vote him out would break the terms of phone voting. It would in effect mean that people who voted them out in the first week will be due a refund as their vote will have been made void and adds huge contract problems to the BBC over whether Martina should be re-instated if Matt is.

It would be a different state of affairs if we were just voting out the Celebrities only but unfortunately because of the format of the show the voting clearly states you have to vote to keep "Martina and MATT" in the show.

Once voted out they must no longer participate within the competition and can only dance for entertainment only.

Apparently they have at least 3 male and female pro dancers on standby for emergencies such as injuries, ill health or forced retirements who are extremely good but were not considered to be showing the on-screen qualities of the current professional line-up that would be popular to the audience (not as glamourous/confident on camera/perfectly toned).

Pro swaps have been done in both DwtS and DOI but as it's been said only for one week of the show due to injury/opperation. It looked as though on DOI, when Pam, David's Series 1 partner, got injured, that she was going to be away for a while so Natalie (I think that was her name) looked almost perminant and that didn't cause to much bother.

I'm sure in the case of Anton it won't be as simple as now you see him, oops no you don't. I guess we'll just have to sit tight and let the controversy steam train on by...

Oh dear, so my plan to sabotage a male pro for the return of the Cutler would backfire. At least I found out before I locked James Jordan in a cupboard!!

.

Interesting.

I suppose that fits in with my two examples though. DOI, like Strictly, brought in a new pro and the DwtS replacement was only for a week, so it was just like a friend stepping in for a friend, rather than a decision declaired by the high and mighty - and DwtS don't take anything too serious really.

Blame the do-gooder brigade that complain about phone-voting.

It was them that caused an issue on Big Brother a few years back when Nikki was voted out by the public and then Big Brother put her back in the house 2 weeks later.

They received hundreds if not thousands of complaints over it and the regulator wasnt impressed that people were voting out contestants that were then put back into the competition, making their costly votes irrelevant!

Things have tightened up so much these days, so unfortunately kidnappings and random beatings cannot guarentee your favourites re-enter the competition

2 differences there.

1st - It was a temporary replacement and probably understood that they wouldnt be allowed to win the title. I would imagine if it was a full time replacement it would have been a different pro taking part.

2nd - Isnt DWTS a US show? If so they dont have the same phone voting regulations and probably dont have the kind of scams that have blighted the UK phone voting of for the past few years and so they probably didnt think about it or even care because the american audience didnt cause a fuss over it like we would over here!

DOI barely acknowledges the existence of the pro skaters, so I think you're voting for the celeb only there.

In series 1, when Pam was injured, another pro skater was brought in temporarily, however, in series 3, when Michael broke his leg, Fred, who had already been voted out with Sarah Greene, was brought back with a new partner.

Thanks for that!

That makes sense. If Anton did go I imagine the BBC would be desperate to avoid any further scandal so I can imagine why they wouldn't use Matthew. Although I'm sure there are some who would be more scandalised by their decision not to

sorry double post

No one seems to even consider why Matthew Cutler would be prepared to 'be drafted in' when he is paid the full fee for being kicked out in week one as long as he pitches up for the odd ITT and pro dance. Why on earth should he do more work for the same money?
And that's leaving aside the unholy legal mess of trying to 'sack' Anton when he's admitted wrong-doing and apologised and the Beeb have effectively conceded no further action is warranted. I can tell you the damages (for Anton) would be enormous if they back-tracked now!

This is a living demo of that untrue saying, that there is no such thing as bad publicity.

I think this whole situation is unfortunate for both of them. Anton has finally got a decent shot at winning and he ruins it by making a racist comment, and while that is his fault I do still feel for him as I believe he didn't mean it offensively and said it without thinking.
I also feel for Laila, it must be horrible to have to work in an atmosphere like that and it puts her in a bad situation if people stop voting for them because of what Anton said, or if they both have to withdraw.
I think it's unlikely that Anton would be fired but if he is then I think Matthew should be brought in to dance with Laila.

The atmosphere in the training room between the two of them will be even more interesting. Seeing as apparently she's the one who first used the 'phrase' in the first place and he's getting all the flak!

That's only twitter rumour though isn't it? Don't think that's been confirmed. Why would she scream at him "to get away from her" and storm off home, if that were the case. Granted, that's only what we've been told too. But for Anton to issue an apology and Laila accept it then I think Anton must have been the one in the wrong. If Laila did say it too she needs to admit that.

Just realised something - people never voted Matt and Martina out. Votes are cast to keep couples in. Wouldn't this prevent any of the above problems??

(I'm thinking in general terms here, I don't actually think Anton should necessarily leave)

I have to say I'm quite excited at the prospect of a brand new dancer if Anton does leave...

According to one paper today, Lalia was refusing to dance with Anton on Saturday for remarks he was making about her dancing - looks like things might be bumpy with them

I can see the thinking that the public voted for the couple if the pro dancer was changed each year but they are not so dont see the problem with using an eliminated dancer if one of the others should have to retire