Her VT strop would have lost her a lot of votes this week.

Also, she may not have a large fanbase. I don't follow sport and so I'd never heard of her before SCD.

Contesants who appear in the soaps or who are on TV every week as part of their regular jobs have a much larger fanbase and will be voted for irrespective of whether they were actually the best or not.

People apparently prefer losers so they can save them Craig could be dancing in Blackpool every bloody day if he wanted to, he did not deserve to go further without dance off. On a positive note, it seems that this year it's a good dancer without votes vs bad dancer who just lost their votes for somebody even more desperately needing them. So at least it's not 2 good dancers fighting against each other while the bad ones have their place in the next round already.

There was no way Jade should have been in the Dance Off. To me, she is in the Top 3. The strop may have people off voting for her. I thought she danced very well and I loved Ian's trousers even though they made him look like an "oil slick".

They were on first so they may have been forgotten about.

I dont think they deserved to be there, but unless you are right at the top or bottom of the leaderboard you could be in trouble.

I think that's a very valid point. Also, as she's danced pretty well, people may have felt she was safe anyway and not voted bothered voting.

She definitely didn't deserve to be in the dance off.

This isn't about your post in particular -- I'm just curious about why people think some things that don't seem very evident to me.

What's thought to be the evidence that the public "had little or no interest"? I can't imagine what it might be. No one's done a survey; the vote results can't show it; forums are not reliable guides.

What's the evidence that the judges were deliberately over- and under-marking, rather than giving marks they genuinely thought were deserved? Have they ever confessed to it in an interview, for example?

Finally, is there a picture or clip or something that shows Lisa simpering?

"Simper" is an unusual word. It appears quite often in DS forums, but I have virtually never seen it used anywhere else (except in some old novels).

And it isn't used consistently. It's not like every celeb who simpers gets the word tagged onto them. I wonder whether people think it means something different than it does (rather like many people think "opinionated" means something different than it does).


I think people should be just as suspicious with the charm offensives, backed by judges' comments, that are already in place. Natalie Cassidy's for example.

I can't actually decide if you are mischief-making or being obtuse here ...!

No, of course we don't have access to the public vote. But figures for one week were leaked to the media last year and showed that Rachel and Lisa were significantly less popular than John Sergeant, Tom Chambers, Austin Healy and Christine Bleakley. These figures were backed up by the number of times Rachel and Lisa ended up in the dance-of only to be consistently rescued by the judges - until Lisa could be saved no longer. So, despite efforts to rubbish them, those figures did pretty much reflect what we saw.

As for the marking, of course the judges didn't nor wouldn't admit to the over- and underscoring I referred to ... as if! If you didn't spot it, fair enough - but many viewers did. Not hard when you consider the likes of Arlene (especially) practically telling the audience who they should vote for.

And simpering? Well, as you will doubtless know, it means: "To smile in a frivolous, self-conscious, often coy manner." Of course this wasn't Lisa's only recurring trait - she could also cry on cue - a handy attribute for a reality TV show ... As for evidence of that: it would be hard not to find it ...

I don't see any charm offensive required for Natalie Cassidy. She can sell herself without the judges needing to pitch in.

But then it's all in the eye of the beholder, isn't it?

I find Jade dreadfully cocky and I think that it is very hard to warm to her. She was in the bottom 2 because a lot of people clearly share that view as well.

I loved these two last night I think that they are consistently under-marked

I love them too they are my fav couple this year.

I honestly think Jade will get to Blackpool as I am sure she will beat Zoe in the dance off next week

I'm over it now - I wasn't that keen on Natalie anyway!


I admire you for speaking up and saying this. Actually, I think it will happen a lot until more people twig about the changes in the scoring, and realise it is now more important than before that they vote, if they want to avoid their favourite being in the dance off and potentially going out of the competition.


LOL! Such honesty is refreshing!

Do you have a crystal ball - or a TARDIS?!

People prefer losers. Correct in Britain, sadly. Probably the only thing I prefer about Americans is that they don't envy success and try to chop winners down.

Your logic about the votes could be tested this coming week, though, if the judges fail to separate Zoe and Jade on the leaderboard. Then we might see them head-to-head in the dance-off if they both get a low public vote.

Best thing for the competition would be for Craig and Flavia to dance early. A proportion of voters are people who have such a short attention span that they'll forget to vote for him if they see someone else begging later on.

All posters on here excepted, of course!

Couldn't agree more- and was this the second week in a row on first??

Why are the beeb letting certain couples go more towards the end again this series? Its been quite pronounced.

Ah well- I hope that these two are in it a lot longer

They were on first last week too.
I still think it's more to do with voters believing that top(ish) of the leaderboard is safe

Ricky G and Erin were on first last week.

A big, fat YES to Bonnie's points.

First to dance struggle to garner points.
And why vote for those at the top? UNLESS they were in danger last week. Expect Jade and Ian to be safe on Saturday.

No, they were second the week before - this is the order of dance so far.

Interesting. Jade and Ian the only couple to have twice danced 1st.
Ricky W always dances middle or end.
I need a closer look at this.
BB, your stats are a great resource. Thank you.

I had that feeling about the VT clip too. I always take theses clips with a pinch of salt anyway, as they are miniscule outtakes designed to suit the agenda of the producers rather than necessarily reflecting truly what is happening.


I fear a lot of people may think this, though personally I disagree. It's just that Jade isn't a big extravert who wears her heart on her sleeve or craves public support. I'm sure she has inner strength and I rather like her reserve and the way she just gets on with improving week by week. In a different way, Rachel Stevens showed similar qualities last year, and she eventually won me over by simply improving so much as a dancer - even though I admit to originally mistaking her reserve and focus as signifying lack of personality.

1st Ballroom though and 2nd of 12?

A lovely smooth dance surrounded by some frantic and memorable (for the wrong reasons) Jives.
I think voters had fixed on who needed saving - only my opinion of course.

p.s. How does that coding work?

If the judges scored the dancers using all 10 numbers, we might end up with the Celebs ranked 1 to 11. That would make it much less likely that a celeb from the top of the leaderboard ended up in the bottom two.

With so many ties from the judges, it makes it more likely that one of the best dancers will be in the bottom two. If the judges keep doing that, we could end up with the top two dancers in the dance-off.

It's quite a compliment as I think the producers like to open and close with what they consider entertaining and/ or competent routines?


dance order/# of contestants

If you look back at the montage before the opening credits, pretty much every week there's been a split-second of Jade screaming at Ian about something or other. It was only a matter of time before it was acknowledged on the main show. They clearly have a volatile relationship (although I think they do seem tightly bonded and do like each-other) and the public hate volatile relationships. As soon as a pro and a celeb are shown yelling at each other their vote dries up and it never comes back.

Personally I'd rather a couple have that sort of relationship and deliver (as long as I can convince myself they still like each other), than have an all-smiles relationship and bomb out constantly on the dancefloor (IMO Chris & Ola).