This year it seems there are more shock results. is it because of the scoring or only 15 minute's of voting or more of a popularity contest

I think Natalie will get to the final 4 because of this

And why not if that's what the voters want?

To a certain extent it is as the more ties in the leader board then the lass importance the judges votes become.As I have said in another thread if next week all the other dancers get 34 and Craig were to get 18 again he would only be 1 point off the lead and therefore only need to finish 4th bottom with the public to survive

Before knocking this mind everyone was always complaining last year that the judges had too much power by basically giving there marks once then still being able to decide if the bottom person or second bottom person leaves the show

Cant have it both ways

I think the new scoring system is playing a part. As for the final, I suspect that one of the 3 couples will be a viewer favourite, rather than an exceptional dancer.

it's definitely the new scoring system - too many draws

and the fact that you can only vote for 15 mins - means the people earlier on are at a disadvantage

jade and ian will be getting my votes next week

I certainly agree with points 2 & 3. It's Eurovision Syndrome. The winning act often comes from the final quarter of performers in that. A large percentage of voters have short memories.

But I quite like the new scoring system. It tends to protect the better but less popular dancers, because one of them is likely to be up against an opponent who is clearly weaker in the judges' eyes.
The big exception could come up soon though, if Jade's and Zoe's scores are equal and in mid-table, while they score only 1 & 2 with the public.
Then, once Craig has been voted into Blackpool and, as seems likely, disappointed again, I expect his support to dwindle.

It's partly because of the new system, and partly because the mediocre people are (or at least appear to be) the most popular, rather than the least popular, like they normally are.

Bottom line is the public have slightly more power this year. I think that's a good thing. Not least because it means a better final, where the judges are less able to manipulate at least one finalist who is unpopular with the public, meaning the final is a bit of a foregone conclusion.

I don't think many viewers realise the difference the new scoring system makes to the number of points awarded to the dancers when judges award the same number to two or three couples. They used to show the judges score and also the number of points each couple had before the voting lines were opened but they don't do this any more - I think it would make a difference to the way some people voted if they had this information.

yes they do

I am not sure that we are getting more 'shock' results than any other year. However the tweaks to the scoring seem to make it a bit more obvious when certain dancers don't get the popular vote.

Last week I spent some time playing with the possible voting scenarios that left Joe and Zoe in the dance off and things made a lot more sense if Jade was also pretty low down in the public vote. There was even a scenario where the bottom two in the public vote were Jade and Ricky W. So I wasn't too surprised to see Jade in the dance off this week.