I don't know about anyone else, but for me...

It's not a dancing contest.
It's not a personality contest.
It's an ENTERTAINMENT contest, and the most entertaining people are the ones who display both dancing ability and personality. One or the other is simply not enough - no matter how good your dancing is, or how sparkling your personality is - if you're not entertaining people, you're never going to pull in large amounts of votes...

So, is the whole Dancing versus Personality debate actually a false dichotomy? Discuss...

A bit of both.

It's no good being technically perfect if your dancing doesn't move the audience and if your partnership doesn't endear itself to the public.

Talent and likability are both essential in order to win Strictly.

The success of the show is built on dancing and trying to achieve perfect dancing from celebs. I maintain
that trying to achieve this high standard in dance underpins the show. Anything less and it will fail.

Other spin offs have been tried and failed.

Not much need really. You summed up the mission statement for the show.

The judges are there to ensure the best technical dancer gets to the final. They always have and will again. Ricky W this series. They'll also have a shot of saving the second best technical dancer in their view - Ali.

If Ali on a bad week comes up against the other category that makes a final, namely the best improved dancer, then the judges get to choose another candidate from that pool. This year it'll probably be Jade, or possibly Laila. If they don't get enough public support to avoid dance-offs, they'll be able to save one of them to a final through dance-offs against the second string public favourite 'personality' candidates. So either Ali, Jade or Laila is your second finalist.

Which actually, for all the huffing and puffing you get about it, leaves the public with just one choice of their favourite, regardless of dance ability, to put in a final. And as the number of couples shrink, folks are perfectly aware whoever that personality favourite is, the only way they're getting them in to the final is to make sure they avoid the dance-off completely. Which is what'll happen.

A pretty well-designed judging system to cater to all viewer preferences: some put best technical dancer as number one priority, some put best improved dancer or journey number one and others put a combo of competent dancer/favourite personality.

The system you got delivers the best possibility of delivering just that. The show's production team, contrary to forum hysteria, aren't stupid. They know roughly what their audience wants and they design a system that delivers it.

gig-ge-dy summed it up really. I will add for next years celebs.

You need to show potential in your first dance but not be too good ( a journet always helps)
You need to say you are a superfan or your partner is brilliant. You cannot be too cocky or competitive. Too much talk of nerves gets boring after 1 week. An injury is good, but not too bad that impedes your dance. A breakthrough week is a really good thing.
A pro that actually chreographs an entertaining routine that shows you have a personality/ sense of humour/ acting ability always helps.