We'll never know, because the legendary JS pulled out before that theory could be fully tested, and it seems that, as a panel, i.e. apart from the odd individual aberration, the judges don't wish to risk going down that road again.

But isn't that just a bit insulting to those particular voters? They don't vote for their favourite in the early stages - they vote to 'correct' the judges' marks. But then they forget their principles (or remember them) and vote accordingly...

I'm not sure I understand that behaviour; perhaps people really are as weird as cheese. But surely if a celeb is a bad dancer, then won't they get consistently low scores and poor comments? If that's the case, then by this logic, they'll always get the 'sympathy/correcting score' vote.

Or have I missed something? Do they eventually get fed up voting for a dead horse so to speak...

Personally, I've never seen it as anything but a dance competition and have voted for whom I consider to be the best dancer - favourites don't come into it. I think Tuffers is a great guy and probably my favourite celeb on the show, but he wouldn't get my vote as the best dancer - so far anyway - even though it would be the greatest hoot to see him win. What a controversy that'd be

Yeah, I guess. But by the same token, we'll never know if the opposite is true either - even though some peeps profess to vote for 'bad' dancers simply to redress the balance of opinion vs judges, there must be millions of voters, some of whom are not even on this forum, and we could never know for whom nor why they voted.

I just think it's a bit like the tree, the falling, the sound if there's nobody to hear it all over again. Is that an existentialist I hear turning in his grave?

There are those who will/have got a kick out of voting for a dancing numpty simply to annoy the judges. However, it rarely happens that people start voting for a useless celeb merely because the judges have slated them. More likely:
A particular celeb proves popular (for whatever reason) in spite of no/little or only moderate dancing ability.

They are continually kept in by the public vote despite low judges' scores.

A celeb with some talent leaves before them.

The judges stomp around a bit saying it's ridiculous that the show has come to this, that they know the public can vote for who they like but at the end of the day it's a dance competition blah blah blah.

Those who were already voting for the "useless" celeb feel compelled to increase their votes because they resent being dictated to and some viewers who also quite like said celeb but haven't voted yet chuck their hat into the ring as well.

This is precisely what happened with John Sergeant last year. We'll never know if he would/could have gone all the way or if the public would have decided (after seeing him churn out another same old/same old dance) that despite his charming personality and attitude, enough was enough. I personally think the latter. We've never had an "outrageous" winner of any series. In either case though, the celeb generally has to have a popularity base to begin with. Simply being slated by the judges isn't enough.

All sounds pretty accurate to me.

I confess though, that even though I like to see the best dancer win the comp, there's an enormous part of me that would just love to see a JS win some day. Nice bloke, great sense of humour, no illusions about his ability, chuffed to bits to be dancing with a beautiful woman, getting a huge amount of public support for just those reasons (and not to spite the judges), and feeling quite foolish for being at the forefront of the competition.

What a shake-up that'd create

Not if there's no-one near the grave to hear him

Why was that ?..there were other 2nd rate soap actors in the show. I had nothing against any of them. I think the only celebs I knew were Phil, Chris, Richard, Lynda and Joe..Ali I recognised because we sometimes watch The Bill.
All the rest could have passed me in Waitrose and I wouldn't have known them.
We always hope the best dancer will win as well, though we might not always agree with the judges.
I just thought Alesha's remarks appeared to be personal and vindictive, and delivered without that important additive..humour. You can make some cutting remarks provided they are delivered with a smile and good humour..something Alesha needs to learn. As you say..it's only tv. They are all there for one reason, to further their careers..even the "just great to be here" Natalie. I doubt Craig will lose any sleep over it, it's raised his profile a little..I see he was in that new drama "Collision" tonight.

It wasn't Craigs fault that Zoe went out it was the public vote therefore her comments were unfounded. She portrayed herself has being the voice of the contestants but it seems there's conditions on that she has to like you to be your voice.

We have come very close tho - Chris Parker was runner up to Natasha in series one and Julian Clary camer very close in I think series 2 (if I am wrong with that I'm sure someone will correct me)
I think the feeling is not that Craig WAS picked on mercilessly - more the way in which Alesha did it - even Flavia said it was harsh as did Karen Hardy on BBC Breakfast yesterday

I'm replying to you as, 1) more than most, you seem to lack understanding of what the thread is about and why it was started (that, or youre being deliberately obtuse) and 2) you say something, I respond, you reply with your view...it's the usual format of debate.

If you don't wish me to reply to you then don't address my posts. You can stop the discussion any time you like

Well than why are you on this thread to discuss just this?

I suspect that the majority of people trying to dance do reach his standard but luckily they are not dancing in front of millions so we don't get to see them. Of course they may think they are better than they are ...

Good point. If I could "do a Craig" in a variety of dances, my wife would be delighted. I have two dances, one is a shuffle around the floor to anything slow..that is my "romantic" dance. The other is my unique interpretation of John Travolta (with added Mick Jagger bits) from circa 1977..complete with knee slide.

LOL!

So yesterday on ITT Craig (Revel Horrid) supported Alesha in what she said about the other Craig. Now what?

You've got me thinking - just as "Masters" tennis and golf is very popular, so a Senior Citizens' SCD could be a real ratings boost - all the more so if the Beeb could persuade John Travolta and Olivia Newton John to sign up. (I'm sure the special effects department could produce CGI versions of Fred and Ginger to partner them.)

Dame Vera Lynn could do the singing section before the results and Brucie wouldn't need to do the "Doddery I am not!" gag repeatedly.

If only the Beeb wasn't so obsessed with attracting the "youth" audience.

Problem is that it only goes so far she doesn't know what it's like to someone who's not a naturally dancer or to struggle with a dance or dancing in particular. I don't think she had one dance that she couldn't do or which got panned. So she can see it from the perspective of a Ricky W but not a Craig Kelly.

Made me laugh too ,

I wonder if the Beeb instructed her to be more forthright? After all, the interest in Alesha simply being a judge was waning, so a new Alesha controversy wouldn't do the profile of SCD any harm. After all, it's not like she accused a good dancer of being cr*p - she was simply rather blunt in stating the obvious.

I think Craig should have been more honest about how he felt about the comments from Alesha on ITT. After all, he is now out of the competition and I felt the comments made by Alesha were appallingly rude and unnecessary. Obviously she is willing to do anything to advance her own profile on television but I have never seen the nasty side of her before. It made me cringe with embarrassment. Why didn't Flavia stand up for Craig instead of grinning and laughing. I was rather disillusioned with her lack of loyalty to her celeb partner. Where was Bruce?? Why didn't anyone tell Alesha she had gone too far or was she following Ausralia Craig to grab the headlines as he did when he called Jo a Kangeroo.

She wasn't blunt in my opinion but downright rude and humiliated Craig infront of his family and hometown crowd. The contestants cannot really answer back. Who is she anyway but an ex-pop star. I think she has delusions of grandure and is really, under the giggle and smile, rather a nasty piece of work.

Perhaps they all were, *gasp*, agreeding mostly (bar the Zoe comment of course) with Alesha?!

Why not?

LMAO.

Are we getting too philosophical for ourselves?

Hardly a surprise, was it?

I don't think Alesha was being controversial on purpose, she just said what she thought and she wasn't alone thinking that. I think the dancers are not gentle flowers and can take that and don't need a half of the DS forum to get offended for them.