No it is not at all obvious, but it is obvious that it is in your imagination




The truth is that YOU have no evidence, the truth is that YOU have a nice little conspiracy theory, the truth is that YOU want your theory to be true, so like any other conspiracy theory, the more that people argue against it, the more convinced that you are that it is correct.


There is no hope.

Yep. If you want to cry fix, cry fix about this. The bbc is not going to burn its hands again on altering the public voting, OFCOM has made sure of that. I doubt the judges did it on purpose, but making sure there are no tied scores is the only way they could influence the vote even slightly.

OK so after 7 weeks of moans and groans about the ties on the leader board skewing the result a bit.....there are not ties on the board and the bottom two are in the dance off and lo and behold people complain about that.

The only reason the voting system was changed was because in later stages a tied vote could mean that it was IMPOSSIBLE to save one couple even if they got the highest public vote (as in the semi final last year) Last night Craig COULD have been saved depending on the order that the other couples came in the public vote but as he only had 1 point it was harder than in previous weeks.

Its just the way it is.....he and Ricky G were the worst dancers on the night and were rightly in the dance off. Personally I voted several times for Ricky G but he only had 2 points so being saved was more difficult.

There are those of us who believe that the BBC fix things and those that believe they don't. My personal opinion is that the BBC is a corrupt organisation that always does what it wants and ignores public opinion. So ignoring public votes would be something they'd do easily if they wanted to. The producers decision is always final. That means they can actually over-ride anything they want to. I just don't believe everything I'm told.

I'm not complaining about it - I think the judges did absolutely the right thing and the leaderboard placings were spot on.

Craig going last helped things and it's possibly why Alesha felt able to let rip as it was highly unlikely he could avoid the dance off.

I'm a bit more cynical than cassieconvinced as to whether the judges avoided tied scores deliberately but ultimately IMO the weakest dancer left the competition so all's well (apart from if you're a Craig fan).

They have auditors to prevent that very thing happening. The last thing they need is another phone vote scandal.

I know that ITV publishes the results of the public votes on Dancing on Ice after the series ends. I don't know if the BBC also does this for SCD but it wouldn't surprise me if they did.

Quite frankly, going by this forum, I don't think Craig was particularly popular and... well, Erinfan has already said it for me:

Do we actually see the auditors? Do they publish the results, before or after the series has ended? Answer to both is no. Just because they tell you something doesn't mean its true.

Exactly! If they were fiddling the public vote then there would be no need to avoid tied votes.

As somebody else pointed out it is less likely that tied votes will occur as much (if at all) as the weeks go on. So I think that "leg up" to the weaker dancers is gone.

I don't think it was a fix. Zoe's elimination worked in favour for the better dancers....1) they have less competition and will be higher on the leader board, 2) it made viewers realise that they must vote for the good dancers and not just assume they'll get through. The latter is probably why the bottom 2 dancers were in the dance-off.

If there was any "fix" involved, it must have been to keep Craig in as long as he was! Seriously, it isn't the beebs' interest to fix these sort of votes.

And why on earth would you think he probably got the highest public vote? I think (as has already been mentioned) that having seen 2 of the best dancers end up in the bottom 2 last week, voting viewers came to their senses and decided not to waste any more money on losers.

Erm..

You obviously don't read the papers. There are strict rules governing "vote rigging" as the BBC got their fingers burned a couple of years ago.

There's no rigging of the public vote in the programme. Mark Thompson would probably get fired if that happened again.

The BBC has said for years, that they never reveal the total number of votes cast, or the order of popularity of the competitors, using the excuse "It's sensitive information" which could be of use to a competitive channel.

That's BBC speak, for not wanting the public to know how few people vote, compared with the viewing numbers.

I don't think that can be the case, would the BBC allow Craig to stay in the show while two good dancers battle it out in the dance off like last week.

The only "Fixing" going is down to the GBP,

My o/h noticed the lack of tied votes; I hadn't spotted it myself. However, it never struck me that it was a fix and still doesn't!

It was Craig's time to go.

I agree.

The votes are independently verified every week, so there is no rigging.

The guy who does it is called Jeremy Stern and this article was on Greytop's thread here just the other week.

I also don't think the judges conspire to fudge the votes because they have to give their votes to someone in the studio immediately the dance is finished, so there is enough time to set up the scores that appear on the screen. The first time we hear the judges' scores is not the moment each judge decided what to give.

You're probably right that it's impossible for judgely collusion but it's just a weird sensation watching something unfold like last night.

Earlier in the day a couple of posters (me included) said we expected far fewer tied scores because of the skewed voting sysem and then what do we get - no ties at all? Talk about Craig being delusional - last night I felt like Mystic Meg

I'm all for freedom of speech but I think it carries with it a responsibility...

For that reason I somethimes wish the companies involved would use the lawyers more often, but the fact is they realise most just don't take these people seriously

Nah. The public saw what happened last week with that farcical dance-off situation, so this week voted accordingly.

It's more amusing when someone knows they're rubbish and they still get through - but he actually thought he was really good. Maybe the public couldn't go along with it anymore.

Have you been living on Mars because your post implies you are unaware of the TV voting/phone in scandals that rocked the industry a few years ago....The votes are`t rigged.The reputation of the broadcaster would be ripped to pieces if there was any hint of a rigged vote.....Plus all votes are monitored and counted by an independent adjudicator.

Craig could have been bottom 2 even if he topped the public vote.

If Craig got 9, he would've had a MAX of 10.

Then, the following could've got 11:
Ali - 9 + 2
Ricky W - 8+3
Chris - 7 + 4
Jade - 6+5
Natalie - 5+6
Laila = 4+7
Phil - 3+8

Leaving Ricky G to get 1 point for a total of 3.

Ricky G and Craig in the dance off, with 3 and 10 points respectively, and everyone else on 11 points.

Of course, unlikely that it was that way, but it's mathematically possible so there's no reason for BBC to cheat.

Week 3 ties: 31 (Jade, Zoe), 20 (Jo, Rav)
Week 4 ties: 32 (Ricky W, Ali), 29 (Jade, Natalie), 24 (Phil, Craig, Lynda), 20 (Jo, Joe)
Week 5 ties: 27 (Phil, Natalie), 22(Laila, Chris)
Week 6 ties: 32 (Ricky W, Jade), 29 (Ricky G, Natalie), 28 (Laila, Chris)
Week 7 ties: 33 (Ali, Laila), 30 (Natalie, Phil)
Week 8 ties: none (40, 35, 34, 33, 31, 30, 28, 25, 17)

As the number of remaining couples thins out, naturally the chance of tied scores diminishes. Furthermore, last night was the first time contestants chose to dance what they liked, and 9 couples chose 9 different dances. Judges's marks split into 2 halves, with their marks dispersed through a range much wider than when all couples danced one of two prescribed dances:

Top half, ballroom: 40, 35, 34, 31
Bottom half, latin: 33, 30, 28, 25, 17

Memo to pro dancers: when it comes to suvival time, do not dance latin. Remember Camilla and Gethin's semi-final paso vs Matt di Angelo's 4-tens waltz? Remember Tom's obliteration jive in his 3-3-1 semi-final versus Rachel's AS and Lisa's quickstep both near 40?

Read my other post. Everything you have just said you have been told. You haven't witnessed any of it. I just don't believe everything I'm told.

There's a difference between not believing everything you're told and flying in the face of reason.

Pssst ..... we never set foot on the moon either ....despite what they tell you, it was all faked in a studio.

This is very true and it amazes me how that thousands have kept theit traps shut about it for thirty years.