Can anybody remind me what happens if the following occurs, cos I'd say it's at least a 'worth a bet' possibility this year.

POSSIBLE JUDGE'S SEMI-FINAL LEADERBOARD
Ricky W - 4
Ali - 3
Jade - 2
Chris - 1

POSSIBLE PUBLIC VOTE SEMI-FINAL LEADERBOARD
Chris - 4
Jade - 3
Ali - 2
Ricky W - 1

COMBINED SCORES RESULTS
Ricky W = 4 + 1 = 5
Ali = 3 + 2 = 5
Jade = 2 + 3 = 5
Chris = 1 + 4 = 5

I thought I remember them saying in the event of a tied board after combination of votes that the public vote takes precedence, but I might have imagined it.

If I didn't, then it's one of the only ways I see where two of the three finalists don't end up being Ricky W and Ali. Discussions if this happens would certainly be a little lively.

In this scenario the judges would already know that Jade was less popular than Chris from the previous weeks result. They would ensure that Jade was placed fourth on the judges leader board to ensure one of their favs escaped to final. They know they have little hope of stopping Chris although they managed to knock out Austen in this fashion last year ( the rule changes make it more difficult for them to do this now).

If Chris messed up his routines and Jade didn't that would be difficult for them.

Did I remember right about the public vote taking precedence though? They surely have to have a policy in place in advance for this possibility.

Yes, in that scenario Chris and Jade would go through and Ali and Ricky would be in the dance off.

Thanks.

Can you help clarify when the voting power of the judges ceases. One thread I looked on said from the quarter finals ( is that inclusive of the quarter finals) If so when we are down to how many couples? Cheers

AFAIK, the judges vote counts right the way up to the first elimination in the final itself.

The (hopefully) three couples dance, the judges vote, the public vote and the one with the lowest combined score is eliminated. Then the remaining two couples dance and the winner is decided on public vote alone.

If that was the public vote order then they could easily rank :

1. Ali
2. Jade
3. Ricky
4. Chris

and send Chris home. The scores amongst the top 3 will be so high at that point the score margin could be one point in each case.

Sure, votes could going anyway with the public by that stage. I was just raising a possibility that seems more likely than other years.

Following indigomoon's suggestion that the judges would know how couples are fairing in the public vote in earlier weeks (I'm not certain they do know the figures, but accept it's a good possibility they might), then if the above nightmare scenario for them was a genuine possibility, their best chance to avoid a Ricky W v Ali dance-off in the semis would be to place whoever was doing better in previous weeks out of those two first. They'd then get 4 off the judges and a likely 2 in the public vote, equalling six. That one gets through to the final and they can save the other one who gets dumped in a dance-off after a tie against the second public favourite.

The four-way tie would be more fun though.