I have taken the liberty of finding the original Mail article. Shocking, I know.

The DigiSpy article has all that's relevant re his own exit, & his reasoning appears to be as unclear & confused as everyone's said. Does he think the producers ignored the public vote, or is he confused about how the dance-off works?

The part about Laila is noticeably lacking in direct quotes, but the idea seems to be that Laila should have gone, automatically I guess, because she completed only 1/2 her routine.

What would they have done in his case, so that his public vote collapsed? I don't recall anything unusual. Were they nicer about him, or something?


The part of the Mail article that's about Laila certainly fits that description, and the only direct quote in it is the one word 'scared'.

Time for Joe Calzaghe to go away now.

He's made a fortune during his career. My advice would be to go and enjoy his wealth in private.

.... and if Jade gets to do her tango, then he'll be right

Not at all. It in no way would prove him right in what he alleged.

... had the sense of humour bypass then, did you

Nope. My SoH is quite intact, but given some of the views expressed on this forum, especially those of the conspiratorial variety by posters who hold those views dear to their hearts, I am never too sure when a comment s made in jest or in total seriousness.

Trust the smilies ..... especially the vomit one

I am not sure quite what the BBC could have done differently other than to abandon the Dance Off and Viewers Vote.

Having decided to keep both of the above, it was up to us the viewers to decide who to keep in or not. Laila would have got the sympathy vote in much the same way as Craig did in the week before Blackpool. I did however wonder if Laila had ended up in the bottom two whether she would have done her dance again.

If I understand the rules correctly, as Jade was told on medical advice not to compete she would have a bye to this week but no longer than that. In Laila's case she was told she could compete if she wanted to. Under the rules had she declined to dance she would have been eliminated. All the BBC did was follow the rules as laid down.

As for the Dance Off, I am no expert. To my untrained eye Ricky performed better than Phil so sorry though I was that Tuffers went, I wasn't surprised.

The problem with any show where the outcome is decided by either the audience or the judges is that it all comes down to opinions. I don't think the result was fixed.

As for the X Factor given that each judge mentors some of the acts two of the four votes will be given to their favourites. The guy who survived on Sunday actually sang flat in the sing off. Simon Cowell can if he wants give a casting vote or vote to let the public vote which was held before said sing off decide. That is not a model in my view that Strictly should follow.

Hmm..


I wonder what would have happened that year with Emma Bunton in similar circumstances to Laila, before her appearance in Children in Need.

Just wanted to say that it really isn't that uncommon for a couple to be eliminated even though they have received their highest ever score from the judges.

Not really, because this week, they were judged on their dance-off performance.

Next week?

Who knows?

I wanna know what Joe said to Craig!
Was Craig bashing Anton, and Joe berrated Craig?
I know Cristina has gone on record defending Anton before.

Intruiging!

Someone's pointed out in the thread "So what did Joe call Craig then?" that it might have been something Joe said (to the producers) about Craig, rather than something he said to Craig.

From the Mail article:

The rules are that the judges are supposed to forget everything that has been done before, and just judge the dance-off dance.

Problem is, judges see things the viewers don't see. Kayta openly admitted that she and Phil had made mistakes in the dance-off that had not been see on camera - but the judges would have seen them. Even so, judges opinions can differ for all sorts of reasons - they are all from different backgrounds, and have different priorities.

The Professional Latin World Championships take place in Blackpool on Sunday, and even at that level, with about 11 world rated judges, I can guarantee the results from each will be all over the place. When you get dancers of similar standard, you have to choose something to separate them, and it can get down to a simple preference of someone's individual style.

With Phil v Ricky, neither were that good, but both managed what appeared to be their best dance. So how to choose? 2 judges went for what they saw as slightly better quality in the dance; the other 2 went for the 'clean' (ie no mistakes) performance. Both decisions were right.