The same happened with Emma Bunton who had lots more personality.

And regarding the Masterclass, thanks to Vincent's choreography, none of it could even have been attempted by Claudia.

Put it this way, for the first time ever on Strictly I had no favourite and didn't vote until the final. I had no intention of voting even in the final, but I was quite simply blown away by Tom & Camilla's showdance and it was a fabulous highlight in a series of lows for me. If Lisa had won, I may never of watched Strictly again. If Rachel had won, then fair enough. Personally I thought Austin should have been in the final, but I don't think he would have got the public vote to actually win. For me Tom was a worthy winner because he had the right combination - he was a good dancer and a lovely guy.

Rachel & Vincent should have won based on Rachel's performances throughout the series, but they were well and truly beaten by Tom & Camilla's show dance.

I don't agree with that, personally. Zoe Ball's tango is, in my opinion, the best dance that has ever been on Strictly. Ever. But I suspect this is rather the point - you'll never get a consensus on what the "best" of each dance was, so you can't please everyone.

The show dance came after the vast majority of votes were in and couldn't have affected the vote at all....Tom won the SF even with Austin taking votes and was ahead ever after...... I would guess that an awful lot of people who had done the same courses at drama school could have pulled off a similar routine - the problem on SCD is that most of the pros choreograph something that looks more like a dance or something with a weaker story rather than go for something based on a famous film scene. Ali or Nathalie or Ricky w ould do something similar and Ricky Groves would have a bash though his dancing isn't up to it.

Being a lovely guy is the right combination but the guy bit is what mattered.

Its a complete mystery why Austin had fewer votes. You might expect the dancing hunk storyline to prevail and Tom wasn't really outstandingly anything much. Austin's journey story was spolied when he was an early front runner but it was still stronger - he continued to develop and puts in his strongest performance quite late on wheras Tom didn't have much story at all apart from his wedding. Austin also produces one of the few memorable dances of that series with his paso.

Emma is another one. She's free, turns up at other things and based in London. Either they are ignoring her or she is ignoring them.

You have been very unfair on Tom there networkbabe- he was the total package- great dancer with personality and entertaining

Your comments take away from him as a deserving winner

I didn't think he was a deserving winner, but nor was I an Austin fan.

It should have been Rachel.

"Rachel you have broken three records and scored the highest number of tens"

"Tom you put your marriage on hold for this program"

Bruce's words at the final said it all.

He didn't entertain me - the acting was ham until the last dance where ham was approprate. I agree the showdance might explain the win - but it didn't as it was too late to matter to the vote . Austin did the best bit of acting before the show dance in his paso number and Austin also did the more dynamic dancing and beat him 6 weeks out of 10. Rachel actually had the journey story learning to do what she couldn't do before and ends up beating him in the last 6 weeks. I just don't see the Tom winning story - there's none of the usual stories , no great progress or surprise factor. He's not even funny. Darren wins with similar placngs in the last rounds but he had an enormous story to make up the difference and no other winner wins from third place in the last 3 rounds. The judges were almost screaming out send him home but he didn't even have much of an under-dog story because of that. Did the JS vote go his way as the weakest left or did Austin lose it with a few weaker dancers or because he was the front-runner?

The character Tom presented (or the VT editors did) in so far as there was one, was as the ambitious and slightly rogueish male (his TV role too) - both of which often put people off in reality TV votes. I could believe he was the default male winner after the female vote found nothing to relate to with Rachel or Lisa, but he somehow beats Austin too. To confuse it even more his appeal has evaporated by the tour and Rachel, Gethin, Jill and even Julian chalk up more wins . If there was a personality vote it seems to have been a very strange one - how do you appeal on TV on personality but not in the flesh? How do your runners up who were deemed to have less personality beat you 26 to 1 on tour. Is the tour audience immune to his charm or does the SCD vote have not that much to do with dancing?

Step in?
You started the thread
They're going with iconic rather than best ever although I think Ramps and Karen win hands down in both categories for the AT.

Given that we are fast approaching the final stages of the next series, is it not time to move on instead of dwelling on what might/could/should have been?
Last series had its winner and nothing is going to change that.

Rachel : 4(judges) + 2 (public) = 6
Tom : 3 + 3 = 6
Lisa : 2 + 1 = 3
Austin : 1 + 4 = 5

Not to put it as gospel but if you're struggling to find an explanation as to why Austin got less votes than Tom, well... it wasn't necessarily so. There's the contrary "evidence" of the leak I guess.

Haha, I really really wanted to pull down that layer of fabric too. Funny how those things stick in your head!

I just re-watched R&V's rumba and it gave me goosebumps (how Arlene of me...) It was quite amazing. Never seen anything like it on SCD. I have liked some other rumbas but that was something special.

Can't believe people are still bitter about Tom winning. It's been a year, get over it!

My point really to TylerTango was that I was not inspired to vote for anyone until after T&C did their show dance. I thought it was totally in keeping with Tom's personality and I doubt if many people who had done the same courses at drama school as Tom could have pulled off a similar routine, because it also included sections of ballroom dancing which they wouldn't have mastered like Tom.

How do you know that the show dance didn't matter vote wise? I know that was the case when Darren Gough won because he said so in his book.


I couldn't agree more, but Len still might chose R&V because of their score.

I was an avid Tom and Camilla fan from the start after his first dance (a cheeky cha cha) and didnt particularly love Rachel at all because I just felt she didnt connect with any emotion in any of her dances...

apart from that spectacular Rumba and her AT too. They were outstanding. My fave rumba of all time and also my fave AT for the choreography (although I love Alesha's and Gethin's too.)

Me too and I was with a lot of fms who would have loved a Tom/Austin final with A.N Other, however that was not to be. (Thankfully, as I would have been torn )
Rightly or wrongly, I looked forward to their dances to the exclusion of all the others and can still associate the songs with their dances, however it's now a new series and to quote Lady Mac**** () "What's done is done" - changed later in the play to, "What's done cannot be undone" - nor would I want it to be.