in a two person final the judges decide who the finalists are.

No matter how much you vote for Chris if they want a Ricky and Ali final under current rules that's what they'll get.

In my opinion this is what they want so not really worth voting unless the rules change.

Was there a need to create an extra thread about this? This was basically the premise of your 'what's the point of the public vote' one. Im not saying you cant have your opinions or anything but the forum is busy and has a lot of threads going on without the need for duplicate threads.

Depends very much on who's more popular out of Ricky or Ali. A public vote in the reverse of the judges' one would see Chris and Ola through.

So basically Chris and Ola fans have to vote a lot for them but also give some votes to whoever is 2nd on the leader board...

I have already made this point in more than one thread, and so have others ...

So this isn't really news.

We are all headed for a deathly dull final.

but say it's down to the final three, the judges put Chris last - winning the public vote will still get him through, unless they make ali and ricky tie

It's still not enough - unless, by some weird miracle, the judges decide to mark him above Ricky or Ali. (They did it with Ricky last night but I suspect they were shocked to see him in the dance-off so will revert to overmarking him again next week).

But Team Cola will go down fighting - vote, vote, vote regardless!

My other thread is not specific to the threat to Chris in this scenario. I think Cola fans should be directly alerted to the possible irrelevance of their vote at this stage.

My other two threads deal more generally with the power of the judges mark over the public and the second to how the judges can manipulate the leader board to get their desired result.

I consider these to genuinely be clearly delineated points for discussion.

This scenario cannot happen unless Chris outscores Ricky or Ali. And given that the judges' darlings are marked more perferably than any other contestant, this is pretty unlikely.

Now Jade has gone (), we have the prospect of a two-person final with the judges dictating who gets there (like Series 5).

And the chances of them giving Team Cola a pass there are very slim, I would say ...

Quite frankly, I would rather spend my money voting for a couple who I find entertaining than sit by and watch two contestants who may be technically good but have so far struggled to translate their personality (if they have one, in Ricky's case) on to the dancefloor.

No it won't if the first on judges leaderboard comes second with public Chris will be in DO whether he tops public poll or not and therefore be sent home by judges.

After last year's debacle over Tom - the rules are quite clear - the public cannot be put in a position where it is impossible to save any of the contestants.

where are the rules located? Wasn't there something about it changing after the quarter finals (not just Darcy joining)? Or did I dream that - if anyone has a link I'd be grateful, thanks

If the leader board was say Ricky, Ali, Chris and the public voted Chris, Ali, Ricky then Chris would got through leaving the other two to dance off...

I'm still hoping for a three couple final.

Agreed. I have always voted for Chris & Ola. I too, would rather see somebody that is trying his hardest, training probably the most hours per week, and slowly improving, and entertaining the viewers. And I like their partnership, they just seem to be having fun.

Me too!

Me three

Are you deluded too?

Am I?! I don't know!

Good of you to create such a pointless, negative thread, and be flat out wrong. All it needs is for the judges' order and the public order to be reversed, and Chris and Ola are in the final. For example:

Judges
Ricky & Natalie - 3 points
Ali & Brian - 2 points
Chris & Ola - 1 point

Public
Chris & Ola - 3 point
Ali & Brian - 2 points
Ricky & Natalie - 1 points

Net result - everyone has 4 points. In such a scenario, which is entirely plausible, Chris and Ola would go straight through to the final as the public vote takes precedence in a tie, and Ali and Ricky would be in the dance off.

Last year they really did make it impossible for Tom to avoid the dance off even before the public vote began.

The cleverer thing for them to do is to place the leaderboard so theoretically the public favourite can go through. But in reality if they already know the relative popularity of the public vote they can second guess it and ensure publics fav in DO.

This is what I believe they will do.

Lets hope so...be it Laila or Chris.....Love or loath him Simon Cowell would never allow circumstances to dictate a two person final.He would do something to get 3 in the final and no doubt increase the ratings of the x-factor in the process....and again whether you love;loath or are indifferent to the x-factor at least the public vote is king during the latter stages of the show and the judges have no say as to who is eliminated.......It will be a travesty if the judges decide who makes the Strictly final this year.

If Chris keeps topping the public vote, he'll progress through to the final no matter where he is on the table - won't he?

Not necessarily, I don't think.

In this circumstance: (first column is judges)

Ricky - 3 + 2 = 5
Ali - 2 + 1 = 3
Chris - 1 + 3 = 4

No, not as the rules stand at the moment. A Ricky v Ali is far more likely and probs what judges will work for!