They may want BBC Breakfast to get higher ratings. Chris winning would draw in more viewers. So I wonder if there will be subtle pressure on the judges to be lenient on Chris as it gets nearer to the final.

As conspiracy theories go, this one doesn't hold much water.

Tom Chambers was on-screen in Holby City when he did Strictly - but the judges pushed Rachel Stevens and Lisa Snowdon, two non-BBC stars, much harder than Tom, whom they did their damnedest to get rid of.

Plus the judges clearly favour Ali and Ricky over the other remaining couples.

So, unless you can prove evidence to back up your theory, the answer is no. Sorry to disappoint you!

I dont think BBC Breakfast struggles for viewers particularly and if it does they could just employ Alesha Dixon she seems to be the answer to everything at the moment at the BBC

Anyway if the judges suddenly became 'lenient' on Chris and Laila for that matter they would only be enjoying the same treatment thats been given to Ali and Ricky on several occasions.

Eh? This ain't a court of law. Anyway we all know the BBC have got form for bending the rules. I would not be surprised if they try to wangle it for a BBC "character/personality/face" employee to win. Before long he will be presenting every other programme on the BBC from quizes to CIN to his own Chat Show. *yawn*

I hear they're building a special grassy knoll for the judges to sit on.

I heard it's already been built by "REEF TELEVISION".

As foretold by both Nostradamus and the Da Vinci Code.

No, it's not a court of law. But if you make wild declarations with nothing to back them up, don't be surprised if they get shotdown in flames!

If your theory was true then the judges would not have struggled to get rid of Tom last year by promoting their (non-BBC) favourites.

Similarly, Gethin, as BBC employee, would have won Series 5.

The BBC can't officially 'fix' anything in the way you imply. It can, however, try and influence the public vote. Or let the judges do so ...

If they wanted publicity they would have sent someone better at dancing - any of their females. Its unlikely that anyone much would tune into Breakfast for a look at Chris giving the football results for 4 minutes cutely.

If Chris does have a big vote lead they have a choice whether to make his win look less silly by pretending he is better than he is with higher marks . They didn't bother with Tom and just used his show dance as a reason to win even if the votes were in before then. Chris poses a bigger problem explaining any win.

They have an interest in having a winner who actually turns up on the tour - not sure if Chris is in that. Even that is strange this year though as they have at least two past strong male contestants who will mop up the votes on tour meaning Chris may be doomed to look weak if he does turn up. Same for the girls - it will be unlikely that Ali or Zoe can beat two male heartthrobs and they also have Kelly as competition.

Chris is on the tour yes........They are not fussed about having this years winner on tour as they have one champion in Mark.......and re Austin and Mark winning everything....who knows......there were people on here who said it wasnt worth anyone other than Jill going on tour last year as she would win most of them and that didnt turn out to true at all. There were three 'hearthrobs' on last years tour Gethin, Kenny and Tom and Rachel still won the most shows. Gethin was second, Kenny won all the shows in Scotland and Julian Clary won more than Tom.

Originally Posted by thenetworkbabe:
“If they wanted publicity they would have sent someone better at dancing - any of their females. Its unlikely that anyone much would tune into Breakfast for a look at Chris giving the football results for 4 minutes cutely.”

How rude

If you are going to be shooting people down in flames please note I am not the OP called sonnyt. However the OP makes a valuable point as the BBC have a track record of being devious and manipulative in their programme making. Lies and deceits are now common place in many of the licence fee funded programmes. I would not be surprised to see the cheeky personbanality of Hollings rammed into our living rooms 24/7 doing so-called amusement and entertainment ad nauseum.

Well far be it from me to suggest "pressure" from the BBC, though there's been more "fixing" revelations in other programmes in the press today.
But I would certainly suggest they are capable of manipulation.

If you think back to when Emma Bunton was in this show, as the time approached for her appearance in CIN where the pros were going to appear with her when she sang her charity single (this must have been organised well in advance) she could "do no wrong." I certainly think she was given preferential treatment. All her training footage (and lots of it) was positive, never shown as being "under pressure" and they even got French & Saunders to turn up at one of her training session to say how wonderful she was to give her a boost and possibly influence the public vote.
Then immediately after CIN night it all stopped and she then went out..

Funny that 'innit?

those in the know claim that Chris got over 40% more votes than anyone else last week....

I meant 'you' in the sense of 'posters'. Apolgies for any confusion!

But it wold appear that you (and that is you! ) are confusing recent reports about a series of daytime shows being fixed with the way Strictly is run. The programmes recently in the news were independently made, whereas Strictly is an in-house BBC production - and any misdoings there were dealt with some time ago, with heads rolling.

So direct interference with the voting system is unimaginable - hence the weekly reference to the votes having been 'independently verified'.

If, however, you are as troubled by some BBC shows as you would appear to be, you could always not bother watching them ...?!

40% more?!

Blimey the other 3 really don't stand a chance then do they? At least now I know where my Mum's winter fuel allowance must be going

All TV and other media works this way, it's not the exclusive domain of the BBC. The only way to avoid it is not to watch TV, listen to the radio, buy a newspaper or go on the internet.

If you can't do that (and I guess not many can), than you've got to put up with it. Nothing's going to change anytime soon.

Sorry I don't agree with either of those points. ITT in particular last year seemed to morph into the Tom and Claire Chambers show, with me feeling like I organized their wedding myself by the end of the series (They postponed their honeymoon don't cha know!):yawn:. I think he was pushed just as much as La Snowdon.

I also think Chris has been consistently over marked in this series, but clearly I am in the minority . I don't think the BBC would condone outright favouritism, but I doubt they'd be annoyed if one of their own news presenters won the thing.

Hope Chris wins

I think the judges will be aware of the various scenarios regarding the finalists. If Chris is as popular as people are saying he is, then the BBC will definately want him in the final to ensure good ratings. How this translates into dance marks I'm not quite sure.

You obviously don't like him, fair enough. Does not mean that the unlikely scenario in the OP comes true. I assume the judges will put both Ali and Ricky on top (after all they are good dancers), there is no indication that Chris gets higher unmerited marks than other couples.

Turnbull and "what'sherface" said that Chris's progress is constantly, mentioned on their programme. I'm sure the BBC encourage this. Another good reason to not watch TV before 8.00pm. when most of the cheap daytime programmes finish.

The producers clearly wanted an angle on Tom to sell him to the public and he (and Claire) played ball. Beyond that, he had no influence over what the BBC broadcast. But that was hardly reflected in his scores from the judges - and as he was leaving Holby City (supposedly to try his hand in Hollywood), the BBC had no vested interest in promoting him unduly.

The difference between Tom and Lisa is that he was much more popular with the public than she was. The judges tried to counteract this and were only defeated when the public's vote ruled the roost in the final.

You may feel that Chris has been overscored this series. This is, of course, your prerogative, but I think you may find you are in a minority on that one. And it is in any case pretty obvious that he stands outside the judges' clique of favourites. So if the BBC is trying to push him forward, they're not making a very good job of it.

Sian has a name!