I haven't watched every episode, but from what I have seen, I find it very strange that they name the person with the lowest vote, before, the "Sing-Off".

Either you eliminate someone based on public votes, or you have someone judge them independent of the vote, based on the "sing-off".

As it is, surely by revealing who was in last place before the bottom two sing, puts undue pressure on ALW to save the girl who was second last and drop the one in bottom.

I do not know if this has happened every week, or if second bottom has been dropped at any point along the way.

As others have pointed out, this information is not directly revealed in Strictly... or The X-Factor.

Hi,

I've only been watching the past few weeks, so I don't know if ALW has ever saved the one with the lowest votes but, if he had a clear idea of who he wanted to go or keep, I doubt that the public vote would be a factor in his decision - in any case, the girl who got the 2nd lowest vote is hardly that popular if they're in the bottom two to begin with.

Because:

1. It's a good fact for the audience to know who recieved the lowest amount.

and

2. It's funny seeing their faces when they realise they are the least popular.

I think its awful to play mind games , telling Danielle she might be in the bottom two was cruel as well

ALW has saved the person with the lowest votes on past seasons (including two of the four times he saved Helena on Maria), but as far as I remember, he has not done that yet on this show. I am fairly sure that the one who has gone out every week has been the one with the lowest votes.

Oh, and I totally agree on the mind games with Danielle. That was completely uncalled for.

I get the impression that she's a favourite with ALW and the judges, so perhaps the idea was to elicit more viewer sympathy for her. It was a mean thing to do, considering she was in the sing off last week - but better than being told she was in it again, I guess!

Its gratuitous torture. On their assumption the audience is like the peoplewho used to go out for the day to watch a hanging.

Its meaningless because there could be only one vote in it and everyone else could be two votes ahead.

I agree it was mean, but these girls know that it is a television show which is supposed to generate tension and excitement. At the end of the day as ALW keeps telling the contestants it is a cruel industry and they have to be prepared for this sort of thing-all credit to Danielle though this week and last she kept very composed and showed her absolute professionalism!

I thought keeping Danielle to the end was more about manipulating the audience than Danielle.

To be honest they seem to be quite well looked after in terms of support, every week someone who's been in the audience has reported that ALW has gone over to the departing Dorothy after the show and given her a hug and had a chat with her, and they have coaches and mentors working with them all week.

I'm sure as soon as Danielle knew she wasn't in the sing off she was happy again.

Well BBC never reveal the actual percentages - so it's nice to know who was at the bottom at least. But, I can see your point and how it might influence ALW's decision. It probably does thinking about, it might have been the deciding factor as to why he chose to save Lauren over Bronte in Week Two because he said they were very equal.

I think it givers ALW a 'get out of jail' card by being able to say i agree with the voters. By that i mean that it makes the choice of 'who to save' more than just his own personal view and means he can either 'go with the viewers' or make a stand for the bottom girl based on his own opinion.

That surely is traumatic in itself .! It would scare the living daylights out of me .!

I find it strange how they will tell us (and the girls and the judges) who got the least amount of votes, but WE don't get to find out who gets the highest amount of votes (I would think the judges know this though?)

Also, I agree that it is unfair to tell them before the sing off, it's like a kick-them-while-they're-down kind of thing to do

I think it is unfair to tell the girls before the sing-off and may affect how they sing. If they must say who got the least votes then it should be after ALW has made his decision.

There's no reason why ALW can't be told himself before making the choice but it is quite horrible to tell the girls and then make them sing for their place.

I know =[
and poor Sophie they've done that to her twice! And she's the one who struggles most with nerves. It would still be mean if they did it to Steph or Stephanie but everyone has their problems and if nerves is Sophie's main one it just seems mean.
Also I think it sticks in people's minds subconsciously, so they see them as not doing so well if they're on bottom 3 a few times even if they weren't actually bottom 2.

I agree, especially as she was in the sing off last week. It was unnecessary.

I agree it's an unnecessary exercise, designed to add a bit of tension and give ALW a 'get out of jail' card if he really can't decide. It's marginally more bearable that the dreadful deadlock moment on the X Factor, but they don't do it on the BBC on Strictly, nor on ITV for DOI, so why here?

I hated what they did to poor Danielle. It was also the first time this series that they've done that nasty little trick of saying 'you could be in the sing-off' - in previous shows they've gone straight for the jugular and told them yay or nay. I'd really like to know if it meant Danielle was the third least popular. After all, Graham Norton makes a point (as do they all) of saying, 'in no particular order', but why else single out Danielle?

Then, since they won't tell us the actual voting figures EVER, we can only assume that Danielle may be in danger next week, since she was nearly as unpopular as Sophie this week. It's doing my head in...

I don't think the order reflected the votes this week. I expect they left Danielle to gain her a bit of support and sympathy if you like.

You can generate excitement without being so nasty and cruel to contestants. The excitement is in the performances not in abusing and humiliating contestants, especially as these are a very nice bunch of girls. Also telling a girl every week she is not a Dorothy. How demoralising is that and then they are expected to put everything into their training after being given such a blow on Sat. Why did ALW and his judges pick the final 10 out of all that applied if they were not good enough to be Dorothy.

The industry is not as cruel as they like to portray it is. If you get an audition in the West End, all you will get is a yes, no or callback. They have not time for nasty critiques like JP is giving.
If you are lucky to get a part you will work very hard but the girls are quite prepared for that.

I absolutley agree as this possibly could sway the lord so it should be said after someone has left.

That's not the point though... the idea is:

Either he agrees with the public - and it's them that voted the girl out

OR

He saves a girl from being taken out because he belives in her.


So... the aim here is to make him either complicit with the publics wishes or a saviour of a girl who would otherwise have gone.

If the actually lowest was announced after the entire choice would be on his shoulders - perhaps better for a non-bias decision... but not for him as he would be the one making that pick every week.

It has been the girl with the lowest votes who has gone each week, but I don't think that's ALW's reasoning; I think each week he's genuinely saved the girl he thinks is the better contender. He made no secret he didn't think Amy or Steph were right for Dorothy, but Amy was more obviously wrong. Lauren had performed better than Bronte and was indeed more experienced. And there was never any doubt that Danielle would be saved, or that Emilie would go the first time she was in the bottom 2.

Because telling us who had the lowest votes doesn't really spoil the competition, as only one of them will be staying and we would know they had fewer votes than any other surviving girl anyway. Telling us who got the highest number of votes would ruin it, at least if one girl was first every week.

I have to say that I feel all these ALW are the cruelest reality talent shows I've ever seen. The whole process just makes me squirm for the poor girls.
It wasn't the case last week

[quote=Paace;39887207]You can generate excitement without being so nasty and cruel to contestants. The excitement is in the performances not in abusing and humiliating contestants, especially as these are a very nice bunch of girls. Also telling a girl every week she is not a Dorothy. How demoralising is that and then they are expected to put everything into their training after being given such a blow on Sat. Why did ALW and his judges pick the final 10 out of all that applied if they were not good enough to be Dorothy.

The industry is not as cruel as they like to portray it is. If you get an audition in the West End, all you will get is a yes, no or callback. They have not time for nasty critiques like JP is giving.If you are lucky to get a part you will work very hard but the girls are quite prepared for that.[/QUOT

but if youy are consistantly not geting parts , how would you know why if you are not getting feedback , I am not sure his are nasty as such just truthful as he sees the situation , for instance Sophie says she is trying her hardest and he says you have to do more , she doesn't have the stage presence of the others , she does have to do more

(by the way Sophie is one of my favorites, she is just not pulling it out of the bag at prresent)

I dont see it as nasty I see it as a chance to learn