Just before tonight show ended i Saw Bruno point and saying something to Craig like he was Blaming him for Jimmi exiting the show i have a feeling he was because Bruno was not happy with Craig's comments and scoring last night

And with the shock exit i suspose did not help the tension between the two judges either

I know the GBP have a say on stays but was CRH at fault for his exit

Have i got it wrong about Bruno blaming Craig for JImmi's Exit

He insults AW every week and she's still there, so I wouldn't have thought the GBP will take the slightest bit of notice of anything that CRH has to say!

I noticed that - Bruno did not look happy and seemed to be saying something to Craig.

But of course Craig is not to blame - Jimi was high up on the leader board so it wasn't the judges scores that caused him to leave. It was the people who voted for couples lower on the leaderboard that are to blame for Jimi & Flavia's exit and those who *didn't* vote for Jimi because they thought he was safe.

How can anyone possibly blame Craig when he is the one trying to get Ann out!?

Bruno always sulks when his fellow Italians bite the dust.

Well I didnt notice it, but anyway no one is to blame.

The judges judged, the public voted. It was Jimi's time to go, that's all.

No hes the reason shes staying. As like it was with JS he brings the sympathy vote out.

Bruno was saying "It`s your fault" (I can lipread), he said it twice and then Alesha turned as if to stop Bruno pointing but the camera then pulled away.
I don`t think it was Craig`s fault at all, I think we`re just at that week when we get the traditional shock and maybe people thought Jimi was safe so didn`t vote.

I don't know if I should say this, but there seems to be another tradition on Strictly... please don't leap all over me for this, just seems a bit obvious to me, but mixed race or black contestants, particularly the guys, don't tend to do as well as they perhaps should, do they?

Not accusing anyone of racism, I just think perhaps the core vote comes from an older, predominantly white generation who for whatever reason just don't bond as well with, say, Spoony, Goldie, Jimi... I think there have been others. They just don't pull in the votes.

Just in the interests of sociological geekery, I'd be interested to see a break-down of the audience stats by age and race.

But then we've also had Mark & Alesha...

True, maybe I'm paranoid! Then again there's also Ricky and Colin... arguably both clearly the best dancers of their respective series and they just didn't get the vote.

Just a niggling little feeling I've had over the years. You can kind of predict who's going to be ditched early on... but hey, maybe it's just me.

Colin was the best male dancer. Zoe was a better dancer.

I thought Zoe was fantastic, but Colin looked like a pro - he actually matched Erin, for me, and I still remember their quickstep as being the single best dance of any Strictly series. But hey, different folks...

I don't think it was Craig's fault but if Bruno was, blaming him maybe he has got fed up with Craig's strange comments eg Jimi being ' heavy footed' which was ridiculous or the one to Matt about his thumbs. Then there was the 4 to Scott and the 5 to Gavin. Does Craig get more critcal of the male, celeb dancers ?

I said the same , Bruno was wagging his finger at Craig and mouthing something, Alesha gave him the look and stopped him .

But then their showdance was so bizarre, that's what lost it for them, surely?

I would say this certainly contributed to his exit.

Ah, who can forget puppet-gate?!!

But I agree with you, Twinglebells, it seems that if you're not white you have to be exceptional. Like you I don't think it's racism per se just demographics.

Yep. Bruno was clearly pointing at Craig and saying 'it's your fault'.

It's down to the bizaar public voting

As for Colin - he didn't win because, IMo, Erin totally messed up the choreography by introducing some strange puppets. I supported Colin that year as he was fantastic, but 10 seconds into that routine, I said that he'd lost it. i think Ricky W lost because Natalie is generally not popular.

According to Darren Gough in his autobiography he was so far ahead in the voting by that stage the showdance made no difference. He could have come out and done the puppet dance and still won.

Series 3 was the year of the journey. Darren was seen to have the bigger journey