Looking at the voting and the results for the last two years it seems to me that Strictly in the final stages is inherently biased against women competitors due to the higher proportion of female viewers, who vote for the blokes they fancy the most rather than the best dancers. Gavin Henson can’t have got through on his dancing or even his personality, just his “guns”. The same criticism applies to Chris Hollins, and Darren Gough and Matt Dawson in earlier series.

I’m sure there are women out there who put sexual preferences aside and vote for the best dancer but do you agree with me that women who, with some notable exceptions, are generally better dancers than men don’t get a fair deal in Strictly towards the end of each series.

It's possible, but men definitely have an advantage. I'm sure there would have been a lot of bitchy comments if a female had acted like Chris. When a man behaves in a silly, annoying way, it's "cute".

I do think that Matt will win this year. At least he's quite a good dancer, unlike Chris.

women have to be exceptionally well liked or twice as good as the men to win anything as the voting public generally are female and dont like voting for other females unless they are that good, not nice but true

The simple answer - I think - is yes! But, like last year, I'm not sure it will always be the best dancer, but the one who impresses the most ............ Pamela, perhaps?

The only way a woman will win SCD again is if Alesha gets fired, sinks in to obscurity because of her laughably pathetic singing "career", has plastic surgery, changes her name, somehow gets famous again, then gets asked to do SCD.

Alesha's laugh would always give her away!

I do think it's possible. I hope so anyway.

At some point (maybe next series, maybe the one after) there'll be such a number of male winners in a row that we'll get a "it's about time a woman won again" vote. Then after a woman wins everyone will be finger-wagged at for "only voting for them because they're a woman, they were nowhere near as good as Kara/Rachel/Whoever", then the cycle will start again.

If it weren't for the judges manipulations in season 6, the only female finalists we would have had in the last six series are Alesha and Zoe. Not good going really considering there have been a lot more good female dancers than male over the years.

Alesha wasn't that good. Everyone raved about her cha cha, but her technique was dreadful. But she was popular, and that is often just as - if not more so - important. (No one is going to spend money voting for someone they don't like, which is why Chris won over Ricky last year).

It is natural though. Most voters are women, most women are attracted to men, so it is natural than a woman will be more attracted to a male celeb dancer than a woman and hence more likely to vote for him than her.
It is easy to be excited by an attractive young fellow, not that I can ever imagine Chris hollins be an attractive man, but he was likeable generally (I found him terribly annoying).
This year I am supporting a male and female celeb. Love them both. Besides that i think she is he best dancer of all the celebs, that their routines are propbably the better ones, and that i really like her personality, It helps that I find her pro partner the most attractive man in the whole show. .

I rewatched Alesha's jive recently and it wasn't very good at all. I think people liked Alesha's outgoing personality, but she is overrated as a dancer. Even she ended up in the bottom two towards the end.

Well, in series 7 Jade had to pull out so we ended up with a two-couple final rather than three, which would of course have meant Ali making the final.

In series 6 JS withdrew meaning a two-couple final - the early elimination of Austin still means that had the rules not been changed to allow Tom through, we'd have had an all-female final.

There is an argument to say that in series 5 Alesha might not have made the final at all if it were based on public vote.

See the argument on series 7 for series 4.

So I'm not really sure that argument holds water.

I suspect the "man has to lead" argument also has some significance.

But didn't I recently read on this forum (can't remember the name of the thread) about a serious market study cited by the Guardian which said the majority of voters on reality shows like SCD are actually men!! I was really surprised by this.

It was a survey of X Factor viewers, which stated that men were more likely to vote than women.

What doesn't? In the last six seasons we've had four female finalists, if it weren't for the dance off, it likely would've been an Tom/Austin finale in series 6 considering the amount of dance offs Lisa and Rachel had between them and the fact that Tom & Austin were apparently leading the public vote.

I wonder how they know that? Could it be that majority of votes (perhaps) are made from landlines, and, in case of couples/families, those landlines could be in man-of-the-house's name?

Or perhaps they have done a survey - and asked 10 guys & 5 women!!!

I like Henson's personality. He's a refreshing change.

As I pointed out, the lack of female finalists in at least two of the series you mentioned was due to a competitor withdrawing early, which would otherwise have meant three-couple finals including those females eliminated in three-couple semis. (And that's before we mention Kelly Brook, who was probably a contender for the final).

Plus without the dance-off, series 5 might have meant a Gethin/Matt final if based solely on public votes...

Although of course there are many caveats to that:
- X-Factor demographic <> Strictly demographic
- There's no account of the number of times voted
- It's just one survey
- etc.

Still, it's all data.

That was my first thought when I read it - i.e. it's the person who pays the bill whose name is counted. But apparently it was a serious survey carried out by a marketing group (whose company name is cited). People in marketing can't afford to make such basic mistakes I would imagine.

The other fact that amazed me was that 40% (if I remember correctly) of Xfactor and SCD viewers are professional people with university degrees! I thought I was amongst idiots like myself!

Of my top 3 - 2 are female. I will only vote once in the final though and that will be for the one who is the best on the night.

Up till this w/e I'd voted for Patsy as I thought my top 3 were safe (which they were)

Natasha did not have a serious male rival, the public who voted Chris Parker into the Final voted him no further.

Jill did not have a serious male rival, her marks profile being most like Alesha but Alesha had more impressive legs.

Alesha did not have a consistent male rival in the Final. Gethin's late surge briefly displaced her as bookie's favourite, but Gethin's moderate paso and argie tango came up against Matt di A's 4-tens waltz and that was that. The popularity vote turned against Matt di A because of his pass from meltdown night.

Kara is facing not one but two serious male rivals, Scott for marks and Matt for popularity. Bookies, those hard-headed realists who put their money where their mouths are, offer Kara at 4/1 to win -- not without dispassionate reason.

Apart from Tom, I don't think I have found any of the male winners fanciable. Rather the reverse actually (each to their own of course). That said, I supported Chris, Tom and Mark. I have also supported Alesha and Jill.

This year, I've gone right off Scott because the poor guy looks so tired and scrawny now and although I like Matt, I find him almost asexual. Gavin might have the body and looks, but seems so brain dead it is a turn off for me. Patsy was my favourite but she has gone, though never thought she would win. There is no one I am particularly supporting now.

So, I would disagree that women - or at least this woman - votes for who she fancies.

A refreshing change from having one?