I am relieved to hear that! Although it does makes sense. Almost all my friends with university degrees do watch it except my husband who refuses to watch ANY tv. Having a university degree does not mean that someone is an intellectual or an academic, and even then, I am sure that some intellectual and academics do watch it too.

You haven't been watching much, have you?

He's honest to a fault, he always says what he's thinking or his face says it for him. There's no luvviness. I prefer that.

However if you like your gushing, excuses, whining and faux-hysteria, I'll leave you to it.

I am therefore drawn towards the inference that women who vote for men are like those who vote for she-who-must-not-be-named.

Many do it, few admit it.
Or else those who do, do so multiple times in one night.

I do think female celebrities have a tougher time endearing themselves to the voters.

For example, they don't get away with being shy and self conscious without being branded dull. Male celebrities who display similar traits tend to be mollycoddled.

The girls can't be seen as overly flirtatious and sexy either like the boys can.

I think the answer to the OP question is yes but it is undoubtedly much harder for a woman to win though (only one in last 5 series).

I agree with Sid. I do think women judge other women much more harshly than a man. A very cute or handsome male celeb who dances well will be given a lot leeway for personality traits that might not be as well tolerated in a female celeb who also dances well.

Personally I think what helps a female celeb win is the partnership with her pro. If they work well together and gel and have chemistry (not necessarily romantic) it can help her with the female vote.

Rachel Stevens is the most sucessful dancer in Strictly history and she was in the bottom 2 twice.

Kara is the best dancer this year and odds are she might have a hard time reaching the final yet alone winning.

I'm afraid just being good for the gals isn't enough. Alesha was good but not as good as Rachel or Kara and she won because of her outgoing personality. I think we would need another strong dancer + a good personality + a lack of good male competiton for a lady to win again unfortunately.

She's doing fine at the bookies. She's second favourite now and her odds are shortening. Kara is a rarity - she is likable and a good dancer.

Hmmm, we'll see then. I hope she's in the final two.

I think it depends what the day job of the celeb is. Someone who comes from a non-performing back ground will be cut more slack when it comes to being self conscious than someone who performs as part of their job as the perception is that they should at least know how to harness the performing nerves by now (only problem with that is that most of the celebs with a non-performing back ground tend to be the male ones. Only 3 possibly 4 in Denise, Jade, Martina maybe Jo that I can think of for the females ). LIkewise celebs who have no prior dance baggage are given that little extra leeway - but again they tend to be the male celebs rather than the females.

Will there be a strickly this series is dire........so who wins is not really going to be a problem.
SCD is in its dying stages.......

I think it is possible, just incredibly difficult.

To be perfectly honest out of all four male winners we have had, only one of them (Mark) would ever be considered the best dancer in my eyes.

When just dancing, i.e. without a learned routine, it is undoubtedly harder for the person leading. But in a set routine, there are fewer advantages to following- only that if you forget, the man can lead you through it anyway (but this relies on knowing what you're doing pretty well) or can make things up if you go wrong. Might make teaching slightly easier in that the woman can be lead through the routine when learning-but only if she already knows how to follow.

I don't think it's a fair assumption that women vote for guys they fancy (I'm sure some do, just as I'm sure some guys vote or women they fancy)- and even if that were the case, let's not forget that the pros would surely draw votes just as much as the celebs if appearance were all that mattered.

I do think what the celebrity is famous for makes a difference though- wouldn't surprise me if Eastenders fans were more inclined to vote for Eastenders actors for example.

The first two series winners were female - it looked like we might never get a male winner at one point!

I do think it comes down to personality as much as "fancying" a man - surely Ricky was more attractive to the average red blooded female than Chris. Also we're constantly told by Len how much harder it is for the guys, and generally the guys have been more open to improvement.

Men also get away with certain characteristics that make women disliked. Being overly competitive, seen as arrogant - two things hated in women but found attarctive in men.

I think Kara has a good chance this year because she comes across as very sweet whilst being determined and also a bit vulnerable and not aware of just how great she can be. Pity she's up against the BBC golden boy Matt

I would like to think that Kara's in with a good chance...

Yes, but as I recall many women felt Chris was "cute" and that can trump hotness or classic goodlooking. Also it seems that married male celebs are more appealing than single celebs it would seem.

Chris also had the priceless gift of being able to make and take a joke at his own expense.

I never voted for him last year, but I could see why people would. (Normally I can't understand why people who aren't my favourite are popular with others - Tom Chambers in particular!)

Would you agree that Kelly Brook was a better dancer and it was a great shame due to circumstances that she could not devote sufficient time to training or continue in the competition.

If we're going for reductive gender-stereotypes, then maybe the desire of female voters to "mother" is as important as sexual attraction. Maybe one ovary controls each, and whichever ovary is larger dictates what type of man you ladies vote for?

Haha!

I don't think Alesha would have won if Gethin had made the final, nor Jill if there had been a fanciable male around...

I think it's tough for the girls. They're always pushed to the sidelines when there's a hot guy around for people to fawn over, even worse when the hot guys aren't awful at dancing and the talent and consistency of the girls doesn't seem to matter much. It's a shame.

I think if Kara doesn't win this year then the answer to the title is no. Because she just might be the best dancer this show has ever seen and if she can't do it, no-one can

Neither, I've never fancied a male contestant.

But I agree the mother thang is as relevant as attraction. Mother Chris, fancy Gethin, Matt, Ramps blah blah....

I agree with this. I'm so glad it worked out the way it did but I know we were a hair's breadth from it going the way of the hunk over dancing in series 5. Thank god for the dance-off.

Yes, I've never fancied a male contestant either but it hasn't stopped me from voting for them occasionally - voted for Ricky quite a lot last year and Scott once or twice this year. I voted because I thought they deserved to be there, not because I wanted to lick them.

We have to bear in mind, the guys have to lead their dances(Male Celebrities), where as (Female Celebrities) ladies have to follow their male partners. Over recent years the guys have been good leaders of their dances, not just that the men go on some kind of journey. The female celebrites on the other hand haven't had anywhere to go henceforth why they haven't had as many votes as the guys. Oh and btw, Tangerine_82 apologise for some of my weekend behaviour, are we settled now?

Men have to lead, women get twice, sometimes three times as many steps which are much harder than the men's steps. As someone who has danced both the male and female steps in classes with different partners at different levels of skill, I think it falls as harder for the women actually, especially in latin. And women go on as much of a 'journey' as the men do, I think to imply otherwise is nonsensical.

In my opinion, the reason men get more votes is because females generally make up most of the audience and tend to vote for who they fancy or they vote for the men because they, like you, labour under the misapprehension that it's harder for the men.