I am not being unfair to Matt but simply pointing out that at the semi final he was outdanced
True Scott had a 2-3 week below par dance performance streak but on the night he out danced Matt
The Matt salsa was dreadful in routine and performance and if anyone thinks the tango got him back in have a look at the photo in todays Daily Mail, his top is poor at best and he struggles to be the master of the performance

Matt has a history of dance and dance tuition at a very high level, the beeb have given him every advantage in publicity including putting him on the front cover of this weeks TV times

Forget these plus side issues for Matt because on the night of the semi finals when we should make judgement he was outdanced by three other dancers

I think Matt was destined to make the final, regardless of how well he performed. He has been the most popular celeb for most of the series. The Salsa seems to have done him no harm at all, even though people dismissed Pam after her jive and Scott after his Rumba. In fact, Matt fans are just blaming the judges for pointing out that it was a bad dance. The cheek of them!

I have a feeling that Kara is going to win now.

And that would be why so I'm guessing this is actually a rhetorical thread and you're not asking for answers?

I'm not getting the "Scott was better than Matt in the semi-final. Fact." thing.

Scott was a spent force and was either unwilling or no longer capable of giving it is all like he did in the Jive. I thought both of his semi-final dancers were a bit meh, and were over-marked.

If you were to watch Scott's Jive and his Charleston side-by-side, you would have difficulty believing that you were watching the same person.

If he was just exhausted, then that's not Matt's fault. However, the BBC/producers need to make sure that what happened to Scott never happens again.

I think the just-after-Blackpool "night that SCD died" night happened because everyone was knackered too.

(I'd go back to a twelve couples per series format with no eliminations until the third week)

I did think that both of Scott's dances were a bit blah. The Charleston should have been perfect for him, but it was just OK. His AT lacked attack and his movements weren't very sharp.

No he really wasn't. Matt performed one under par dance and one very good dance. Scott performed two mediocre dances.

Nope, you have that wrong AND the gender.

Golden girl is Pamela.

"How (why) was Matt saved?"

Because tons of us voted for him? Us being the general public that is. More of us voted for him than voted for Scott or Gavin. His tango was stunning and I also enjoyed his salsa, he gave both everything and much as I've loved Scott, he seemed tired.

Don't understand the term 'saved' actually - the ones who go through aren't 'saved', the public vote them through. The ones who were chosen by the judges under dance off rules were 'saved' - doesn't apply this series.

Matt deserves his place in the final.......but so did Scott.
Really wanted to see these 2 and Kara.
Still promises to be a good one though.

yeah, I'd have been happy with that too, but Pamela got the lift up with the judges giving her 4 tens.

They wanted her in the final - hence the big 40.

Anything less and Gav or Scott could have ousted her.

That's not true. Pamela could have scored much less than 40 and she would still have received the same number of points.

I doubt it significantly affected the vote; in fact, it was more likely to work against her in that sense.

Just to clarify, Pamela needed 32 to tie with Matt and Scott and 21 to tie with Gavin.

She needed 40 to go above Kara and Artem - jjoint 1st or 2nd place might have had a significant impact on the final result.

Still what's done is done - she won't get my vote for reasons I've elucidated a number of times - but if her supporters are sufficient in number to see her succeed, then so be it.

He wasn't necessarily in the bottom 3 with the public. It was more dramatic to keep him with the other two 'boys'.

The scores for the 3 dances were added together, so she still came second overall

There's no doubt Matt's Salsa was below par, but the mark of 28 was particularly savage.
I actually thought it was well performed and quite entertaining, but did not contain enough Salsa elements.
I was half expecting low marks from Craig and Len, but very surprised (and a little suspicious to be honest) when I saw Alesha and Bruno put up their 7 paddles. Those two had been giving 8's and 9's for far worse over recent weeks.

Without knowing the public vote might I advance the opinion that given a tied 2nd place she was in serious danger of elimination.

But she was in clear second place?

Kara - 83
Pamela - 78
Matt & Scott - 70
Gavin - 59

You're right of course - I amended my post as you were responding - but I still maintain that given a tie with Scott and Matt from the judges we might have had a very different result.

I think I'd better retire before I cock up again.

I agree. It was obviously rigged so that Pamela would stay in no matter how low her public vote was. Bruno didn't seem to know what mark he was supposed to give Matt. If he'd given a '10' which previous form would have been expected (when has Bruno ever scored lower than Len?) Scott and Matt wouldn't have tied.

I thought Pamela was top of the leaderboard. Whatever. there was some cooking going on.

If Bruno had given Matt a 10 instead of a 9, it still would have been Scott and Gavin going home. If Pamela had been scored equal with, or below Scott and Matt, Scott still would have gone home. Theoretically, it is possible that Gavin would have made the final over her though.

Incidentally, over the course of the series, Len has given out 840 points. Bruno has given out 834. So he's scored lower than Len quite often.

Bruno scores lower than Len quite often.

both Len and Bruno are not fit for purpose anymore imho.