Now the public have been given a little shock thinking she may be safe due to her being top of the leaderboard will make more people pick up the phone and vote for her

Good point

I think it might give the better ones next week an advantage too as people might be more inclined to vote after this week's travesty

It may do - but I expect Jeff and Katona will poll well each week. Katona for the wrong reasons

I was surprised she was in the skate off too, she was the best of them all very exciting routine and she is so likeable! I had never seen her before and I am taken with her already. Great girl, very energetic and very pretty too.
I didn't vote this week but I will probably vote for her in the future.

i like Jeff but bar being jade goodys widowers hes not that well known, he shys himself away from the tabloids
Jen metcalfe, the ee guy or vanilla ice are probably more likely to have a bigger fanbase.

It might do, plus if she continues the way she's going she'll be around the top of the leaderboard most weeks (when the judges scores actually count). That said, I wouldn't expect her to win. Not enough people know who she is. Hopefully with time, we'll get to know her.

She reminds me a lot of claire buckfield (not many people knew her that well either(. it didnt stop clare reaching the finale though!

She will be fine for the next few weeks because half the marks come from the judges. Little or no chance of her being the bottom two and as the judges have the final say she should make the final as well

He's not her widower - he's the father of her children. Just being a bit pedant sorry

It doesn't help that nobody's ever heard of her bar Nick Jr viewers. But hopefully this is the shock result that she needed as people will begin to take notice of her.

It's very telling that Ashley from Corrie got through in the first instance but she did not - it's a popularity contest, and it was a bit ridiculous to remove the judges vote. When they're included in the total vote it should make more of a difference.

^
Jack Tweed is her widower,.

The public are so obvious with their votes, whenever have they voted for the best, especially in the early rounds. They just vote for the ones they know from the tele.

The other thing is that people tend to vote for those who they think might be in trouble.

Normally at this stage of the competition it's just people voting for people they like, because most people voting on skating alone wait until later in the competition. In fact, most people don't vote at all, and if they do they wait for the final.

At least with tonight's three way vote the public voted for the better skater, once they knew she was in danger.

As someone has already said its a popularity contest, but Laura has demonstrated that she has an infectious and endearing personality, so on that basis she is as deserving as anyone of the public vote on that basis plus she is a really good skater.

It was the curse of the pink outfit. Whenever one of the female celebs wears pink, they almost always seem to be near the bottom of the voting. I mentioned this to my mother beforehand.

Laura is a nobody, she shoud have gone first.

I thought that too but her routine better than Angela's and Nadia's and she has a likable personality.

You're a fool!

How lovely.

Laura suffered the double whammy of not being well known (how many of us have said we've never heard of her?) and having the high leaderboard placing not count as the judges votes were "just for guidance" this week. Those who bother to vote in the early stages tend to vote for those they know and love, and the good unknowns haveuntil now been able to rely on the judges to take them through until they can build up a fanbase of their own

Thankfully she survived the skate off, and her ability will keep her out of the skate off for a good while now!

Like the OP the first thing I said was I bet everyone thought she was safe. I also bet lots of people thought the judges votes were taken into account even though they said numerous times they wouldn't be. So glad the public came to their senses and put her through.

I had / have no idea who she is but she was by far the best skater and she is not apparently there for rehab. Good luck to her.

On the X-Factor forums I read week after week about how the judges were manipulating the vote off and it should be left to the public.

Well tonight proved that the public cannot be trusted when the best skater ended up in the dance off.

She was in the bottom because no-one over the age of 10 has any idea who she is, not because of her skating.

It was the producers idea to discount the judges scores - a risky move when the "celebrities are as little known as Laura. Had the scores counted last night she would have been fine as the chances of a complete reversal of the leaderboard are very slim.

The public DID save the best skater in the skate off - its just a shame that this stupid move by the producers put her there in the first place!