I was wondering out of the two couples at the bottom who decides who goes home?

Is it the couple who came last in the voting or do the judges decide as they did in the dance off but without the dance off?

Anybody know?

Its all by phone votes, bottom two then bottom one. Judges are no longer involved.

Then why do they announce the bottom 2 and not just the bottom couple? Are we sure that the judges or production team don't make the final decision.

It won't be very exciting if they just announced who was last, would it? The count down, bottom 2 etc is done to create tension and drama. Not just Strictly - the X Factor and DOI do it. On DWTS the 2nd person announced in the bottom 2 isn't neccessarily in the bottom 2, so there you never know who's truly in danger.

Because it wouldnt make a half - hour show

They get points based on the judges' ranking and points based on the ranking of public votes which are then added together. If there are two couples with the same points total, the public vote takes precedence (miniscule chance of the public vote being a tie, I think)

Actually it is the one part of the show I wish was done the DWTS way.

On SCD the bottom two are the bottom two, as far as the voting goes and I can see how this approach might encourage the couple that stays in to try and raise their game to avoid being in the bottom two again.

On DWTS though, the last two couples are the couple with the lowest vote and one other couple, but not necessarily the couple second bottom after the vote. This means from week to week all we ever know is who was voted off the show.

If during the show there has been any kind of disagreement or clash, then often the couple involved are left until there are only two couples. The idea is obviously to tease the audience about whether or not whatever happened might have got them voted off the show. It's a bit like being sent to stand outside the head's office and not knowing if you are going to be expelled or not!

So for example, this week we would have seen Anita & Brendan in the bottom two because they were at the bottom after the vote and the other couple in the last two, would probably have been Alex & James because James made it clear that he wasn't happy with Craig's comments and scores again.

I'd prefer this way of doing things because it is more exciting. I don't know if anyone else agrees?

Yup I agree Buddy.....keep the public and the celebs guessing ....

But in X factor do the judges then choose who leaves? I haven't watched it so honestly don't know.

It just occurred to me today that it seems a little strange to announce the bottom 2 if the bottom couple are already known.
Now there is no dance off it seems pointless.

The whole thing is pointless since they abolished the dance-off.
It's just to pad out the show.

But it was done in series 1, 2, 3 and 4 i.e. before the dance-off was introduced (series 5, 6 and 7)

It's not a Strictly thing; it's a talent show televote thing.


The X Factor has a sing-off but this hasn't always been the case. In Pop Idol 1 and 2 and the early X Factor series the elimination was done just like it's now done on Strictly.