For the next series, please can you make it that the couples who dance in the final only dance the showdance in the second part.

In previous series, the showdance was the reward for being in the top 2 and more or less decided the winner.

Anybody else want to add any other pleas?

No...because people now have more time to vote on the showdance.

This is a good thing yes?

quizmike....how good to see you again.

Oddly, I liked the format tonight, and I didnt think that I would

I thought it was a bit odd where they put the showdance, was this different last year?

The showdance has never really made the slightest difference to the result.

You can cite Colin and Erin's disaster but Darren was always going to win whatever Colin produced.

You can refer to Tom's triumph with Camilla but he'd have won by a mile even if he'd donned Lisa's bacofoil swimsuit and performed that fiasco.

Does anyone honestly believe any of last year's combination of meh, shish and WTH? made any difference at all overall?

As for this year, I think point proven. Even Jason's detractors (of which there were many ) by and large agreed that his showdance was probably best. It made no difference. Opinions are pretty much set in stone by this point.

The only way a showdance would make a difference is in a very close final if someone produced a showstopper. And if things were that close and the showdance was that good I wouldn't care if it was the final two or three that was decided as a result.

I like this positioning of the showdance. It's something the couples invest a hell of a lot in and it never felt right that one of the couples only got to perform it as consolation.

It never decided the winner actually. In the older format prior to series 8, the judges scores did actually count towards the results. This was never an issue in two couple finals, because the public vote always trumps judges scores in deciding the winner. In the two three-couple finals of series 3 and series 6, the lowest placed couple on the judges leaderboard (Darren and Tom) always made it through to the final two. In order for that to happen, they had to have been topping the public vote prior to the showdance.

So to summarise, in two couple finals all couples do the showdance anyway; in three couple finals, the showdance has been conclusively proved not to affect the overall result, and the third placed couple always got to dance their showdance anyway after they were knocked out, so it's not a reward.

So can we PLEASE put this bloody fallacy to bed now? Nothing in the final matters, the winner is decided by the support each couple builds up over the series. Showdance first, showdance last... it doesn't make a difference at all.

For me, it just feels right to finish on the showdance instead of a standard ballroom/latin. It's a way to say goodbye to the couples and the series instead of looking at a dance we watched a couple of weeks ago.

My plea: can you do something to the format so that all of the finalists are dealt with respectfully after the results?

Totally agree. After all each pair has invested so much in the process!

I suspect that most of those who voted had decided who they were going to vote on before last night.

He has his gong now so please drop him. We don't need the stumbling over the bad script, the landlady jokes when they go near Blackpool, the "I'll clear this place" remarks, the introductions to each dancer and judge, the singing .....

He was doddering a few years ago but is over the edge now. Nicole Cutler got it right.

give us another week of It Takes Two with Zoe Ball as a come down and an analysis and a chance to say good bye to them all. The couples who leave during the series have better treatment than the finalists. I'd also like to see Karen Hardy on choregraphy corner. And the judges etc etc

I preferred the format this year - with all three couple in the final doing a showdance, They all have to prepare one so I think they should all have a chance to do it.

Also, I preferred the final two finishing on a normal (non-show) dance. That's what the competition is really about, rather than the 'anything goes' show dance. Sometimes the show dances are disappointing and if it's the last dance the two finalists do, it can mean they finish on a low point.

As for pleas to the BBC:
- get rid of the cheesy VTs - so we can see the traiining instead
- get rid of the awful props - so we can see dancing right from the start
- get rid of the moronic,audience who insisting on clapping throughout every song and screaming and cheering every single spin or lift. Send them back to Dancing on Ice.
- replace Alesha with Karen
- stop trying to be like X-Factor

For me I prefer the following

Best scoring ballroom and latin.
Group Viennese Waltz
Elimination - but the eliminated couple get the chance to their showdance
Showdance right at the end

Hmmm, I think that the dances for the finals should be

1) Competitors choice of Ballroom/Latin
2) Judges choice of Ballroom/Latin
3) Showdance
4) The dance that the competitors scored WORSE in - lets see just how much they have improved over the weeks!!!!


Oh, and the voting does not open till after the Showdances!!!

I want the showdance to go back to basics
stop with all the lifts - the first series I remember this being an issue was S4 where mark and karen's showdance looked so ugly because of the acrobatics
Harry just couldn't cope with them last night, nor could Chelsee - it made both showdances very substandard for me

no, it was the same format last year

Yes, I have a plea

Get rid of the AWFUL CRINGY (not sure if that should have an 'e' or not) VT's

They are terrible

I personally want to see the couples TRAINING, learning the dances, what they a struggling with, not some cheesy VT's that is, quite frankly, awful

What actually should happen is that they should get rid of the elimination in the final. If you reach the final then you should participate in all of it,

I assume that the reason they moved the show dance was because they decided it was unfair to have the dancers learn a completely new dance that they might not dance in competition, If they let all three compete to the end, then the showdance could then go back to where it rightly belongs.

Main problem with series where the public vote, is that the most prolific phone voters are teenage girls.

This was a problem for Big Brother on C4 where the younger females got voted out earlier on, the rate averaged about 4 females to one male in the first 5 weeks of each series (except the year of all female house at start). This meant they "added" more female contestants at later points in the series to redress the balance a bit.

Due to the demographic of the final stages it was obvious Harry Judd would win due to the "girly factor", although it was probably acceptable as he was one of the best dancers, but he would have won regardless.


If you look from series 4 2006 onwards - all of the last 4 have mostly been contestants "relatable" to the younger female demographic - good looking younger men (hunks) or female soap actresses/ popstars.
This year - the same.

It is an issue that has no resolution really.
You can probably predict the winner in the first week - ask yourself - would a teen girly vote for this person?

I agree

Cut out the props.

Go back to VTs which show the training, cut the infantile mucking about.

I think the only time a showdance has played any part in deciding the winner may have been series 6, with Tom & Camilla's. I think Alesha, Chris and Kara at least probably had it won before the final.


Did they?? I don't remember that, maybe I've just blocked it out, but I thought that from at least about series 5 onwards judges' scores didn't count....

My pleas:

Keep down volume of audience; nowadays I usually have the sound quite low and with subtitles.

Show the dancers in training, not the gimmicky videos.

Return Ian and Karen.

Bruce to step down.

They did count. In Series 6 it was hilariously convoluted. They added the semi-final judges score ranking, to the semi final public vote ranking, to the finals judges ranking. This produced one score (Lisa = 7, Rachel = 7, Tom = 5). THIS was then converted into the usual set of ranking points (Lisa = 3, Rachel = 3, Tom =1). THIS was then combined with the public vote rankings for the final to produce the first elimination of the evening (ties going to the public vote in the final) (Lisa = 3+1, Rachel = 3+2, Tom = 1+3).

This is how we knew that Tom was in the lead before the showdance.

Most Strictly watchers, for the sake of their own sanity, have blocked this out apparently, and think it was just public vote, or just the way the judges scores counted in, say Series 2 and 3.