Not everyone's insinuating it was the only reason. It's possible to think it was a factor, just not the only reason. No-one wins for a single reason.

It's very refreshing to hear a straight man voting for Louis! You probably won't agree, but trust me when I say most straight men are fickle.

The majority of men who have posted on these forum, have clearly wanted Kim to win, followed by Denise and it's obvious why.

Maybe the men who keep mentioning the reason why Louis won was because of his looks, should consider why they wanted Kim to win?

exactly but there's got to be a difference why surely, because they're men and they can do that. That's why they're the main culprits of the topless issue - love it when it's a woman who's bareing all and feel intimidated when it's a bloke with a cracking physique. Bravo for a great post

That's good to hear. I agree that the Olympics raised his profile. Equally, Girls Aloud raised Kim Walsh profile. They cancel each other out.

Therefore, Louis won on merit.

Its human nature. If a girl dosnt want another girl to win/be successful then apparently she's jealous of her. This concept can work for guys too.

Absolutely - some of the best posts I've red Jaz and without needing to dish out personal insults. Merry Christmas to you

You too!

The Olympic factor only helped him becasue he actually fulfilled the expectation that he had on him when coming on the show. Victoria had prob even more pressure as she had great weight of expectation from being a gold medalist in her career more than once, but she never fulfilled the expectation coming into the show so could only carry the excitement about her being an Olympic gold medalist only so far. It prob did help her because she could have gone earlier in honesty. But Louis was popular before the show, and if you know gymastics well then you could easily have been a fan of his since Bejing and followed his progress in the other large medla events i.e. the European and World gymastics between China's Olympics and ours. I think you have to be a good dancer to still get through to the end (apart from if you're Chris Hollins and Darren Goguh) so while being a medalist kept him on that pedastal of appreciation for a while (as i think it did for Victoria beyond her actual abilty and time span of being on the show) it wasn't the only factor of him winning.

Great post Miriam. I've been told I've posted too much this weekend by one of the clique, so I'll quite happily take my leave x

I can't comment on other so called straight men posting on the forum I don't know who they are. I don't think most straight men are fickle some are most aren't. There is nobody appearing on SCD revealing anything like I've seen on European holidays. It's ludicrous really considering the easy access to every kind of image with a few mouse clicks.

Most of the men I know wanted Michael Vaugh to win because they think he's a legend. I always tend to think men want other men to win more usually, becasue if you look at the films and sports that are (apparently) most popular with men, it's not those that have a large amount of women in it or, if largely in it, aren't the best thing about it. There usually tends to be a lack of women in what men enjoy, or if they are there in some form notable form, it's nothing of substance. I.e racing with those girls that that are just there to be seen be do not much eles, or action films where it's the gadgets, action sequences and explotions that the guys get more excited about than the women that have secondary roles most times . Most of the straight/bi guys that I know (especially the ones I live with) like dating and sleeping with girls, but eveything else that they love in life i.e. sport, films, tv, career, hobbies are all male dominated by and mainly contain men at the forefront of it. And the funny thing is my housemates don't even realise how male dominated their love of things in life are until I point it out.

The main people that I know that vote for female contestants on Strictly are female viewers (as some of my girl-friends have voted for the likes of Kara, Jill and Alesha) or gay men. But then, females and gay men also vote for men, whereas I hardly ever meet males that vote for females (apart from Widdy, which was just for a laugh). The only show where my hms have notably voted for female contestants was Big Brother, but sometimes that was tactical voting.

I think the BBC wanted a Louis win from the beginning. It was pretty fortunate for them that he hadn't much male competition to split the vote, and his progress through the competition was scripted to ensure that his fan base grew and grew,. They got the result they set out to get, but one can't argue with the public vote because that's the way the final works. I still think his win was nailed on very early though.

As was Lisa and she got further!

Yes I agree with this. Likewise Lisa rode on the wave of "wow the bigger lady is quite good"for most of the series.

So I don't think Louis and Victoria even had any particular advantage especially when you consider Kim's GA/ Cheryl fanbase.

No, i don't think they do. The Olympics was far more high profile than Girls Aloud ever have been.

Had Louis and Kimberley competed next year, then I probably would have agreed that they cancelled each other out, but with the Olympic fever there has been this year, I think it was a huge advantage. It certainly kept Victoria Pendleton in the competition far longer than she should have been!

Like I said, the interesting thing would be to have a young male Olympian competing next year. I highly doubt the result would be such a foregone conclusion.

Louis won fair and square because the public voted him the winner, but that doesn't mean I think he won entirely on merit, to use your phrase, because for me merit is measured by dancing ability and overall performance skill, and for me he wasn't the best dancer. Not the first time the best dancer hasn't won though. And thankfully he was at least a final-worthy dancer.

I think we have to agree to disagree with many points.

Firstly, Kims profile with Girls Aloud was huge, especially during filming of strictly. They had a massive press conference with their 'reformation' and their release of their album 10. Their marketing as their 10th year anniversary was trending widely. Her exposure on Children in Need, The Royal Variety, Jingle Bell and EVEN strictly (Wembley). Kim's fan base is different to Louis, they have thousands and thousands of young girls (their main target audience) whereas, Louis has Olympian fans. But like I mentioned the nation were proud of the Olympians, but that does not translate to a 'fanbase'. Girls Aloud are known as the biggest UK girl band ever.

Secondly, I personally, believe that Louis was better compared to Kim. I believe if you look at all the dances, Kim was good at about 3 (Charleston, Fusion and Tango). Whereas, Louis had 5 (Salsa, Charleston, Tango, Showdance and ballroom). However, these are my opinions. Merit is determined as deserves Or justifies something. Louis deserves the award and therefore merits his win.

This echoes my thoughts exactly. Nice to know I'm not the only one who thought this. I think it was set up for Louis to win too. I'm surprised they made it as obvious in the final but the BBC don't do subtle I guess. It was a bit predictable really the way they scripted this series regarding Louis. Undermarking him to make everyone feel sorry for him, scheduling a breakthrough week for him when he just happened to dance the charleston and showed his personality (so they told us, I beg to differ). Letting him dance said breakthrough dance in the final, along with cliched Dirty Dancing routine, complete with lift. And putting him on last in the final just incase we weren't sure he was the star attraction. In fact Louis never danced first in the whole series.

I'm not ignoring the fact they also fixed things for Denise to get in the final, as was their other objective this series, and also helped her get into the final 3 to justify their inclusion of her there. So I'm not singling Louis out as someone whose journey was scripted. Hell, they script the whole thing and probably know exactly who they want out each week. It's just a shame it's more obvious now than it was in earlier series. They leave themselves open to suspicion by playing with the format (who dances what each week) and changing the rules as they go along.

Why they wanted Louis to win I'm not sure. I guess it fitted in with their Olympic obsession, and seeing they made such a fuss about getting two Olympians to take part it justified this. Even before the series started people were speculating there would be Olympians in it and had a good chance of winning, so we shouldn't be too surprised it happened. Someone else posted that they think the celebs get paid different fees now and this could be another reason they wanted Louis to win- if his agent negotiated a good fee for him then, again, it would justify him winning. I don't know if there's any truth in that last statement but I do think there is a lot more negotiation goes on in signing up celebs than there used to be. They are prepared to promise anything to get some people, as evidenced by a report in one of the papers yesterday which said they are keen to get Pippa Middleton for next year and are prepared to offer any money to do so. Probably rubbish but who knows.

Comments like these are based on speculation and unfactual information.

As easily, as you can quote how much the BBC 'fixed' Louis to win, I can say to can see how I thought Craig clearly favoured Kim and Lisa over the other the other contestants.

The BBC are a globally renowned organisation, the consequence of 'fixing' a programme would cost so much more then what its worth. Furthermore, why would the BBC 'fix' strictly come dancing?

There is no proof against these allegations and more importantly there is no logic.

FYI, Victoria was on Lorraine Kelly and she was the one he said she would LOVE to do strictly. Also, Kim was approached a few times and she declined until this year- maybe something to do with the launch of her new album next year? Or, if you take your theory into consideration, the BBC offered her a huge lump sum of money and a guarantee she would get to the finals? Let's me honest Kim was one of the headliner acts. Again speculation, based on no proof.

Remember innocent until proven guilty.

Of course my post is based on speculation, I thought that much was obvious! Most posts are peoples opinions and thoughts, we don't all share the same thoughts, that's why forums exist. I was replying to someone who thought the same as me and offered up some of my thoughts and theories. You don't agree and have put forward some points of your own. That's how it works.

No OP - he won because had the combination of being an excellent dancer as well as popularity with the voting public. Victoria was also an Olympian who wasn't as good a dancer and not quite as popular hence she didn't do as well.

Here, here. He just had 'it' - whatever IT is. He danced well enough, grew through the series, worked hard and was somehow rather endearing. But I do agree, not much competition on the male side.

I think you put forward a convincing proposition, but I'm left with just one question - Why? Is there anything for the BBC to gain from engineering a winner?

Goodness, there are so many bitter people on here. Just accept that Louis won.

Could you imagine if that assertion was put forward for Denise winning ie that it was engineered after she'd won? All her die hard fans would be out in their droves defending her yet Louis is fair target to some it seems. He won because he was the best on the night and all the theories and references to his state of dress and the "he was always going to win" aren't going to change that.I thought Craig deliberately gave Louis a 9 for his charleston to spice things up - I can't prove it and certainly can't say "it was obvious that or it was clear that" it was done for that reason.

I confess I started watching Strictly because Louis the Olympian was appearing on it. But as I got to see him learn and grow every week, how endearingly sweet he was on ITT, and how natural his relationship with Flavia became, I really stopped thinking about him as Louis from the Olympics. I found him and Flavia very interesting to watch and just looked forward to their dancing every week. I actually found it fascinating the way Louis would slip into this blue steel competition mode while he danced and yet be totally warm and personable off the dance floor. And that extra element of drama that seemed to swirl around them (judges controversial reactions, the over the top divisiveness he created on this forum) kind of added to their appeal.

They were the only ones whose dances I remembered and wanted to re-watch. I connected to their dancing and felt compelled to vote for them each week just so I could see what next they had to offer. I was actually OK with them being runner up in the Final until I saw how much effort Louis had put into the show on Saturday. His showdance was daringly different and spectacular in its simplicity. Out of the final four, it was he that left a lasting impression on me, and that in my opinion is why he and all the rest of his voters made sure he and Flavia got that Glitterball.