Absolutely fantastic.....we have one of the best pairings in the dance-off.......! The non dance brigade win again well done !

unreal but not surprising

Don't worry, they're up against Rachel and Pasha, so should be pretty safe. Still a shock to see them there though :/

Rachel won't survive that which is a shame as she was better this week. The two pantomime dancers survive again. It's a good job they are likeable characters but every year it's the same old.

What's worse is that they were the only ones without gimmicks just a dance......SUPPOSE THEY WERE DOOMED from the start....!

I've loved Dave Myers since the beginning of Hairy Bikers but OMG - I CANNOT watch one more episode of SCD with him in it... WHY are people voting for him? Really interested to know? The guy can't dance & is just a laughing stock... Beautiful, improving dancers are leaving the show - so sad

Could it be the online voting causing this farce ?

And I bet there's no- one more embarrassed than Dave himself...!

So did any of you vote for Abbey?

Absolutely! I feel so sorry for him...

Yea, i heard Dave on BBC Berkshire in the week and he was saying he was embarrassed about it but felt he had a responsibility to keep dancing (and not resign like John Sergeant)because viewers are voting for him. I like the fact there is an entertainment aspect to it but it does get to the point where it goes too far.

Ah hear for goodness sake...There is a shock every year...Kimberly was in the dance off in week six last year..(First and last time ) I will say that Abbey will more than likely reach the final, even if she doesnt have the public vote ( i just think it was a oversight this week) the judges will safe her every time over the weaker dancers( god hope that doesnt happen remember Lisa ! ) The way the Judges are tieing the leader board it will always happen...They do this so the public vote will outweight the Judges vote, I.E. The year Tom Chambers got into the final as no matter what way the public voted he wont have made it..Rachel was better but she dodged the bullet a couple of weeks....Sophie , Fiona , Dave and Mark all could have been in the dance off this week ...She wasnt ever going to win...shes just left a week or two earlier than expected...The Faux outrage is silly now... It always happens....And what will really get my goat will be the vitrol that will be spat at DAve Myers a lovely Man that Cannot dance has two left feet and has no rythem but is haveing the time of his life and is putting himeself out there and trying his best....No need for the hate folks..As always the weaker dancers will be voted out but it is always a ho hah about the order they go...The final will have the best dancers..Never Fear...( Oh and i didnt vote for any one as i cant...!)

I hope he isn't made to feel like he has to resign like John Sergeant

Oh and I'm all for the entertainment aspect. It's why Strictly works, because it's a mix of different abilities. Long may that last.

The public aren't members of a professional judging panel being paid for their impartial, expert opinions; they are the audience of a light entertainment show being asked to vote for whom they enjoyed seeing the most and would most like to see next week. It would make no sense for the Strictly producers to keep in the celebs the public least want to watch. I would actually like the dance-off to go so the public completely control who stays and who goes because, as it is, the judges and producers have too much power. I would like to add that I spent my childhood and teen years dancing and pay an annual membership to BRB so I am hardly in an anti-dance brigade. I watch Strictly because it is a light, feelgood show, not because I am expecting to discover the next Carlos Acosta.

Rachel was nowhere near one of the best pairings.

It could be - if the people voting for Dave have 5 free votes on multiple accounts instead of whatever few they could afford to pay for.

They might have expected though it would get more people voting - which would counter the problem that they had fewer people voting, and the few who bothered were, by definition, often driven by non dancing reasons.

They might also have expected it would bring in more younger voters. You would expect them to vote for contestants like Ashley (young focused soap) Rachel (student countdown audience and male vote) and Abbey (celebrity magazine readers would know her)

Its obviously not working to make the voting reflect the dancing, or the show stories , or the effort put in, or the popularity people have outside the show.

I don't think his voters can count to 5............

Weaker dancers have ended up staying over better ones for various reasons since the very first series so, no.

Thats not the format. The viewers can't counter the flaw in the voting format. If we think 7 people should stay now, and 2 or 3 should go, we can't practically vote for 7 to stay every week, or vote for the weakest to go. The vote can't achieve what the majority want to achieve..

You can be second in the scoreboard and 95% of the audience may think you should stay. but your vote may be tiny. People will vote for people with specific cases. They may vote on merit - but only once for for whoever was top. Some will vote for someone who takes his shirt off. They will vote for Fiona because she has a bit of journey story plus Anton, and looks in danger. 20-30 % of them in recent years will vote for whoever is worst - even if the judges are restrained in pointing the obvious out. The anti-judge voter may also be the more determined to vote anti-judge than anyone is to keep the best contestants in.

The vote can reflect what those minorities want because they can concentrate their vote to get it. . Those without a cause that week (people who look safe like Rachel ) and those who come in the top 3, but not top, and have no pre-existing fanbase (Abbey) , can end up in the dance off - with hardly anyone agreeing they should be there .

The problem is even more obvious if you ask who would go if people voted for who they wanted to go this week? That voting system would dispose of the unfunny joke acts early. However, it would probably bring its own problems later on as the usual racial, regional, and sex biases, and tactical voting, came into play.

Yes, anyone who doesn't vote the way you want them to vote is stupid and unsophisticated and doltish. If you were a producer of Strictly would you keep in the celebs the audience least wanted to watch next week?

Three cheers for the confusing opening post that says exactly the opposite of what you mean!

Very true. I'm horrified at the venom of some of the attacks on Dave on these boards - no, of course he shouldn't still be in the contest as the final draws nearer, but neither should Mark, Fiona etc etc - and I'm sure that they won't be in a few more weeks. A truly bad dancer has never won SCD - although a few truly good ones have lost.

Dave is a nice, decent man who is (or was) having some fun - and neither he nor his supporters deserve comments such as the 'not being able to count up to five' one above.

Yes it's called integrity....!

It was meant that way ............ Sarcastic as ever, or is it a trifle caustic !

Hold on.....you've just chastised someone in another thread about resorting to insults to make a point......