We have a chance now for a great final. The judges couldn't be trusted. The students couldn't be trusted. But someone, somewhere had the birlliant idea of turning to the ex-students. Yes!

The problem was the two students would have split the vote and ruined the drama. They would then have to trust the public and frankly Reggie was better than Ade - even orange man said he performed best on the night in his second solo song and his duet was better - so anything would have happened. The students were a more reliable option. They all love Ade. they couldn't trust the students to provide drama or the public to get it right.

So those same student who have saved Reggie nine million times wouldn't save him again?

Well they didn't but how could anyone have relied on that?

Not the same students though or voting between the same people and Reggie as they did before. No possibility of arranging a tie with 11 students. They put the pure singers and the older comics back into the maths and Ade has more admirers in there than Debra or Dawn - both of whom incidentally loved Ade. Ade of course wasn't there voting for Reggie either.

So, basically it's a show about saving your favourite, except when the producers think that you - the GBP - have got it wrong, so they turn to other means to produce the desired result.

Reggie may have received the next highest number of votes to Kim, but hey, we're the boss here and what we say goes. Never mind that if Reggie had have stayed in, he may have generated a great deal more votes (more money for RND) from a younger audience, than any of the final three. It's just a thought, I'm not saying it's true - I'm not a rumourmonger.

They might have saved him if it had been against Kim. I don't know how popular she is with the exes.

Fortunately, the public did its job -- saving Kim -- the judges did theirs, and then the ex-students finished it perfectly. Enough votes for Reg to show appreciation for what he's done, and a clear majority for Ade.

Also, everyone behaved properly. The people who voted for Reggie were plausible ones to do so; no one voted against someone they ought to thank (Konnie voted for Ade, for instance); and so on.

There is an argument that it should all be by public vote so near the end. Most people probably voted for someone who wasn't saved. (Even if Kim was way ahead, and she might not have been, it's very unlikely that she had more votes than the others combined.)

Anyway, early on, most students are saved by the public vote, and that probably covers most voters. so voters don't have much cause for complaint. But the closer we get to the end, the less that's true.

Its all artificial - you could easily have had a final show with 6 and set it up so you had more, less tired finalists. its not about that though. its about 1.8 million calls last night and beating ITV in the ratings where no other BBC show has succeeded. for a decade according to David. In this case they want to get it down to 3 because it will be squeezed into red nose day in a short slot. They also need money so they need to get the maximum number of votes by voting every night . Its distorted by radio 1 campaigns which bring in more money too or BBC Reggie campaigns or being put on after Sam's big scene in Eastender's with phone calls to babs to emphasise the link and pull in more money in votes for Kim. The half way cut out is artificial - who knows where the third person would have finally come - it gets some people to vote twice though.

Probably, wouldn't have made any difference if the public had voted the last students either.. I suspect the last 3 were the top 3 overall tonight and over the series. they were the class acts and only Dawn and debra had claims to that title. Reggie staying 2 more days doesn't matter.

Basically it doesn't matter where you come from about Dawn down. Below that you got some exposure ( only Konnie got a pretty negative reference (emptyheaded) and she came over as a trier anyway) Above that people noticed people could sing. Dawn made a good impression. Reggie matured. Debra advertised her skills. Kim showed she could sing musicals - not sure about pop records. Ade just oozes the message " talented why on earth not use me on TV". Edith showed she could sing but seems to think this helps her do her job better rather than opens up a second career. I think Edith would make a damn fine FA judge - less experience than Park but same background, more useful advice and a far better ear,

Winning doesn't actually matter either If Eastenders audiences tune in and Kim sings well she can win. If Ade gets a comedy audience and carries it off he will win. Edith is singing her favourite song even though the judges don't think it suits her - if she does it very well and the right audience is there she could win. Given the vagaries of who will vote for what, they are all winners Friday night.

I just thought that if the public vote determined all 3, then most voters could feel that their vote had affected the result. But if only one is picked that way, everyone who didn't vote for them (which may be a clear majority of voters) would have "wasted" votes (apart from the charity aspect, of course).

And it dosn't seem likely that giving the public vote a larger role would make the number of votes go down. Indeed, it might even make more people want to vote for more than one of the celebs.

Anyway, I thought the important thing was getting the right 3 into the final, and I agree with your "they are all winners Friday night".

But I hadn't realised that FA would be burried somewhere in a vast Nose Day schedule on Friday.

It was awful last time, almost as if they couldn't wait to get it off screen , very rushed and really spoilt the ending. It was almost as if they used CFA to make up for time wasted by lesser offerings. I hope that they don't make the same mistake this time

Is it on at 7.30?

Unfortunately, this year, FA has been the victim of it’s own success. Whilst last time it was popular, they generated nowhere near the volume of votes and viewing figures that they’ve enjoyed this time.

Last time, it did get shabby treatment on Comic Relief night – shoved into a couple of 20 minute slots (at most). I suppose they couldn’t have know before it began, but the final really should have been on last night – as a stand alone programme, probably generating 2-3 million votes and around 10 million viewers, that would be a real success for the BBC.

Instead, we have to guess when the final will actually be broadcast during Comic Relief night (everyone knows that the schedule flies out of the window within 10 minutes of coming on air). Instead of being 1hr of appointment TV, people are going to have to watch up to 4 hours of TV to guarantee that they see the final few performances. Viewing figures will certainly suffer, and I’m guessing that voting figures will too. Also, the viewing demographic will ensure that Kim wins. Ade or Edith would have had a better chance if it had been on a separate night.

Agree in general, except that for the last comment there's a caveat: the phone lines will be taken over for pledges, the votes will be by text - and I'd guess that a lower percentage of the viewers of EE than R1 listeners would be avid texters. Add that to the comedy theme, and we've got less certainty about the final result than would otherwise be the case.

I'm really looking forward to tonight!

Steve.

All the evidence points to a big advantage for Ade tonight.

re: tonight's show, according the the ever reliable listings CRFA is on during 9-10pm

I suppose because it's the final showing and there's only so many times you can do the same show, it'll probably be 20-25 minutes (with the results after 10pm news)