In the leaked voting figures Tom was getting more votes than Austin but I believe it was reasonably close. I would have thought Austin's elimination did help Tom no end though as I suspect he would have benefited the most from the Austin voters.

That's what I mean to be honest. Maybe Tom was getting more votes than Austin but I'm pretty sure they'd be closer in votes than Tom and Lisa probably were and as you say Austin's voters probably went to Tom on the whole whereas who knows where Lisa's voters's votes would've gone.

^^ This. Thank you, edy10, and the others who have said they all deserved to win because they won the majority of the public vote. I totally agree.
And I'm just a bit tired of people still having a pop at Chris Hollins, to name one, (after all these years!) He's one of them who won because he was popular and people enjoyed watching him and his partnership with Ola.
There have been other winners over the years who I didn't actively vote for, but I wouldn't say they didn't deserve to win.
Anyway thanks edy10 for your post!

At the end of the day the person who gets to the final and gets the most public votes deserves to win because they are the most popular, for whatever reason, of those the public are left to chose from. My only issue is where the judges machinations have kept potentially the most popular out of the final - i.e. Austin was forever robbed in my book. I can't complain about Goughie or Hollins in the same way because the only other deserving finalists were there in the competition and lost the public vote.

I agree missfrankiecat - Austin was forever robbed- he was artificially kept out of the final by the judges machinations. It's that kind of thing that I find very unfair.
It is different if deserving finalists get to the final but don't have the popular vote- that's just the way it goes.

Which is why ever since, if any of the judges complain about the public vote, I feel like throwing the TV out of the window.

If we're going on dance ability then Darren Gough, Chris Hollins and probably Louis Smith but it's not solely a dance comp and they were the public's favourites.
Harry definitely deserved the win though imo.

Lol - we maimed survivors of that year's trauma limp on ...

That little sporty git didn't deserve to win.
He had one good dance.
Should have been nowhere near the final.

I've just posted on the DO thread though, it killed my previously quite affectionate and emotional attachment to the show sadly, and I've never regained it. And I have never been as invested since (excepting for Kara, and there was no DO in her series) because you think what the hell the point is, if somebody you really like can go out on the say so of four people. It was very disheartening,

I know... At the time my mum and I said we'd never waste money to vote on the show again, and my mum even said she didn't feel like watching it anymore. We didn't keep that up though...we were back glued to it the next year (but a little bit of faith in the series had gone)...

Instead of Chris Hollins It should have been Ali Bastian

Have to say Tom Chambers Showdance was and is my favourite so far it was a dance and not acrobatic performance

It made me cynical with SCD, and of course ever since there has been more manipulation (or more manipulation and storylining that I am aware of) so you are no longer surprised at anything.

I have still watched it all and Chris and Ola's relationship made me smile the following year, but the genuine joy and investment of watching couples grow and maybe win went. I have rarely voted since though, except for Kara. I kept to that vow.

For me it has to be Darren Gough, I would add Chris Hollins but himself and Ola were fun to watch all the way through, so if as we are told so often it is an entertainment show ...then he deserved to win.

Tom Chambers for me. But purely because of his totally hideous personality.

For me there is no doubt Tom Chambers was the weakest dancer of the three finalists in series six, an opinion which seems to be shared by many on this forum.

I suspect that many forum members were frustrated by the way his victory came about. In the semi-final the BBC changed the rules to put him into the final because of the controversy over telephone voting. I am convinced the judges tried to be clever with their marks as they gave Rachel Stevens and Lisa Snowdon the same cumulative scores. This guaranteed that Tom Chambers would be in the dance-off and, barring something dramatic occurring, he would have been eliminated as the other couples' dances scored higher on the night. Or so they thought!

For me, the winners that I enjoyed seeing dance more than the other competitors in their series are:

Natasha Kaplinsky
Jill Halfpenny
Mark Ramprakash
Alesha Dixon
Chris Hollins (I acknowledge that Ricky Whittle was the superior dancer and possibly Ali Bastian also)
Kara Tointon
Harry Judd

The finalists who didn't win but whom I most enjoyed watching are:

Zoe Ball
Rachel Stevens and Lisa Snowdon (can't split these two)
Kimberley Walsh
Natalie Gumede

Yes it was. I HATED his showdance.

Why all the Tom Chambers hate. He was a great dancer and seems like a nice bloke.

Yes, I can't for the life of me remember what was so awful about him. ..

I agree with your post but I didn't start watching Strictly until Tom Chambers won so I missed the previous years. Louis Smith/ Harry Judd were soo overrated aswell.

If I have to pick a least favorite winner, it would probably be Tom Chambers. First I don't really like Camilla as a pro ( was glad that she left after they won ) 2nd they seemed a bit too earnest/desperate which I found slightly off-putting and 3rd I can't even recall one of their dances. At all. But I do remember their showdance which was one of the best showdances I've ever seen on strictly or Dwts so on a hindsight, they deserved to win . That whole season was just blah....for me anyways.

Worst series ever for wuzrobbed. I was abroad for that semi-final and remember furiously refreshing DS on an old Blackberry phone in our cabin.

If the judges hadn't crowbarred Lisa into the final, I really think Rachel might have won. *takes my pill*

There may be others who I may have preferred, but I can't really say that anyone didn't deserve to win.