Since the final lineup of the tour was announced, Sunetra, Pixie and Jake were the three couples left in that weren't doing the tour. Is it a coincidence that all three have since been eliminated, with two of them having never been in the dance off before, and Pixie being the highest scoring celebrity left in?

I know there is such thing as a coincidence, but this is somewhat of a remarkable one!

Repeat after me.

The producers of the TV show have no input or say in the tour.

The only person who does is Craig.

Yes, hence they've gone our AFTER the tour was announced! If they'd announced it after next week's final you could argue Craig just chose the top 4 but shoving the none-tour celebs in the bottom two seems a good way to get them out!

i don't think so, I think its been even spread. you can't control the public, Pixie scored well when she left so i don't see how it correlates to her not being on the tour.

And other contestants, i.e Frankie, I really believe she was under marked last night. and she's on the tour

I'm sure James Jordan did tweet some weeks ago something about the celebs not doing the tour get voted off if they are in a dance off.

I don't feel how it can have been in any way a fix. Well with which couples get into the dance off.

I think with Pixie people just though she was safe and more people decide to vote for Frankie as she was suddenly near the bottom..

But the actual dance off with the people who have gone out in the last 3 weeks.

I think have been down to really who Len likes! Rather then who danced the better.

Does seem awfully suspicious....
But strictly doesn't manipulate in order to control voting like xfactor. It was just their luck Pixie and Jake ended up in the bottom two...I bet they were real happy about that!

Next year's celebs better sign up for that tour I guess!

Im sure if there was any substance to these conspiracy theories, the papers would have got hold of it by now. Its just suiting some peoples agenda to say that its a fix.

Its probably sour grapes on his part as Craig didn't ask him on last years tour.

Craig wanted to save Pixie!

Yes FACT! This conspiracy theory really needs to be put to bed. Craig has the most input in terms of the tour out of all the judges and he votes on what he sees on the night, nothing to do with the tour. If he had been worried about the tour he would not have voted for Pixie last week as she won't be doing it.

I think the judges do have their own favourites and will be more kind to them because of that favouritism, BUT the favouritism is based upon factors not connected to the tour (e.g. they like hot guys, they like professionally trained dancers, they like celebs who say thank you).

Slander? No one's silly enough to try that.

The voters decide who is in the dance off. No conspiracy.

Len's decision the last two weeks have been suspect and strange to say the least, the fact that both Pixie and Jake are not doing the tour raises a red flag.

and then the judges decide

I wasn't a Pixie fan but I knew when they got rid of her last week that Jake would go this week.

I have worked on the tours of other BBC franchised shows and the BBC most definitely is involved in them. The BBC are very protective of their brand name and franchises and oversee all creative content to ensure their shows are being properly represented. On the shows I have worked on the BBC had to sign off on all creative content, they had to approve of all venues, they had to approve of all the content in the programmes, they had to approve of all merchandise to be sold. Although there is another company organising the live shows the tour represents the Strictly brand, provides excellent cross-promotion for the television show and also makes money for the BBC. If you look on the website the BBC logo is there alongside the other two companies involved in the tour.

I'm not saying the BBC fixes the phone vote (that would be ridiculous) but the negotiations for the celebs to go on the tour begin once voting figures have been established so the parties involved have a good idea how things are going. The companies involved of course want the best chance of ensuring the winner is on the tour so it would be strange for them not to request that the passage of the tour celebs is eased to the final when the franchise deal is haggled out and of course there are ways that the BBC can help this. Jake was at the bottom of the leaderboard last night (perhaps deservedly so) and for the first time this series there were no ties on the leaderboard meaning, even if he was high in the public vote, he was going to struggle to avoid the dance-off. They also have the dance-off and the judges' vote to ensure the producers get the final say. We also know that creative decisions plus things like running order (especially when the phone vote opens during the actual final) can have an effect on the vote.

I'm not saying the show is definitely biased in the tour's favour but we do have to ask ourselves how, after its inaugural year, the tour has had the amazing luck to sign up all the winners and many of the finalists without a crystal ball.

As someone else said, Craig voted for Pixie last week so how exactly does that fit with the fix theory?

Last week Simon danced better than Pixie. She was unlucky to be in the dance off the week the dance just didn't suit her but that's life.

I personally thought Mark danced better than Jake but I will be honest, I dislike Jake so much I possibly am biased. I just can't stand the faces he pulls when he dances and, to me, he was by far the weakest dancer of the ones left.

THIS!

Plus Craig runs the tour and has saved Pixie.

Strictly Come Dancing - the Tour, is a different entity and nothing to do with the BBC

I am not so sure about that. The marking yesterday was extraordinary and bore little relation to the quality of the dances, the leaderboard looked manipulated to me.

For me it's not really a mad conspiracy theory, just that I've worked behind the scenes on lots of stage shows and tv shows and know an awful lot of people who've worked on other shows and I get very cynical about these things. There is no way the company that pays a lot of money for the Strictly franchise isn't going to want the winner of each series on the tour and, although the BBC can't absolutely fix it so this happens, they can give them the best fighting odds.

Craig's vote doesn't mean anything unless it's unanimous

Len gets two votes so even if Craig and one other votes against Lens wishes, Len wins.

And if you cross Len you are going out.

It doesn't matter who Craig votes for if the producers have already instructed which couple will win in any given dance-off situation.

That isn't true.

Agree totally