It happened last year.
If Pixie's departure wasn't a fix I'll eat my pickled walnuts.
(A fix of her own making rather than the judges /producers but a fix nontheless )
I know some posters are going to say "what rubbish" but I won't be swayed from my conviction on this. I think anyone who thinks that was genuine is very naive

Eh? How did she "fix" it so that she left?

Re-bib, I thought her departure was a fix but not of her own making. Why do you think she engineered it, assuming she could?

Told the production team that she had to leave. Lo and behold she's in the bottom two. We're never told about voting figures so it's easy to fix.
Within days of her leaving Strictly she was on a countrywide promotional tour for her new album. There's no way she could have done that and dance training.
There was absolutely no surprise ( or any kind of emotion at all ) from her or Trent to find themselves in the dance-off or even after being eliminated.
The whole thing stank. I don't understand why nobody else saw it.
( and I'm really not the conspiracy theory type )

Pixie looked devastated and Darcey was openly sobbing .. there's no way it was a fix.

Yep. Devastated
You've got a funny idea of what devastated looks like.

https://youtu.be/WEW9xe3vo6Q

What beats me about this, other than the Pixie outrage still carrying on a year later, is why anyone thinks it matters.

This isn't a real competition like the Olympics, Wimbledon or a boxing match. The winner gets a bit of kudos but it doesn't improve their world rankings or the purse they command in the next fight or even the prize money in this.

Most of them are jobbing performers who are booked to do the show as another job. They negotiate a fee for that job. If the job finishes earlier than it might, they may be a bit sad but its hardly something to get knotted over. Indeed they are now free to take another booking with a nice bit of high profile publicity to help find another job.

I get that they enjoy it and miss taking part once eliminated but in most cases it is only the difference of being laid off (on full pay) a week or two earlier than might have been. Its a bit like saying an actress having been hired to play Ophelia was devastated and treated unfairly because her part gets killed off in the 4th act (or is it the 3rd)

I think the BBC have far too much at stake, and far bigger fish to fry, to allow themselves to be criticised for something as inconsequential as producers fixing a dance show.

And as trivial as a reality show is, to be found fixing something that involves taxpayers money, in the year of renewing the charter, would be a serious story, as well as ridiculous at the same time. I think the people involved have much bigger things to worry about.

Oh but I'm not saying she was devastated or treated unfairly - the exact opposite, in fact.

I'm not campaigning on Pixie's behalf or saying she was robbed.; I'm not now and I didn't last year when it happened.
I'm just annoyed that they didn't just say " Pixie Lott has to drop out early because of other commitments"
Instead they used it for a bit of controversy, trying to take us all for mugs ( didn't work on me) and, unfortunately, Pixie's acting skills weren't quite up to scratch to make it convincing.

You have a high opinion of the integrity of the media. Quite remarkable in light of what we've found out about various areas of the media ( including TV and particularly other reality shows ) in recent years.
Anyway, I'll shut up now. I've made my point. I won't be changing my mind any time soon but I don't want to get boring on the subject.

Throwing out the public votes, which people have spent money making, would absolutely be a fix of the judges/producers making and the show would be destroyed if it got out.

It's ludicrous to suggest they fixed it like that, it does show a lack of perspective and just basic common sense. You're clearly not stupid so, I'm baffled why you seem to be so determined to hang onto such a daft belief.
And (FYI) you've been boring since you began.
Keep your mad conspiracy theory about something that has no importance.
But do please ask yourself what else you could invest in that might have the tiniest shred of value.

Basic common sense

And why would they? How do the BBC benefit from Caroline Flack winning instead of Pixie Lott or even Simon? I can't see a motive for risking a fix that puts their very existence at stake.

Like I said, I've made my point and I'll leave it at that.

The anger from one poster in particular is way out of proportion