OK thanks for this.

We are quibbling over one judging decision over two closely-matched couples. Yet for years the judges have endured our decisions, via the public vote, to keep inferior dancers in week after week. Chris Parker 2nd ?John Sergeant week 10, Ann Widdecombe week 10, Judy Murray week 8 etc

I'm glad that your life is such a great one, and I am sad that what is, to a baffled viewer like me, such a trivial thing has marred your enjoyment to such an extent and even stopped you from continuing to watch it.

I adore Strictly: yes it is a "glittery haven of delight and escape" (love that description!) which is why I can't take it too seriously. It makes me laugh and smile, and I love the love that exudes from it between the contestants. If only it rubbed off onto the viewers! It is my Saturday night delight, my glittery haven of delight and I will continue to watch it avidly.

Ah dear Ann

Good on you! I think its a shame to give up on a great show because of (I hope) one suspected case of foul play. And I maintain that the public vote is fair, because if they wanted to keep Andre in that badly, they'd have tampered with the figures wouldn't they?

Excuse my impertinence but while you're there could you tell them to rustle up some genuinely hunky male news readers please . The no over 40's rule should apply to men as well as ladies . I'll do you a placard to wave if you are doing a street protest .
On topic . Len explained it clearly, the actual footage shows it and no one else anywhere heard any boos , apart from in the ladies loo when the toilet paper ran out .
Job done .

😃 I wish I was more like you! I have a 'bad taste' in my mouth and I wish I could get rid of it /ignore it or that it hadn't arisen in the first place. I would love to have been continuing to watch with enjoyment but I can't now.

All that remains of Saturday date night is 'The Bridge' on BBC4, sadly lacking in glitter and sparkly lights !!!!

The public vote for their favourites, that's always been the case, well up until maybe the final and semi final.
The judges don't have to endure anything. All that's asked of them is to mark consistently and they can't always do that. It's an entertainment show first.

All this controversy wouldn't have occurred if so many people didn't think they got it wrong. Before Saturday night Jamelia had few "friends," on this board. The uproar since Saturday night, speaks volumes.

Peter and Jamelia were not closely matched on the night . She was by far the better dancer and Peter's routine didn't even remotely looked like a jive to start off with .

Unfortunately the public vote isn't fair either -- I remember in the first Strictly, Christopher Parker wasn't much better than David "Mr Mahogany" Dickinson but the great British public kept him in up to the final because of his "Soap-Starriness"! His dancing was appalling throughout -- thank God for Natasha Kaplinsky!

All I want this week is for Helen to get a 10 from Darcey. If that coming from her childhood hero doesn't make her less nervous I don't know what will!

Yes I'm sure they're just dying inside as they cash their massive paycheques

I'll give you a suggestion for free although I'm personally an ancient hetero male -- Vassos Alexander Georgiades

(My ancientness is such that I was at my peak in the '60s. I was tolerable at quickstep, crap at jiving and haven't improved much with age but I still reckon I could have done better than Peter even now -- I couldn't have held a candle to Jamelia and Aljaz in the quickstep even with a decent partner!)

I just found out that Vassos is about 41 -- does that disqualify him?

Len also didn't address the fact that Andre didn't actually perform much of a Jive.

All the judges including Len, failed to comment on this, on both of the performances of his 'Jive', even originally awarding him 8's and then crazily saving him in the DO.

I'm sure if any of the other contestants had performed a routine baring little resemblance to the actual dance, they would have been torn apart.

It stinks Len, and you know it.

That would be nice to see pristinashquipe.

So now we see the importance of being overmarked even if the person is still last on the leaderboard. While I don't believe it was carefully prepared in advance, it came now very handy for uncle Len to work with.

Ah but you are labouring under the mistaken assumption that the judges judge based on what they saw on the night. Len might sometimes but he doesn't always - last year's semi-final where he did a u-turn in his opinion of Mark & Karen's Rumba springs to mind - but the others never have and never will. There is always an element of the bigger picture view, and Jamelia clearly wasn't popular. Though arguably that would have been reason in itself to keep her in as then the dance off this week would have been her and one of the better dancers!

Either way though, the only reason people are getting annoyed about this is that it's the first time the losing couple was significantly better than the other in the dance-off. The basis for the judges' decision is nothing new and shouldn't have surprised anyone unless they've viewed the show in the past with a rose-tinted naivety that hasn't been there since at least the introduction of the dance-off.

Normally I would agree with you, but in this instance, the dances in question weren't even remotely close in standard. Added to that the controversy about the edited out boo's when the decision was made and the seemingly staged "standing ovation".

The public vote is entirely "fair" because the public are not usually asked to vote for the better dance or the better dancer. We are asked each time to vote for "your favourite dance" or "who you want to go through to next week". That's how it works, that is how it is supposed to work, however frustrating it may be when the better dancers don't win.

The DO vote however is supposed to be based on the DO dances. It wasn't, and it's that unfairness which has got people upset.

Exactly right. The public vote - ie popularity - is one thing, the public are asked to vote for their favourite, and "favourite" does not necessarily mean best dancer. However, the DO is for the judges to put through the best dancer. And they didn't, although Len said he would have put Jamelia through.
If the other judges REALLY thought that Peter was better, seriously, they should not be on the judging panel as they clearly don't know what they are looking at.
I really don't mind who wins, but please let it be a fair "contest".

The difference is that the public vote allows us to vote for our favourite(s) and not necessarily based on their dance ability or how they performed a particular dance.

The judges, however, are meant to judge only the dance performed ( or) so we thought, not their favourite celeb. Even a non dance person like me could clearly see that their was online winner in Saturday's dance off.

Yesterday Len commented that as a result of the kerfuffle over Peter & Jamelia's dance off, the judges would in future justify their decision. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I distinctly heard Darcey justify her decision as she voted for the dancer that improved during the dance off. That comment alone made the decision all the more incredulous.

Exactly this.

When Tess announces the DO this week, she can't really say the usual 'what advice do you give to each contestant, to improve in the DO',

Instead, she will have to say 'we know you've already decided based on past performances, but what do you say to the contestant that you have decided will leave'

Rendering the DO null and void

I wonder who got the least number of public votes last Saturday?

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