Helen was in the bottom 2 with the judges but was given the same mark as Katie by Craig. craig's marks went

Jay, Georgia and Kellie 9
Helen and Katie 8
Anita 6

So he would probably (given his comments) have put Katie in b2 with Anita and let's be honest Craig doesn't care about the other judges marks or opinions.

Wrong.

Not one member of the public voted to put Helen or Georgia in the dance off.

Helen and Georgia were in the dance off because the public voted to keep the other dancers i the competition. If I voted say for Katie and Anita, I have no way of knowing if that would help to put Georgia or Helen in the dance off any more than it would Jay or Kellie ( although i would have hoped that bl00dy Oom, pah pah would have managed it all on it's own!).

Sorry it's a splitting hairs argument, but the same one that Craig made on the results show.

My gods, you mean there are people who do that? How outrageous! Next thing you know Tess and Claud will actually be telling people to vote for celebrities if they want them to stay in the competition as if that's what it's supposed to be about...

...oh wait...

Didn't whoever was presenting used to say "vote for your favourite?"

So glad it wasn't just me that noticed Len only using his 9 paddle

Except James Jordan's scores matched Craig's exactly.
Plus he bitched about Georgia shouldn't have been joint second on leaderboard but he, too, would have awarded Jay a 9. Then suddenly does a u-turn proclaiming GG's foxtrot to be better than Jay's rumba. He just doesn't like to be wrong, had proclaimed BatB to be dance of the night, and that Kellie would be in the DO, and so had to save face.

I thought this thread was moaning about a stupid judge who put somebody bottom two on the scoreboard and then claimed it was nothing to do with him when she ended up in the dance-off.

it's a combined dance and popularity contest, as Craig convenient-memory-lape Horwood said only a couple of days ago on ITT. You "deserve" to be in the dance-off if your combination of judges' scores and public votes put you there. Which means *everyone* who ends up in the dance-off deserved to be there because that's how the show works!

Yes. Vote to save is kinder to the slebs. I do wonder how Vote to evict would pan out on this show and what it would do their egos. On that, am guessing Jamelia would have gone a lot sooner, Peter not sure whether his "haters" would have outweighed his fanbase, Jeremy might have stayed til the quarter finals, Kellie would probably have gone by now.

In terms of tactical voting IF people did want Kellie out next week they would have to throw all their votes behind Anita and Katie because Georgia is a wasted vote...she is the only one who can beat Kellie in a DO bar Jay.

Be as sarky as you like but there are many people on at least one thread on here talking about giving certain competitors 20 votes just to keep them in, now call me cynical but I believe there are people here who would be daft enough to do just that!
THAT is what I'm meaning by tactical voting, not registering one vote for a favourite you've supported from week one or whatever!!
As long as there are people willing to go to those ridiculous lengths, the public are not to be trusted which is why I would always fight hard to keep the dance off with the experts having the final say, and also why we sometimes end up with scenarios like we had tonight with two of the better dancers in the dance off!!

So the better dancers end up in the dance off again next week....err yeah, great idea

That's not his job though is it? His job is (supposedly) to judge their performance, and a lot of people who love dancing felt his score of 6 was a fair one. I get the impression its only really people who are big fans of Anita who were upset by it. Obviously though, the problem is a 'mean' comment even if justified will nearly always boost someone's votes!

I definitely think Craig is a massive hypocrite though for moaning about Helen being in the bottom 2, the judges put her there just as much as the public did!

Me neither, and another week after that would be good for me too.

Who had the loudest and longest applause on the night? Who was given a 6 by one of the judges? It was the obvious clash of opinion between the audience and Craig that enraged the tv watching public, hence Anita probably got many bonus votes. In addition, she had the loudest cheer when the results were announced, seemingly cut off by bbc editing.

Effectively putting the two in the dance off. It's not a rocket science, you can't save everybody.

So by "public are not to be trusted" you mean they may disagree with you on who they want to stay in the competition or how strongly they are prepared to support those feelings...?

I see that no one has yet worked out that Craig actually saved Anita. Perhaps he really likes her, knew that she may be in trouble after that dance and did the reverse psychology thing.
Seriously, the man is not stupid, he knows that judges criticism has galvanised the GBP before.
It's a possible scenario admit it.

He was entirely correct - the public put them into the dance off, and he has every right to say that

Absolutely spot on.
No different to telling the eventual winners that it was the public that voted for them???

He was entirely wrong, as not one member of the public voted to put then in the dance off.

When public votes were made to save Jay, Katie, kellue or Anita the voter had no idea that their vote would mean Georgia or Helen being in the DO.

I think that's what he was trying to say?

No , he said " the judges didnt put you in the bottom two the public did ' Actually the judges did put Helen in the bottom two and the combined vote is how she ended there .,

That's an idea.

Bring back Hughie's Clapometer.

That will avoid any accusations of manipulation and fix!

Technically, Len put everyone bar Jay in the bottom 2

That's the nub of it for me. The judges aren't differentiating with their paddles, but Craig is with his comments. It's only two weeks ago but Craig did a hatchet job on Jamelia's perfectly decent QS to the effect that she wouldn't avoid the DO, whilst Helen's car crash Charleston, Anita's content-free Paso and whatever it was Katie wafted her way through escaped very lightly from any criticism over technique.

Come on, at least 1 of the judges always say "You shouldn't be in the DO" to someone in the latter weeks, its par for the course!