I think it's more than just possible.

He used there same tactic to save Jeremy week after week, until TGBP saw through his cunning plan.

I thought it was a cheap shot at the voting public, the paying voting public at that - Craig is not a fool, but he certainly portrayed himself as one with that comment.

I think it also proves, yet again that the judges have their favourites.

The public vote and the judges scores are based on heaps of different things. I'm surprised some folk here are finding it so hard to differentiate between the two.

I noticed that it is the second week running that Craig did not give a reason for saving one of the two in the DO. He commented, perhaps unwisely, but did not give a reason. This is directly after the announcement that judges would give their choice and a reason.

yes they do... but, what everyone is up in arms about is Craig blaming the voting public for Georgia and Helen being in the DO.

The vote is a Vote To Save not to eliminate. As I have said previously in this thread, Craig has a very short memory as it was the Judges who place Helen 2nd from bottom of the leaderboard. Is it our fault that Helen or Georgia just didn't have the support to save her ?

What does Craig want, to remove the public vote all together ?

Craig's comment was ridiculous. Of course the judges were responsible for Helen being in the bottom 2. I hope he realizes how stupid he sounded.

Craig, and or the Beeb. I was thinking about this earlier on, it doesn't make sense, underscoring Anita. Why? But then I thought, if this was being done to push her through with public support.....she's their new name, if she had been given higher scores through the show would she even still be there? Underscoring her has given her a storyline and as Len said to Louis, the public love an underdog.
I had no idea who she was when she joined the show, now the public are backing her as the people's champ! I'm sure the Beeb are delighted by this.

I said IF people wanted Kellie definitively out then yes, you need Georgia in the DO again yep. Not sure what is confusing about that.

Kellie vs Jay Jay wins
Kellie vs Georgia Georgia wins
Kellie vs Anita Anita gone
Kellie vs Katie Katie gone
So...it makes no sense to vote to save Georgia or Jay IF and ONLY IF you want anyone other than Kellie in the final. If you are a firm Jaypet or Georgialyte than obv you vote for your favourite (although I would embrace a Georgia vs Jay DO just to see the meltdown on here).

Craig in simple terms lacks the technical knowledge to allow intelligent or constructive comment

Being destruction give is an easy way out

He was absolutely right and I applaud him for saying it. It's such a shame when people fail to compare the relative dance competence of the celebs left and vote the best dancers through, especially near the end.

I'd far rather have seen Helen's beautiful VW again in the final than any of the dances Anita's done, none of which have been particularly memorable except her overmarked Paso (which is a shame as I really like her as a person and think if she'd had a different pro she would have been one of the best dancers by now). But the public have ruined that for me, so I'm entitled to be angry, as is Craig.

BIB That only works if each person (or most of them) voted for all 4 of Jay, Katie, Kellie, and Anita. If one person votes Jay because he is their favourite, another votes Anita for similar reasons, and so on, it just happens to work out that Helen and Georgia got less support. It is vote to save and I doubt many will be voting for 4 out of 6 of them at once. So no Craig was wrong. The public indirectly put them in the DO. What they specifically did was save others and it happened to work out a certain way in the end. Craig did directly put Helen in the bottom 2 (well technically joint second bottom) however so that makes him not just wrong but foolish.

Does anybody know whether Craig had or is currently working with any of the past Strictly contestants. Trying to find out his ulterior motive.

There are no ulterior motives on Strictly - because of the unique way the BBC is funded and because of the terms and conditions that Claudia reads out every Saturday.

Surely everyone knows that!

Well I far prefer watching Anita over Helen who I have considered weak apart from the odd one or two dances. That's why I voted for her. Craig has no right to be angry. He is there to do a job and not be subjective about it. If he can't accept the voting public have different ideas then maybe he should find another job.
As for the public 'ruining' it for you, well that's just tough luck. Or is it only your enjoyment that counts and not others?

Oh don't be ridiculous, you know full well that I wasn't saying anything of the sort.

I was just making the entirely true point that I'm entitled to my opinion and so is Craig, so he can say what he likes - or is it your opinion that counts and not others?

Sometimes I think CRH is not the brightest light on the street! Clearly he does not appreciate that it is the GBP who put him where he is today! Otherwise he would be back in Australia in some drag act touring the Outback. Unwise to have a dig in the way he clearly did.
Similarly Len Goodman would be teaching kids to dance in some threadbare room above the local ex- Burtons were it not for SCD. So, less outbursts from him during a family show please.
Maybe the time has come for the BBC to envigourate SCD with a fresh Judging Panel.

Saying that the public has ruined it for you so you're angry certainly seems lkke that's what you're saying.
Good grief being angry at people over a bit of fluffy tv seems a bit extreme. Disappointed I'd understand.
As for CRH he really should keep his opinion on the voters to himself. Especially as the way the judges marked Helen she would have been in the dance off anyway with no public vote. I assume he forgot that bit.

I was giving my opinion, which I'm entitled to and stand by. Clearly I look for different things in the dances than you do, and given the final that I would enjoy the most is now gone, I'm entitled to be annoyed. No need to be a pedant over the word I used, the meaning was perfectly clear...

And why should Craig keep his opinion to himself? I'm yet to see anyone give a valid reason for stifling his freedom of expression. He's not there as a neutral arbiter, so he can say what he likes. He actually marked Helen equal with Katie and higher than Anita, so by his marks he could well have thought she didnt deserve to be there. He has no control over the other three scores.

He gave Helen one of the 2 of his second lowest scores of the night. By saying Helen shouldn't have been in the bottom 2 he was effectively saying that Katie should have been - in which case he thought Helen was better.

That being so, he should either have marked Helen higher or Katie lower - because if he can't differentiate he can't get angsty when the voters take him at his word

I agree.

IMO, Helen deserved to stay over Katie.

Why is Katie so popular ? It can't just be the legs


He is getting ready for panto......

Meeeeeooouw!

Obviously not a reader of the text in pink above, then.

Hi Mystical, I rather agree with you. At this stage of the competition the public vote is always crucial and often upsets the judges, and this year everybody was saying that it was too close to call between the remaining 6.

Strange how voting members of the public seem to think they can do no wrong, while those of us outside Mainland UK can only vote for one person once online.

If viewers are sufficiently wound up by the judges scores/comments or in disagreement they can take direct action. They can vote according to what they think.

If only the judges had a way of directly affecting the outcome, such as giving marks that count as half of the score, or deciding in a dance-off which person ultimately goes.

Oh that's right they do. They influence the outcome in two ways. The audience at home influence it in one way. So does that mean Craig wants to simply decide it all (possibly with the involvement of the other judges)? That sounds like it would make for quite a boring and predictable process completely at odds with what the show has always been about.

Bottom line, he can get snarky but has to accept people reacting if he does so. As for the scores and outcome he gets plenty of opportunity to influence it. What is the big issue?

Judges put Helen at a risk to be in a DO, they surely did not put Georgia there. It's a combined effort, public did not show any interest to save either of them, it's even worse for Georgia, who dropped from the 2nd position right to the DO. Whether it was the usual misguided idea that she was safe does not matter, the result was the same. Don't blame the judges. Pick those who you want there and vote for them. You may count on somebody being safe on top if there are more people in the running and no ties on the leaderboard.

Not at all!! People can vote how they like, but they should not then complain when someone like Craig says it's the public who put better dancers in the DO, because quite simply he is right!! It's obvious to me & that is wht this thread is about after all!!