Aww come me on folks - we have moaned on here for YEARS about the over and under marking, the problem with judges pets who can do no wrong, the unfairness of marking where errors which are used to mark one couple down are ignored on another, judges clear personal favourites etc etc. It's just that this year it has gone beyond a joke and it's clear to even the newest viewer!

Mediocre dancers like Peter were marked unfairly high to keep them out of the danger zone - and when they couldn't for the sake of professional integrity mark him high for that so called "Jive", they made idiots of themselves by saving him in the dance off against a dancer who wiped the floor with him!

The producers should start taking heed of the public votes - so what if you have been trying to get someone on for years - if the public don't like them, why insist on shoving them at us. How many times did the public put Jamelia in the dance off only to be saved by the judges each time (admittedly she was the best dancer in every case) then throw her out when she even to the untrained eye beat Peter fair and square?

We have seen many occasions where the judges (and producers) clearly had their own agenda - we saw Emma Bunton being favoured and overmarked every week - and getting saved in the first ever dance off under very dubious circumstances. Both she and her rival, the supremely better Louisa Lytton dance he awful rumba - Lytton's version was dismissed by the judges as being nothing more than a series of poses and wafting about (sounds like a rumba to me!), whilst Buntons similar posy and wafts version was praised to the skies?

And after 13 series - how come the supposedly intelligent Craig hasn't yet worked out that his acid tongue and ridiculously low marks simply drive viewers to vote in droves for those he puts down. And will someone please tell me why a man who sits and spouts balletic drivel with little or no relevance to what he's supposed to be judging is considered to be the "best" judge? We have seen and heard the professional dancers say on many occasions that what he has said is totally wrong - and let's face it - whose word would I believe? A highly trained Professional BALLROOM dancer's - or that of a washed up West End hoofer with no Ballroom credentials whatsoever to his name? I'll have to think about that one....... NOT!

Come on producers and judges - get your heads out of your backsides and just admit what everyone can clearly see. Stop protecting the highly paid but not necessarily good celebs at the expense of lesser known but better ones. Treat everyone the same - an error is an error no matter who makes it - if you are going to penalise one celeb for an illegal lift or dodgy footwork, don't ignore it when a production or judges pet does it....

And lastly - get rid of the dance off - it was brought in to save better dancers in the case of a shock result but all it does is ensure that duffers get voted for to keep them out of it and away from the judges..... If they MUST keep it , make sure that it is actually judged fairly.... If you are going to save someone because of past glories or potential wonders, why bother getting them to dance again!

Do you think that Anita's Salsa was better than Katie's waltz in the dance off?

And can you honestly and convincingly argue that it was?

Because it appeared to me that Katie's waltz was MUCH improved from the show, and Anita's Salsa, which was badly choreographed and had only a smidgen of poorly done 'salsa', was performed at least a little worse.

Now, if you can't, and I defy anyone to, frankly, then there is NOT ENOUGH REASON to cry 'fix'.

I reckon they they should either scrap the dance off for next year, or keep it but let it go to the public vote in the event of a tie between the judges. Len basically having two votes is ridiculous. Do what X Factor do and let the public decide.

They mention that the judges criticised Katie's footwork, but ignore the fact that they also said Anita's 'salsa' wasn't a salsa, which is clearly a slightly more insurmountable problem in a dance-off situation. They also keep mentioning their 8 point leader board difference, which is completely irrelevant to the dance-off - the difference in those two dances was only 1 point, which could be easily overcome by Katie improving her footwork a bit and Anita still dancing a dance that wasn't a salsa. These are just imbalanced articles written by Anita fans, which should probably be kept to forums instead of newspapers.

Agreed.

Katies waltz always had the potential to be beautiful - she pulled it off second time around. That Salsa was awful - even if it had been danced competently it was just wrong.

Carol UK, I agree there is some manipulation. I don't like it either. But this last furore is about NOT manipulating Anita into the final, as far as I can see.

Because, on the night, she didn't deserve to go through.

The exact same thing happened with Austin. Two not good dances, danced a bit crap.

Perhaps they should ban the dance off for a bit again. I say 'for a bit', because there will be another furore when a few good dancers are out early for novelty acts and it will start all over again.

I'd like firmer rules that are stuck to though, but then many would hate that, they want 'whatever crap their favourite does', and the pressure to abandon actual dances continues.

I sometimes don't think Strictly has got more than a couple of years in it.

Don't say that. We've already lost Downton - I am an old dinosaur - I don't like change. Strictly is like a comfy pair of old slippers.

Well said. I agree with your post. A bit of consistency where the judging is concerned would be good. I used to defend them by saying they only had one viewing of a dance and a few seconds to process their thoughts so it could be difficult to always get it right.... But since reading that they also get to watch the dances earlier in the day then I've changed my mind on that point too.

I don't know what is more disturbing. People who think that something trending on twitter equates to the opinion of a whole country or people having the inability to read an article in a newspaper and use their head and not heart to work out whether the article is biased or written objectively! Depressing times indeed.

Anita was my favourite but I am sick to death of reading the pathetic flounces on here every week about fixes etc backed up by 'well lots of people agree with me on twitter so I am the one who is right not everyone else on here' even if other people have used rational thought.

What has the world come to? If this is how people are basing their decisions in life in general, then god help this country and world!

Is it indeed?

Carry on dreaming.

BTW, if you can provide the evidence that most of the general public are saying this, I would be very interested.

Absolutely spot-on.

I very rarely disagree with Alison Pearson who usually tells it like it is but she is mistaken on this occasion. Anita was a good entertainer, she is not a good dancer and we saw her show dance with that debacle of a Salsa. I thought she was an excellent contestant and enjoyed her performances very much, but enough now. Katie doesn't have chance but at least we may see some beautiful elegant ballroom in the final which will be nice as finals are so often a letdown.

It always grates on me when contestants are called 'The People's Champion' when they end up in the bottom two via the public vote and get eliminated. In a way, it's a pity Anita didn't get to the final because them we'd see if she really is 'The People's Champion' in terms of votes. I'm guessing she isn't.


That column doesn't read as if a Strictly fan wrote it, to be honest - it just regurgitates views that have been expressed all over the place. So I guess it will get a lot of views from people who agree with those views.

I think it's a great line up for the finals, can't wait to see what they do with those bits of music for the show dances.

Absolutely, a lot of fans who don't seem to understand the basic concept of the programme are making a massive noise over not getting their way. When said fans are paid to write for so-called newspapers the problem is amplified.

Whether or not you think Anita/Helen/Jamelia/whoever was robbed, to take it out on another contestant and insult them is just plain nasty. I really don't get the venom some have directed at Kellie in particular - its notable that in the 'not an appreciation thread' on here she was pretty loathed, but seems to have won a lot of people over now with her hard work and good performances. To say she doesn't deserve her place in the final is clearly based on personal opinions of her and has sod all to do with her ability.

Actually, I'd say that this year the marking has been better than usual. In some years I'd be scratching my head and wondering if I'd been watching the same dances as the judges since I'd agreed with none of their marks whatsoever.

It also ignores the fact that the leaving order has actually been pretty fair, with all the duffers going out in the early stages, leaving the more capable ones to fight it out in the latter stages.

As for the 'ringer' thing - if they banned anyone with previous dance experience from taking part, they'd struggle to get six celebs for each series!

The dance-off should stay in place otherwise future contestants who may be like John Sergeant , Ann Widdecombe, Chris Parker , Lisa Riley ....will make the finals or even win thus ruining the intergrity of the show imo. It is there for a reason.


I really dont understand why there is an outcry about this result ; it is almost as if people want to be offended or mad about something

The only fix result this year imo was Jamelia-gate and some weeks where I found some contestants overmarked (and I had a hunch that they were struggling in the public vote...........turns out I was right )

Directing anger towards Kellie/Kevin and Katie and Anton is not going to bring back Anita. I doubt she would be impressed by some of her fans not being gracious in defeat; especially since they were quite a close knit this year.

Anita didnt get enough votes to stay out of the bottom 2 so she must have not been as popular as a lot of people thought last saturday.

An assumption surely.

And anyway, the same basic premise would be the same without the DO - people would (and did) vote for the duffers to keep them off the bottom spot.


That is now what they are supposed to be doing since the Andre/Jamelia fiasco, and that is precisely why Len voted to save Katie over Anita.

This would all have been avoided if the judges had made it very clear that they wouldn't stand for not teaching the most basic of technique.

Because they never commented on it Anita got all praise and then middling scores. So by the QF and SF when they finally start picking up on it, it's much too late, the publics mind is set that she's underscored and Gleb hasn't managed to teach her the technique that's ensured their scores stay lower because they've got by on style over substance choreography.

I blame the judges as much as Gleb, they never mentioned her feet until the last few weeks, they really could have been worked on as Aliona proved with Harry.

Katie was absolutely better in the dance off. This hasn't even come close to another Jameliagate. With Jamelia it was immediate outrage on SM which wasn't picked up really until the Tuesday by the press.

Since then the papers seem to have been desperate for another fix row. They tried with Helen but this week gave them the perfect opportunity. The stories were out the very next day and I feel this time the furore is more fuelled by the press than picked up on and reported by them.

I do agree it is more manipulated and some of the high scores have seemed ridiculous this year (notably Peters) but Anita and Katie is not one of those times. Katie was better and even if you think Anita was better there is no way she was so much better that you can't see how the judges might have a different view.

She is right with idea of the fix. Kellie was over marked to make sure she was not in the bottom. In the final for example she has been given the best dance music. I wonder how big the brown envelopes Kevin gives them.

So with you on this. Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat....

Ex-ack-erly...

Yes this is true. We all predicted no ties to ensure that those at the bottom would struggle to escape and those at the top were protected and in fact it was unbelievably easy for Anita to have escaped the bottom two.

Saying that she has been given the best dance music is highly subjective.

I don't happen to think it's the best (I can't be the only one) - it's all about what they do with the music.

A lot of people don't like Jay's - I think he'll do something pretty wonderful with it.

IMO the problem lies with the inconsistency of the judges. For instance Kellie and Kevin danced a very VW light VW the week before but received overwhelming praise from the judges.... Anita danced a Salsa light Salsa and was criticised for it. Kellie and Kevin had lifts in their VW and nothing was said, Anita had a lift in her Rumba and was pulled up on it. Either judge every dance using the rules that each dance has or ignore them. Don't pick and choose when to enforce these rules and who to enforce them on.