Lisa and Rachel tied at the top of the judges' vote, getting 3 points each. Tom was last, getting 1 point. So even if Tom had topped the phone vote, he'd have still been in the DO and most likely on his way home.

This wasn't a problem itself, except that Tess had urged viewers to vote to save their favourites. OFCOM, the phone regulator got involved as there was a risk that voters would be peeved at having been misled and demanding their money back.

Had Tess just urged folk to vote for their favourite, then there would have been no need to act. Though it was impossible to save Tom given the judges' scores, the scenario was easily foreseeable and thus just "part of the game" albeit perhaps unintended.

For the first time ever, personally, there's no "wrong" dancer.

I adore Katie for personal reasons, Georgia's the best all-rounder, Kellie's an absolute leviathan in terms of work and energy, and Jay has the prettiest lines and best finishes. I love all 4 finalist's personalities, and it'll be impossible to sadden me no matter what order they finish in (I can't sensibly argue if Katie goes out in 4th ).

This can be extended to the final 6, really (and Jamelia ).

Don't get me wrong, my order of preference for winners is Katie/Kellie/Jay/Georgia, but Georgia would be a fantastic winner. I've loved this series.

Back on topic, the "wrong" couple can never win. The phone vote is never wrong! (Except when Austin ended up in the DO, obviously. )

You obviously didn't watch last year's series The rightful winners were not even allowed to get to the Semi-Final!

Instead we had to suffer the gruesome spectacle of a 'final' in which the 4 people competing (who also just happened to all be signed up to do the live tour, funnily enough) boasted a ridiculous SEVEN dance-offs between them! No wonder that final scraped in the lowest viewing figures for 5 years, and did nothing to halt the sad, gradual decline of the show in general (series average viewing figures have being falling each year since 2010 - funny how that never seems to get mentioned, yet "thrashing the X-Factor" seems to get trotted out more often than Bruno's "Donny-10" paddle)...

But don't worry, I'm sure they'll manage to turn things round this year... perhaps by letting the 2nd most popular contestant get to the final, thereby ensuring that at least ONE feasible challenger to Jay hasn't been in a dance-off...? Oops.

Oh well , maybe next year? Time for a BIG change, methinks. All 4 Judges & "Louise Rainbow" (wink) should all be sacked & brought to justice. Smoke 'em out. Then blame Gleb. For something else he had NOTHING TO DO WITH.

Cheers!

Hi. I've highlighted in bold all the bits of your post which are absolute nonsense. Hope that helps.

Tom Chambers semi final debacle was a huge deal at the time. Claudia even had to interview the BBC controller of entertainment on it takes two https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bInRzmDTl_U

Well said - I'd not quite endorse it as this series has been plagued, not by the DO controversies as such, rather the inconsistencies, apparent partiality and whimsical scoring of the judges, particularly as regards footwork and other technical content.

So, a rightful winner, for me, has to nail that as well as interpretation and popular acclaim, otherwise I may be muttering about the wrong winner.

You're too kind. Thank you.

I would have thought it was obvious that I was talking about there being no problem from a regulatory/legal viewpoint if Tess hadn't urged folk to do something that was actually impossible and incur phone charges for the privilege.

Obviously, the disappointment that Tom fans would have incurred from a wasted vote would have been a problem, but only that it would have demonstrated that folk had a problem counting to 4, which is all that was required to work out that he was stuffed in accordance with the existing rules.

Isn't that putting too much weight on people online who chatter away on forums like this and sit watching video clips. I suspect the majority of viewers just watch the programme and vote on the night without being influenced by online chatter. The higher profile contestants with a large fanbase are probably a bigger factor in the voting which is the danger of the whole competition being dependent on public voting.

Presumably this is just a long-winded way of saying Pixie was robbed!

As long as the couple who have the most votes lift the Glitter Ball on Saturday, then the right couple has won, whoever that turns out to be. Not saying I won't flounce if my preferred couple doesn't win, I will, but it doesn't mean the result is wrong, just means the result isn't the one I wanted and so I'll be in a strop.

(Obviously may not be quite this reasonable Saturday night if the above does happen )

There has been NO FIX at all this or any series, some are too gullible to tabloid press reports. Yes there are loyal supporters of each celebrity and their upset when they go. But this " proven untrue" fix claim is damaging the reputations of fine performers and will put off good celebrities performing next year, which is the tabloids intend to damage SCD and therefore damage the BBC, every thread opened on this subject here plays into the newspapers campaign, pity a few can't actually see that.

Ann Widdicombe would demonstrate this point quite well. The nicest thing anyone said about her here was simply to not mention her at all yet she got to the quarter finals despite propping up the leaderboard nearly every week.

Strictly is notorious for having a perceived 'wrong' winner - it goes way back! Most of the time, it's a valiant trier who triumphs over the better technical dancers, because that's what the public loves - Darren Gough winning over Colin and Zoe, Tom Chambers over Rachel and Lisa, or Chris Hollins winning over Ricky Whittle. The occasions where the genuine best dancer in the competition has actually won are fewer, IMO. Jill, Alesha, Kara and Harry are perhaps the only ones who's strong ability completely matched their public popularity at the time of their finals.

I still think Jay most likely has the combination of public support and is genuinely an incredible dancer - but this is actually a strong year, where Georgia and Kelly are both very, very good all-rounders, and could easily produce individual dances to rival Jay's ones. When you also factor in Katie's public support, and her lovely to watch, elegant ballroom that seems to keep the public voting for her time and time again, this is actually a very close final. IMO, that's good for the show. It encourages people to tune in, and the viewing figures usually go up when there is an element of potential surprise in the results.

BTW, I remember the Tom Chamber's semifinal debacle well. That issue, I'm convinced, propelled him to that win. The perceived injustice and the other two labelled as 'judge's favourites' ensured that he was a 'plucky underdog' and the audience rewarded him for that and a crowd-pleasing showdance. It all happened in a very compressed time period - I don't think there's been anything like that at this point in the competition (the Peter/Jamelia 'fix-gate' was quite some time ago). The media has tried to recreate that sensationalist type of headline on a weekly basis since then, so endless articles over 'fixes' are par for the course every single week now! But none of them are real public outrages. So we have a final with 4 celebs, 3 of whom have each been in the 3 most recent dances-offs. Unless Jay absolutely bombs his routines, I don't see anything that Kellie, Katie or Georgia produce make such a significant different that Jay doesn't win. At this point in the competition, pure public voting is the only time we see 'true' fair play - what the public wants, they will get. So, in the regard, it's fair!

But there WAS a problem from a regulatory/legal viewpoint.

The whole problem was that however many votes Tom got, he would be eliminated. Therefore people wasted money on the cost of the call voting for him - i.e. they paid for nothing, which also effectively meant that people voting for the other two also spent money on nothing because they would both be in the final anyway. So the BBC put all three through and offered to refund the cost of the call for anybody who wanted it. OFCOM would never have allowed it.

Doesn't matter who wins on Saturday. The contest has been conducted according to the rules which ensured that there would be four people in the final, even if you disagreed with the judges decision in each dance off. The winner will be the person who gets the greatest share of the vote from the public and is therefore the public's choice

I don't think we'll end up with a Gough/Hollins situation, simply because the calibre of the finalists is too high (maybe Katie excepted).

Having said that, Goughie won not only the series but the Christmas Special too (thanks to his rather good Quickstep).

The wrong couple never lifts the glitterball - unless the voting has been rigged. Strictly is a popularity contest and the couple who wins the most votes on the night - regardless of how well they can dance - rightly lifts the glitterball.

According to other information I've read Tom had been running away with the public voting figures for much of the series. His winning it was predetermined which is why the judges voted as they did to ensure Rachel won. (That last sentence is my jaundiced view.)

If people can get through on the phones and they count the votes correctly, then the right person wins - that's the way it works.

I think it's a good system.

""Honestlly. I know I'm in the minority. but I want the couple dancing best on the night to win Strictly 2015. At this moment in time I don't know who they will be."" Hopefully that will happen and if it does it can't possibly be the 'wrong' couple.

Unfortunately its all subjective. Like thinking Anita danced better than Katie or Katie danced better than Anita.

I think/hope we might be in for a surprise.

Actually OP, I agree with you and I am waiting until Saturday to decide who I want to vote for to win.

I disagree if Jay doesn't win it will be Chris Hollins, no, if Georgia or Kellie win, they are both good dancers too and I think have been the top of the leaderboard as much as Jay.
For me Georgia's ballroom outstrips Jay's by far, her topline and the use of it through the dance I think is very undersold by the judges, it really is beautiful.
For me Kellie has the potential to just blow everyone away on Saturday with her numbers too.
I like Jay, but for me he only has a few dances that I really liked, Jive, tango and charleston (but not as much as the other two). For me though he seems like a lot of untapped potential, like he had the ability to really produce a wow dance every week, but really hasn't done all that much with it. *Just my opinion*

As has been explained by others, the judges tied Rachel and Lisa scores so they got 3 points while Tom got 1. Even if Tom topped the public vote, he could only ever get a maximum of 1+3=4, while Rachel and Lisa would get 3+1=4 or 3+2=5. Therefore Tom would always be in the dance off even if he topped the public vote.

Thereafter they changed the rules so that if two couples are tied on points, the person below them just gets one point less and not two points less. So under current rules, after judges scores, Rachel and Lisa would have got 3 points, and Tom 2, meaning he would avoid the dance-off if he topped the public vote.

That's about how I would view it too, actually amelia!!

I don't think there was without Tess urging people to do the impossible i.e. vote to save their favourite, if said favourite was Tom.

The rules that gave rise to the situation weren't hidden or made up retrospectively, so if Tess had simply urged folk to vote for their favourite then there wouldn't have been any issue with folk being misled or encouraged to try and achieve the impossible.

It takes 3 sums (1+3; 3+2 and 3+1) and 1 comparison (5>4) to work out that Tom was stuffed and in my view, anyone who couldn't see that deserved to pay their 15p call charge as a penalty for stupidity! (Though Claudia still has to remind everyone not to vote after the voting closes, so one has to wonder about the collective wit of the average voter. All voters here are far sharper than that, I'm sure!)

Given what Tess said, the Beeb had to tread carefully given they were still reeling from the (then) recent Blue Peter hoohah when a phone in competition was faked.