Now I'm not asking because I'm upset by the result, I didn't mind who won. My point is simply this, people have basically already decided who they want to win and who they will vote for, so it basically doesn't matter what they do in the final. Unless your favourite starts goose stepping and saluting in the middle of the dance, you aren't going to change your vote.
So my question is, why bother with the final?

I agree, the final is totally pointless, Jay was 3rd best on the night and he won. Georgia and Kellie outdanced him and still lost.

Yes tonight the judges have proved there is a point. They can ridiculously overmark one couple in the hope it will either: a) sway the public or b) cowardly protect their own hinds when the REAL favourite wins. Just so they can say they didnt back him. They have all lost credibility tonight as judges for the transparent collective plan they bought into

In the sense that once Jay had done his Jive I thought series over I see your point OP.
In competition terms the weeks since then have been a waste of time to be frank.
But in dance terms we have seen some amazing routines which would otherwise not have been seen had the series ended there and then.
It was rather a predictable result but I am not unduly bothered. I enjoyed the dancing so no problem.

Every King needs his coronation
Every political criminal needs his show trial
Jay without the final It's like Keith Harris without Orville.
etc ad nauseam

I think that in the final, the judges points should count, as well as the public's votes. That would make the final, a bit more important.

Didn't they used to in earlier series?

There has to be a final. but most of us decide on the show overall.

With only one male being so good, and adding in the amazing support - Then for sure the final was irrelevant.

Hopefully next series we get more than one decent male to spread the votes from the usual suspects, Now, that would be fun!

When there's a half-decent but attractive male contestant in there?

Nah, not really.

This, completely. It's Louis Smith part 2.

I have no idea. If they did, they should start doing it, again.

Maybe the way forward is instead of the final, you have a gala, where during the week people could vote on each contestants best dance they want them to dance again, as well as a vote for the winner, which would be announced at the end of the gala

On the night Jay wasn't as good as Katie. Overall he's been most consistent and never in the dance off, which tells you summat. He deserved to win

Just like the Olymipics closing ceremony (which is utterly pointless but extremely expensive and watchable) you need the final finale to finish off the long long show.
In previous years there have been boring finals with only 2 couples doing multiple dances each to fill in the time, so this year we were lucky enough to have 4 finalists. The 12 voted out contestants were delighted to be back for their old school reunion and excellent group dance to finish things off in style. The guest singer had a really weak voice - that's my only negative remark, apart from Dave Arch starting "O Fortuna" off too slow.

It really is high time that certain negative Forum posters understood that in numbers they are really minute and unimportant in their numbers to the vast numbers of viewers who do tune in for the Final. So we discount you.

Tonight, it was a very joyful show, the dancing of high quality (tho some choreography was criticised) and one of the top 3 won, a laid-back pop star and a visibly astonished and moved pro. Such a welcome contrast with Caroline Flack of last year.

With this send-off they will all go off to a huge party to celebrate.

And that is why they held a Series final.

Also Darren Gough won when clear third best behind Zoe Ball and Colin Jackson

If there was no final, how would the winner be decided?

Hell no. We don't need Len holding a coronation for the most gurniest contestant before the final is even over.

That's beautiful bradvilla. I love gala. It's the crunch.

Sorry not pouting, I don't care who won. I was merely trying to ask what I thought was a reasonable question. There's no need to make rude assumptions

Still vote and have gala instead

I think the final is still valid, look at Darren Gough winning over Colin Jackson pretty much due to Colin's abysmal show dance. Then we had Tom and Camilla whose show dance won them the show so things CAN change on finals night.

Jay has been popular throughout and even if Georgia and Kellie had scored 80 and Jay got 20 he still would have won. He's been consistent, it's not like he is a terrible dancer who totally didn't deserve to win, the show dance not being 'Wow!' was more down to Aliona than him, he danced it well. He's obviously got fans of the Wanted behind him and people like me supported him because of his overall adorableness. I know, I know that people will say 'It's a dance show, you vote for the best on the night!' but for me he's been the reason I kept watching the series this year so no matter what the women did, and they did an amazing job, they weren't getting my vote.

Actually neither should have won, Zoe was the better dancer of the three

Tom's win certainly wasn't anything "changing on the night" in terms of the public vote

Week 8 - he beat Rachel
Week 10 - he beat Lisa
Week 11 - he beat Rachel
Week 12 - he beat Lisa
Week 13 - he beat Lisa and Rachel
First half of the final before the showdance - he beat Lisa and Rachel

And that's just what we know based on bottom 2s. I 95% guarantee he beat both of them every single week.

There's no similar set of figures for Darren vs Colin (except the ones Darren himself claims he was told by the producers, which had him well in the lead every single week), but I think anyone who thinks Darren didn't have it in the bag going into that final is being naive...

We both knew this competition ended after week 3