The public don't know the results of the votes, but the production team certainly do and they have many ways to manipulate things if they want to.

judges - whilst they don't tell them what marks to give, they CAN ensure that the leaderboard is in a certain order..... People get offended by high/ low marks , but don't always see that it's the leaderboard order that's important - not the actual marks given!

Pimp slots - those who go first or last tend to get remembered by the public voters - those in the middle of the running order tend to be forgotten . Give those slots to someone you want to push (particularly the last performance of the night) as they will be freshest in the public's awareness.

Music - popular and/ or well known songs which fit the dance will help get votes, obscure and inappropriate music won't, particularly if the celeb isn't one of the more talented ones.

Costumes - can distract from the performance - or add to it

VTs - can prompt some gullible voters to pick up the phone if there a sob story element eg Kellies sons birthday, someone died etc - although kudos to Jay for not publicising his grandfathers death on the show - it was never mentioned on VT or on ITT.

I don't know why everyone is so outraged about Jay beating Kellie - he out danced her throughout the series, and the voting public wanted him to win - not her! He won because he got the most votes - end of!

The judges should NEVER go on record dissing the winner especially if they don't agree - it's unprofessional, smacks of sour grapes and dismisses the opinions of the public who actually pay good money to vote for their favourites. Craig (and Darcey) in particular was very very wrong to say that Kellie should have won on the red button wrap show

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Agree, that is a far better explanation than some Mr Big sitting in their office deciding who is going to get through each week. Even if there was then it is unlikely the lower levels of the crew working on the programmes would be in on the secret.

There is the odd hiccup when two good dancers end up in the Dance Off so a potential finalist is lost.

I have written before that if the whole competition was done solely on the public vote (as some would like) then it is quite possible all the finalists would be the 'comedy' dancers and one would win.

But in the years we didn't have the dance off, the winners were Natasha, Jill, Darren, Mark, Alehsa, Kara and Harry - and of those Jill, Darren, Mark, Kara and Harry were never called in the bottom 2.

Dance off series winners were Tom, Chris, Louis, Abbey, Caroline and now Jay - with Tom, Chris, Louis and Jay all avoiding the dance off.

Seems pretty even really.

Fantastic post.
The only thing I would say (which is not really important) is that 1stslot isn't good. It's better than 2nd (which is truly death slot or 3rd/4th when there are 15 contestants) but it's not good for votes as the audience is lower at the beginning of each program (so less possible voters). Though Opening the show usually is a good routine though so it will be memorable of sorts.

Also, going second with a foxtrot or a rumba isn't the same as doing a samba or a jive second, the first two are subdued dances that won't be that memorable unlike the last two.

Other than that, i agree completely!

Honestly I'm wondering are there so many people that have any delusions about the so called Reality TV shows. They are mostly shows and the reality part to them is a bit exaggerated - not much reality in reality really.
So let's start with the format - there are sevaral couples all of them have to perform and altogether fit into a previously determined time frame. The show is live but that doesn't mean you can extend yiur given time - which means all the time slots are very carefully calculated. So whatever the contestants do it can't be too different form the rehearsed.
Also a show shiuldn't be dull otherwise nobody is going to watch it. Well how do you do that? Create some kind of a drama of course.
With the money invested you can't offer the audience a dull show. So if some storylines need to be pushed then that's what has to be done.
I still think many things are kept close to the original state but the editing decides what to show and thus creates pressure where probably there was none.
I think that's what Helen said and the tabloids probably cut part of what she said and put it into their own created "fix scandal" storyline.
You can get that very easily if you're able to get the full interview of someone and then read what parts the press decides to publish and in what context. Then the way the press works becomes very clear and you can work back what is not added in the published story.

I thought 1st slot is not bad either because there is no way to compare. So on theory it's not that good but in practice it may be very good. Look at Peter's Charleston - he was first, he wasn'rt perfect but gor 10s. He wouldn't have gotten them with this dance had he not been first and had the judges not wanting him to have those scores.
I got the impression this year it was all about how equal everyone was (not true) and they definitely needed different people to top the leaderboard to show that. And they did.

I was actually more disappointed with Jeremy Vine who asked the leading question that lead to the answers from Craig and Darcey. Yes they could have been more diplomatic in their answers but it was a typical leading political analyst's question which is of course something Jeremy is good at. I wonder if Darcey and Craig were aware it was going out live on the red button or if it was going to be edited.

Am I right in thinking that the dance off was introduced after Ann Widdicombes year? I know that she was hugely popular with the press and many viewers and it seemed to me only lost out when some rather judicious editing showed that she was getting rather too bit for her boots. The truth is she had probably been that way since the beginning but we were only shown in when she had become too much of a problem.

That's what I imagine Helen means in her comments. Nothing too negative just some standard manipulation to add drama, controversy and interest to their stories and some subtle pushing to get rid of the ones TPTB want out. It doesn't bother me in the slightest but I can see that it may frustrate some contestants and viewers. Helen's biggest problem was that she didn't really have a good 'story' to carry her through to the end, she didn't always engage with the viewers. Not her fault at all, and commendably she was all about the dance, but a few bits of gossip in the rags ironically may have helped.

so could this explain why, in the final, jay went on first, doing the QS as the 'warm up act'.(as did lisa snowdon in the xmas special btw)...whilst kellie and georgia were given more favourable 'order of dancer' positions and 'judges dances'...because the judges knew/guessed jay was out way ahead in the public vote and they wanted to 'tighten' things up a bit?

do you mean the bit were jeremy said jay had always had the 'jive effect' in his back pocket and was THAT the reason for his success in the public vote?

sadly, didn't helen just fall into the natalie/pixie/kirstie category.....just not enough public support or interest in them?

Actually, scoring the first dance is also difficult. Usually they get lower marks than if they go last. I believe Peter's Charleston the only time this series that the first dance has top the leaderboard (though it has happened other series).
Usually you could say that the first dance is underscored Just in case a better dance comes after.


I think there was another question along the lines of: you put Kellie top
Of the leaderboard, did you think she deserved to win?

That was both true and untrue. True because that jive was amazing and loads of people became fans of his because of it. Untrue because star dances like that one didn't make SEB or Jake the winners of their years. In Jays case was that Jive plus the paso, salsa, tango, rumba, Charleston... And basically being the top scorer of the series (albeit it by 1 point).


It's possible. I don't think in the final the order is that important as they dance three times and the lines are opened after the first dance set, so in fact going first gets you more time to vote.

I wrote about what would happen if it only depended on the public vote as some people have called for.

A Transcription of what was said in *that* Red Button Interview

Jeremy : A long night for you guys, because it swung this way and that
Darcey : The pressure! My goodness, you could feel the nerves, you could cut a knife through it on that dancefloor, it was extraordinary. Anybody could have got that, couldn't they?
Craig : Oh absolutely. What a fantastic night! It's been really really good. And it really was a great outcome as well. Jay did as well as everybody else, d'you know the couples were really really strong, and of course it's up to the audience in the end. We're only there for guidance aren't we?
Darcey : Yes the public, it's up to the public and it was lovely...
Craig : And I'm happy about that actually because I wouldn't like to, actually, have to make that decision.
Darcey : Between those three? I mean they were so strong, and they all had different strengths, they all had something different to give, and they all gave very different performances
Craig : I thought Kellie tonight turned in the most spectacular two performances.
Darcey : Outstanding
Jeremy : I was wondering whether two forty point dances in a row on Final Night...Darcey, don't you have to say, you've got to win then?
Darcey : Definitely! Without fail! We said performance value...everything came together. There wasn't a mistake, it was on the money, the musicality...I mean, she didn't die! She had more energy than anybody! And that just showed as well, she just gave everything she could really.
Jeremy : I guess maybe, maybe we're harking back to the famous Pulp Fiction dance, maybe in a funny way that won it so early on?
Craig : Yes, I think you're right, I mean Jay won the hearts and the minds of the nation and I think that's all important and in this competiton, as you know it's not necessarily the best dancer that actually wins in the competition, it's the person who's changed the lives of the people at home and he's obviously done that which is fantastic!
Darcey : He was the last man as well wasn't he?
Craig : And also, he's a flagship for dance, you know, he came into this competition with not very much personality and he's gone out a winner!
Darcey : But not much confidence! He was shaking at the beginning! He was actually petrified! I didn't actually believe he was enjoying himself but actually tonight you could tell he was enjoying himself!

To be honest going on that particular week Helen's dance was the second weakest so she did deserve to be in the dance off THAT PARTICULAR WEEK!! Where she fell down was that the weakest dancer was also one of the most entertaining & had enough public support to keep her out of the dance off!! Thus we had the situation where one of the strongest danxers of the series ended up in the dance off with Helen & much as Helen did improve it still wasn't enough!! Her exit was bad luck in that way but that's the nature of a competition that relies on public popularity!!

No, the dance-off was (re)introduced after Series 9, and Widdy was in Series 8. There was no real "Personality Contestant" in that series (there was Russell but God it took a lot of pushing by the producers and he still only barely made it halfway) and in fact the order of elimination was pretty boring - the eliminee was always either bottom or second bottom of the leaderboard the whole way through.

Ah right Thanks Monkseal. I know that Widdicombes progress did frustrate the judges and others. You could almost feel their contempt for the voting sometimes that year.

And I love your work BTW. Off to read your results summary.

It certainly bloody frustrated me. (But I do think what happened after the series - ie Craig becoming in effect Widdy's GBF and casting her in panto with him - showed up the contempt for the facade it was and showed maybe why we shouldn't ever take what the judges are saying at face value. A lot of the time they're just telling a story)

agree with the above...just wondered how this would all have panned out IF it had been down to JUST judges marks from week 1..
would the final have been helen/jay/georgia/peter? Would kellie have gone around week 6? what about anita?
who would have been their winner?? helen?georgia?
interesting.....

talk about being 'damned with feint praise' ... craig talking about jay!!

Helen was on Radio 5 the other Day and it was very clear what she was saying but there is no point in posting because there are far too many on here that would not believe it because they walk about with blinkers on 24 Hours a Day.

No, you're right the Craig and Widdy thing it did seem a bit at odds with the show at the time. However, whilst I think Craig does his best to be honest and fair in his judging (if a little inconsistent at times) he's first and foremost in real life perhaps a businessman who knows what sells. So looking at it that way I can see why that happened the way it did.

If it had been on judges scores alone I don't see a way that the final isn't Georgia/Jay/Helen/Kellie. There was too much filler in this series for Kellie to be going out in week 6 and they transparently completely lost interest in Peter outside of his Charleston from quite early on. The only question for me is whether Katie still makes it to the endgame and finishes 5th (with Anita 6th thanks to the Glebtacular "Argentine Tango"), or if she gets shook off on one of her early latins.

This is the interview on R5. They talk about Strictly from about 54.30
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03cyt4r

The newspaper comments were obviously lifted from this and then twisted. The only bit which seems controversial to me is where she struggles to address the Jameliagate situation and says she wasn't privy to what went on. There could be several reasons for that though

A tweet from Helen earlier today: