They say they combine the judges scores with the public votes, but how does that work ? If a contestant scores 35 points as an example, that obviously won't translate to just 35 viewer votes, so how does it work ? Sorry if I have missed something obvious, but I have never heard how it is calculated.

They combine the judges ranking points with the public vote translated into ranking points. If there are ten contestants left, the first placed gets ten points the second nine, and so on.

To give an example I've already worked out for another thread.

Because it was the Final we know Jay got most public votes as ONLY the public vote counts - so Jay won.

We don't know in a Normal week who got most votes - so I'll use the Final to explain how it works, as for once we know who got most public votes so it's an easy example to explain.

So IF it was scored as a Normal week - the judges actual marks don't count, it's the leaderboard ORDER that matters.

So IF the Final was scored as a Normal week and IF Kellie came second in the public vote

Judges - Kellie 3, Georgia 2, Jay 1
Possible public vote - Jay 3, Kellie 2, Georgia 1

So IF it was scored like a normal week AND Kellie came second in the public vote, she'd get 5 and win, Jay would be runner up with 4 and Georgia third with 3.

If Georgia came second in the Public Vote in the Final - which looking at dance-offs and polls think is most likely - and IF it was scored as a Normal week

Judges leaderboard - Kellie 3, Georgia 2, Jay 1
Public order of votes - Jay 3, Georgia 2, Kellie 1

Add each person's numbers together - everyone got 4.

IF it was a Normal week, in the case of a 'draw' like this, the Public Vote out-weighs the Judges

So Jay would still win

If you look at the leaderboard when it pops up on screen, it will look something like this:

Georgia & Giovanni | 40 | 6 points
Helen & Aljaz | 36 | 5 points
Anita & Gleb | 35 | 4 points
Katie & Anton | 32 | 3 points
Jay & Aliona | 31 | 2 points
Kellie & Kevin | 30 | 1 point

The points are the part you want to take notice of, not the actual scoring.

The same points format is used with the public vote, for example:

Georgia & Giovanni | 25% | 6 points
Anita & Gleb | 20% | 5 points
Jay & Aliona | 16% | 4 points
Katie & Anton | 15% | 3 points
Helen & Aljaz | 13% | 2 points
Kellie & Kevin | 11% | 1 point

Then you add the total number of points up:

Georgia & Giovanni - 12 points
Anita & Gleb - 9 points
Helen & Aljaz - 7 points
Jay & Aliona - 6 points
Katie & Anton - 6 points
Kellie & Kevin - 2 points

Which results in Katie vs. Kellie in the bottom two.

So even though Helen was in the bottom two with the public, her position on the leaderboard "saves" her in this scenario. Katie would also fall into the bottom two over Jay because when there's a tie (in points), the public vote overrules the leaderboard/the judges.

There is a further complication in that if judges scores are tied, then two couples get the same points BUT the next lowest couple only get one point less than the tied couples above.

So (using the case above but amended slightly)

Georgia & Giovanni | 40 | 6 points
Helen & Aljaz | 36 | 5 points
Anita & Gleb | 35 | 4 points
Katie & Anton | 35 | 4 points
Jay & Aliona | 35| 4 points
Kellie & Kevin | 30 | 3 points

The bottom couples in the public vote will only get 1 or 2 points as there is virtually no chance of a tie in the public vote.
This gives Kellie a huge advantage in the final points leaderboard, as she has effectively been give 2 extra points to help save her.

So in the public vote, Kellie only has to finish above 2 of the other 3 couples on 4 points to avoid the dance off completely, so she could have come bottom in judges scores, 3rd bottom in public vote and still escape the dance off

This is true and not very fair, but the alternative is worse.

They started scoring in this way - 6, 5,4,4,4,3 - after the farce that was Series Six. (Austinwozrobbed and Erinwozrobbed)

Because in Series Six there were only three semi-finalists with a tie at the top of the leaderboard - 3,3,1. It meant Tom Chambers, who was bottom of the leaderboard, couldn't be saved by the public vote - even if he was the most popular. So all three semi-finalists went through to the final.

After that they scored 3,3,2 if there was a tie in the leaderboard.

Personally, don't think there should be a dance-off in the semi-final when there's only a few couples. Someone who is fairly low in the public vote can avoid a dance-off - as in Steve and Reserved's examples - whilst a comparatively popular couple can be dragged in and possibly voted out by the judges.