I agree.

I feel exactly the same! It was similar 2 years ago for me, when both Simon Webbe and Mark Wright survived 3 dance-offs to get to the final. It just felt a huge waste as neither had much support, and Mark was clearly billed in the "how the f*** did he get to the final?" box by the judges, despite it being them who put him there!

I like Danny and Ore but feel seriously underwhelmed by the finalists as a set of three. Claudia, Judge Rinder or even Ed Balls would have added a bit of spark which I feel is sadly missing - a real shame as I thought we had a great cast this series.

Thank you, you also Mactowin.

no not at all, the judges have been bias since the show first started. It's not exactly rocket science to work out whats going on, i think thats what upsets most viewers because the judges act like there aren't pros out there in the audiences seeing exactly what they do so they know who should be booted off and who shouldnt.

This has been the best year for me, I've thoroughly enjoyed it and it's not been a one horse race..... the celebs have all excelled themselves this year..... Judge Rinder shocked me he did fab, Ed Balls was the weakest dancer but the rest have been awesome, and Ed was great to watch. I don't mind who wins Claudia was just as strong to be in the final so shame to see her go.

Dani and Oti have been my favs since the beginning simply because i love watching their dances, some i go and put the kettle on during dances so i judge on how much i'm wanting to watch the dance. However I appreciate Danny hasnt been a novice dancer as some have been.

Next year however...................i would like to see Kevin Clifton get a weak dancer and see how he excels when he has a difficult partner to cope with , and again id love to see Anton get another great partner like he did with that newsreader when he was in for ages. jiggle it up abit and stop making the show so predictable

I started out watching "Its a dance competition" and took it seriously, over the years, the judging has been laughable, and now i am pretty much "Its an entertainment show, and like most things, the judges are over paid for sitting on their backsides doing very little whilst the hard workers get paid less just to be offended by them" i pay very little attention to what the judges say now and just enjoy the character growth of the contestants, at the end of the day we watch the programme for the celebs and the professional dancers not the judges...... its all good fun but no i cant take them seriously

Always a pleasure never a chore.

She should have won and as I voted for her every week I felt betrayed when she did not; a bit like the Claudia supporters on this thread. It was a bad end to what was a great series.

Meg

I agree about Darcy and just the general manipulation by the judges. I still cannot accept how they slighted Claudia. I know Danny and Louise have a dance background of sorts, and Ore has none.but the judging has actually sickened me from enjoying Ore dance, and he clearly cannot take criticism, and i dont enjoy watching the trembling lip and haughty demeanor.
There will be no lifts to speak of from Louise, so her show dance will probably be uninspiring, i think this is a problem for Kevin, and perhaps the reason why he has never been succesful in the final. the two professional gals will make the lifts look great, so Ore and Danny should be able to produce powerful showdances. And of course we will not be seeing the potentially best showdance, as Claudia is not there.

Bottomline is..quite a few of my pals and I have decided NOT TO WATCH THE FINAL at all...its our protest vote to the BBC and id love to see their ratings negatively impacted by this fiasco.

I recognise Rachel was a good dancer but couldn't bear her. Yes, I see similarities in quiet personality with Louise but I found Rachel cold and Louise warm.

Funny how we take to different people. My favourites in various series have been very different.

I am looking forward to the final much more than last year. It was pretty obvious Jay had it in the bag and he didn't even do his best dance. I found it really dull.

Beaten too by someone who also did a three year acting degree with dance training - a few miles down the road from Danny. Pretty males with dance training are difficult to beat - on a dance show, with a largely female electorate.

Its not the only example though . Ali Bastian was left out of the final in favour of a poor comedy act - who looked enough as if he needed mothering.And Zoe Ball didn't make it either.

It would still be predictable . winners mostly end up with deadwood for years after - either exclusively deadwood , or forrests of it, ask Ola or Brendan .

And Anton is too old, and lacks the latin technique, to do well enough in providing anything spectacular , or doing some dances well enough.

How can you feel betrayed? I really don't understand.

OK - so your favourite didn't win. All I can say is: welcome to Strictly. That's what happens for a proportion of the audience.

But Rachel didn't win because the judges conspired against her, or some other such theory that doesn't hold water. Quite the contrary - she was feted and adored by the judges throughout the series. Her problem was that she didn't get the public support while being high . She was in the dance-off twice, and both times she was second on the judges' leader board.

So the only similarity with Claudia is the lack of public support. Blame the judges all you like - but they can't make viewers vote for a contestant they aren't taking to.

I hardly think Tom Chambers was at an advantage over Rachel Stevens, when he was critiqued way more harshly than Rachel or especially Lisa Snowdon (who was routinely overmarked for her latin).

Did dance feature in Tom's training? Sure. Same for any other actor who has ever done Strictly (and other contestants, too). That's hardly earth-shattering news, and it's a far cry from Natalie or Jay, who specifically trained as dancers.

Ali didn't make the final because, again, she didn't have the public support (that semi-final was public vote only). And I don't think you can class Chris Hollins as a comedy act - he certainly learned to dance, but he just didn't have the technical whizz Ricky Whittle clearly did (probably because of his 'dance training' ).

The problem it would seem that many of Claudia's fans seem to be struggling to accept is that Strictly isn't, and never has been, purely a dance competition. If it was, there'd be no ITT, and we wouldn't have behind the scenes in training. We are encouraged to invest in the celebrities - just like any other reality show - and so, inevitably, the public vote is a barometer of what they see on and off the dance floor. So the celebs have to click on both fronts (and the really smart ones combine the two).

I have joined your protest and will NOT be watching the final.

Hi JL I have sent you a PM

would not say that, it is or can appear to be biased but surely just like us the judges have a favourite and will lean to them? You see it in all opinion type judging.. horse showing/dog shows just 2 that spring to mind. Would like to maybe see Darcey gone her entrances grind on me for some strange reason.

So if it's a conspiracy or "rigged" as some people are claiming, what was the judges aim and how did they achieve this? Because I cannot see how giving two contestants exactly the same marks (resulting in both of them being at the bottom of the leaderboard) can be seen as trying to do one of them down while conspiring to help the other.
I'd add that if, as some people claim, one of the contestants was obviously undermarked and the other was obviously overmarked, I would expect the public's sense of that injustice to favour the undermarked dancer.
From the same leaderboard position, Louise escaped the dance off and Claudia was in it. Clearly the majority of the public did not agree that Claudia deserved to be saved - or at least not as much as Louise did. This is not something the judges could have known would happen. From that position, Claudia would have been equally as likely to have been saved (more so, if she was genuinely perceived as badly treated you'd think), and Louise as likely to have been in the dance off.

It's ruined it, such blatant over marking.

Ori literally stood around doing nothing and got a ten!

Hyperbolic much?

Lots of people have commented that they tried to vote for Claudia but couldn't due to a ' technical hitch ' that the BBC have admitted to

As I understand it, people had problems voting for all the contestants. I tried to vote for Danny online and couldn't manage it the first five or six times I tried. Eventually I got to use all my votes, though.

He knew that he didn't need to do his best dance, he had his fans wrapped round his little finger, they were obsessed with him.

It hasn't stopped me from watching even though they have made some ridiculous scores and comments this series.

So who are they biased for this week? I can't keep up with you people and your conspiracy theories.