Is it me as Tery Wogan would say but I think the results are announced in anything but random order Ive been working it out you see or trying to. My observations are that Colin although top couldnt have got good public votes. Bills votes must have been good Zoe and Darrens similar and James and Patsy the same with Will and Dennis bottom except for Colin. Make sense probably not
Any more thoughts

It's practically impossible to tell when there are this many couples. It's far easier when there are fewer left. For example, I knew that Aled & Lilia would probably go when they did last year before any of the couples had even set foot on the floor.

But I kind of agree about Colin. We fickle british public just don't find competitaveness and determination appealing, which is maybe why Denise didn't get much public support either.

i'm not sure about the rest, but i think the first one called is often somebody who was in the last two the week before, as long as they aren't this time. same on other shows too

Well mathematically, it's very difficult...in fact almost impossible...to be voted off the show if you get the top marks with the judges because of the 50/50 split with them and us (the voting public!)

The only way it could happen is if the public's 50% is the complete opposite of the judges, therefore meaning that the top and bottom placed couples would have the same score, and even then, it would have to be the public vote which decided the elimination. It's very difficult to explain, but I'm fairly sure that it's the case.

i'm not so sure about that - i'm a massive darren fan and almost every week he's been announced first and *afraid to jinx him* he's not been in the bottom two

I agree with Kelpy, it is very hard for the top two or defiantely the top couple to leave a that would mean they would have to get hardly any public votes and the bottom coupes would have to get loads if you know what I mean!

To be perfectly honest it seems to just be done in order to keep the tension up as long as possible.

If Zoe comes top there's no point as announcing her as the last couple definitely through because we basically know she already is. Quite often the three couples left are the three with the lowest judges marks because we can't be certain which of them is safe.

The order seems to be utterly random, just decided upon by the producers to make better viewing.

yea claire2281 that seems right! People who didnt think they danced so well are left til last!

I think they announce it in a "random" order in as much as it's not the order they came in the over all points. But it's far from random for another reason. They always announce the couples people expect to go through first. Like Bill as saying the other week, he knew the producers would make them sweat!

We've been discussing this on the Will Thorp thread and some people in the know and the BBC site confirm that all the couples are called in a random order except the last two couples. They have the two lowest combined scores (judges and public vote) and as for the others we just don't know.

However, the producers for effect will call out the higher ranked couples in an order which creates tension, drama etc etc to keep us guessing as some here have also mentioned.

But if the public vote happens to put everyone in an opposite order to the judges, everyone will get the same score! Now that would be a dilemma for the producers

I believe the couple with the lowest public vote goes out if the points are tied.

OK ~ I think we need to devise a strategy to make that happen! How bizarre would that be?!

I was wondering what they would have done if Bill hadn't danced last week because of his injury

Posters on the Bill threads suggested that B&K would get the lowest judges scores ie 0, so would get 1 point and then it would be up to public vote to keep them in. Apparently this happened on SDF - not sure if the couple were kept in though.

If they just took themselves out it would be problematic. It has to be just one couple out per week or the programs schedule will be a mess. If B&K withdrew, the other couples might as well not bother dancing as they would be guaranteed to stay in. The public vote would also be pointless and possibly raise less funds for CIN etc etc...

And its still on the cards as his injury was much worse after Saturday so more drama to come

See Bill threads for more...

Yes, that is what happened on SDF. The couple got through that week, but was knocked out in a later stage.

I would imagine they'd do the same thing for SCD, but what I want to know is what happens if (Heaven forbid) his injury/allergy persists after Saturday? Do they keep him in with 1 point week after week, in which case he could get through to the final without having to dance again, or is there some stage where he just has to go?

In previous series they have stated that the public vote wins over the judges vote. So if people had a low judge score and high public score OR a high judge score and low public vote.. it would be the one with the low public vote to go out.

I had been wondering about that Peach - on the basis that say:

Couple A get 1 pt from the judges and 2pts from the public,
Couple B get 2pts from the judges and 1 pt from the public

- and that must happen sometimes, I thought whoever got the higher public vote must go. They haven't mentioned that fact on the show in recent weeks though, I don't think.

I don't know how many are on this forum but I heard there were 20 million votes in last years final! That would make us just a tiny fraction of the people who vote in SCD. In a non-dancing situation I think the public votes might keep Bill and Karen in for the first week but not after that. And fair enough too - I think in general ppl would want to see them dancing. So fingers crossed!