Ok, this seems to be a problem almost every week. When Bill did Rumba which scored so low with the judges, the public kept him in and Will went instead. When Patsy's dance last week scored lowest, Bill went instead, when this week James clearly was the weakest, Patsy went instead. Do we see a pattern here? Notice that week by week the lowest scoring couple never went?

After asking myself this.....I suddenly realized what one of the reasons for this might be. The voting lines are opened to the public right after the Saturday show ends. And these are for the following week's show. So the public has the entire week to vote for their favourites. Every Saturday, we see a couple perform their worst dance and get the lowest scores and yet stay. They could very well have been saved based on the votes they accummulated throughout the week. Who is going to predict that Bill would perform such a poor Rumba or James would do such a poor Samba? ( ppl are worried based on training footage, but it isn't safe to say until the night itself)

So bottom line is....blame it on the phone lines for next week being open right after tonight's show.

James's performance tonight is going to affect the results for next week, as less ppl will be voting for him this whole week, so expect James to go next week.

Speaking as someone who's done that lift a fair few times, I don't know I'd go that far, but it was a respectable effort. I don't know what he intended, but I think he overdid the entry a little, so that she ended up with her arms too close to his torso, and then he had a bit of a struggle to find her arms with his. It is much better to err that way though, rather than being too tentative. But once he got to that position, he really should have pressed out to get his arms extended. He did turn the lift well though, and it was the hardest lift of the night. (I was a bit disappointed with the others - I was particularly hoping for something spectacular from Darren).

Very well said Now I feel like I'm a parrot or something

By your reasoning then Patsy and Anton should have gone last week instead of Bill and Karen as they were the worst on the night last week.

The point that is the most relevant is that the voting should be restricted to a saturday night. by letting people vote in the week it bring the question of integrity of the competition and the integrity of the production team of SCD and ITT. just like newspapers can use words to manipulate people's views pictures can be edited in the same way in order to present certain celebs in a good light (james and darren) and others (colin and erin) in a bad light. perceptions are formed from these pictures which will either make you like or hate the character you see on TV. i think it undermines the competition as a whole. it starts becoming a popularity contest rather than a dance contest

"it starts becoming a popularity contest rather than a dance contest"

It became that when they decided to have a public vote at all. If they were only to be judged on their dancing then the judges decisions would be final, the public wouldn't be as interested and the charities wouldn't get the money. (and Christopher Parker wouldn't have made it past the first week of the first series!)

I agree that being able to vote before the show starts makes no real sense, voters then are going purely on popularity and not on a dance they haven't had chance to see.

In the end tho it's an entertainment programme not a dance programme, but it's brought dance into the lives of millions who wouldn't have dreamt of dancing or watching dance before. (I find myself watching the dancing in musical theatre with a whole new eye !)

as i don't have a particular favourite couple i don't have an axe to grind regarding who i feel should go out on the grounds of popularity. i try to just look at the dances on the night and make my decisions based on those performances. you would think that it would mean that i don't get surprised or disappointed come the results. However, i have to say that over the last few weeks i have been somewhat amazed by the power of the public vote, for want of a better way to put it. tonight, for instance, james and camilla were named by all of the judges as the worst dancers overall and james came in for a mauling. brucie even mentioned a few times that this was bound to effect the public vote ie; in j and c's favour, even arlene agreed, and sure enough that appears to be what happened. such were the numbers of votes that they were not even in the bottom two. in view of their dances that was a surprise to me. i thought that it would be between anton and patsy and james and camilla. it does appear to be a variation on a theme of what happened to will and hanna....i don't know if there are any machinations at the bbc, behind the scenes, but the comments and marking tonight do make me feel that there is some degree of public manipulation going on. i know that it is an entertainment show and that the proceeds go to charity, but i feel that the public deserve to be better served.
as for zoe and ian, they were dancing below par it is true and there were a number of very noticeable mistakes but they still got better marks that some of the other couples. to an extent, as the judges mentioned, that is because so much is expected of them, hence the lower scores but i feel that in respect of choreography and 'sparkle' there were other couples who, on the night, deserved higher than z and i. sorry about the long post

just my opinion....

Thank you for your support you two and Ai Ling...I'm sure you don't look like a parrott

It seems that the BBC have made a mistake in allowing the public vote to be the tie-breaker. Someone else on this forum has worked out that we are likely to have many ties next weekend (i.e. Zoe top with judges but bottom with public, James bottom & top etc). So if the public have the deciding vote, popularity will always win over dancing. It's a shame.

IMVHO last nights outcome had very little to do with dancing and more to do with who do you fancy most. I was not a fan of Patsy but she did a good job last night and I gave her a vote - James on the other hand hasn't had a good week yet and he is still there. All I can say is if the FANS keep voting for James I can see him winning this comp - it really makes a mockery of what its all about. If Zoe and Ian don't win I will eat my hat - yes last night was Colin and Erin night, but only because Zoe was under par- that is imo of course.

With at least two of the panel voting on popularity, not the dancing, even without the public vote, the reults would not reflect the dancing.... you're right, it is a shame.

Well said. Why shouldn't Zoe reply?

I took her change in facial expression to be a bit tongue in cheek actually.

I'm pretty certain now that Zoe won't win, and I'm doubtful she'll even make the final.

I agree the judges' voting has not done her any favours in recent weeks, but on the whole those higher marks have been deserved. I even understand why she's getting on people's nerves but once she's on the dancefloor, for me, something happens and, most of the time, she's head and shoulders above the rest. However, last night Colin was and deservedly got the highest marks, I was surprised he only got one 10.

Without a doubt James and Camilla should have gone last night, and I say that even though I far prefer James as a celebrity to Patsy, who has grated on me from the start.

Sorry, but I don't think any sane person could say Patsy gave the wors performance - that was clearly James and Camilla in BOTH dances. Camilla must shoulder some of the blame as her choreography was so unambitious for the American Smooth.

Patsy and Anton were robbed and people who voted for James for that performance should hang their heads in shame

Hear hear. I think this constant egging on to vote to keep in your favourite is shameful, even though it is for charity.

I did vote last week but won't again. If I want to give to charity I'll donate direct, not through a phone vote. The bias towards characters is becoming very obvious now and the antipathy towards Zoe is really quite nasty, though as I've said elsewhere I can understand why people feel aggrieved at the judges' attitude towards her.

In previous years the best dancer has won and I hope the same will happen this year, whoever that may be.

I've said in the past this is just a TV show, just light entertainment and I stick by that, but it would still be nice if the competition side was judged fairly by the public as well as the judges and the evetual winners are the best dancers, rather than those who have played the media game.

Personally, I think what happened last night was a case of viewer backlash.

James scored a 20..........wasn't that Fiona's best score??? It wasn't as good as the others sure but it wasn't so bad it merited a 20. James ought to have gone but he was unfairly underscored.

Zoe's Cha Cha was awful at least as bad a Cha Cha as James' was a Jive, and yet she got 8's, the performance did not merit the score and smacked of favouritism.

what happened was then simple the public were annoyed and voted for James who was hard done by rather than Zoe who was unfairly praised. Zoe although she came over a bit cocky in the V/T had the good grace to be surprised by the score and mention that James was underscored

I voted for Darren and Lilia, technically he's not as good as Colin but they have more chemistry.

On a separate note I was very taken aback when the judges were debating Darren's performance and Len said 'oh airy fairy Colin' in quite a derogatory way. Anyone else notice this?

Isn't the problem with the voting amply demonstrated when you read these forums. There seem to be numerous people who become fans of on particular couple or individual and then vote for them regardless of how they perform. What makes it annoying for me is that a lot of people seem oblivious to the faults in the people they support, whether they be to do with their dancing or their personalities or they way they react to criticism or thing thay say. It is a sort of crass blind fan worship of the sort that children have for pop starts. footballers etc. I can't understand it at all.

I think zoe is a good dancer and deserves high marks, but i dont think she deserved so many 10s. I think she deserves to make the final but not sure she should win. I think Colin should win, he has been good every week and has not had a lot of air time.

I was dismayed that Anton went out - and am sad to see this excellent show becoming "Strictly Come I'm more popular"

Ok so last night was a bit of a farce in some respects but think of all the money that must have been made for children in need. With over a million votes, each giving about 12p to CIN (or something like that) that's an aweful lot of money, especially if you make a total up for all of the weeks. Well done SCD.

I agree that James & Camilla should have gone out, but I think they will go next week. The sympathy vote only goes so far.

I have always been one to tell it like it is and granted by the time these hands have finished tap-tapping on this keyboard I know for a fact i'll have upset many a James and Camilla fan.

Basically; last night was nothing short of a compete and utter farce, how on earth James and Camilla managed to scrape through that is beyond comprehension!. Can you tell that I am quite angry and wound up over this decision?!

James was awful last night, I mean it's nothing personal against him or Camilla but the performance lacked anything, it lacked verve, entertainment and some of the footwork was below his usual standard - Bruno was right, in a semi-final you should be raising the game, tonight James did the complete opposite and still got through!. Why is that?...Because all of his "Groupies" are voting for him to go through week in week out; it has therefore ceased to be about the dancing and is now more so based around popularity which is not what the compettion is about but then again this has always been a problem, if you look back at a certain Christopher Parker who also denied Anton a shot at the final because of oh surprise surprise!, his groupies voting him through even when he was a dismal dancer no matter what Hanna did with him!.

Poor Anton - Will it come to pass that he'll never get his wish of getting through to the final simply because the voting public are voting with everything else but their eyes and hearts, they must have all known deep down that they were going to vote for someone who was by far the least impressive on the night but still voted for him. I'm all for second chances and faith but Patsy and Anton became victims of what can only be described as a blind injustice and I am sorry but if James and Camilla don't go next week then I will well and truly be spouting off. This is nothing compared to what else I could end up saying but I won't, i'll refrain and keep my anger to myself but even a day after the event I am still fuming, bias. aside of me being a huge Anton fan it was most certainly the wrong decision, The Jive wasn't quite as good as the training VT's had penned it to be but that American Smooth - That in my mind should have been worth 10+ votes.

So it's safe to say, very dissapointed with the way people are voting, tactical voting has nothing on popularity voting, totally wrong.

yes but if all they want to do is have a children in need appeal, there are many different ways of doing just that. This is supposed to be strictly come dancing, the spin off of which is the donation to charity. If all they wanted was a "vote for your favourite celeb and we'll give the money to CIN, then do that.

If they are going to make a dance competition out of it, at least get judges who appear to know what they are talking about, are less rude to the contestants and have at least a small grain of integrity with regard to the marking.

Lets not forget, these pro Dancers and their students are spending nearly every waking hour trying to perfect their technique, style and overall performance. They are throwing their heart and soul into it, surely the least the judges can do is respect that and mark fairly and properly on the progress (or otherwise) that each dancer has made.

I was just trying to find a plus side to a situation that has got me rather annoyed, just as it has with you.

LOL...sorry HANN4H

Thoughts on last night....

Ballroom Bill himself said this morning that James got the 'bounce' factor from the public after a mauling from the judges, although their American Smooth, I felt, was slightly undermarked, whilst Patsy and Anton's was slightly over marked, as was their jive - to me it looked very basic and with practically no bounce from Patsy by about 15 seconds in. Zoe and Ian were overmarked on the Cha Cha Cha, especially by Bruno - but that's hardly their fault and I thought their American Smooth was nearly on par with Colin and Erin's, who performed both dances brilliantly on the night.

I will throw a complete fit next Saturday if the finalists aren't Darren, Zoe and Colin and they have been by far the most consistant and in Darren's case the most improved. Once those three are in the finals I don't mind too much who wins (although Zoe and Ian would be my fav's closely followed by Darren and Lilia).