I thought some of you might like to know that the latest rumour of who is taking part in the Xmas SCD is another American celebrity- either Joey McIntyre or John O'Hurley.

Now if this is the case I say that means Zoe's place in the final is assured. Otherwise there will only be one female celeb- Rachel Hunter- taking part. And I can't see that happening.

So are the BBC going to rig the semi-final to ensure their Christmas Special goes to plan?

If Zoe doesn't make the final then that surely leaves a gap for a female celebrity in the Xmas Special. It was going to be Jill, but now she's not taking part Lesley's name was thrown into the equation.

I know I'd much rather see Lesley and Anton dance on Christmas Eve- rather than an American celebrity. Who, by the way, is probably being flown over here and put up in a swanky hotel at the BBC's expense- ie. your expense (the license fee payer). All those agree sign the petition!

oh the conspiracy theories - sorry - do excuse my sarcasm!

It wouldn't suprise me, what with Zoe contracted to the BBC and all that!!!

Nat
xxx

Easy folks...

I for one think it would be a great idea. One, John is a fabulous dancer with loads of natural ability. I've been a dancer for as long as I can remember the idea, and honestly speaking, it took me the better part of a YEAR to do with a quickstep what he did in a little under 2 months. He's a very witty guy with an infectious sense of humour. Believe it - you'd have a BALL watching this guy go.

As for Joey McIntyre - attitude is everything, and I mean that in a very good way. Charisma in bunches, and obviously VERY comfortable being on stage. The fact that he moves like he's got silk for hip joints doesn't hurt either...

I don't believe it's meant as a slight to any of the celebrities from the UK. I've had a ton of fun watching them and they've ALL had something positive to bring to the show. However, if this is a best vs. best thing - then why SHOULDN'T the Americans have the opportunity to send the best they have, if they are able to do it? Love Evander to death- he tries very, very hard; but the best of the American lot he isn't. That honour belongs to John, Joey and Rachel hands down.

Cheers!
EyesOFire50

I'd heard about Evender Hollifield (sp?) taking part.

I think it'll be interesting to see if any of he judges dare to call him too heavily built to be a dancer. Talk about murder on the dancefloor - LOL

I'm not saying that the American's shouldn't take part in the Xmas Spesh- after all it is being billed as a UK versus America dance-off. And to be honest it makes more sense for there to be more than two Americans in it as it was going to be a bit uneven with them competing against four UK couples.

What I'm saying is this- It was going to be Jill and Darren, the top 3 couples from this series and then Rachel Hunter and Evander Hoylfield.

Jill pulled out so a slot was vacant- a UK slot you would have thought. Possibly even a female celebrity slot, which is where the Lesley rumours came from. Now people are saying that a male American celebrity is going to take that place, this means there are going to be more male celebrities in it than females. Knowing that Rachel Hunter is definitely confirmed means that it's more likely Zoe will be taking part too. And for her to take part she has to make the final.

Hence my theory.

Conspiracy theories are fun by the way! At least let us make the BBC aware that we are not a bunch of naive and gullible viewers just watching their programmes passively!

Gossip, gossip
A friend in the know in the USA said that Dancing with the Stars(SCD) was fixed

fixed in what sense, because Kelly monaco won thee proper thing but John O' Hurley won the dance off with just the audience votes

Don't get me wrong- I love 'em both, but take a look at the video.

Twice in the first three weeks her and her partner were under 17 in scoring, one of the marks being only a 13. In contrast, John and his partner never scored below a 20 at anytime.

The real controversy arose during the finale. I was watching it with my Mum and just before Kelly and Alec's freestyle, I did some number crunching and told her "They're going to have to get a perfect 30 on this one to beat them...the score would be 55 to 54" Neither one of us thought that possible. But happen it did. My guess is that people "in charge" already knew the outcome of the audience vote (Kelly over John) that even in the event of a tie, the audience would have been the tie-break...kelly still wins. Which in essence, made the finale meaningless. Regardless of how John and Charlotte did (they danced absolute rings around Kelly and Alec), they would have lost anyway. So, to make things appear as though they were all good, give them the judges mark as well. Hence, a perfect "30" for an obviously flawed routine.

Only problem (s) with that was that A LOT of people saw right through it. And boy, did they raise Hell. And I called it.... there was a Dance-Off Sept. 20th.- with the money from the phone in votes going to charities of the celebs choice. This time, the results more accurately reflected the better of the two- and John won hands down.

So, maybe skill and talent DOES win out in the end....

Well, it does happen. Pete Waterman has admitted that "Pop Stars the Rivals" ws going to have Girls Aloud as one of the wining groups from the start; he's stated in an interview that the single they released for X-mas had been recorded 6 months earlier.

Whether this is true or not is open to debate; just look at all the "scoops" we've had on SCD, that have turned out to be just so much hot air?

I'd love to see John O'Hurley dancing in a Christmas special. Doesn't matter to me how many UK celebs there are as long as it's a darn good show for Christmas Eve. *pours glass of port and grabs mince pie in anticipation*

Heard from someone pretty high up in TV in North America( I'm not v important- met him through a friend ) that it was rigged . Hope I can't be sued

Did anyone else notice that on Saturday's show the trailer for ITT on Monday featured the couple knocked out and Colin singing in the rain? - presumably they already knew by Friday (when the ITT trailer is recorded) that Colin would not be leaving...

Course it was! And it doesn't suprise me at all if this one is too!

Nat
xxx

I cant wait until the chrismas sepical

Am I being really naive in thinking it wasn't rigged? In series 1 Natasha was easily the best dancer, series 2 it could have gone either way with Jill or Denise. This series is wide open now I think, Colin is the best I think but is undermarked and I don't know whether he has enough public support, but judges love Zoe, Darren is loved by public and judges, and James has massive public support. It could be anyone, but will be interesting to see if Zoe wins because she is the BBC ticket. Then again, if it was rigged, would they have let James stay in this long? Don't phone votes have to be monitored by an outside agency? Or is it just rigged on the final? I would hate to think it was rigged, please someone say it aint so!

If it was rigged, I think you wouldn't see a situation in which the public can give such blatant snubs to the judges (eg. Christopher Parker in Series 1), or the couple who normally score top with the judges in the getting through by the skin of their teeth after the public vote (Zoe & Ian on Saturday night).

Giving the public vote & judges scores a 50:50 split of the overall mark, but with greater weight to the public vote, helps to ensure that the overall winner will be the one the public want to win (in the event of the judges placing Couple A in first place, during the final, & Couple B second, should the public vote more heavily for Couple B, their scores would be equal, but Couple B would win the series).

Just out of interest; & perhaps something EyesofFire could answer, how did they go about organising the public vote in the US version? Bearing in mind the different time zones & the bewildering number of localised TV stations; each with their own variations I shouldn't think they'd be able come up with the results until, at least, 24 hours after the first screening of the "Saturday night show". The answer could be quite informative.

Thanks GlenP, feel a bit better now I read your post on another thread about how top-placed couple couldn't be voted out. Guess if there is any rigging, it could be done by the judges that way...which makes me even more annoyed with them for the Zoe/Colin marking scandal! I don't remember there being any similar situation in either of the other two series, maybe I just wasn't aware of it. Remember feeling they seemed much fairer.

To answer your question...

The voting opened after the show and closed the day before the next program was to take place, I believe. They also had voting by e-mail, with one vote per address.

Problems arose because no one knew who had been eliminated until all the dances in Week B had been completed. People were not voting on THAT week's routines. Couples would be eliminated on the basis of their score from the PREVIOUS week, combined with the results of THAT vote. Hence my comment about the finale - John O'Hurley could have morphed into Fred Astaire himself, but he was NOT being judged according to THAT week's routines. He was being judged (and the audience was voting on) the Foxtrot and Paso he did the week BEFORE. Danced circles around his opponent (twice!), but in essence the finale was useless. No matter what he would have done (even if he had 2 perfect scores), he would have lost anyway. Sure, he SHOULD have had the judges vote hands down and in the bag. But the audience held the tie-break. Kelly wins no matter what.

Which is why I believe she got that perfect "30" for the freestyle, even though it was clearly a flawed routine not deserving of such distinction. Somehow, the result had to look more "legitimate"...give Kelly and her partner the one point needed and she's the clear winner, right?

Wrong. At least, according to many in the public. There was such a stink raised both over the result itself and the system that produced it. Which is why there is now a half hour "Results" show the following NIGHT for the new season. One night of voting, the results are in the very next day. Couples are now going to be judged on the merit of THAT week's dancing, which in my mind will make for a better competition.

Because now, there can be no rest. Couples will HAVE to produce on the night of the show and won't always have previous reputation to fall back on. Hopefully, there won't be a "back door" champ this year, and viewers will see tighter, more exciting competition.

Hope this helps...

Cheers!
EyesOFire50

If they bring another celebrity in it should be a female American and Darren Bennett should get to dance as it is unfair that he has had to pull out -I feel so sorry for him!!!

I'm completely confused now....

What is the line up for the Xmas special ? Is it still the top 3 from this series + one from a previous series + 2 from US
or is it just the 3 from this series + 3 from the US........
or some other combination ?

Your guess is as good as ours!!

I'm not sure even the BBC know what is happening!

The SCD BBC website says it's the top 3 from this series and two from America. But rumours are rife that another couple will also feature.

I have just got my Xmas TV Guide (TV Easy) and for those who don't already know, the Xmas Special will be on Christmas Eve, BBC1, 6:25-7:30pm. It doesn't say who will be competing although it does say that 3 of the couples from the current series will be in it.

Thank you for this ~ it makes perfect sense now! I couldn't believe she got 3 tens for that routine! It was good, but far far from perfect ~ she stumbled, was off balance, appeared to get a couple of steps wrong, kept looking sideways at her partner as if she didn't know what was coming next, was lacklustre in some parts & had messy uncontrolled arms & legs a lot of the time. I was genuinely gob-smacked when isaw the scores. I'm not surprised there was a public outcry. I'm not knocking Kelly, it was a good effort, but more in the region of 7's & 8's than all round 10's!

Whereas John ~ wow! ok, I admit I am a MASSIVE Seinfeld fan, but putting the celebrity factor aside and concentrating on the dancing alone, he was great! Smooth, elegant, witty, and his personality shone through in all of his dances. I thought he was great and, call me a traitor to my country, but if he does the same in the Xmas special he's got my vote!

I think that if John O'Hurley or Kelly Monaco aren't competing then it's not really a true UK/USA Champion of Champions, although I think that Brendan & Rachel will be impressive. The US contestants are at a disadvantage of not competing with their usual professional partner though. I would have preferred to see Karen Hardy partnered with John O'Hurley rather than Evander Holyfield.