look i say they fill one of the weeks with a professional dance of which was my idea of an extrachildren in need thing
like all the pro couple dance a latin and ballroom of choice and then vote etc

Problem with this is that it will break the momentum of the show or get scheduled at the end and will get killed by the X factor final. The BBC may not need to worry about ad revenue but they need to deliver ratings.

Great idea as a special before the series of as an extra Xmas special but i can't see it flying.

No one going this week would have been the fairest result of all.

HCG

oh yeah forgot about bloody x factor true
yeah don't know about that they'll have to do something
but i so want them to do a pro comp

Wow you're a very hard taskmaster ! When you see the number of hours of gruelling training they all have to go through to perform live in front of a TV audience of millions every week and then be picked apart by the judges do you really think that the finalists at the end of all that can be accused of having it 'too easy'

Anyway a final featuring 3 couples would be more varied in my opinion.

Very foolish of him. The Zoe Ball factor is another hot potato on the voting front.

Of course, if he thinks she is the best,what is wrong with him saying so! If she's crap one week, i am sure he'll have a pop!

HCG

Were there plans for an xmas special this year? I thought this series was due to end on the 23rd of Dec which wouldn't leave room for one before xmas. Perhaps they hadn't had one planned in but now will make that last show into a special. Bring back the 1st and/or second place dancers from all 4 series.

I expect the XMAS special, if there is one, fits in after the final between xmas and new year.

I doubt we'll see chris and hanna back. I could do without the superman cape flying and the austin powers rubbish.

HCG

Looks good to me. You have to look at how much it matters who wins - the more it does the more as you say you don't leave to the public.

The Apprentice leaves nothing to the public. You don't want Sayed playing with your money. BB since BB 4 has either invented the winners story (4) or put an obvious winner in (5 and 7) to get a credible winner or - to make the opposite look the case - not put any in and not cared who won (6). FA puts a judges saving vote in to make sure the worst doesn't happen and then lets the students decide - usually logically. They don't want someone they don't want spending a million. Cirque de celebrity is using a judges and a top student vote to produce a logical result if they can - they need 3 finalists good enough to tackle difficult acts. X factor is giving the judges the final say - though only having two choices makes it more risky than they might like. How Do You solve a problem like Maria needed a viable winner - but they had the ALW vote and the choice of song, running order and who got enough voting time to make sure they got who they wanted.

SCD wants 3 great dancers at the end but some good ones and a story or two will do - so all they have is the judges vote for the public to ignore or react against. They won't change that unless they end up in a final with Georgina and Jan and Jimmy and the public will never produce anything that bad.

Very good points.

I think it really matters to the SCD winners: look at the career boosts it has given the three previous winners, let alone the number of hours they have to put in, even at this early stage.

It is seen as a profile booster, so can be seen as pretty important like i'm a celebrity to a media career and therefore shoudl not be subject so much to whims of the GBP.

HCG

I was wondering that but I thought the original press statement last year mentioned an xmas special and there's been no word of one yet. With the show running right up to virtually xmas eve I was wondering if they'd decided to not bother. If they do do one I think it would be nice to have the champs or top couples but it would be hard to get a lot of them back...

s1 - Natasha and Chris likely wouldn't want to but Lesley might
s2 - Jill would. I suppose it depends on what else Denise is doing. Don't think Julian would. Aled might.
s3 - Zoe, Darren and Colin are a possibility but Ian and Lilia can't dance with two celebs.

And if Darren happens to win again this year does he dance with Emma or Jill?

That was why I was thinking they had decided against a xmas special - they couldn't really think of anything to do!

The BBC probably don't need the ratings boost, due to the lucky way the final falls so close to Xmas.

Halfpenny and Clary are probably in panto!

And to be brutally honest, the Xmas special last year wasn't a patch on the prevous one. I didn't rate the Xmas music routines as good as the potential "greatest hits" package of a true champion of champions!

HCG

I was a bit disappointed with the Xmas Special last year. It was nowhere as exciting as the final of SCD. And that red evening suit of Darren's .... oh gosh golly.

'Christmas Special' will this year be a 'New Year Special' ....

I wonder if nothing will happen - I wonder if there are enough left to last without - when is the date of the final?
It could have been they were planning a surprise double eviction at one stage and won't go with that anymore.
(Know it's completely different but in shows like next top model if someone quits, then they don't tend to have the non-eviction that week, they wait 2 or 3 weeks to add to the 'surprise).

With regard to who goes, for the BBC it's a double edged sword. They make the show into a popularity contest with shows like It Takes Two and by having the phone lines open all week - to bring in more money, but then try to say it is just about the performance on Saturday night. It isn't. When Anton was in the bottom 2 with the judges it was obvious that he wasn't going to be going anywhere. Georgina seems to have picked up the 'ah factor' vote this year so she was safe - Brendon, again not going anywhere so really Olga and Spoony were the vunerable ones.

It always happens both on SCD and X-Factor that an early favourite is knocked out in a shocking twist - and then they can trot out the 'it's your fault, if you want them to stay then you have to vote' line and wait for the tills to start ticking over again!

I do think though, that they would rather the person with the lowest viewer vote stay, as opposed to the one with the lowest judges vote - becaue again it all equates to the revenue from the phone votes.

I quite agree - it's all too easy to lose perspective when watching these shows (I did last year when people started turning against Zoe). I felt sorry for Spoony, but nobody died.

Last night really done my head in, Louisa was good but did not deserve at 10 at all.

I think the voting system should change somehow...after all, how can Georgina or Jan stay and yet Spoony leaves?

Because the people wanted it that way.
Far more people voted for Georgie and Jan than for Spoony, because they wanted to see them suffer/flourish later on in the series.

There's always an underdog in every series. Last year we had Fiona, and then Turnbull. They're good entertainment value!

Good lord, it's not a national distaster. And if it matters, pick up your phone and VOTE!

It is possible that the voting syetme got it right.

How great would it be if the close call gives Georgie the kick up the a*se that she needs and she knuckles down to some hard work.

If they can make a great dancer out of Georgie that will be much better television than the polishing of Spoony.

Come in Georgie (I didn't vote)

I agree about the red evening suit, but imo it was no way near as horrid as the red lycra jumpsuit last night.

Well said - just about says it all really. The show will be poorer without Spoony and Ola.

I like Georgie and Jan, but frankly they were both awful last night, particularly Jan. Carol is competent, but lacks personality and Matt's ego is so large, there is barely room for him and his partner on the floor. Hats off to Mark and Louisa, both shone.

What planet do you live on ? She has more personality than any of the other contestants put together, even the comedic Jan Ravens !

They got it all wrong again last night. It should have been either Georgina or Jan, but that's what the public voted. It's more about personal favourites than who is actually a better dancer, apparently.

People of the forums we are not alone...

No I'm not talking about Aliens but we are not the only people watching and voting on SCD...

The tiny people and the uneducated (in a dance sense) also watch... They watch because of the sparkling dresses, the joking and laughing and the good looking people...

Look at last weeks poll only 8-11 people voted for Ola and Spoony... This proves they weren't popular on this forum... They did well but were one of the couples who didn't particulary stand out or do bad... People forget about the people half way up the board...

Georgina obviously to us should have gone... Especially in the eyes of people who look on this as a proper competition... But do you really believe the BBC would put something on the TV for the proper competition... No they wouldn't... They do it for entertainment...

Yes Spoony was entertaining and Ola was good looking (well no one I personally know likes her but meh)... Anton is very popular... Brendan is contraversal and people like to see what he'll do next... After the shock of losing Ian last week the fans of dancers that have been there for series upon series voted in their troves to save a piece of what has made their winter months special for the last couple years....

I know its a farce... But it really is just a popularity contest at the beginning... And yes we could loose someone who could have deserved to win if they stayed... But since when has the BBC cared about that kinda thing... I am guilty (well in your eyes) of voting for Anton... I love the man... If I wanted to see a proper competition I would go out and see one... I love listening to Anton thats just me... At the end someone always wins that deserves it... Well usually...

I do vote but i am disenchanted by the whole process. Another way to fix the issue is to make the vote for the worst a la Big Brother, not the best. That way, the various voting factions have to spread their votes far further across the field to preserve their favourites. At this stage, you need to register 11 votes to save your favourite couple!

This idea helps the middling performers as no one could say that Spoony and Ola, Brendon and Claire or Matt and Carol were the worst, hence unlikely to get many negative votes.

Think of how the CIN revenue would go through the roof from forum members tryign to help save their couples!

HCG