With such a quality field this year, there is a real danger that someone who deserves to be a finalist could go out tonight if they get 'sympathy' votes.

It seems reasonable to me that if an otherwise good dancer just has an off night and comes low down in the judges marking, then the public should try to save them. But if those who regularly struggle are near the bottom, then we should let them bow out with good grace. I am sure some of the weaker celebrities would be mortified to be saved at the expense of those consistently in the top three or four.

But anything could happen tonight. I am very nervous and may have to sit in a dark room during the voting!! Let's hope the public make good decisions.

I think to start with people vote for the dances, but towards the later stages you have to vote for your favorite

Then it's up to the judges to give constructive criticism and not make the usual personal garbage they've been doing this series. Peter is one of the weakest Latin American dancers in the competition and if they slate him like they did his Paso then he's guaranteed to get the sympathy vote.

PLEASE don't think I'm a Peter hater (far from it) but, by his own admission he stayed in that week because the public didn't like the two. I have to admit I didn't think it fair, and can understand why the public kept him in.

90% of people will vote on the personality not the dance!

Maybe if their favourite gets knocked out early they will vote dance for dance?

Not in last years final when Colin Jackson did his dancing with a doll thing.

Lots of people I kow then voted for Darren because they thought Colins dance was not worth voting for.

Judging by past results, a lot of the viewers seem to have voted for the personalities rather than the best dancers, but Colin's final dance last year blew it for him and even the fickle viewer vote couldn't get past that error!

I thought that by the time the dolls came out that Darren had already won. Remember he was third with the judges and Zoe was first, yet Zoe went out. The arithmetic of that tells me Darren was already in first place.

Of course personality plays a major part in deciding who people vote for. That's unavoidable and there's nothing really wrong with that. People probably do that in a General Election as much as they do on a TV dance show where it doesn't really matter who wins. What I do know though is that each year the winner has been a fantastic and entertaining performer. Therefore I think the GBP have more nounce than some give them credit for.

I agree with the OP but there are a few things to consider a) suppose the most consistently better dancers have an off day one Saturday, are we still supposed to vote for them ? If the answer is yes then surely we are no longer voting on their performance (at least not on the given day) but on whether we have warmed to them/think they have a good chance of being better/something to do with how we "feel" about them rather than objectively judging them on that dance. b) Erin and Peter are trying so hard, are very likeable and make me want to encourage them, no matter how iffy his latin style is (I admit he could be bottom tonight) . I'm not just judging on personality here, but the effort, determination and sheer great attitude that I see towards the competition, what does this say ?

Do you remember on "Just the two of us" last year Jan Reeves won who was clearly NOT the best singer but clearly it was Russel Watsons fan base that carried the day.

I recall a massive big outcry so what as far as I am concerned if you want to vote for the Celeb pr Vote the Pro, Vote for P Schmeichel because he is a big cuddly nice guy or give a vote to everybody to support children in need.

As far as I am concerned people can do what they like with their phone and a premium rate number.

Sorry to butt in on this thread. But I always take issue with those who said that Darren was soooo far ahead of Colin that it didn't matter what dance he did.

The FACT is Zoe was in the bottom 2 for 2 CONSECUTIVE weeks prior to the final, despite placing higher than Patsy and then James (who couldn't dance for toffee, and had been campaigning up and down the country for weeks for votes). Neither Colin or Darren had ever been in the final 2 at any stage during the series.

It is therefore possible to hypothesise that Zoe's public backing was not as strong as the other two finalists (I leave that to others to offer reasons why that may have been). If anything Colin should have been squeezed out by Darren leapfrogging him, but he wasn't it was Zoe who was in !st place who fell by the wayside.


As the BBC don't give a breakdown of the voting we have no idea just how near or far Colin and Darren were to each other and as I've always maintained, the "Muppet Dance" alienated a great many people (myself amongst them) who would've voted for Colin

I think the votes are influenced by both dance ability and personality. Where the dance honours are more or less even, then the personality vote is bound to come into it. People vote for who they enjoy watching, and that won't necessarily be the very best dancer.

I don't like the idea of the sympathy/cruelty vote (depending on your point of view on poor dancers getting voted back in), particularly in the later stages of the competition when those with dance ability go out instead.
Voting for name alone is not a good thing either, e.g. those who had decided who they were going to vote for before the first show just from seeing the list of celebrities and then stick with them even if they are poor. But those things will always happen when the public are given a vote.

I would like to see people vote for their favourite of the good dancers, then everything is fair and everybody will be happy!

By now everyone has their favourites don't they that they vote through because of their past performances or because they like them not just their dance on the night.
I've got about 3 faves so I'm not going to be too upset if one goes

I think that people are still jst voting for their fav celebrity rather on the dancing, at this point in the comp you have to vote for the celeb's who r dancing the best.

Like yesterday Peter was by far the worst dancer and shud've gone but the public still saves him, if they keep doing this then the good dancers cud start to be in the bottom 2 or even go. like claire did not deserve to be in the bottom 2 yesterday and i'm jst glad she stayed. But Peter has to go next week because he's not going to improve that much more and they can't jst keep saying he's good at ballroom and right off his latin. So he has to go next week.

Duplicate post off another thread but can't think of how else to say it.

I think SCD turned into as much as a farce as the X factor is now, last night. After 4 years I have gone right off it.

Peter is a really nice guy, and if he was on celebrity big brother I may vote for him, as he'd be a nice guy. But I do not get excited waiting for his, or Matt or Claire's dances for that matter on a Saturday night.

But when I know Mark, Emma, Louisa, and Ray are coming on I think, 'what can they pull out of the bag this week' especially after Ray has been so consistent and was brilliant last week.

I literally sometimes feel the hair on the back of my neck stand on end with some of their dances. So for him to go out early on what has obviously turned into a popularity contest, is a farce. I never liked Colin or Natasha or Denise as people but boy, where they exciting to watch on SCD.

Ray had so much potential and now we won't be able to see how much more he (or Spooney) could do but will have to carry on watching a few lumbering dances of people who whilst may be lovely, or have pro dancers that are popular with them, should not still be there at the expense of others in a DANCE competiton. It is called SCD, not 'Strictly come personality.'

I know it is for charity, but there is a reason for the show (dance) and if the final is between Peter and Claire....well, it's not going to be very exciting to wacth is it...I'd like to be entertained as well.

I personally think after last night's results the damage has been done. The best thing Craig ever did for Peter was to give him that two!

Also as an ex BB fan I know that I used to vote for people who I knew would deliberately wind up the HMs. Who knows people could also be voting for the person who they know will most "wind-up" the judges! Apart from last night's performance that's the only reason why I can see why Brendan and Claire are still there! Seriously, for some of the comments the judges have made this series I'm tempted to vote for Brendan and Peter over Mark and Emma!
Last edited by *Laura* : 12-11-2006 at 12:32

Peter's a nice enough bloke but he really should have been out last night. This isn't a personality contest but unfortunately the silly votes have reared their ugly heads again!

I was never too crazy about Ray, but he goes out after one bad week - whilst Peter has had several bad dances.

The series one final was spoiled by the presence of Chris Parker, because we knew from the start it would be a complete farce if he won - he made a joke of the whole programme.

Peter wouldn't still be in if people voted for dancing. His was the worst by a mile...but he's still there and probably will be for ages, even though it can sometimes be cringeworthy to watch him.

Interesting to hear all the different views... but after last night, my fears are confirmed. I know people can do what they like with their votes, but it doesn't seem fair that Ray went this week. It will also spoil the last few weeks if the best dancers are eliminated before then.

I really think people should vote for who they think is the best dancer rather than on personality; it is after all a dancing competition. It annoyed me somewhat last year when Darren won, as Zoe and Colin were clearly better dancers, but a lot of the public, and the judges, seemed to be swept away with his personality rather than ability. I really do not want to see a repeat of that again this year.

I don't think it matters so much who wins, but it does matter who gets to the final week and has the opportunity to maximise their potential. The dancers themselves just want to go as far as they can and we-the-public want to see the best dancers in the final so that we enjoy watching it.

Actually even though I share the idea that the best dancers should go through that's not what the public always want...

We make up a small minority of the people that watch SCD... I watched it with my Richy last night and he for a start had no idea about anything they were doing and only wanted the people I liked to go through...

Not everyone cares about the dancing, like all sports not everyone cares about who is the best team, its more important that their fav team wins...

Not only, not caring, but honestly not being able to tell the difference between good and bad sometimes I think.

It's a dancing competition way down the list of things that the BBC want it to fulfill.
It's an income generator - and I suppose that what they want as much as anything are the couples who - for whatever reason - are encouraging people to pick up the phone and spend money to ensure they stay in.
If Peter is consistently raising more money than Ray - then Ray has to go.
If Peter and Claire are the 2 celebs who are bringing in the most revenue, then that's who will be in the final.

That may be how things are, but that doesn't mean that's how it should be. It's ultimately down to viewers and voters to determine what they want it all to be about, and if people vote for the talented competitors not on personality, then it truly would be about the dancing. Actually I don't agree that it's just an income generator (some of which of course goes to charity). If it was just about personality, then the BBC would surely make a BB/I'm a Celeb type show instead.

I don't know about Peter but there is no way that Claire is bringing in revenue via the phonelines. This week, she and Brendan were in joint fourth position but were still in the bottom two - which means that they don't have much people support.

Not sure about Peter but as the comp goes on, surely most of the public will start to focus on the better dancers?

As mentioned on other threads, Len's comment was very strange - 'it isn't fair for you to go out on a dance that you weren't very good at!', so it is fair that someone who danced better should go out?

And Bruce keeps going on about the football fans voting for Peter - I know that people sometimes have wide interests but are there really that many football fans watching SCD? I wouldn't have thought so.