I always vote from my mobile and I've NEVER had a problem getting through (I voted for L+V a few times last night because I thought they were undermarked and enjoyed their rumba much more than Emma's).

It is likely just a capacity problem with the land lines. I remember last year's American Idol semi final had all three contestants on 33.something % each, mainly because the lines were completely jammed to capacity.

I tried and tried to vote for L & V during the dance off but couldn't get through at all.

Really?

I don't vote...but Louisa was my favourite!

OF COURSE it is, but you know, some people here believe in a "government conspiracy" or something, I think they should call Scotland Yard...

i think its a fix as well i am soooo cross i dont understand how emma could have got more votes when she has been in the bottom 2, i really am soooo annoyed!

Last night I tried to vote for Louisa and Vincent during the dance off. I was dialling constantly from the time Tess said the phonelines have reopened to when the lines had closed, and I could not get through once - I must have tried about 20+ times. I am disappointed as overall I think Louisa was the strongest dancer out of all the girls and deserved a place in the finals.

I tried to vote for Emma all through the programme, and didn't get through once.

Last nights result was a big shock, because the semi-final SHOULD be Mark, Emma and Louisa - NOT MATT!!! OK, he has improved, but his dancing isn't a patch on the other three. How can people doubt Emmas dancing after that Tango!?!? Matt is good, but the other three deserved their place next week.

Thanx for speaking the TRUTH.

Matt is really BAD in comparison to the other three.

Humphrey1 I agree with all you say except relating to the dance off.

I couldn't work out how it could occur without 'fixing' the vote. No I don't think the producers would dare, not with the freedom of information act.
However I have played back last nights performance and I think I know how they managed to get the result they wanted.

We all heard that the public would vote and the combined public vote would be the result. WronG, Wrong, wrong.

Tess's exact words were ALL the votes will be added together ( not just the publics votes ) and therefore your supposition of scenario C or D would hold true.

The only way this will be resolved is for the actual number of votes cast be published. They must have this data, perhaps we should ask for this under the FOI act. as extra votes that wouldn't make any difference could be seen to be rocky ground.

I completely agree and am also thinking of complaining to Ofcom. Louisa & Emma should have danced back to back. Why did they stop to talk to relatives in the audience between the two dances, I think that is totally out of order and gave Emma an advantage

In order to prevent the BT exchanges doing into meltdown trying to handle a very high volume of calls in a very short space of time (10-15 mins), BT will operate a call throttle, only allowing a small percentage of calls to connect to each number. This ensures that exchanges along the route do not get congested and ensures that a public phone service can be maintained. It is likely that is what people experienced. No fix, no conspiracy.

Hmm that's interesting. Basically, the system can't handle the volume and so the voting process is intrinsically flawed.

This is what gets me, they way they did it made both Emma and Louisa fans think that the result was based purely on phone votes, thus generating an awful lot of revenue....however i feel it was actually based on both scores and as such anyone with basic maths could work out that the dance off was pointless, Louisa was already out even if she had more votes than Emma!

So tech not a fix but the BBC did con us out of our money

"Tess's exact words were ALL the votes will be added together"

I thought that was what was said.



What a con.

If I'd've done the maths and realised, I'd've saved my pennies.

No phone system is likely to be able to manage such high call volumes going through to one particular exchange. I believe that BT will only allow a certain percentage of calls through, otherwise the exchange would collapse.

Yep I had the same problem. Kept the phone on constant re-dial for Louisa and didn't get through once. Can't believe the BEEB would be that desperate to keep Bunton in though.

I have finally got a reply from BBC

'Thank you for your e-mail regarding 'Strictly Come Dancing'.

I am sorry that you had difficulties getting trough to vote for Louisa and Vincent on Saturday 9 December 2006. I have fully registered your comments onto our daily log.This internal document will be made available to the 'Strictly Come Dancing' production team and Senior BBC Management.

The phone lines for this service all work off of the same mass access voting platform. This platform is the largest in the UK and allows in excess of 200,000 calls per minute to be counted. Therefore, if more than the number of calls are being made at one time, then some people will get the engaged tone. The lines were tested on Saturday and all was working well - if lines were engaged it was possible to get through after a few seconds.

If the lines are busy for one contestant, they will have been busy for all contestants involved in the vote. The voting platform is not biased in favour of one contestant or another.

The voting platform works on initially recognising the first 9 digits of the dialled telephone number. The numbers consists of 11 digits and only the last two indicate which contestant is which. The rest of the number is identical for everyone. These first 9 digits tell the local telephone exchange you dial into when you call, that the number is one allocated to the mass access voting platform. It then tries to route the call to that voting platform. Once it reaches the platform, the platform then finally recognises the final two digits of the number and counts a vote for that particular contestant. If the phone lines are engaged, it is happening at the first part of the call, at the local exchanges. At this point the system (the last two digits) it doesn't recognise which contestant is which - it only looks at whether it can get the call to the platform. Therefore it is not possible for the platform to be biased and it is not possible to prevent calls to any one particular number over another.

Always in these votes, the percentage of callers who do get through and have their votes registered, reflect the opinions of those people trying to vote. It's been proven over and over again in terms of percentages.

You can visit the following bbc.co.uk website were you can find more details on the contestants:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/strictlycomedancing/index.shtml

Thank you once again for taking the time to contact us.

Regards

Ross
BBC Information'
Last edited by iheartme : 11-01-2007 at 17:04