There is no point in having the dance-off if the judges are going to decide based on who may dance better in the future. That should only come into the equation if they danced equally well.
Their comments and scores so far this year have not seemed entirely fair to me. Maybe they put too much effort into thinking up something dramatic to say. They know more about dance than me though and their job is to entertain too.

One other thing I've noticed, and I saw this last year as well, is the recycled soundbites. Many times, Len and Bruno have said something on the American version and then said it here a week or two later. I noticed it a few times last year (like when he said Ray and Camilla were like the couple on top of a music box, he'd said that to an American couple only a week or two before), and he did it twice on Saturday.

I only remember one of them (I have a v. bad memory, but the one I remember is 'go go girls and bye bye boys') but my dad noticed it too. I reckon they're too busy thinking up clever soundbites to give constructive criticism (telling someone they're terrible isn't very helpful...telling them what to work on is).
Last edited by quackaquacka : 09-10-2007 at 18:26

Yes Shaz, in the Final it'll be the usual Judge's scores and public vote to decide the winner, no final selection by the Judge's, thank Gawd!

It makes sense really - the public get the final say in Dancing on Ice and Joseph etc.

I think that it is good having the judges deciding who goes. They know what they are looking for.

But then 'what the judges are looking for' don't always have the best performance.

Also, when the judges come up with such difference marks for the same dance it makes the results laughable. Len and Bruno are often 1, if not 2 marks higher then Craig and Arlenne. You can almost guarantee it.

I still maintain it's sour grapes because several of their favourites have been voted off in previous series.

Agree 100%.

Everyone forgets, we the viewers pay for our vote, the judge and the 3 washed up choreographers get paid and then the likes of CRH state that the public have no idea of what makes a good dancer. Since when was CRH the voice of the paying public???

RosePetal, that sounds like a good idea to me, too!

Couldn't agree more

no the judges should'nt get 2 bites at the cherry. it is about us voting, whether it's our favourite celeb or if we think someone is good. the judges have given us thier opinions & points. so why should they get another choice.we dont if the votes don't go our way & we pay to vote, the judges don't pay to vote.

I can't be bothered reading all these posts but for my money, any system that would have kicked out Spencer Moon and Fiona Phillips very early in the proceedings (as judges' votes would have done) is a damn fine system to me!
Last edited by kitten12 : 24-10-2007 at 16:36

I'm not sure this is true. Fiona was always bottom with the judges, but with judges and public combined, she wasn't in the bottom two until the week she actually went out. And I think the same happened to Christopher Parker.

What I most dislike about the judges' final say is that we know if Penny or Kelly and a couple of others were in the bottom two, they would be put through regardless of how bad that night's performance had been.

Yeah its true... The only way the judges can kick off the worst dancer is if the voters put the worst dancer into the bottom two...

If they aren't in the bottom two the judges can't do anything about it e.g. Kate...

The Judges need to be told to shut up blaming the viewers for the worst two dancers *not* being in the bottom two- when the producers purposely open the phone lines for voting BEFORE the next weeks dances have even been rehearsed.

Either the producers re-organise the voting, so the public can only vote on them AFTER they have danced - OR just shut-up with this- "the public have made a terrible mistake of judgement* every week.

If they want to keep their viewers they need to stop making us into the enemy.

I wish Arlene and Bruno would be fired in the BBC redunancies coming up!!!

Len and Craig are a good balance good V Evil so you need someone new to sit in teh middle.

I hope Claudia on ITT tonight points out the hypocrisy of Judgely slagging of idiotic viewing public voting vs. idiotic Judgely voting (Bruno T. hang your head in shame). Which is the more culpable?

Claudia is worse at reading the autocue then Bruce is LOL!

Absolutely not! They are far too biased towards their own favourites in the marking before the public vote where they control the leader board.

They get annoyed because the public have favourites and the viewers vote to keep in who they want to see next week. The Judges seem to think the viewers should obey them and not choose their own favourites!

Yes, definitiely, the judges should have the final say. The British are clueless when it comes to voting - give the judges the final say. And I expect in the next series the BBC will seriously be thinking this, due to Gabby going and Kate and Kenny staying. The vast majority of people are shocked at the farcical of the programme - its all everyone at work, and on the news, is talking about, so something needs to be done - and the British public who vote for the worst contestants will only have themselves to blame.

I say put all the Kate and Kenny voters in a ring and surround them with ordinary and sane members of the British public and then see what happens!

Kate and Kenny voters should be banned from voting in future.

And I don't think 'ordinary and sane members of the British public' would give a toss whether someone voted for Kenny or Kate! Most of the British public have actual lives. And far more important things to think about than who is eliminated on an entertainment show!

In any case, Kate and Kenny voters are members of the 'ordinary and sane' GBP! They don't seem to be in the majority on here! (In fact, we're all members of the 'ordinary and sane' British public ... unless each block of voters resides in their own little country!).

And if we're going to ban people from voting in TV shows, then it stands to reason that those same people shouldn't have a vote when it comes to elections either (as they seem to be so stupid ). And where does that leave us again? Oh yes - in an autocracy.

So, as long as you're willing to be a member of a population that is unable to vote for anything (because you yourself are a member of the British public, unless of course you live in a different country entirely!), then of course it's your decision to call for an end to the British voting!

It's an entertainment show. One which the vast majority of the British public will have forgotten by the new year as they move onto something else! (As, indeed, will the people taking part). It's not that important. Honestly.

Karen Hardy or Erin Boag would make good judges

Everyone seems to have quiet on this topic but recently I have become even more incensed by it.

What is the point of a dance off? The judges just stick with their original opinion - last night, John Barnes over Dom - previous week Gabby over Penny. There is absolutely no tension once you know who is in the final two.

I heard Len say several strange and contradictory things last week:

' I never wanted this system, the BBC imposed it on us'

'I thought we would be choosing between two bad dancers' - errrrrrrrr, any study of the last four series would show that there were often two 'good' i.e technical dancers in the bottom two

'I'm so sorry for Gabby' - as if it wasn't him that sealed her fate - he could easily have voted Penny out and kept Gabby.

This is a public vote to raise money for CIN - to raise the most possible money, the celebrities that the public vote for should stay in and those that they don't should go.

At the start, I thought a bit that it was just people not liking change but now I know - IT JUST DOESN'T MAKE SENSE and screws the voting even more.

Bring back the public's final vote.


And start rotating the judges - Bruno in particular - could do with a year out and then come back for the 2009 season refreshed when it would be Arleen's turn for a rest!

I'm really glad that John is getting to stay but I'd love to see either Brian and Stephanie still in the competition, if only to liven up ITT
The novelty of Kenny's so bad it's funny latin has worn off and Letitia is improving but I don't really care anymore :yawn:

It's unfortunate that, from an entertainment perspective, the show is missing what experienced actors and personalities can bring to the show

I don't think the judges should decide out of the last 2, the public have voted and judges have already given their scores, so therefore the couple with the least votes should go.

Does it seem that most people prefer the "old" system?

The judges seem to make their choices on the same spurious reasons that the GBP do, so I'd prefer it if it came back to us.

Also in the past, GBP have booted out judges favourites, makes the programme more interesting, Emma Bunton comes to mind