The all week voting makes a mockery of the people who vote for the Best dance after watching the Sat show. If we are meant to take the competition seriously, the lines should NOT open till all the couples have finished on Sat. It also makes a mockery of the judges, the dancers and the viewers who want to see the Best remain in the comp.

The BBC will have to come up with another formula to get charity money or else treat the competition as a joke with the richest supporters winning.

I agree, i dont think they should open the lines till Saturday night.

Then they wouldn't make as much money for children in need (just stating what their reply would be..personally I don't vote til I see the dance)

My understanding it that on these sorts of shows, the overwhelming majority of votes come in on the main show night, so it doesn't really make a huge impact on an individual's fate. I'm happy to be corrected if this is wrong.

12 million on final night last year .

Because they tell you after the programme that you should be voting for your favourite couple remember- not the best dance. They only go on about the best dance when one of the good dancers goes in a shock result.

However much they moan until they only do the votes on a Saturday after all the dances then it will never be fair.

Why would they open the lines 24/7 if it did not matter?

I think it was 12 million votes in total for the entire series. If they waned to have the votes open all week for CID, then they could maybe open the lines again on Monday after ITT. At least then people have something to vote for, like a good practice or something.

I think it's a bit of a waste of time voting at all, a lot of people are fed up with all this phoning and texting in and having presenters constantly telling you what number to ring and when to ring it. Then of course you never know if your vote is being counted.

It's just an entertainment show for most viewers, there can only be one winner. all the rest will be gone at some point.

Why not just have keypads for the studio audience to mark each dance out of 10, then add up all the scores at the end to see who goes.

I think that the fact that the voting has always been carried out this way. Everyone is on the same level to begin with, they know how the judging/voting is going to carried out from day 1. That is why they do so many interviews during the week.

That`s what they do for the Xmas special

Don`t suppose it raises much money for charity though.

At the risk of sounding like Scrooge, I dont really care about raising money for charity on regular TV shows - they have a full night of Children In Need when it takes over the schedules, not to mention all the collectors we get locally.

I would just like to watch some prime time TV without any reference to good causes, sorry, I've got charity fatigue!

Everyone isn't on the same level as the celebs and dancers in Week one only had 2hrs and 45min worth of votes

Surely that's not very fair

I completly agree with this. I also wish there was a way to limit it to one vote per person (and yes I know they won't get as much money for charity, but tend to agree with tvd on this). I don't even bother voting anymore because I can't see the point if there are people out there voting 20 times for their favourite couple, it kind of cancels out my one vote.

It has come down to the richest ensuring there celeb remain out of the bottom two.

I'm totally surprised the BBC has reintroduced this aspect after all the phone scandals. They should just open the phone lines on a Saturday after the show - I accept that discriminates against folk who are working and watch the recording.

I think there are too many loopholes for people not interested in dancing to affect the results and it leads to people crying fix. Also only a percentage of the cost goes to CIN not all, only half of the BT cost and a fraction of mobile costs, so the reason to raise money for charity doesn't wash with me. I'd rather write a cheque and post it.

The last time I was sucked in was series 2 - foolishly voting after watching ITT every evening on my mobile for Denise Lewis in the week of the Final as I knew she was lagging behind. I belatedly checked the cost, and it was 78p per call!
They didn't emphasise the "costs may vary" warning in those days.
I'd never do that now.

Yes, and imo an important point.

When a couple gets low scores, Tess even emphasises that if we want to keep them out of the dance-off we have to vote.

And the presemters, judges, et al go all shocked and surprised when couples in the middle are in trouble.

I think it's totally ridiculous, but then I don't vote anyway

I saw the Sunday results show for the first time this week (wouldn't have bothered without knowing it was Gabby, thanks DS!) and when they gave out the numbers at the end I was really shocked.

The BBC must be promoting it as a popularity contest, because who can vote on a performance to be? what a crap way of doing things

It's not fair, it's just wrong! Only a very small fraction of votes registered (those made in the hour between the main and results shows) will, therefore, be based on the couples' performances on Saturday.

The only argument the BBC can use to justify doing this is that it is maximising income for CIN.

Totally, so how can they moan at the Results on a Saturday/Sunday night?

Someone should tell Brucie and Craig that the BBC are the ones promoting it as a popularity contest and not a dance contrst and to give the GBP a break.

Exactly except that I have become such a cynic these days that the only thing that makes sense is that the judges are playing the game drumming up publicity. After all the show has been running a few years and they know how the voting public behave.

Oh definitely, in collusion with the BBC. Just look at how they edit the training footage on ITT to create an injury scare once a week, giving the impression the person won't be able to dance. Last week Ola, this week Dom, wonder who next week?

It's not cynical, it's just refusing to believe the hype anymore, we've seen through it after 5 series now.

Interestingly DWTS in America doesn't feel the need to include all this crap, they just give the audience entertainment. Okay people moan the Judges are too kind, but the viewing public in America wouldn't put up with the likes of CRH and that's a fact!

It's not just about the dance it's about the dance and the popularity the judges should realise this. That is why the voting lines are open all week... They should wise up to what the programme is about...

Have to agree with that and many of the other comments in this thread. Personally, I refuse to use any premium rate number or text to any of these voting farces - no one can be sure that the results are genuine from the votes anyway.

My personal recommendation would be if you want to donate to Children in Need, make a donation, but don't waste your money on these votes - only half the cost goes to children in need anyway.

I must admit, I didn't realise that voting could be done all week - that makes a total farce of it. As others on here have said, if it was a proper and fair vote, then it couldn't be done until after all the dancers had performed - The whole thing is taking the P**s out of the gullible public - it;s about time we got some proper Saturday night entertainment back.