The first problem is that those last last 4 dancers might have not been the best dancers if the better people who went too early had all stayed on merit (or anything like it) and developed. Gabby for example might well have ended up better than someone in that last four.

The second is that its entirely possible that one or more of those 4 won't make it much furher - Matt we know has few votes and might go out gainst any of the other 3 next week. we have no proof yet that Alesha and Kelly are both getting large public votes.

The third is that although credible people (or at least the best of who survived) tend to make the last 4, the public vote also has a record of not getting the best two to the final. A competition between the third and fourth or second and third best dancers is pretty meaningless as anything but a popularity contest. Its even more incredible when the people who make the final are notably no better and argubaly worse than some of the people who went out early because the votes were all keeping the worst dancers in. You can't have an honest race down the home straight if some of the best runners were nobbled in the first furlong.

Oh yes, duh - I missed that

Wooo, £66 on Kate - if that's not incentive to break the law, I don't know what is

Let's be honest, any concept that vote-rigging is happening because of some mysterious betting thing, is in la-la land - apologies if I didn't make that clear, but that's what I felt all along, my example was simply for theoretical discussion.

It's almost equally inconceivable that the Beeb are manipulating results for some reason (good telly or whatever) - if for no other reason than because it'd be insanely stupid for them to do so, especially in the current climate. That doesn't mean that Beeb vote-rigging is impossible - there are some very very very stupid people in TV land - but it's extremely unlikely IMO - although there's no way of disproving that without seeing the figures.

As usual, the most likely explanation is the most obvious one - lots of people are voting for K&A, more than the ones who vote for the others. That's it.

"This is not a dancing competition"? oh really? Well perhaps the judges should start marking the contestants on their smiles,grimaces,sighs,begging for votes and their ability to mouth 'vote for me' at the camera etc. instead of their abilty to actually 'dance'

Alesha's scores - 31, 36, 33, 36, 35 - average 34
Kelly's scores ---- 33, 35, 34, 28, 36 - average 33

Matt's scores ---- 23,30, 36, 31, 29 - average 30
Gethin's scores - 22, 29, 26, 31, 36 - average 29

Gabby's scores - 29, 31, 30 ------------ average 30
Penny's scores - 33, 25, 32, 35, 25 -- average 30

----------------------------------------------------------------

Alesha and Kelly have scored consistently 4 points per dance higher than the rest.

Gabby and Penny were within touching distance of Matt and Gethin. A forum poll here recently showed that 90% of those who actually vote are women. If large numbers of women voters would like to vote for men that is their personal privilege. There is only a limited quota of votes available for young women, some voters having decided from the start to vote for men or older women. Gabby and Penny unfortunately found themselves crowded out in a vintage year for beautiful young women.

Kate, Kenny, John, Letitia voters did not evict Gabby and Penny. Gabby and Penny were allowed to go by their own supporters who chose not to exercise the democratic right to vote, at a cost of 25p. In the case of Gabby the element of surprise was cited. Hard to claim surprise at Penny's exit two weeks later -- not only was the Gabby precedent fresh but a thread in this forum beat the drum mightily rallyng supporters to Penny's defence.

To recap, voters spend their own money to choose their own dance companions during the early stages -- not what others take it upon themselves to choose for them. Fiona lasted 4 weeks but did not figure in the final. Anyone who suspects criminal foul play implicating the BBC is welcome to turn words into deeds by alerting the police.


Last year the public exercised their voting power to choose Matt Dawson and evict Emma Bunton who consistently scored higher with judges. It was the public's decision, but anyone wishing to dismiss the voting jury is welcome to say so.


Fascinating -- in 5 weeks we shall see, or not see:

Alesha
Kelly
Gethin or Matt

Now pay attention at the back,
1st word: Strictly ( OK )
Words 2 and 3 : Come Dancing (OK so far)
Get it now???????

There have been two controversial judges marks of 10 already - both heavily debated on this forum, and both agreed by most that the 10 were not deserved. (Although of course the two judges concerned argued that they were deserved, and that's their opinion.) So those tens may've been judged on something other than pure dancing skill. All of the judges have said that theyare all looking for different things - one talked about a dance on Saturday being all toe leads, another it being all heel leads....

But yes, the judges are there to judge on what they perceive as dancing skill, and to ensure that the viewers understand what dancing skill is - how the steps are executed etc as most of non-dancing public wouldn't know.They make up half of the score.

The voting viewing public, who make up the other half of the score and pay money to do so, are asked to vote for their favourite, and as such they can vote on any of the things you mentioned there, and others beside. And it's their perogative to do so. Some may disagree with your reasons for voting, as you disagree with others. People vote for what they like, and most people who do don't really know much about the finer points of dance, they jus know what they like. That's why this is not just a dance competition, or all of the couples would be professionals and we would be watching Come Dancing.

I do find the vitriol and seeming hatred poured out about Kate for still being in SCD, and for what they see of her on there very disturbing - debate and dislike is one thing, but calling someone names because of their physical features (eg "horse face", and it often isn't said in a jokey way) and calling her child "strange looking) is in my opinion excessive, but maybe I'm missing something. I just feel that there is a little loss of perpective around all this and what it actually means. I love to root for my favourite and jokily boo my least favourite but a lot of the stuff on here seems out of proportion. Just my opinion though, as I said.

well said.

Even the judges feel that this is a strict dance contest.

Agreed entirely.

Neigh, neigh.

A courageous stand in the face of the mob.

If candidate X scores 1 from judges but 3 from voters,
and candidate Y scores 3 from judges but 1 from voters,
then SCD rules say X wins, with voters carrying more weight in a tie. Effectively it is 51% voters, 49% expert witnesses.

The jury decide,
Not the 4 expert witnesses,
not the lynch mob outside.
Those who oppose trial by jury can say so.