A few people (myself included) speculated after the show that Matt would garner the sympathy vote this week because of how upset he was and the way the judges criticised him (except actually, they weren't that nasty! Just truthful
).
There weren't that many permutations really (considering how few couples are left!).
I suspected that if he got the sympathy vote, that would push either Gethin or Alesha into a dance off vs Letitia, in which case Letitia would be out. Of the two scenarios, Alesha would be the most likely (being the other girl in the competition, as, historically, the men tend to do better in public votes. Not always, obviously, but a large percentage of the time) to lose out to Matt's vote.
If Matt had been in the dance off opposite Letitia, then it's a hard call to say who would have been put through by the judges. Arlene would probably vote for him because she has a soft spot for him; likewise Craig for Letitia. Bruno is a bit of a mystery in this particular scenario as I am not sure which way he would vote. For the better performance on the night or the one who showed the most promise (I know they're
supposed to go with the former, but this hasn't been the case on some occasions!
). Len in any case would then have had to make the deciding vote, and really don't know which way he would have voted either.
If Matt had been in the dance off vs Gethin or Alesha (an unlikely scenario considering the final placements), he would most definitely have gone.
Of course, this is immaterial if Matt
did garner the sympathy vote (which I suspect he did, because the GBP loves the 'underdog').
So we probably have the Alesha or Gethin vs Letitia dance off situation.
But I guess we're going to have to wait till tonight to actually discover what happened!!
I just want to say, here, that whilst I love all four couples and wouldn't mind whichever one wins, if Matt has been voted through by the audience and continues to suffer so with his nerves/stagefright next week, then they will have done him no favours and it would be a travesty if he went through to the final at the expense of one of the remaining two couples. Especially if he continued to suffer in the final - and should that be the case and he
won, then that would be patently unfair. He may or not be a great dancer (we have seen that he
can be wonderful when he is on form), but it should be about who performs the best on the final night, not how sorry the audience feel.
This may sound hypocritical because I am of the opinion that everyone deserves a chance and championed Kate at various stages because she deserved to be in the competition as much as anyone! However, once it gets to
this stage, it should really be about the best dancer or best
performer (actually, not necessarily the same thing!). And Matt failed in both categories last night. If he is still beset by nerves/stagefright next week, and is voted through, then it will be at the expense of one of the better dancers OR the best performers (unless, of course, either one of them also messes up!).
On the other hand, if we get the Matt who can dance/perform back next week, then he
has as much right as either of the two remaining couples to go through to the final!
And I for one am hoping that (if he has been voted through to next week), this is what happens.
