I think people phoned in for Alesha last night because of the dance off last week - they realised they had to.

erm...no ALesha can come second and get 5 points to beat Gethins 4 points.

As Gethin was bottom of the judges' leaderboard was there any point in Gethin fans voting at all?

Surely the point of a public vote is to ensure your favourite's safety - if that is a futile exercise (i.e. if Gethin did indeed win the public vote) than that is misleading the public again re. phone votes.

Or am I missing something here?

Would you like to see my phone bill when it comes and the receipts for my topup cards? Multiply me by thousands of other Alesha fans who got a kick up the bum last week when she was in the bottom 2, and you may think again about your comment and see that makes no sense

True but I think it is probably more likely that the public order was Alesha, Gethin, Matt - it's the order I've seen on most polls, Alesha supporters were voting like crazy after last week and there are only three possible orders of which two mean she would have had to have come first.

I think Gethin likely out scored Matt with the public on the basis of general popularity, some hostility towards Matt after he undeservedly escaped the dance off last week and the fact that many seem to think Matt was overmarked for his waltz.

I'm Exhibit B - up until now I've voted for Alesha 5 times every Saturday. This week I voted 25 times.

Fair enough...except that raises the question of how 'professional' these judges are...whether or not they can be trusted not to collude...whether or not the producers can be trusted not to 'influence' them....etc.

I was talking about the viewer vote. If she hadn't topped the viewer vote she'd have been in the dance off.

There are 3 voting scenarios which have Alesha safe:

A 3 3 = 6
M 2 2 = 4
G 1 1 = 2

A 3 3 = 6
M 2 1 = 3
G 1 2 = 3

A 3 2 = 5
M 2 1 = 3
G 1 3 = 4

I believe it's enrtirely possible that Alesha DID get the majority of the public vote this week, partly as a backlash to her being in the dance off last week. Fans that thought she was safe and therefore not voted previously will have actually voted this week.

Matt will not have got the sympathy vote this week after his 4 10s, and a lot of people will not have voted for him this week based on last weeks performance.

Gethin had the disadvantage of neither being good enough to be top of the leader board, or bad enough to get a sympathy vote, or a backlash vote from being in the dance off last week.

Not true.

If Gethin tops the viewer vote, Alesha second and Matt third they end up with 4, 5 and 3 points respectively and Alesha avoids the dance-off.

Absolutely correct - the only way Gethin could have avoided the dance off was for there to be a complete reverse of the judges vote by the public.

Hmmm... I guess so... I just don't think that Gethin would necessarily have topped the viewer vote, depsite his adoring female fans. He wasn't that good last night, and Alesha having been in the bottom two last week got people voting.

Bottom line - Alesha's a better dancer, she has many fans.
As she avoided the dance off - I'd put money on her having topped the viewer vote.

Gethin fever isn't so wide-spread in the real world as it is on here.

If it was just a dance competition, then fair enough.

But SCD is a light entertainment show which aims to raise money for charity. If you are going to do that in the most effective way possible, you keep in the most popular (who are earning the most money).

The public want to be entertained, and some people find other aspects of the competition as entertaining as the dancing - why should they be dictated to? If what people want to see is Kate or Kenny or anyone else for that matter, then that's what they should be able to see - they are paying for it after all.

No reason people shouldn't be advised by the judges with regard to the dancing, but why should they be told who they can and can't vote for?

no if she was third in the viewer vote she would have been in the dance off. If she was top or second and if second then if Gethin was first she avoids the dance off. Its basic mathematics sorry.

Gethin 1 + 3 = 4
ALesha 3 + 2 = 5
Matt 2 + 1 = 3

Alesha avoids dance off.

If it was Strictly Come Popularity or Strictly Come Charity then I'd agree.

But what's the point in bothering with a dance competition at all if people are not voting on the dancing?

We might as well cut the dancing & the judges & just watch all the contestants muck about...

I don't understand the British cult of the amateur - favouring the less talented over the more talented.
It's bizarre.

Yeh yeh see my above post.

I just doubt Gethin topped the viewer vote despite his loyal fans: he danced the least well.

The flaw in the systemfor the semi final is critical - after Gethin was judged bottom of the leaderboard from the time the show finished to the lines closing at 9.00 p.m., the votes (and money) would not make the slightest difference to the result.

Again I reiterate, the point of voting for your favourite is to keep them in the comp. Earlier in the series, this worked for Kate and last week it worked for Matt. This week after the judges' vote, it couldn't happen for Geth (presumably because of the number of couples).

Whether Gethin did or didn't come top of the public vote is almost irrelevant. The BBC have dropped a huge clanger here. In my emotional state after the programme I spent a fortune on calls. Was I wasting my money in attempting to influence the result? If Gethin came top in the public vote, then clearly I was and I want my money back and I'll donate it all (not 12.5p from 25p) to CIN.

but lets not forget that the voting from the public goes on all week and not just between the close of the show and 9pm!

So why bother with the public vote aspect at all then? If it's not the public that has the ultimate say then we might just as well do away with it.

All I'm saying is that if the public can be overruled in their preferences then it smacks of making money under false pretences - we're not getting what we have paid for

But the public have masses of sway: they dictate who goes through & who goes into the bottom two. The public are solely responsible for some of the best dancers going out early - Penny & Gabby - and the worst staying in - Kenny & Kate.

If it had been down to the judges all the worst dancers would have been eliminated slowly & we'd be left with the best. Which would, frankly, have made a much more interesting show.

Also, I'm not saying I would or did vote for the people I mentioned - I just think that people should have the right to if they want by virtue of the fact they are paying for it.

I agreed initially for the judges to have a say after the dance off as last season too many good dancers were voted off far too early BUT at this stage of the competition with 'favourites' having been firmly established it is understandable that those of us who have voted several times are annoyed that our vote MAY have been ignored in favour of the judges decision.
We had 3 good celebs dancing in the semi's this year but I do think that it should have been ONLY a public vote. The ill feeling and disappointment felt by many then would at least have been down to popularity rather than 4 individuals.
Get it right next year BBC

More interesting from your point of view - but surely less lucrative? Thought they wanted to make the most money they could for CIN - how does that work without the public being able to choose their favorite?