Did anyone else notice how on ITT tonight, Arlene by phone and Craig in studio pointedly said that the rules were that they must vote for the best dance in the dance off and not anything else? Craig said if other factors were allowed to be taken into consideration, then Gethin would have gone through.

Since when, methinks?

I am sure that judges decision comments when choosing in the dance of fhave included words about potential and versatility. What about when Penny was chosen over Gabby? Did they not comment on her superior ballroom, even though it was a Latin dance she was doing in the dance off?

Correct me if I'm wrong...

Sorry I don't buy what the judges are saying. The stench of Saturday is obvious

I think you're right. I'm pretty sure one of the judges (Craig?) said very early on that it wasn't just about that one dance.

But I can't produce evidence to back that up...

Given the furore over these boards about the result, I'm sure the judges have been given their script and will stick to it like glue. Who's going to question them about the previous inconsistency? Claudia? I don't think so. They're pretty brazen about it all though aren't they.

So they lack bottle with it. Brilliant, this just gets worse.

Yes, you're right - last week, I'm pretty sure they said Aleisha had been the more consistently good dancer when they put her through ahead of Letitia. Plus if it were only based on the dance off, I think Gethin's dance was better than Matt's on Saturday (which was actually more or less what Arlene said). They change the rules depending on who they want to put through.

I think they were carried away by Matt's comeback. I was carried away! But I have no strong allegiance to any of the remaining three and just wanted a fair result in the end.

A "fair" result at this stage would have been for the public to choose the both finalists. Given that Bruno (or was it Craig?) tonight said that you couldn't split them quality-wise in the dance off, then why not do what they did in X-Factor a few weeks ago and give them two votes each and then instead of deferring to Len Head Judge for a decision, go back to the public vote and put through the second most popular?

Hope this makes sense!

Don't forget there was Barnesy (god bless 'im) being voted through one week as they judges wanted to see his salsa in next weeks show.

Well, I think in honesty at the start its far more fair to judge it on that one performance. But at this stage, they really should be giving more consideration to the series as a whole. I mean, imagine if Alesha and Matt were the bottom 2 this week. It would be a travesty if the best dancer would have had to be voted out, because she scored 2 lower than a good but inconsistant dancer, who performed better on the night.

I also can't help but think if it had been Matt & Tish in last weeks dance-off, then the judges would have put Matt through on his previous performances and potential, rather than Tish who clearly had her best SCD night of the series.

Exactly my thoughts-moving the goalposts to suit themselves

No, Craig didn't say if other factors had been allowed to be taken into consideration - he said if they had been making based on different criteria. Which is slightly different.

I agree though that the judges haven't been consistent because on other occasions they have drawn in outside factors.

They just want to save the best dancers they'll justify it how they like.

Yes, it does seem that we should ask for consistency in the criteria used for judging decisions.

Perhaps it would be better in future if the dance off was only used for the first few rounds (to try to avoid a Spooney), and revert to old format for latter stages.

I get the feeling that the judges have been getting a lot of flack (quite rightly) from the public over the past 24 hours and Bruno & Craig were using tonight to try and justify their actions and backtrack a bit (as much as they're ever likely to anyway).

Arlene mentioned on the phone she'd been approached by lots of people wanting to know why the hell Gethin & Camilla left. I'm sure Craig & Bruno have been getting the same reception from the GBP.

Is Len in hiding-he wasn't on ITT

[quote=La Boheme;20189079]No, Craig didn't say if other factors had been allowed to be taken into consideration - he said if they had been making based on different criteria. Which is slightly different.

How exactly is it different?

Yes I think they used that line with Alesha & Penny.

I think Matt's waltz was better, and so did 3 of the judges. Arlene didn't say Gethin's tango was better, she said that Matt's waltz had been good the first time round & Gethin's had improved. She talked about how his shoulders had relaxed & he'd implemented the judges comments.
If you get 4 10s you haven't really got anywhere to go.

Surely you can figure it out - do I have to explain?

Yes please, I've had a hard day at work! What's the difference between "other factors" and "different criteria"? Aren't the different factors, the other criteria?

God, I really have lost the plot! What I meant was aren't the other factors, the different criteria?

Well, she said the reason she put Gethin through was that his dance had improved - presumably she thought it was better than Matt's on the night, since if it hadn't been she should've put Matt through regardless. At least that's the way I took it. It wouldn't really make sense if she meant that Gethin's dance had improved but was still worse than Matt's, and put Gethin through anyway (for starters it would contradict the "strict" voting criteria they'd just outlined - even though we know they change it to suit!).

You said that Craig said:

If *other factors* had been *allowed* to be taken into consideration then Gethin would have gone through.

He actually said they could have made the decision on various different factors - such as - performance over the series.

And if that factor had been, for example, memory accuracy (rather than the dance-off) - Gethin would have gone through.

I'm sorry, but the "dance-off" is a complete farce.
The judges vote through the couple they want to see go through, not solely on the perceived quality of the dance-off.

Please go back to the previous system next year...

I agree. She must have felt that Gethin's dance had improved so much as to over-take Matt's 10 performance.
But I think she maybe just preferred Gethin as a dancer.

I'm not completely convinced they do make the decision *only* on the dance off - as they haven't in other weeks. I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt this time as they could have said - based on Matts fluff last week - they weren't sure that he'd get through the final.
It did *seem* to be based on the performance.

Although it could just be that Bruno, Len & Craig prefer Matt's dancing.

No, I disagree, it's really important that the of the bottom two, the judges get to save the best dancer.