Great, when can we expect them to?

Well, on Saturday they saved the best dancer on the night.

There's not much to choose between Gethin & Matt - they both have strengths & weaknesses, it could have gone either way.

Just because they didn't choose your favourite is neither here nor there...

You mean Penny was better than Gabby in THEIR dance-off?

You have to be kidding!!!!!!

I disliked them both but no way was Penny better. What happened there then?

I can't see how that as they've changed the rules on dance off through the series as Craig and Bruno have admitted as much themselves tonight you can honestly say it has been fair over the 11 weeks.

And perhaps I value democracy and if Gethin had a bigger vote than Matt he should have gone through.

Rod Stewart was already booked to be in IT2 later that week. A very important criterion when judging a dance-off....

Thank God i'm not the only one who thought that.

maybe it's just the cynic in me

What you mean is - you're emotionally attached to your favourite, and you want some kind of closure.

I don't see what's democratic in housewives voting for a man they'd love to shag but never will.

I value dancing in a dance competition.

If Gethin had been as good as Colin or Mark & Matt had gone through ahead of them - then that would be genuinely unfair. But he's not.

Funniest post I've read all night.

For the record I'm not a housewife and I love and vote for good dancing.

Matt doesn't smile and never moved me or made the slightest emotional connection for me with his waltz. Erin Boag said Gethin had the best top line of any male celebrity in any series. Phillip said his footwork was immaculate. James Jordan thought he should have had 80/80. Do I need to keep justifying why I loved his and Camilla's PARTNERSHIP and why I thought they deserved that crack at the final?

His top line is ok - it's his feet, hands, and hips that are the problem. And he's slightly stiff all over. (Which is why ballroom suits him better). He doesn't move smoothly enough unless he's safe in hold. Phillip said his foot-work was immaculate in the waltz, in the jive & in many others it wasn't.

I don't require an emotional connection with contestants - I look at the dancing objectively.
Matt & Gethin were pretty equal in terms of strengths & weaknesses. They both had good weeks & bad weeks - often at opposite times. If it had been a good week for Gethin & a bad one for Matt - he would have gone through.

It's really not a big deal & I wish people would get over it.

Maybe peeps shouldn't look for emotional connection from TV... its bound to end in tears...

Anyway, my bf is home & I'm going to bed. You don't need to justify it to me because I really don't care...

That was not the case early on in the series, how many made mistakes in the dance off & yet got through to following week??!! - Craig often refers to best future dance performances with the other results, yet tonight on ITT.......dance off only???!! Hello??!!

When Craig tried to put Gabby through in the dance-off he said it was for "sheer versatility". I took that to mean that he was considering dances from previous weeks and she was a better all-rounder than Penny. Maybe that's not what he meant, but it seems unlikely that he'd see much versatility if he was only considering one performance of a samba...

The only "fair" way of doing it is via the votes.

The judges have their say when they mark the dances. Why should they get to make the final decision too?.

Judges account for 50%, public account for 50%. The couples with the lowest overall score goes home...simple. It also avoids all of these tiresome "fix" allegations!

The dance off was introduced to stop talentless pretty boys beating the better dances. The dance off has served us well this series, as it did on Saturday. The public can't be trusted with a casting vote....if it was upto them we'd have a kenny vs kate final.

And besides, Gethin was well below par with both his performances, even with his open chest on show

Get over it he's gone and not coming back.

I think if you check back, you'll find Len said he was saving Kenny because Matt Dawson did very well last year and he was a rugby player too.

Sort that one out!

Arlene actually but good point.

Of course the poster isn't a member of the public himself.

Talentless....words fail me for once.

Thats right. It has to be wider because you could lose the best dancer over one slip, or the one dance that didn't suit them or you could end up with the person who couldn't dance Latin at all surviving on one ballroom dance or keeping even the person who couldn't dance any other dance at all. You are also comparing apples with oranges when some dances are easier and marked higher than others.

The criteria has to be the dance off prevails unless there is a strong case otherwise. The problem is that strong is a judgement. You can either announce that thats the policy or use the fact that the judgement on the dance off is what you say it is anyway - both of which cause problems.

On Saturday I wouldn't have thought that there was much in the wider case that went strongly one way or another.

The real problem was the sympathy vote that kept Matt in earlier. At that point he was clearly worse than Letitia or Alesha in any dance off and the wider case for him over Letitia wasn't particularly strong either and he had no case against Alesha if she was in the bottom 2 with him. Thats what happens when people stay on something other than performance.

Because leaving it to the voting audience ensures that hopeless people stay whilst good people go and eventually that the best dancers don't make the last two - which makes the whole thing pointless as anything other than a repetitive competition between fit males with simple journey stories.

Hear hear. And of course it also ensured they could create The Comeback storyline...

You are correct it was Arlene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFSLHhEWGNU

My sincere apologies to Len.

If this decision to have a dance off and a judges final vote is to be kept then a rule has to be made and understood by all. So far this series the 'rule' has been changed over and over to suit their decision. This is how conspiracy theories are arrived at. Naughty.

Ideally they should, but they are not doing their job properly. I'm sure I've heard both 'based entirely on this dance' and 'considering their potential' have been used as excuse for their choice.

It was quite obvious the judges use whatever reason they found it convenient, there may be rules but they are not following it, so why bother? Gabby's case is a classic example of it. Shame on Len, he's such a disgrace of the dancing industry.

Oh, he is, in Christmas Speical!

There is no conspiracy theory the judges have demonstrated that they have abused the fairness test on BBC's interactive blurb. They've done it openly no need for a conspiracy - two fingers to the GP.

Evidence of double judging standards straight from the Italian Stallion's mouth

Kelly vs John

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl-Cugsxn3Y


Dom vs John

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=speNsHPrqwc

Yes, I agree. The rules need to be clear from the start. It is only little children who continually change the rules to suit themselves. Adults have a need for consistency because it is the only fair way.

I would love Claudia to pursue this thread with guests on ITT!

Also definitely feel that Len-of-the-limited-number-of-paddles should not have the casting vote. He's almost becoming as much of a loose cannon as Bruno. Give any casting vote to the public.