They keep unpopular ( with the public ) favourites of theirs in by colluding to keep them at or near the top. Making sure they tie them to maximise the judges points and concentrate them with their favourites.
How can it be stopped, so that they are made to mark fairly?

I think they do mark fairly.

But I don't care purely for the dancing.

You can't pay judges to express opinions like people on DS.
It's fine for me to say that Lisa has a gigantic bottom and Austin is nastier than a nest of vipers but the judges have to stick to dancing.

That's why (this series anyway) some pretty "meh" people are at the top.

You make a lot of money by selling all your evidence to a newspaper and there is a public outcry when it is published and then they stop.

Over to you.

Overall I'm fairly happy with their 'fixing' of the leaderboard. The placings are usually about right (even if the marks are sometimes a bit off).

The judges are paid to have favourites. They select one or more every week. I don't always agree with them but certainly they don't select the same favourite(s) every show. It's not their job to be concerned with which couples are the most or least popular (or it shouldn't be).

In any event, we don't have very much information regarding who is popular or unpopular in any given week. We don't actually know how much information the judges have about this either. Furthermore, we don't know how much popularity varies each week. Even if you think they don't mark fairly, you have no way of knowing whether or not this is influenced by popularity.

In summary, I don't want what the judges are doing to be stopped...even if it were possible.

But especially from now on it is doubly critical that they mark fairly- and that includes not turning a blind eye to Rachel's mistakes because they want her in the fiannl.

They have to be fair to everybody. And if that means that Rachel is the third the third best on Saturday they should put her in third place

There can be no favouritism now

IF they want Rachel in the final, it's hardly surprising...given that she's the best dancer....but there's no evidence that I've seen that they're ignoring her mistakes any more than anyone else's. Up until the show before last, she had never topped the leader board...for those with short memories.

They don't have to do anything....but hopefully they will continue their pretty good record of getting the placings right. Marks are a different issue...but a much less important one compared with placings.

There can be favouritism now - as at any other time - and I'm fairly certain that the judges will be accused of it whatever they do.

Dances have been over marked........there has been no wow dances, just very average performances.

so it's all right for the public to "fix" the voting by multi voting for the worst dancers , but when the judges try to counter that , they are wrong ?

You know what? I love a conspiracy theory as much as anyone but I don't think the judges are bright enough to do this. It would make their brains hurt.

They managed it last year didn't they

Why don't they scrap the dance off in the semi finals- so it is down to the public who they want in the final. That would be much fairer

Rachel best dancer- Sorry disagree. Tom is the best- he has the all round package, which includes being technically strong and entertaining to watch

I strongly disagree with your post. The judges generally mark very fairly on the dances. You are making it sound like some kind of conspiracy:yawn:

Just think back to last year- they managed to keep Gethin out of the final.

Aleesha was absolutely right to be in the final- but I wonder whether the judges wanted Matt in the final because he was on the tour

But if the people had voted for Gethin the most he still would've survived. You can't totally blame the judges for that.

The judges occasionally mark on expectation, and if they all have similar views of a particular dancer who goes on to get high scores for a not-great dance it could come across as collusion to some. However if they really want to get anyone out the obvious thing to do is to have all the "favourites" tied in first place, which they've never managed to do in 6 series.


If that was the case, why didn't they save Cherie or Jodie instead of Lisa? Or Letitia instead of Alesha?

I think the judges went

1. Aleesha 3pts
2. Matt 2pts
3. Gethin 1pts

I think the viewers went

1. Gethin 2pnts
2. Aleesha 3pnts
3. Matt 1 pnt

So it was

1. Aleesha 6pts
2= Gethin 3
2= Matt 3

So the judges should have gone with the better dancer- which was Gethin

That's why I advocate the banning of the dance off in the semi finals. It so often goes with who the judges want in the final
When it gets to this stage it should be who the PUBLIC want in the final

but remember , this is a ENTERTAINMENT show , or so we are being told by those people angry at John's treatment over the last few weeks.


the better overall package taking the dance ability , charisma , sex appeal , pro partner and likeability should win .

for me , that would be Austin or Rachel

With Cherie v Lisa you had two on their weaker discipline- Cherie froze in the dance off
Lisa v Jodie - they were always going to save Lisa as she had a dance that suited her more than Jodie- that was down to the draw of dances

Letitia v Aleesha - Aleesha delivered in the dance off

Sorry, you can't say 'so and so saved so and so regardless of the dancing because they did the tour,' and then argue the opposite for someone else.

Gethin v Matt - Matt delivered in the dance off as far as I'm concerned...you think different, fine, all down to personal opinion.

However, I do wish people would quit with rambling out conspiracy theories as I get the impression that most of the time its because they don't get what they personally want.

Minty I know we disagree on this one- but hey it would be boring if we always agreed

Of course, just wanted to add my 2 pence.

No worries Minty- can we agree though that in the semi finals the judges should not have the power to save a person for the final. It should be the way it used to be- the two couples with the highest combined total go through

Sorry judges but it is unfair of you to have that power in the semi final knowing that you will always save the teachers pet

Could I add that your theory rests on the judges all agreeing on who should progress and who should not.

As has been amply demonstrated the judges can and do disagree with each other.

Just by the way as people on this thread do disagree with each other.

There is no serious evidence that the judges fiddle anything. Look at the marks Austin has had in this series. The marks have reflected how well or otherwise he has done in each week.

Whether or not Rachel deserved a 10 is beside the point. What is true to my eyes was that she performed the best on the night and therefore finished first in the judges opinion.

Not part of the dance, but perhaps an attitude that makes me "cold" towards them because I don't "warm" to them generally - Austin and Tom's triumphalist punching of the air when they avoid the dance-off. It is vulgar display and disrespectful to their fellow dancers who have to endure the dance-off.

I've never noticed this before to be honest, but I did notice it when seeing a repeat of the reactions on tonight's ITT.

Does it not show: arrogance and competitiveness - both things that many many many many female performers have been accused of in the past - yet nary a peep about these two suffering those "bad" qualities.

No, we can't stop them from fixing the leaderboard so the judges are literally handpicking the finalists, since last year. It's disgraceful to ignore the public opinion despite the fact that they keep asking people to vote.

Well I'll have a go at emailing ITT and point out the dance off system in the semi fianls is und=fair. When it gets to that stage it shoulld be who the public want in ths semi finals.

Not the judges- they should have nopower beyond the initial scoring

Could just see Arlene's face if that happened