This is quite true. The women were significantly better than the men from the first weeks. However, the demographic of the male contestants this year isn't that different from last year. The girls were much better then too and the only young, fit males with notable dance ability were Matt and Gethin.

The only difference is that Tom and Austin were obviously streets ahead of the rest of the guys from day one whereas Matt and Gethin were a bit rubbish at the start and improved. This led to a bit more suspense (plus there was the almost universal appeal of Alesha which transcended set patterns of voting).

I have no problem with putting in more young, fit males to even things out a bit () but I think it might make it even harder for a girl to win.

A female winning is more difficult always on a show like this but it is even more difficult if a couple of guys build up a massive fan base from so early on. I know on SCD threads on other sites these two have been down as winners & it is now that whatever dance they do they are being supported.

I do appreciate what you're saying (and agree) but don't you think that's pretty much true of all the celebs at this stage. I don't imagine there are many viewers out there who would now think, "Well I like X and Y but they didn't wow me last night so I won't vote for them." People have now established their favourites and, yes, will vote for them come what may. I don't think that's significantly less true of the females, just that they have fewer die-hard fans behaving like this because they have fewer fans full stop.

I do think it's time that the BBC upped the ratio of real male contenders though. Although I still think it may lower the chances of a female winning even further, I see what you're saying. Because Austin and Tom were so good from the start, they built up a high quantity of "come what may" fans even before the male and female only weeks had finished, thus harming the chances of the girls who were much closer ability wise.