Yep, I agree with the dance offs.

As for the marking, it's all down to personal opinion. Last week I thought Rachel was overmarked, this week I thought her waltz was very slightly overmarked but her Paso undermarked, so generally even itself out.

I think yesterday was a display of 'save Lisa', considering how her reasonable Latin outscored everyone minus Austin. But as I say, it's a personal opinion. I do think judges week on week have the same objective - save the best dancers - and will do as much as they can to succeed.

Everything that occurs that is Strictly-related is our business.

And I don't need to know the three of them to know what happned - Vincent got shafted, and Matt was partly responsible.

You have no more idea than anyone else what happened, though your prejudices are clear. But do I take it from that, that you really think that the personal life of everyone who appears on Strictly is your business.

I strongly disagree.

Agree with you there lucy. As Flavia said her relationship with Vincent was on the rocks and she left him at the start of the competition plus you cannot take anyone from anyone else!! Also re: the dancing Matt was voted on for Semi final week by the public so not his choice and then he danced better than Gethen on semi final week and scored higher and gave an amazing five dances in the final.

Personally I do not agree with the dance off and think it should be based on the old way of the public vote and then everyone knows who is actually knocked out by public not judges.

Can we talk about Tom please??

Not last year..... AGAIN!!

... personally I think Rachel is being "pushed" by the judges, but she lacks public support so personally I can see a Tom/Austin final...

.... and to be VEEEEERRRY cynical here- OK, SCD is no longer donating to charity from the phone votes?? So if the judges want Rachel in the finals but she has little public support.....

.. wouldnt it be more sensible from a profit making POV to have 2 finalists that ARE popular with the voting public so as to raise for revenue for the BBC??

(Sorry about being a raving cynic there!!)

I really do hope that Tom does not go this week as I think he is the better all round dancer. I would choose a person who can do ballroom and latin adequately to someone who can just excel at one.
As regards the judges, is there not a point where they bow out of the competition so to speak ? I cannot say as I paid much attention in previous series.
This has already happened on xfactor. Judges give their comments but its all down to the public vote now !
I feel that if they are expecting the public to vote then at this stage the judges should not be involved in the final outcome.

That would make sense but the BBC don't make any money/profits from the calls apparently. I think it goes against the terms of their charter. The charges incurred go towards paying the telephone operator/subscriber.

They must get a lot then!!

If the format is the same as last year (dance off right up to semi final) then both boys could be eliminated and both girls could get to the final.

I don't agree with a dance off in a three couple semi final. The judges have the power to vote off the most popular couple from three. That would not have been the case in a three couple final (I'm sure that time constraints would mean no dance off there). I just think it's wrong that the public's favourite could be booted off the show with just three couples left. It's a realistic possibility that this happened last year but I won't go any further than that.

I do not want this to happen again. The couples are very closely matched on ability and the public should be able to feel safe in the knowledge that at least one of their favourites (i.e. the top two with the public next week) will be in the final. Unfortunately, due to the format of the show they can't.

The likeliest outcome is a male versus female final.

If both boys get to the semi final one of them will go automatically to the final because of the public vote. That would leave a dance off between the other boy and one of the girls, and I think the judges have shown that they favour both Lisa and Rachel, although they may find it easier to choose either of them over Tom than Austin.

This week's quater final will probably show which of the boys is more popular with the public. Unless he does something spectacular, Tom needs to avoid the dance-off. To do that he needs to finish in the top two with the judges, or top with the public.

If there is only one boy in the semi final, then he will go through to the final, unless he finishes third with the judges and the top girl with the judges finishes second with the public. I would be very suspicious in this circumstance, if the girls finished joint top with the judges. If either of these happen, then the judges would be able to have an all girl final, if that is what they want.

The chances of an all male final are remote because the judges don't appear to want that. They appear very keen to get one of the girls into the final.

The exciting thing now about this contest is that it is difficult to tell which male and which female will get to the final - Tom or Austin, which may be decided by the public and Rachel or Lisa, which will probably be decided by the judges.

Sorry this is nuts. So far the judges have twice or three time said that Tom would go all the way and championship. Additionally, Tom was in the bottom two of the judges leaderboard, and he went through, which shows he has public support. I know we are all fearful for our favourites, but sometimes I shake my head in disbelief about the "ill placed" assumption of favouritism.

I think if Tom and Austin were in the dance off, it probably would depend on the dance off, and what mood Len is in.

However, from public support I agree that the dance off might be between Lisa and Rachel next week (this is based on the fact that they both have been multiple times in the dance off and that it won't matter if they are placed on top, because there only four couples left).

I think they are treating Tom more critically than anyone else

Austin's paso made me LAUGH OUT LOUD, it was preposterous and no WAY worth 3 10s!! For once in my life I totally agreed with Len Goodman on that score

I would far rather watch Tom, but it seems they've chosen the winner already (and it's a pigeon-toed winner who can't straighten his arms but at least he dances like a blokezzzzzzzzzzzz)

All the evidence we have suggests that if it's a male/female final, whichever boy is there will romp home. In a Tom/Austin or Lisa/Rachel final, ironically, it would be very open and supenseful.

Here's a question:

Say that Lisa continues to improve and the judges have her top of the leader board (4 pts), with the rest being Rachel 3pts, Austin 2pts and Tom 1 pt.

On evidence from the newspaper leak, this is an order which could be exactly reversed by the public vote. So everyone would have 5 points.

Would the two highest on the public vote go through, and the two girls go into the dance-off?

I don't think the judges will allow this to happen, I think they'll sacrifice Lisa, whatever the quality of her dances, to get their favourite Rachel into the semi, and then into the final, probably at the expense of Tom.

Yes; if that happened, the public vote rules. I think the judges would save whichever celebrity danced the best both in the quarter-final and semi-final dance-offs.

I agree 100%.

I also agree. Tom and to a lesser degree Lisa are the only "entertaining" couples left.

Rachel leaves me cold. Techincally great but really really boring. Tom is more of your Daren Gough. Not technically amazing but makes up for it in entertainment and enjoyment.

Austin - Im going off him. He has become soooo desperate to win all of a sudden.

Nice to see the boys congratulating each other when names announced. R&V did not even clap that Tom was safe.

I actually think the judges are mad if they don't go for a boy/boy final - with the proviso both of them deserve it via their dancing. Either boy in the final is going to beat either girl, a Tom/Ausin final is far more difficult to call, as is, I suppose a Lisa/Rachel final.

Tom and Austin are obviously doing well in the public vote, far better then either girl - so it seems obvious one will get to the final on the public vote, Austin's been near to trouble twice and pulled away without need of the dance off, Tom was in potential trouble this week, and jumped free of trouble on the public vote - either time the girls have been in danger they've been straight into the dance off. Therefore it's fairly obviously, come the final, a boy will win out against a girl in the public vote - far less easy to call who'd win out of Tom and Austin.

Neither do I it could conceivably mean that Tom is kicked off, if we have Lisa v Rachel in the dance off next week, then that leaves one of them plus either Tom or Austin for the next week, I really don't think the judges should decide so close to the final, it is like the final but spread over 2 weeks

To answer your question if there is a tie in the scores then the couple with the highest public vote takes presedence over the couple with the lowest score.

so if they are all on 5 points (which could happen if the judges put them on the leader board in the reverse order of public popularity)then the two couples that were the bottom with the public vote would to into the dance off.

Judges 4 public 1 = 5 couple 1
Judges 3 public 2 = 5 couple 2
Judges 2 public 3 = 5 couple 3
Judges 1 public 4 = 5 couple 4

In this scenario couple 1 and 2 would be in the dance off as they only got 1 & 2 points from the public.

Yes I agree, very predictable winner if it`s boy/girl final, unlike last year where both finalists had been in a dance-off.

The main reason to have Tom and Austin in the final is that it will be more exciting, surely? Whatever you think about their dancing ( I happen to think they are the best two performers but that is purely subjective) it's clear as day now that they are getting the most public votes but we don't know which of them would win a final. Put either of them in a final against Rachel or Lisa and its obvious, unless the GBP has an amazing conversion, that the man will win. Which would make for a pretty dismal final.

It's weird because I see Austin more as Darren Gough in that he's got the build, frame, footwork and cheeky chappie persona he's also a sportsman with no previous dancing experience. Tom who is elegant and fluid is more like Colin Jackson except I don't think he's as good as Colin (not an insult because IMO Colin was the best male celeb the program's ever seen).

I think all four of them really want to win and make no bones about it and you shouldn't really vote or not vote for a person on that basis. Why is being competitive seen as a bad thing - especially in a sportsman where you be pretty rubbish if you didn't play to win?

I agree. All four remaining couples are evenly matched (in my non-expert opinion) and therefore the public should decide who ends up in the final. My fear is that Tom (who is now my favourite) is the judges' least favourite, and that if he is in the dance-off he will be eliminated before the final.

It looks from the voting on Saturday that the boys are getting the most public support. I think Rachel and Lisa will probably be in the dance off next week. As there are only four of them even if one of the girls is top of the leaderboard it will no longer be a guarantee of safety.