My hubby was out on a xmas do last night and wont watch the rest of series now as cannot believe Austin has gone.
Austin had never been in the bottom 2 before whereas Lisa has and I really dont trust the judges motives anymore.

It narks me that the judges basically are getting to pick who they want in the final.

But Austin hasn't deserved a 40. I can't work out what has gone wrong for Austin. Having watched the first show I thought it was going to be another Alesha situation where the winner was evident from the off. As the judges said it was the best ever 1st dance from a male contestant. But - he just didn't maintain it. Given how good he was you'd have expected him to keep getting better & better but he just didn't. Did he know he was coming in SCD for a few months & spend more time training in advance of that first dance so he was ahead to begin with. I do wonder now. Austin was my fave male since the beginning but not last night. Tom out performed him by quite a margin.

But he hasn't danced in the Christmas special, which was what the post you replied to was talking about.

I just think he had a bad week - the AS should have been amazing but was a real let down. I don't know what Erin was thinking of with that choreography. The lifts were superb but came too late to save the whole dance from being quite boring. Had it had more of a wow factor, he may well have been able to dance that in the dance off and been saved. However, that said, it seems ridiculous to me that the judges saved someone that the public have put in the bottom two three times now against someone there for the first time. Austin could quite possibly have won this year or at least have made the final more interesting.

And me too. I felt Rachel was over-marked too. I'm not saying the judges aren't judging as they see fit - but I find it hard to believe three dances were worth 39 and one only 34. I felt Rachel's tango had serious flaws and hubbie saw faults in Lisa's waltz early on too - he felt something didn't look right. I wouldn't say the judges are fixing things but I just didn't feel fair to me.

Judges don't seem to get however high they mark Lisa and Rachel the public don't agree and unless Tom is bottom next week (which I'll get very grumpy if that happens) they may as well hand him the trophy now.

I agree with you regarding Tom last night, hes actually my favourite now as its not all about who is technically the best for me i have to actualy like the person too and enjoy them dancing.
However I dont agree that Austin didnt keep up his good standard . His paso was amazing, probably one of if not the best dances of the series for me and that was just last week!
I just think at this stage in the competition the judges should really be voting for who is most likely to win. One good dance shouldnt be enough, it should be about who is consistently up there and could give the other finalist a run for there money

I do think Austin gave the worst performances last night. But its a shame he and Erin have left, especially when he can be much better than he was last night. Sometimes people in his position luck out but he didn't

I hate all these conspiracy theories. Many are twisted to suit the poster's POV.

How bored I am with "performance" and "charisma' being voted in again and again over genuine ability. Thank God for the judges.