Agree with you ... but it still doesn't seem very fair or, more to the point, very good entertainment for the rest of the series. Unless the judges shaft Tom next week when they have their last chance we all know who the winner is going to be. Where's the fun in that?

Just because a fav of someone has had to go, the above post means a lot of circumstantial evidence!

I agree the judges protect there favs, but not to that extent.

Hehe.

I'm just glad I latched onto this nonsense last series and didn't bother to invest in any of the couples this time around. As a result I don't really care about any of them and wouldn't dream of voting.

At least I'll know for next time!

Thank you CybesVybes - I think I've got it now.

Still hold to the fact that it was all manipulated. Austin was by far the most entertaining - perhaps not the best technically but who wants to watch something that makes you want to poke you own eyes out through boredom?????

Bruno seemed gutted that Lisa had been placed below Tom. He'd clearly worked out the totals

This is a possible solution, but it would mean devoting time to practicing a third dance during the week, just in case, even though it would presumably be one they'd already performed to a high standard. I think this may detract from the quality of the two new dances they need to perform. I think a better solution would be to perform the weaker of their two dances of the night, which would mean that the couples would have to make sure both their dances were of the highest standard rather than being able to get away with a relatively weak dance at this stage in the competition.

Of course, an even better solution would be to scrap the dance off altogether, and let the public decide who goes as always used to happen.

I'm not sure it was a manipulation but for the judges to be able to vote out the most popular contestant over the likely least popular is what makes me so uncomfortable about this.

The dance off should have stopped last week imo, giving the power back to the public. This is the first time ever that the public favourite has gone out even though they got the vote and I think it will leave the rest of the series feeling rather hollow.

I haven't got as invested in this series as I have previous ones and I certainly don't feel as sad about this as I have about exits in the past (no, I still haven't got over Aled after 4 years) but I just feel really ill at ease with these turn of events.

The way this is going, Tom could very easily end up in the dance off next week and we could be left with a final between who appear to be around the 6th and 7th most popular contestants. How is that anything to be thrilled about?

Eminently sensible.

Exactly! It's utterly baffling that the producers are allowing this to occur. Although they'd only start to listen if ratings started to fall...

[quote=claire2281;29302439]I'm not sure it was a manipulation but for the judges to be able to vote out the most popular contestant over the likely least popular is what makes me so uncomfortable about this.

Absolutely - I'm sure there's no doubt that Austin was more popular with the audience vote than Lisa yet he still has to leave.

Just shows - public can go f**k themselves with their votes - it's up to the BBC who goes through.

[quote=boboboy;29302568]

Originally Posted by claire2281:
“I'm not sure it was a manipulation but for the judges to be able to vote out the most popular contestant over the likely least popular is what makes me so uncomfortable about this.”

Couldnt agree more bodoboy it happened last year with Gethin and this year with Austin! The best/most improved/most popular dancer does not win strictlyl anymore!!!

[quote=Chris1347;29302719]
Austin may have been the most popular but it I don't think he was the best or most improved.

Every time the judges mark the contestants they are affecting the outcome for that week. That is what they are there for, and I don't call it manipulation. I believe that they mark the dances honestly and give their true opinions. There is no conspiracy.

That is the most annoying part. The first time Austin gets into the bottom two and he's out whilst drippy Lisa sails through again - how many times is that she has landed there? What does that say about how much public support she is getting?

The result just seems fishy - it probably isn't, but it comes across like that, especially if you don't like the contestant who is favoured by the system! If Lisa had gone, I'm sure I would have felt was right with the show.

He hasn't perfromed well every week though. He has had bad (or less good) weeks. Lisa and Tom had some as well. His came at the wrong time. The others also picked up momentum at the wrong time. He also seemed to have more trouble learning two dances a week and his initial lead was erroded as the others put in the training.

The final 4 I think were most people's idea of the best dancers. A final 4 of Christine, JS, Austin and Tom which is what popularity polls would have given would have been pretty absurd and as predictable..

Agree completely.
Week by week they are judged. Nothing is ever completely fair, dance is not mathematics.

Can somebody clarify this for me please?

Are the judges manipulating by having Austin at the bottom or is it the other placings?

It seems they want Austin out, for some reason. 39 for everyone else, and 34 for him. (They were better, though.)

What makes you think Austin was the public favourite? The evidence,such as is, suggests Tom is.

If the real public favourite was allowed to proceed to the final, JS would be winning the series. Its a dancing compettion not IAC or Big Brother, so its hardly surprising if the rules are such that the best dancers get nearest to the end. The alternative - the dire, uncompetitive, poor quality, 2006 final is far worse than the alternative.

But it's equally absurd for the competition to now continue without the public favourite...

It just seems to have really tarnished the series. Rachel and Lisa appear to be the 6th and 7th most popular couples in the competition - if the final is between them, how on earth does that do the show or the public any favours? Unpopular dancers have got to the final before (Zoe for example) but to have the final filled with them will leave a massive anticlimax imo.

With any luck Tom will make it through next week. Although he will then undoubtedly walk the final and it will hardly be the competition it could have been.

To get a girl/boy final, the judges had to get a boy in the dance off tonight. They decided that would be Austin as he didn't have the audience ratings that Tom did. Once they got a boy in the dance off, they could vote him off guaranteeing a boy/girl (or at least a girl/girl but probably not likely considering Tom's audience approval) final.

Once they voted Austin last, they had almost guaranteed him being in the bottom two - albeit he probably got twice (at least) as many votes as either of the girls.

They then vote him off guaranteeing a girl/boy final - and, by the way, guaranteeing a TOM victory.

No it doesn't. The poll on here has NEVER been wrong about the public favourite. There are also various others that put Austin at the top week on week. The 'evidence' suggests Austin was the preferred contestant of most.

THEY, huh?

It's all the fault of THEM.

THEY'RE EVIL!


Oooh, has it been The Day Strictly Died for you?

Just asking...

You have to move Austin up and change Lisa and Rachel's public votes around to change the outcome. It turns into an argument that everything was fixed even if the leaderboard was in a perfectly credible order. Every change advantageous to Austin is needed and none of the ones that would leave the others where they are or put Tom behind Lisa too. Another variant ends up arguing that even the public vote was fixed so Tom beat Austin and/or Rachel beat Lisa.