Best post of the evening!

No....
To begin with
Judges get 50%
Public get 50%

Lowest marked go into the bottom two, whereupon the judges get 100% say in who goes.

So there are three 'stages' of decisions/voting and from those three, the judges get to choose two. Hence....two thirds of the decision, so 'half judges/half public' isn't an accurate description
Last edited by jessca : 07-12-2008 at 00:46

As opposed to vote for the funniest dancer or the hunkiest male because all the competitive dancers have gone. If the public vote on the dancing there's nothing wrong with anyone getting to the final. If the people there don't have fanbases for something else it would actually be a true competition. The alternative way there's no difference in a Tom- Austin or a JS- Austin final - the most popular one is going to win regardless whether its very close or a slam dunk in dancing terms..

Money makes the world go round, and I don't believe it's a coincidence that Tom and Rachel are signed up for the tour, they'll be the final two.

You say that with such authority - as if it's a fact - but I'm afraid you're still wrong.

In this series alone the DS polls were wrong every week about John Sergeant - and that's without all the other times the 'enthusiasts' in here have been out of step with the rest of the voting public.

There is no way that there should be a dance off next week. I'd lay odds (and a lot of my own hard-earned (well, earned anyway) cash) that the guys were one and two (in whichever order) with the public tonight and have been ahead of the girls since the start.

Okay, so the judging/es has/have got one of the girls to the final. I can take that. However, it's still highly possible for Tom to go next week. That would just be wrong IMO. Indications are that the public wanted an all-male final. I don't care how many posters reiterate that more people start voting now and that it's still possible for a female to pick up enough support to win this. Yes, it's possible but it's also possible that a group of male strippers could gatecrash next week's show and bring it to a standstill. That aint going to happen either. But it's possible. The only way for a girl to win this now is for Tom to go before the final. And I'm pretty sure that the only way for that to happen is for him to finish bottom of the leaderboard next week.

The public wanted a Tom/Austin final. Austin has now gone. That's fair enough. Dance off until the final three couples has been decided. That was always the case. But if Tom goes next week, the public get a final in which neither of their two favourites compete. Not right. Not right at all. Dance wise, all of the final four were/are very good. They've all topped the leaderboard at one time or another. The public's favourite should make the final two.

The DS polls have never been wrong about the most popular contestant. Jill, Darren, Mark and Alesha all came out on top here.

They have always been unreliable as regards the duffers - we tend to like them less than the general public (hence Kate staying in yet consistently being bottom of our vote).

But that's the point - the public did vote. And their choice has been roundly ignored. A proven unpopular dancer has gone through over one who was likely the most popular. That doesn't fit with the 'you decide' mantra of the show.

Austin could have gotten 1million votes tonight and the other three shared 10 between them and he still would have gone. When you're this close to the final that doesn't sit right with me at all and goes further from the original premise of the show. I've not always agree with the public's choice but always been fairly pragmatic about it. This situation however leaves me feeling a bit disillusioned about the whole thing.

Ok... well that changes the meaning of what you said completely...

We've gone from "...the DS polls have never been wrong..." to "the DS polls have never been wrong about certain people, some of the time..."

But that's ok, at least now you're accepting that they're fallible.

don't believe in conspiracy theories (at least for SCD! but as for the moon landing ) but just think in last few weeks every dancer who made me smile has gone (John, Jodie, Christine and now Austin) and really don't care about final 3 at all - dull, duller and dullest you decide - I don't dislike any of them but i also don't really like any of them! Anyway I won't be watching as really don't care any more and yes I am someone who enjoys the dancing but also watches for the entertainment! OK who's left in X-Factor

Also the final is so obvious - if Tom gets there he wins! :yawn: If its Lisa and Rachel who knows? but they certainly didn't get there by public vote and feel for them as may be least popular strictly winners ever!

They're talking about changing the rules so you can only be bottom of the leaderboard with the judges three times before you automatically leave the competition - without a public vote or dance off, even.

It's just to try and prevent another John Sargeant situation.

Utter farce if you ask me.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...e-Dancing.html

Well considering I've seen every SCD poll on here since the start I think I'm qualified enough to judge their accuracy.

Those 'certain people' are the most popular contestants and that 'some of the time' is every year. But just to reiterate because apparently you can't interpret what I've said: the DS poll has never been wrong about who is most popular. Austin is most popular on our poll, hence he's very likely most popular overall.

It was obvious from the marking tonight that they wanted Austin out. IMO he was undermarked when they were freely giving away 9's and 10's to people .. even when mistakes were pointed out (ie Rachel losing her balance) .. Lisa has improved a lot but IMO they have been overpraising her and it's obvious that they wanted Austin to be bottom of the judges score chart so that they could get rid of one of the boys and prevent a boy/boy final.

Perhaps they wanted to prevent another male sports star (rugby players,cricketers) from getting to the final/winning.

Personally I find the two girls dull and boring to watch .. no matter how technically good they are ... Austin added a sparkle and great entertainment to the show .. and unlike John Sargeant he was also a really good dancer ... so IMO had it all .. I'm sorry to see Erin and him go .... kind of takes the shine of the next shows for me.

LOL

No - that's not what you said at all! But if that's what you need to tell yourself.... ok, then. x

But not according to the "leaked votes" from the People. According to that, Tom was the most popular of the couples left.

And thats several weeks ago,things change, voters switch as their favourites go. What was true then isn't necessarily true now

If that rule gets adopted then I might just jolly well explode - IMO it smacks of 'all marks are equal, but some are more equal than others'

Thoroughly, thoroughly fed up with the judges this year - they've been given so much power and yet it's still not enough for them! If you don't like the rules then don't bloody participate as a judge...if you're prepared to pick up your wageslip, then do your job and stop sodding WHINING!

I swear...if any of the judges say tomorrow 'It's never easy...' or 'I think both kupples were great...' then I will self-combust.

Totally agree. Austin has been going backwards over the last few weeks in terms of his peformances. Or shall I say standing still while others have overtaken him. I'm sure he was scoring well with public when he was 'the best' but votes will move around with the wider audience based on the dances they see on the night. They aren't part of fan clubs like folks on here are - voting for a couple no matter how well or badly they perform.

Just pointing out that there is contrary evidence to the DS polls.

I think that Austin and Tom's popularity may well have been interchangeable week on week but what I have believed for a long time now and continue to believe is that both men were/are a hell of a lot more popular than both women and no amount of postings about how voting patterns can change and that many new voters join the party at this stage will convince me otherwise. I wish it had been an all male final as that would have been impossible to predict (despite the apparently incontrovertible evidence of the DS poll ). However, now that that's an impossibility, I only hope that the public's favourite is not eliminated next week. I'm sure in my own mind that one of the public's top two went out tonight. Although an all-female final would now be better in terms of unpredictability, I think it would be an injustice if the other one of the public's top two went next week.

I agree that the two guys (after JS left) have been getting the most votes. The trouble is that the producers didn't put enough decent male dancers into the show so these two stood out in show 1 & pulled in the male totty vote. (Hope next year that they put more decent male dancers into show). Interestingly reading other forums tonight folks are expecting Austin to be in the dance off & probably go. Realism rather than expectation based on what has gone before has taken over. Tom will have topped the vote tonight.

Why would the judges possibly want two girls over Tom unless the two girls were better? On tonights performances Tom would probably have stayed next week over Lisa. There's no reason other than sex appeal why Tom and Austin should be the most popular now (its hardly a massive lead on the charisma front or effort or improvement and the girls have stronger relationships with their partners) Its not even clear how big Tom's lead is, whether Austin was even close to him or if there are enough uncommitted votes to let anyone win left. To take your analogy its possible that a gang of chippendales who turned up now would also be voted into the final by the public - which seems a prety good recommendation for the dance off. The nightmare thought ocurs it could have been a naked JS for that matter.

The better solution would be to have all three people in the final by arguing that JS 's going has created an extra unneccesary hurdle for them to jump over. The BBC isn't up to moving the final forward a week though so we either have someone popular and someone probably less so or we have the best two left which at least allows the closest competition regardless.

Excellent idea!

This series it's worked for Lisa Snowdon,as yes 3 times in the bottom 2 and still she's saved, so where's the credibility?As you say utter farce

Ellie

1) I'm not saying the judges will manipulate the result. I'm saying it could be bloody close on the leaderboard and the dance off scenario means that the public's favourite could be eliminate. I really don't agree with that with only three couples left.

2) Now you're just being facetious. My analogy was to show that while things can be quoted as "possible", there isn't a snowball in hell's chance of them happening. Which is also true of your analogy and provides no recommendation for the dance off whatsoever.

3) This I agree with. A three couple final and we wouldn't be having this disagreement. And the most popular couple would win.

4) Not necessarily. Only the "best" on the night. Which with three couples of a high standard isn't necessarily any more fair than a straightforward popularity contest. Technique, performance and, most importantly, personal preference all come into play with the judges too.

Are we being serious? This thread is very silly.

I absolutely adored tonight's show! There were many high points from all dancers. I wanted Austin and Erin to win, but they weren't as good on the night, and at this stage, because I'm seeing amazing dancing and loving it, I'm okay with him leaving. No judges/producers conspiracy, no big controversy... just the best SCD quarter I've ever seen