If they had kept Austin, who is a public favourite (although maybe not the favourite) then we would have had one of the closest fought semis and possibly final we have ever had in strictly. Instead they have kept Lisa who has no chance of winning whatsoever and thus handed the trophy to Tom.

The judges shouldn't have a second bite of the cherry at this stage.

They had two good dancers, Austen is also popular and entertaining, Lisa is neither. How many more chances is Lisa going to get when we the public (who afterall are what this show is all about) do not want to see her anymore?

Lisa is a good dancer actually, and has improved more than any other celebrity. I also find her entertaining and a lovely personality.

Sorry, but not all the public agree with you on this one.

The fact that she's been in the dance off 3 times rather suggests they do agree.

But not enough of the public agree with you to give her a hope in heck of winning and as such her place in the semi is pointless in terms of entertainment and keeping us guessing as to who is going to win.

I said she was a good dancer - however she doesn't have the public support to make it worthwhile her being there at this stage. She wouldn;t have been in the dance off so many times if she did.

You can't claim they've handed the trophy to Tom. We have no idea what will happen next week, if Tom ends up in the bottom two next week he could well go home ()

It's the nature of the competition I'm afraid. Though I do believe they should stop the dance off when it reaches the quarter finals, to make it a bit fairer...

You say Lisa has no chance of winning.

Excuse me - who would ever have thought that Lisa would beat Austin in a dance off?

And beat him she did, fair and square - no fixing, no favourites.

id really love to see Tom win but i dont think its a full gone conclusion.
I have a feeling Rachel might win. The judges love her and when it comes to the final theres a lot of new people watching who vote solely on the dancing.

i don't think its such a one horse race .. i think even lisa might have a chance ... completely depends upon how the dancing goes on saturday .. if lisa comes top shes in the final unless she buggers up her dance off ..... and i don't think rachel has any more support than lisa

Not all of them - hence the poster's comment.

I agree.

I think it's made it less predictable I thought we were certain to have an Austin & Tom final now I'm not so shure about whether Tom can make the final

And a lot of new people voting - I only actually vote for the final (although in times of great need it has been earlier )- and I tend to wait to see who impresses me on the night.

IMO the judges CLEARLY want Rachel to win... watch again that backstage analysis they did: RACHEL, RACHEL, RACHEL. Pity for them she's not terribly popular with the public.....

It was a given that the judges would keep Lisa over Austin in a dance off - they perceive her to be a better dancer and that is what they go on.

Lisa has no chance of winning of this. She doesn't have the support at all. Rachel has an outside chance of winning depending on how next week goes.

yeah im not sure either.
mind you every single year the person that dances first on the first show has made the final and this year that person was Tom! Hes got an obligation to make the final if the "curse" is going to last.

The judges judge the dancing, because they're judges, so their job is to judge the dancing. They judged that Lisa danced better than Austin tonight, and I agree with them.

I agree that Austin was very good, and did some great performances over the series, but last night he wasn't quite good enough.

I did think that she wasn't that popular with the public but tonight she went through on the public vote rather than being saved. Makes me think that people are getting to like her - for example, I've never voted for Rachel before but I adored her Tango and voted a few times last night because, on that dance, I felt she deserved to be in the semis

So he wasn't the best on the one night and he doesn't go through to the semis. He has been the best on many occasions and IMO that should have seen him through.

In the dance off she did Mama, but I've just posted on the results thread saying I'm willing to put my head above the parapet here and say Arlene and Bruno have over marked Lisa for weeks. They treat Lisa more favourably than any other celeb when it comes to her weaknesses.

Maybe only one mark per dance at a time, but enough to make a difference with a competition this close. Len''s attempts to compensate for Craig's low scores has also been a factor in Lisa getting this far.

I wouldn't say that all the judges want Lisa to make the final, but imho Arlene and Bruno do.

There. I've said it now.

But the public clearly are not getting Lisa otherwise she wouldn't have been in the dance off 3 times. Likewise, they're not getting Rachel either, and the only way Lisa has a chance in the final in terms of the public vote (which has all the power in the final) is if Rachel and herself are in the final.

What annoys me the most is that the judges are inconsistent - they say they vote for 'the performance in the dance off ) only and earlier in the series that was just not true.

They favoured Lisa tonight due to her ballroom - which admittedly is what she did in the dance off, luckily for her - so it suited the judges to 'stick to the rule', but they don't do this on every occasion.

At this rate they'll all have 'vote for Rachel' tattooed on their foreheads for next weeks show!

But the judges have to judge the dance off, Lisa was better in the dance off. If they had saved Austin on previous performances we would have all complained about favouritism.

Not necessarily. She was top of the leaderboard so all we actually know is that either
a) She outscored Lisa or
b) Tom outscored Austin

If b), she could even have finished bottom of the public vote.

I remember a rationalization from Arlene to save Kenny Logan because....he was a rugby player and a rugby player had got to the final the previous year.

They can change their criteria to suit themselves.

That's not how a knockout competition works, I'm afraid. If a runner wins their first three heats, but runs too slowly in the semi-final, then they won't get through to the final on their previous race times.

Arlene said as much when she saved Lisa - she commented on the choice of dances affecting the result. That's just the way it goes.