Last year Gethin was dumped out by the judges and in my opinion would have won if allowed through to the final. Not because he was the best dancer but because he was more popular ( and i say this as someone who wanted Alesha to win)
This year Austin is dumped out in a similar manner. Again I feel he would have been the public favourite. Again I'm no Austin fan .
My own opinion is that the show will inevitably be damaged by over massaging of the Leader Board to promote the best dancers over popular public figures. On the other hand it would be nice to see the public vote for a woman!

Jill halfpenny and Natasha thingy?

maybe im biased but i dont think Gethin was more popular, Okay he beat Alesha that one week but then so did Matt. It didnt change the fact that Alesha beat Matt in the final. She was hugely popular and won a lot of online polls.
She had only been in the dance off once in the whole show and initially she was in !danger zones" like coming 4th in the leaderboard salsa week. When Rachel was fourth she was in the dance off as was Lisa.
Also jill and Natasha won without a judges vote so of course women can win.

Yep I realise that, but that was along time ago. Has the show and perhaps the audience not changed a lot since then ?

Rigging = ranking by ability?

Erm, didn't a woman win last year? In fact 3 women have won but only 2 men have

Personally I dont feel the judges did massage the leaderboard last night - for me (and I do realise that is a matter of opinion) Rachel was the best overall and Austin the worst on the night, so it was a fair result

Rigging = Rachel most certainly overmarked in my humble opinion.

So you didn't think Rachel was the best, therefore the board is rigged?

As far as I'm aware, the only thread for last night with people raving about how amazing they were was for Rachel.

Overmarked, perhaps, in the sense that all of their scores are inflated - but overranked? I don't think so.

Yes a woman did win last year, my original post states how I believe this would not have happened but for the judges intervention ( I say this as an Alesha fan) The other two women were from series one and two I believe, when the public did back women, were there any serious male contenders?

Gethin was marked reasonably fairly last year. Matt Di was probably overmarked for his waltz but the positions were correct overall IMO. I don't agree with the dance off in a three couple semi and Gethin may or may not have been more popular than Alesha (we'll never know). However, I think Alesha was placed at the top of the leaderboard on merit and got to the final because she was a fabulous dancer and the public liked her. No manipulation of the leaderboard necessary to get her there.

Week on week ( in my opinion ) the judges leader board has been manipulated to give the judges the best chance of overcoming public popular support. I. E. good dancers not popular with the public being given over inflated marks and rankings to keep them safe.

I totally agree that Alesha got there on merit and indeed won on merit, but my point is that Gethin would have been a much harder figure to beat on popular public support alone and that that is why the judges put Matt forward. It did not feel right at all at the time.

So why ask the question "if the judges didn't rig the leaderboard, would a female ever get to the final?" when you recognise that Alesha got to the final on merit...

Which was also the point of my post...

The public don't necessarily vote on dancing merit and without the judges support earlier in the comp she might not have made it?

I think you're clutching at straws now. Alesha made the final on merit without any manipulation and would always have done. Whether she would have won had Gethin been there instead of Matt is a pointless question as we will never know. But she would have got there, judges or no judges. However, I'll concede that she was an exception. She transcended the popular demographic.

yes she would as i said earlier she wasnt always top of the leaderboard. i dont think it was just her dancing that got her to the final. It was also her personality and partnership with Matt. She was a girls girl which meant people could relate to her more IMO.
She was only saved once by the judges and she porbably got more votes then letitia anyway.

However, tabithakitten, it is a valid question when you compare it to this year!

(As an Alesha-voter myself)

I'm not that diehard enough in my opinion on this to be desperately clutching at straws I posed the question as I was interested in others opinions including your own and wanted to hear them. Alesha did indeed transcend the popular demographic and I'm very glad indeed that she won.
I suppose the point I wanted to raise is, is it justifiable for the judges to sometimes balance out the popular demographic voting patterns and if it is, when is it too much ?

It's too much when the judges vote out the most popular contestant at the semi final stage. This may or may not have happened last year. And I also think there may be a real risk of it happening this year. But I'm somewhat obsessed by this.

Females in the final


Natasha Kaplinsky
Jill Halfpenny
Denise Lewis
Zoe Ball
Alesha Dixon

and if there had been a three person final is series 4 then Emma Bunton would have been in it.

That's compared to seven men.

The judges shouldn't be allowed to have the leader board and the dance off in the semi's, whether they mark fairly or not it still makes the public vote completely useless and that's unfair IMO.

Other shows have bottom two's but they don't have scoring, the judges have to much control when it gets down to the last 3/4.

I'd agree with that.

I was supporting Gethin last year, but could see that Alesha was an outstanding dancer. And have to say, as much as I shouted at the TV when Gethin went in the the semi's; I was flipping over the moon that Alesha won.

The judges can only manipulate the LB after the public have decided the bottom two.

It's all circumspect. and many of us won't agree with their decision, but that's life. Until Auntie beeb decides to do away with the judges vote from the quarters, we're going to have to live with it.

The leaderboard doesn't necessarily eradicate the public vote but the dance off may well do. I think that's a bit of an insult to the viewers.

Having both the leader board and the dance off makes the public vote unnecessary, whoever comes bottom of the leader board next week will be out regardless of where they came with the public.