... just on the off-chance any producers read this forum.

There is a lot of heat and bad feeling in some threads here at the moment, and a lot seems to centre on the way the judges vote. I have wondered for a while about this, and I would propose the following:

- Let the judges comment, but don't reveal their votes till the results show. That may eliminate some of the panic/sympathy votes for people in the bottom.

- Let the judging go as for a real dance contest, i.e. the judges rank the couples, so for 12 couples, they each have panels from 1-12 and use each only once. That way, no more ridiculous over/undermarking and vast differences between Craig and Len.

- Reveal the way the couples were ranked by the public. That's what people pay for with the call charges, after all. It will also make the process more transparent and may prevent all the "FIX" threads...

Personally, I would also prefer if each couple would do the same dance each week, because you have a more direct comparison, but I can see how that may become boring for some viewers.

Just go back to how it used to be would be my suggestion.No dance off just straight lowest combined total and leave it at that

Or, if they feel they really must have a dance off just have it until the 2 dance a couple situation kicks in, and then go back to lowest combined judges/public score leaves.

(For the first half of the series, only give the judges paddles for one through to 5 and watch Len panic!)

Oh evil, I love it!

Or alternatively have a turn and turn about week with half the couples doing one sort of ballroom and the other one sort of Latin & then the opposite the next week. This would avoid the "boring" tag all one sort of dance would produce and they could also do dances of equal difficulty perhaps starting with easier to learn ones & therefore a more level playing field (with a judges dance off for all these weeks). This could continue until it is time to do 2 dances each when it could become only the public choice as to who goes.

I think that the best suggestion so far, has been to have guest judges every week, and let the public vote decide all the way through.

Yes, I'm inclined to agree. I can't see there'd be any value in tampering with the voting system beyond a full or partial return to the basic format. So either scrap the dance-off entirely, or at least only keep it until the two dance stage. Beyond that it gives the judges too much power, and that in turn seems to result in an increase in the public's anti-judge vote.