This is for Tom fans

I would I like fair play- I'm old fashioned in that way

The judges have too much power and certainly favour Lisa and Rachel

Not what many said when JS was there... SCD fans are the greatest whingers i have come across!

I still think that dancing the worst dances would be fairer and this would be the case even if JS was still in it. However if JS was still in it then at least then there would have been a three-person final and he could work as a protest vote. I'd rather he won than Lisa quite frankly as least it's a public vote for a gracious professional.

I ain't a whinger! I have no objections to a dance off on Saturday. May the best person win, or rather the best dancer on the night.

Any Tom fans, or just the hypocritical ones?


Perhaps, but you are also pushing conspiracy and corruption in every thread you post in, to the point where it has started sound obsessive and is diluting your point.

The judges aren't exactly impartial- they openly favour the girls over Tom

I can understand Rachel- but Lisa is so one dimensional as a dancer- it was ridiculous saving her over Austin

Maybe the producers thought it was unfair that the best dancers weren't getting through to the final?

Maybe the judges favour Rachel and Lisa because they are better than Tom?

I like Tom, but maybe if he leaves on Saturday (which, let's face it, he probably won't even if he sits down on the stairs mid-dance) it will be because he wasn't as good as Rachel or Lisa! No conspiracy needed...

Not really, she danced better on the night and that is how the judges judge.

It seemed to many on this forum that the judges were favouring a boy/girl final - now it appears to be a girl/girl.

I think it all depends on how they dance on Saturday. Whoever the judges might personally like best, it's down to the dance.

But the great thing about Strictly when it started was that the public had equal power- and let's face it we haven't had a bad track record for picking finalists. We picked, Jill, Denise, Darren, Colin, Zoe, Mark and Matt from series 4. What was wrong there
O.K Chris Parker mad it to series 1 final- but apart from that we haven't been too far off the mark have we
It is like the judges don't trust us now

well no because then at least ONE public favourite would go through as there would be four people left.

Aled didn't make the final when he should have - Julian Clary did instead. In a danceoff situation, this perhaps would not have happened.

I realise that you're a big Tom fan, Footygirl, but you're really coming across as paranoid. Let's just sit back and enjoy the dancing without looking for a conspiracy in every word uttered and every action taken.

No, the public had more power than the judges because if there was a tie it was decided by the public vote. Now we still have that but the judges get an extra say as well.

I believe series three was the only final before the dance-off where the best dancers got to the final (and even then, as a huge Goughie fan, I can still accept he shouldn't have won as far as dance ability goes). I think it should have been
Series one: Natasha and Claire
Series two: Jill, Denise and Aled
Series four: two of Mark, Louisa and Emma
So yes, I think the public can be off the mark. I don't have a problem with that, in fact the two contestants I have most supported were Goughie and Matt Dawson, so I'm not going on the best dancer myself. But at the same time I don't particularly mind the judges having an extra say, because I think it produces the best final.

I don't really have any preference as to who gets to the final. But I think in terms of last year the judges choosing produced a really good final, so I don't have a problem with them choosing again this year.

And to answer the OP, I particularly would NOT want to abandon the dance-off if JS was still in, couldn't stand him!

I don't think it would have been an issue to be honest because he likely would have found it increasingly difficult to avoid the dance off before the semi.

The Aled situation still stings but Julian getting to the final was an indication of what Strictly is about. He did improve immesurably over the weeks and he was entertaining - and in an dance/entertainment programme that was the point.

I think, more to the point, none of the people thought of as the comedy turn have actually gone on to win it. The winner so far has always been the person who balances the twin requirments of dance ability and votability.

Just typed out a whole reply, but then realised that John could have been saved from the dance off (I think?) with 4 people in the semi. When its a 3 person semi the judges basically pick who goes through, whoever is bottom of their leaderboard is definitely in the danceoff which isn't fair.

I was/am a JS fan and am a TC fan. I voted for JS until he left and am now voting for TC. Why? I find them both entertaining!

I wish I'd realised the issue last year (but I was then following XF rather than SCD) because I would have moaned about it then. With a 4-person semi-final, the dance-off is OK, because the public's favourite will get through. With a 3-person semi-final, the dance-off isn't OK (IMO) as the public's favourite can be voted out by the judges. Since SCD is an entertainment show, with each week's participants decided by public vote, for the public's favourite not to be in the final, whether s/he be JS, TC or any of them, seems wrong to me.

I know the phone vote money doesn't go to charity, where does it go?

It isn't fair having a dance off at all at this stage. If the judges keep saying that these are the best 4 evah evah evah than have the courtesy of allowing the public who pay them the chance of picking who THEY would like to see in the final, it means more votes at the end of the day. More interest.

I never had an issue with JS staying. I was a bit exasperated but I don't believe he'd have made the final. Since series1 it would have gone against every grain of what the public tend to vote for in the end. Julian improved immeasurably over the show and that really is what it should all be about. The judges didn't have such rampant ego either that they were so bothered about it. I remember a clip of Len saying 'the final will be less if they're (Julian and Erin) are not in it.'

What I don't like about the dance off in the semi is that when it is 3 people in the semi then it seems to be the public fav vs the judges pick in the final as one goes through by the public vote and the judges can pick whoever they like whether the public rated them higher or not.

The worst thing is the person who get the most public votes can go out so what is the point of the vote??

I didn't like Julian Clary and thought Aled should have been in the final against Jill and Denise but I could see that the GBP voted differently to me now the show seems to be the public vs the judges. The Judges weren't as nasty to Chris or Julian as they were to John as they knew that eventually the right person wins (even though I didn't think Mark should have won either but he was the public pick).

Don't talk bilge. If smileycharlie's post is reasonably accurate then the only result the BBC/Producers/Judges would probably want to engineer is to ensure Tom doesn't finish bottom of the leaderboard.

There's no point in voting.

Unfortunately this series has devolved into a them and us with the public and the judges each attacking the other's choices and in the end it doesn't do the show any good.

I did appreciate Craig saying on Monday morning, 'when WE get the two WE want in the final, then the public can choose.' Well, thanks very much.

I don't like engineering. I don't mind the judges voting, rationally or irrationally. I would like to think that they are not voting to engineer a situation, but who knows. What I do mind is the public being encouraged to cough up lots of £££s when their chosen one doesn't have a hope of getting through.

'Vote for your favourite but you'd better hope that the judges think the same as you'.

Well, Len + AN Other at least.

So, if my favourite is bottom of the leader board, there is no point in me wasting my money on phone votes