I did say i'd let people know when they replied, so here is my e-mail and response...


MY E-MAIL

Please get rid of the ridiculous dance-off! I complained last year when Gethin went when he blatantly got more votes than Matt and should have been in the final. Now this year the judges are ruining the results because they are keeping the unpopular couples in. Rachel and Lisa are not and never will be popular with the viewers. I'd go as far as to say they were the least popular couples in the final 7. Christine, Jodie and John were all more popular than this pair. So why are they still here? This is the public's show. We do not have 50% of the decision! Please stop pretending that we have any say in the result at all. It would be much fairer to go back to the original system of the person with the lowest combined score going out.

We now either have a final with Tom and a girl = Tom landslide, or Lisa v Rachel where nobody cares who wins. Personally I don't care about any of the couples because my favourites are long gone.

Please producers see some sense and give us back the power we used to have to keep OUR show entertaining.


BBC RESPONSE

Thanks for your e-mail regarding 'Strictly Come Dancing'. I appreciate you're unhappy with the format of the show and note you feel the dance off should be removed. I understand you believe the judges are keeping the unpopular contestants in and the viewers aren't given enough say in the outcome of the competition. The viewers and judges vote is still vital to keeping favourite contestants in the competition. But following audience research we found that viewers appreciate the expert knowledge of the judges and like them to make decisions about who stays and goes. As you're aware the viewers' and judges' vote determine which two couples are in the bottom, the judges then make the final decision based purely on the repeat performance in the results show. We must add that the viewers vote is really important as it determines who is in the bottom two so they must vote to keep their favourites out of the danger zone. But it is then be up to the judges to save one of the bottom two couples. Feedback like your own helps to inform the discussion about a programme's direction and content and the reactions of our audiences are closely studied by our producers and senior management to ensure the right judgement is being made about what is engaging and enjoyable to the audience in general. I recognise you believe the viewers' vote should have more importance in the programme and Please be assured that your comments have been included in our audience log. This is circulated widely within the BBC and made available to many BBC staff, including members of the BBC Executive Board, channel controllers and other senior managers. The audience logs are seen as important documents that can help shape decisions about future programming and content. The logs are also published on the BBC's intranet site, so are available for all BBC staff to view. Thanks again for taking the time to contact us with the strength of your concerns.



Now admittedly i'm fairly happy with their response. But how many of you actually like the dance-off? I was under the impression MOST people did not like it. Please post back to correct me if you disagree. Where did they do this research?

The dance off isn't a perfect system by all means but I'd prefer it to stay. We have seen some stunning performances when the dancers are put in that situation and in my opinion it shows who is good under pressure.

I dread to think who they asked!!!!

Do you vote?

Only in the final

From what I've read from posters here (and I realise they're only a tiny proportion of viewers), it seems that the majority of people woul be in favour of scrapping the dance off when it gets to the later stages (two dance stage or quarter final have been mentioned) but keeping it in the earlier rounds.

I emailed the bbc to register my concern about the dance off in the later rounds of the competition (just before Austin went out) but I haven't received a reply as yet. However, it should have gone down as another viewer concerned about the dance off as it stands at present.

I like the dance off.

It's interesting that you got such a personal response.

I wonder how old that audience research is as far as the dance-off is concerned. It looks to me that there's a lot of spite-the-judges or spite-the-dance-off voting going on, I can't believe they don't see that, especially this year.

Someone should send the BBC that whole thread about whether or not the dance-off is still necessary, there's quite a few thoughtful comments.
Last edited by Philly1234 : 16-12-2008 at 18:23

Dance off c***

Yes, this is how I feel. With two dances to score, the judges have plenty of input.

I realise things are unlikely to change, though, especially since they received good feedback on it.

You what?

The statement says they've received good feedback as to the judges playing a role in the voting system. It doesn't mention anything about doing research as to how people feel about the dance-off.

I don't mind the judges having final say so much, but I'd rather the dance off be scrapped, and have the judges just save who they want, absed on their opinion of their overall standard. Tying it solely to one dance is too narrow. The time saved in repeat dances could be used to make the end of the results show less rushed, and maybe have a proper "goodbye dance".

How do you know that you can't unless the BBC release voting figures you will never know how popular or unpopular someone is until the final - just because you don't like those particular contestants doesn't mean to say everyone does

"Rachel and Lisa are not and never will be popular with the viewers.."

But they can't half dance and the best dancers made it to the end, which is as it should be imo.

I'd like the dance-offs to stay.
Keeps my adrenalin flowing

I'm basing that on the fact Lisa and Rachel have both been bottom 2 numerous times having got less votes than those much lower on the leaderboard.

i don't care how they decide who goes through, as long as they put the results back to saturday night. that's what bugs me more.

I think the dance off should stay and the judges should be the ones to decide which of the two bottom couples is staying.

BUT I think they should stop the judges' leaderboard. They should be allowed to give their professional comments/critique of the performances but not award any points. That way, it would be just down to the public vote to decide who is in the dance off, based on the performances together with the judges' comments.

I hate the dance off who wants to watch the least popular dances again, boring. The judges can have one vote each for a dancer (if they must) if tied then the vote goes back to the public. I still prefer my custard tart idea.

Although, kassieq, they might not actually be the least popular dances.

That's true, but until the beeb limit the amount of votes from each phone to stop mega multiple voting we have to assume they are. Still find it boring, but then I have a short attention span, and I know we will be treated to at least a dozen recaps on ITT.

i like it ... but after the last four i think it should stop

I agree with you totally about the dance off, I think it should be scrapped. The judges are being given too much power and it is supposed to be an entertainment show that the public have a say in about who stays and who goes.

I'm fine with the dance-off, absolutely fine. The GBP - many admit - votes for the cutest/sexiest/underdoggiest, and the judges final say tries to balance that out and bring it back to the dancing. IMO.

I'd like to see it changed so that you can only vote for say the bottom half of the table on any given week - so at least the better dancers are not put in danger simply because of mid table syndrome - I doubt it'd happen tho

I definitely support the dance off - it's clear the judges don't abuse their power by conspiring to put certain people at the bottom, since when it happened to Tom, this fiasco resulted. And they could easily have got rid of John Sergeant if they had been willing to "rig" their own element of the voting.

It's clear to see from various threads on this and other forums that some people take strong likes and dislikes for certain people and this motivates their voting, irrespective of the dancing. The dance-off enables the judges to curb the public's ability to disregard the actual dancing and promote one person or victimise another. The judges' ability to do this is limited and I think it should stay that way. Now we have got to the end of the competition it seems right that the public should have the final say in who actually wins, but I don't think the dance-off should be scrapped, especially since it enables "popular" but less talented dancers like Austin to be eliminated.