To think that Strictly Come Dancing winners are chosen from the outset?

Oh yeah- forgot about that. Maybe that’s why they paired them up so they can go “oh stefan could totally do it but because she’s pregnant we won’t risk it” . This thread has made me a Steictly Conspiracist!! 🤣

Ore Oduba win was manipulated imo because they wanted a person of colour to win. BBC paid to fly in Gene Kelly's widow to be in the audience for Singin' in the Rain routine and he was lavishly praised. Danny Mac was the best dancer that year and yes, I'm still bitter 😆

I was a latecomer to Strictly, living abroad with no access to UK tv when it first started. I did enjoy the first few series that I was able to watch, although I found the first 4 or 5 weeks quite tedious as there was little "dancing" (i.e. basic, identifiable steps) and too much "choreography" (i.e. waving of arms around or lifts etc.).
It was also obvious from the camera angles (focus on faces/top halves of the body rather than whole body or footwork) who was considered "good".
I always wondered why the combined scores (judges and public vote) were never shown, so assumed there was some "weighting" going on. Unfortunately, as a result of Covid and the so-called strictly curse, I think the show has deteriorated in recent years.
I did watch on Saturday and last night. Was very surprised that La Voix was not in the dance off, so the power of the public vote, but totally agreed with C R-H on sending Chris home, because there was really very little Salsa content in his feet.
Is it rigged, hard to tell.
I do not think Vito and Ellie will win (and that would be a massive bias) because they are not a good enough dance partnership compared to others.
Where I am very disappointed is in who the "celebrities" are. In years gone by, you would know the celebrities from their various areas of expertise. Nowadays, I recognise them more afterwards as they have "been on Strictly".
Also, whatever happened to Joe MacFadden, who won a few years back? His was an excellent example of someone having zero dance experience and progressing throughout the competition, especially as I seem to remember that Danny Mac was tipped to win at one point.

@AllJoyAndNoFun I hope Stefan doesn't attempt an overhead lift with a pregnant woman.

haha yeah I’ve already scrapped that theory. FWIW I didnt want either of those to win nor did I want to Abbie Clancy to win so I think I must have glossed over them 😂

Danny Mac was robbed!!

The public vote should never be brought into a dance off. Ashley Roberts would have gone, Natalie Gumede would have gone, and it was the public who voted through someone who did a dance from hell this weekend.

I know someone who went on one of these type of shows where the audience votes and got to the final - until the end they felt like it was all really fair, they were all treated the same and they felt they had a chance of winning (and were seen as favourites in the media etc). Come the final and the vibe totally shifted, they were given a rubbish time in the running order, their supporters in the audience - who had all been sat together in previous shows - were spread out so it looked like they had less support in the crowd, they didn’t get any proper rehearsal time etc. Suddenly it was obvious who was going to win and lo and behold they did! This person isn’t bitter about it, they were just recounting factually, but it wasn’t until the very last show they even considered that it was fixed.

Caroline Flack and Ore Oduba both landed in the B2.

one of the issues with inclusion is how much allowance you make ( because some needs to be made if it’s going NY to be inclusive) but then you can also make a case for older dancers getting a bit of a pass from the judges ( possibly they do- I don’t know) because there are reasons there are v few pro dancers over 65 just as there are none ( or v few) with DS. Like Stefan Dennis is not gonna be able to do an overhead lift. Ain’t happening.

Honestly given all the competing demands I think the BEEB do a fairly good job of keeping it reasonably equitable.

Also agree that you need some people who are fairly decent because who wants to watch 15 contestants in week 1 or 2 who all dance like Anne Widdicombe or Ross King. But the people who have a lot of previous dance experience rarely win - like that Layton guy from a couple of years ago, or Tasha from last year - both people who had previously given their occupation as "dancer". Or the odious Debbie McGee who spent her entire time on Strictly trying to gaslight the audience that actually being a professionally trained ballerina was actually a hinderance to her dancing as it was all so different. Aye right.

The public want to see someone not previously known as a dancer who has a shaky start and goes on to do really well. Like Rose Ayling-Ellis, Louis Smith, Hamza Yassin.

It's not a dance contest, it's a popularity contest. How many people vote on who was the best dancer, as opposed to how many vote for those they are fans of no matter how they danced, as opposed to how many vote for who they want to see next week because they think they're so terrible they want to put them through the wringer (shades of I'm A Celebrity eating kangaroo testicles). John Sergeant eventually withdrew because he felt it was unfair that he stayed in (voted by the public) when better dancer than him were being eliminated.

It's not a dance contest, it's a popularity contest. (And it's become quite dull because of that.)

They can slightly manipulate it, couples choice always seems to come out when a contestant is on the verge of going out. But it's not fixed.

The worst dancers almost always go out first. You get the odd comedy bad dancer who stays in for a couple of weeks longer than is ideal and even worse, a good dancer who goes out early (Dev, gutted). But it's mostly balanced.

To be honest, your post is so badly written that I really don't know what you're talking about, either.

I don't think it's fixed but I do think it's probably manipulated in some ways, for example music/dance choices for the couples. Sometimes a couple will get a dull dance with totally nondescript music and they just don't make any impression so get few votes. Also obviously the judges deciding who stays is manipulation to some extent, although to be fair to them they do usually always choose the best dancer.

I don't get the comments about it being 'the Vito and Ellie show'...they do one dance and chat afterwards just like everyone else? I haven't noticed Ellie particularly getting any more airtime than the other contestants.

Really though, anyone who is genuinely brand new to dancing and hasn't had any prior training is simply never going to be that good. They can't say it out loud but I think they do need some experienced dancers on there because honestly watching 10 mediocre beginner dances is just not that entertaining after a while.

Ellie will not win. She will get to a certain point because of people either feeling sorry for her, or voting to support people with a disability being included. But her dancing is just not up to the level of some of the others.

I think this is the equivalent of 0 on a roulette wheel in that it tips the odds in the favour of the house by enough to stop the thing becoming a populist farce 🤣

@looselegs Craig was head judge last night. In fact they might as well have left Anton’s vote out all together as it didn’t count once Motsi and Shirley had voted one each.
But I agree in the event of a tie they should go with whichever got the most public votes

Online nonsense. Just avoid.

Surely La Voix's fan base are very much the type who watch Strictly so will get votes no matter how crap she dances.

She'll hang around for a few more weeks i imagine.

To be honest even it was fixed i wouldnt be arsed, its a TV show not the olympics.

wasn't it Craig who had the casting vote last night? The casting vote rotates and is just that so if it’s a 2:2 then the judge with the casting vote effectively gets “an extra vote”. This is the first week it’s been relevant IIRC as previously has been 3:1 so the casting vote wouldn’t make any difference to the outcome

Oh yeah!! Scrap that theory 😂

IMO, it’s unfair when they invite celebrities with considerable dance experience - like stars in West End musicals. They may say, they don’t have experience of ballroom, whatever; but what separates the real beginners for me, is they may look good on the top half, but often they don’t have the bounce or fluidity in the legs. People with years of dancing experience, have a head start in that respect?

It looks to me, like the BBC wants to guarantee there will be some good dancers in the final. Jay McGuiness had had dance training from age 12, iirc?

I don’t think that the voting is fixed, I think people are just easily led by what they think is trendy, so they don’t necessarily vote for the most talented person anymore.

Its a bit like when X-factor contestants did the sympathy VTs telling people they’ve had a shit year/life/someone has died to win the votes. With Strictly people back the minority contestant/the person who might have faced more personal struggles, rather than the best dancer.

I don't think the winner is predefined but I do think it's heavily manipulated.