Strictly

[John Bosley]

We have discussed this show - when JS walked off, but I cannot find it.
I have started this as a new off-topic topic just to see what people think of the latest bloody fiasco. I don't phone in, but not having forseen that this might have happend is surly time for someone's head to roll. The votes are being caried over, they say - but many thinking people will not have voted for Tom because it would have made no difference. This means he will have got fewer votes to be carried over . What load of rubbish and I do like the BBC (and Channel 4 as well of course!)

[Jon Corby]

Why, what's happened now?

[John Bosley]

long story - but Saturday there were 3 couples left in and after 2 got top marks it meant that the bottom (Tom Chambers/Camilla Dallerup) could not avoid the dance-off however many phone votes they got so the BBC cancelled the phone-in in the middle and told us all the votes would be carried over to next Saturday and that all three couples would go through to the final - now I have 'explained', I realise I do not know what I am talking about and wish someone with nouse would come on and sort me out!!

[Kirk Bevins]

and wish someone with nouse would come on and sort me out!!

Was just about to say I was surprised NOUSE is a word but it's actually NOUS. I was surprised as we have a student newspaper at York called NOUSE and I think it's pronounced like "NEWS" and is a pun on the river OUSE which runs through York. Maybe it's also a pun on NOUS too?

[John Bosley]

I did not mean pedantic nous (spellchecking), but rather 'strikly nous'

[John Evans]

Is a "dance-off" as exciting as it sounds?

[Phil Reynolds]

Is a "dance-off" as exciting as it sounds?

I used to quite enjoy Come Dancing in the 1980s but the laundry bills were astronomical.

[John Evans]

I used to quite enjoy Come Dancing in the 1980s but the laundry bills were astronomical.

Haha - Too good!

[John Bosley]

sounds like a repeat is needed of that age-old adage :
'dancing is a vertical expression of a horizontal desire'

[Charlie Reams]

sounds like a repeat is needed of that age-old adage :
'dancing is a vertical expression of a horizontal desire'

Yeah, watching Strictly makes me want to fall asleep too.

[David O'Donnell]

sounds like a repeat is needed of that age-old adage :
'dancing is a vertical expression of a horizontal desire'

Yeah, watching Strictly makes me want to fall asleep too.

[Gavin Chipper]

So basically the judges ranked one of the couples so low that they were guaranteed a place in the final. Brilliant logic.

[Michael Wallace]

So basically the judges ranked one of the couples so low that they were guaranteed a place in the final. Brilliant logic.

I thought it was the opposite - that one couple were rated so low that they couldn't be saved from being kicked out, and so the phone vote was entirely pointless (at least, that's presuming I've interpreted the various 'news' reports on the matter correctly).

[Jennifer Turner]

So basically the judges ranked one of the couples so low that they were guaranteed a place in the final. Brilliant logic.

I thought it was the opposite - that one couple were rated so low that they couldn't be saved from being kicked out, and so the phone vote was entirely pointless (at least, that's presuming I've interpreted the various 'news' reports on the matter correctly).

Not exactly. The couples would normally have got 3, 2 and 1 points for coming first, second and third in the judges' scoring, and then another 3, 2 and 1 points for their positions in the phone vote. Unfortunately, because there was a tie in the judges' scoring, the points actually went 3, 3, 1 which meant that the couple with one point couldn't make up enough points to escape the dance-off. (In the event of a 4-4-4 tie, the phone vote takes precedence, so the lowest-scoring couple with the judges would be saved.) They might still have given it their all in the dance-off and been saved anyway, but we didn't get to see that.

[Michael Wallace]

Not exactly. The couples would normally have got 3, 2 and 1 points for coming first, second and third in the judges' scoring, and then another 3, 2 and 1 points for their positions in the phone vote. Unfortunately, because there was a tie in the judges' scoring, the points actually went 3, 3, 1 which meant that the couple with one point couldn't make up enough points to escape the dance-off. (In the event of a 4-4-4 tie, the phone vote takes precedence, so the lowest-scoring couple with the judges would be saved.) They might still have given it their all in the dance-off and been saved anyway, but we didn't get to see that.

Aha, thanks. That's the best explanation I've seen (in that it's the only one I've understood).

[Gavin Chipper]

So basically the judges ranked one of the couples so low that they were guaranteed a place in the final. Brilliant logic.

I thought it was the opposite - that one couple were rated so low that they couldn't be saved from being kicked out, and so the phone vote was entirely pointless (at least, that's presuming I've interpreted the various 'news' reports on the matter correctly).

But because they "couldn't be saved", they saved them anyway. So they were guaranteed a place in the final due to low scoring! I don't follow this programme, but looking at Jennifer's post, it seems more logical to give them 2.5 each for tying first and 1 for third. I suppose even then it would take a freakish audience tie for the other two to get to 4-4-4 and for them to avoid the play-off (by having most audience votes). Why am I even posting this though? I really don't give a shit. I suppose this does add weight to Charlie's point about me having to have an opinion on everything, but don't tell him that.

[Martin Gardner]

I've just watched the final - I have to say the third best couple won it. I suppose Tom does have the best personality of the three of them, but I suppose the problem with this series is that people haven't voted based on the dancing. Albeit I didn't like Lisa's cha-cha-cha that much, I mean I mentally gave it a nine but I think compared to professional dancers, that's not a 10. Still, I think Tom won it with personality, and not dancing.

[Ralph Gillions]

I think the point of devising this voting system was indeed to combine the opinions of the dancing judges
with the public vote based on dancing, entertainment and goodness knows what else causes viewers to vote for
a particular contestant.
I think Rachel and Lisa have been slightly overmarked for a few weeks.
I also think Tom has very good dancing ability and has been entertaining throughout the series.
The show dances from Lisa and Rachel were a bit like 2 people having bad sex.
Tom's was thrilling.
A good winner in my opinion.

[Ben Wilson]

To be fair the couples, in my mind, finished in order of the quality of their showdances. Compated to previous efforts, Lisa's was lifeless and dull. Rachel's was exciting, but not anything we hadn't seen before, say from the likes of Mark Ramprakash or Alesha Dixon. Tom's, however, was truly unique, and showy in the truest sense of the word.

[Martin Gardner]

To be fair the couples, in my mind, finished in order of the quality of their showdances. Compated to previous efforts, Lisa's was lifeless and dull. Rachel's was exciting, but not anything we hadn't seen before, say from the likes of Mark Ramprakash or Alesha Dixon. Tom's, however, was truly unique, and showy in the truest sense of the word.

I think this is exactly right - with the showdance people often can't decide what to do with it and just go for a load of unconnected lifts - Tom's dance had a theme, and it was brilliant.

Martin

[Gavin Chipper]

To be fair the couples, in my mind, finished in order of the quality of their showdances. Compated to previous efforts, Lisa's was lifeless and dull. Rachel's was exciting, but not anything we hadn't seen before, say from the likes of Mark Ramprakash or Alesha Dixon. Tom's, however, was truly unique, and showy in the truest sense of the word.

I think this is exactly right - with the showdance people often can't decide what to do with it and just go for a load of unconnected lifts - Tom's dance had a theme, and it was brilliant.

Martin

How many blokes actually watch this for the dancing?

Oh and I read that there was another voting shit-up for the Christmas Day special. Enjoy!

[Martin Gardner]

To be fair the couples, in my mind, finished in order of the quality of their showdances. Compated to previous efforts, Lisa's was lifeless and dull. Rachel's was exciting, but not anything we hadn't seen before, say from the likes of Mark Ramprakash or Alesha Dixon. Tom's, however, was truly unique, and showy in the truest sense of the word.

I think this is exactly right - with the showdance people often can't decide what to do with it and just go for a load of unconnected lifts - Tom's dance had a theme, and it was brilliant.

Martin

How many blokes actually watch this for the dancing?

Oh and I read that there was another voting shit-up for the Christmas Day special. Enjoy!

I did suggest that Tom had an advantage because he was the only male in the final, and there are more female viewers than male ones.

[Ben Wilson]

To be fair the couples, in my mind, finished in order of the quality of their showdances. Compated to previous efforts, Lisa's was lifeless and dull. Rachel's was exciting, but not anything we hadn't seen before, say from the likes of Mark Ramprakash or Alesha Dixon. Tom's, however, was truly unique, and showy in the truest sense of the word.

I think this is exactly right - with the showdance people often can't decide what to do with it and just go for a load of unconnected lifts - Tom's dance had a theme, and it was brilliant.

Martin

How many blokes actually watch this for the dancing?

Oh and I read that there was another voting shit-up for the Christmas Day special. Enjoy!

I'll hold my hand up and admit some of the dancing is rather entertaining and watch-worthy- Austin Healey's paso doble springing immediately to mind- but it was certainly helped by the fact his dance partner had her entire midriff exposed.

As for the voting shit-up, here's my take on how it should be sorted. Easier to use an example, so here goes-

After all the dances, here's how it stands-

Kirk & Camilla - 39
Ben & Kristina - 37
Charlie & Lilia - 35
Jono & Hayley - 21

How I'd resolve this is to add up all the judge's scores- in this case, giving us 132. When the phone votes come in, they will be distributed as if they were 132 parts of a whole. If, say, Charlie & Lilia got precisely half of the public vote, they'd get 66 points, and if, say, Jono & Hayley got 1/12 of the public vote, they'd get 11 points. It does look kinda complicated on paper but I reckon it'd make the competition a lot fairer.

[Martin Gardner]

To be fair the couples, in my mind, finished in order of the quality of their showdances. Compated to previous efforts, Lisa's was lifeless and dull. Rachel's was exciting, but not anything we hadn't seen before, say from the likes of Mark Ramprakash or Alesha Dixon. Tom's, however, was truly unique, and showy in the truest sense of the word.

I think this is exactly right - with the showdance people often can't decide what to do with it and just go for a load of unconnected lifts - Tom's dance had a theme, and it was brilliant.

Martin

How many blokes actually watch this for the dancing?

Oh and I read that there was another voting shit-up for the Christmas Day special. Enjoy!

I watch for the dancing, although I'm not really a fan of dancing I like it in this context. I admit the beautiful women aren't a bad added extra either.

[Debbi Flack]

Kirk & Camilla - 39
Ben & Kristina - 37
Charlie & Lilia - 35
Jono & Hayley - 21

.

Now THAT I'd like to see!!!