Strictly Come Dancing 2008

It's the producers own fault, and the affiliated programmes, and the discussion forums

They built the whole JS thing up, until it started to have a life of it's own, and then it grew and grew and grew into a monster that couldn't be stopped

I think we'll see in the next series, that no-one's been put in for the comedy / kitsch value - which we all know they've done in the past

I feel really sorry for JS. An obvioulsy sensible and hounerable man who realised that enough was enough. I value the GBP's sense of rooting for the underdog. It's just a shame that this little flickering moment of fun has been extinguished in a cloud of vitreol and back-biting

It's only a dance competition when all's said and done

This is just getting silly now.

Sack Strictly judges - minister

It seems there has been a bit of a cock up on the show tonight and the couple in at the bottom on the leaderboard after the judges vote cannot escape being in the bottom two and therefore in the dance off, making it a pointless vote.

Lines have been frozen while I suspect there are working out how to sort this out!

Should have watched The X Factor lol

Sorry couldnt resist

LOL - that's their stupid voting system exposed then with the converting scores and votes into meaningless points!

Really though at this stage their shouldn't be a dance off - the judges already get their say with the points and as has been exposed this evening they pretty much control who goes through to the final.

The fairest thing to do I suppose would either be let them all through to the final (which was initially planned to be 3 anyway), carrying the votes forwards - or based this weeks dance off purely on the public vote.

Yes, its obvious that voting was meant to be open throughout this show as we have had the standard video recaps and the begging for votes bit.

I think there is always a pointless vote in SCD though isn't there? The couple at the top of the leader board can never end up at the bottom (and therefore go out in the dance off) whatever the great unwashed say if I understand correctly.

This will probably be a Daily Mail scandel. My view is that if people voted in a pointless vote then thats their tough luck. They should take it as a lesson learnt and maybe not be so silly with their money in the future.

I remember when the live Stars in their Eyes final only opened the phone lines after each singer had been on, like SCD does now, and thoughout the show they gave a light hearted recap on the number of people (thousands IIRC) that had already phoned in (and been charged) to vote. It was just accepted by the programme and the audience that the people who had already tried to vote were idiots who couldn't follow simple instructions. Now programmes assume we are all idiots.

Another tabloid scandal is on it's way then? Brucie to be sacked?

Well said. I also firmly believe the real info we need to know now gets lost in the ridiculously long disclaimers. Price per call and when lines close is all we need to know - everything else should be taken as read and as the viewers responsibility to be aware with, not the programme makers.

However, in this case whether through bad planning or bad luck the blame is at the producers door - and interesting if it does turn out the duo topping the leaderboard can never technically be in the bottom 2.

Tonight's show also finished VERY early. It was clear to me that there was some lengthy filling going on earlier in the show (the chats with Austin and June Whitfield for example) ... and the camera script and verbal script seemed to go a little off when the remaining three were on the floor expecting to hear who was in the dance off. I presume this underrun was chiefly because there wasn't a dance-off. The next programme was billed at 2140 and there was some monumental filling by presentation. Actually I think they ran some trails twice, but I'll forgive them that. I'd certainly not have liked to have been in NC1 trying to deal with an underrun of that amount. Years ago they'd have put in filler programmes, but I suspect that is simply not considered an option on a Saturday night. Whether five minutes of trails is as much a turn off as a "Classic Animal Tracks" (remember them?!) is debateable. Anyway, pres gave up and went to the 2140 programme (Outnumbered) at 2137, with the announcer simply apologising for the early running of the schedule (not heard that for a very long time!)

I was watching the (lack of) results show, and I knew early on the was some serious padding going on.
I'm surprised they couldn't fill 5 mins though. There's enough packages in the show to respool at a moments notice - and they never ran the It Takes Two promo (which was show in the main show) that was must have been over a minute long.

That would have helped pres get to 21.38.

The solution in the future is to prevent a tie at any point in the Judges voting, preferably by knocking out the lowest judge votes, then the third lowest and the second lowest. Alternatively appoint a lead judge for each show and award him/her a casting vote to sort out level score positions.

In my opinion, it was quite obvious that the vote was pointless. People who voted were stupid, and in the end, it's, at most, 50p. Fifty p doesn't make much difference.