After insisting they wouldn’t, BBC have tonight announced their decision to refund anyone who voted during Saturday night’s show.

The BBC froze the vote lines after the first show when they realised there was no way for Tom Chambers to make it out of the bottom two, all votes cast were to be tallied and counted for next weeks final which would contain all three couples.

However since then viewers sent 1,687 emails and made 193 calls of complaint at the decision to let all the couples stay.

A statement from the BBC said it worked with an independent adjudicator to decide the fairest way to tackle the controversy.

The contestants’ scores will be carried over to next week, and will be disclosed on a leader board at the beginning of next Saturday’s show. Once one pair is eliminated, the two remaining couples will start from scratch for Sunday’s final.

A spokesman added: “We have worked in consultation with the production team, the remaining contestants and an independent adjudicator to determine the fairest outcome. During this process, fairness to the viewers who voted and the contestants themselves has been the guiding principle.

“The BBC recognises that this has been an unprecedented situation and would like to thank viewers and the contestants for their understanding. We will be offering refunds to anyone unhappy about their votes in the semi final who would like to be reimbursed for their calls. Details for how they can do this will be available on the Strictly Come Dancing website from Tuesday and on the usual BBC audience service numbers.”