Strictly Come Dancing In Phone Vote Scandal!
BBC1’s Strictly Come Dancing was at the centre of a furore last night after the BBC decided to suspend the public phone vote.
All three semi-finalist couples were astounded when it was announced they were all going through to next Saturday’s grand final, but the fact that tens of thousands of viewers needlessly rang in to save their favourite couple has caused outrage.
According to the Sunday Mirror, the BBC’s switchboard and internet forums were overwhelmed with complaints from viewers who felt they’d wasted their money when it turned out that their votes were being carried forward to next week.
Last night, the BBC confirmed that they’d been “inundated” with calls from angry viewers who demanded an explanation.
The announcement of the suspension of voting came as a shock after the judges scores last night put Rachel Stevens and Lisa Snowdon way ahead of Tom Chambers who couldn’t have been saved by the public vote.
A Strictly insider told the newspaper, “Lisa and Rachel are really annoyed and frustrated – they feel they have worked hard all week but it’s been wasted as they’ve not gone anywhere. Even Tom, who stayed in although he was last, is baffled.
“I think the Beeb did it because they wanted to appear clean after other voting scandals.”
A BBC spokesman is quoted as saying, “We have had a lot of calls. It isn’t that people are angry, more like confused.
“We found ourselves in a unique situation because of the way the voting system works. Because Tom Chambers could not be saved by the public vote we felt it wasn’t fair because he couldn’t be saved from the dance off.
“As far as we are aware this has not happened before and we didn’t anticipate it.”
Was this fair? Let us know what you think.
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The reason the BBC did this is because Tom and Camila did not dance well, not good enough now the girls have moved up a gear. Hes the favourate and he would have gone out last night, tuff thats the rules of the game ,if there had been a different dancing pair at the bottom the rules would have been up held. Next week Tom could win when he should not even be there, this is not fair to the girls. Im sure the few crocodile tears Camila did certenly help , the BBC have once again ignord the public ,if strictly returns they should change the rules by not involving a public vote becaues the BBC just do what they like, wasting peoples time and money.One viewer who is totally disgusted and will not be watching in the future why do we pay for a licience.
Can you imagine at the Olympics the judges voted that the two athletes that won, first and second place (Gold Medal)have to come next week because two athletes got the juries and public votes.
Are you mad?
I Loved Tom and he was third in the voting.
Look at Austin? Walked out as a gentleman.
What you have created (BBC) is you do not know peoples emotions.
You used to do wonderment.
Sad,Sad,Sad. How can three finalists suddenly know that the Bronze Medal is going, possible to an athlete who is the best and the Silver is going to the gold.
Hello Guys! Think about it!
Sadly I think Auntie pays you salaries.
There is no question who should win the final.
Dare I say love?
It is very wrong, Auntie, for you to submit me to the vapours
I am experiencing.
My aunt like you extremely remote and thought she could do anything.
It was very difficult to be with her. She would say, with no uncertain terms that she wanted to evaculated her bowels.
Please tell me Auntie, you are not like that are you?
Votes last night were to keep Tom, Rahel and Lisa out of last nights dance off NOT for them to win the competition. It seems a scam that these votes will NOT be cancelled. For example if anybody who voted for Tom last night wants Lisa or Rachel to win after next week’s final they are now going to have to vote for them twice to put them ahead of their unintended vote for Tom. Strictly speaking they should also give the other lady one vote to put her level with their vote for Tom. That way people will have to make three phone calls rather than their normal one just to achieve what they want. Not cancelling last night’s votes is a great way of generating extra phone revenue for the BBC! Of course if people can’t be bothered or afford to vote three times it gives whoever won last night’s popular vote a tremendous and unfair advantage.
I believe this has discredited bbc further on the line of public phone calls corruption in the past. The justification is crap. Sending the public vote into the next week is just innaproppriate. It looks like Len Gudmans’s aunprofesionalism has been covered by BBC’s menace.
I stopped watching ‘Strictly’ weeks ago, just before the John Sergeant ’scandal’ erupted. Then I watched again just for the fun of it, to see what happened. Brucie, I have to say was excruciating on the evening that Mr Sergeant did his ‘last walz’. I have not watched since until I saw the headlines in today’s papers when I logged on to see what had happened last night.
I think that Colin Davies (who obviously has a much better mind with regard to logistics than I have) has put it in a nutshell.
I would say to Brucie and the B.B.C. ‘quite whilst you’re ahead – but it’s a year too late.
Ditto to the judges.
If this show is to continue there has to be a BIG rethink.
Fair!!! Not fair at all. Why change the rules – he is only in this position because his dancing is not good enough, he deserved to be in the dance off. How dare they change the rules and refuse to give back our money. Poor Poor judgement BBC!
I thought this was bizarre – len seemed to positively dislike Rachel & Vincent to a point where he was shaking his head when Bruno had positive comments about them.
It was also very weird to award Lisa and Brendan 10 for an Argentine Tango (a bit boring)when he had not seen the others and he totally fouled up when he appeared to think that Rachel and Vincent were supposed to be doing a foxtrot. And they say Brucie is doddery.
Also he said last week that he wished he has an 11 after awarding a couple a ten then realising that another couple was better.
I would hate to think this was another set up but all those in my house at the time thought it stank!
NO, IT CERTAINLY IS NOT FAIR ON TOM OR LISA FOR THAT MATTER EVEN THOUGH SHE IS THE BEST DANCER. IN FACT, THE WHOLE THING HAS A NASTY SMELL TO IT, WHICH I THINK IS BECAUSE SOMEONE WAS DETERMINED TO ENSURE THAT RACHEL SHOULD GET THROUGH TO THE FINAL. WHEN IT WAS ANNOUNCED THAT ONE OF THE DANCES FOR ALL 3 COUPLES WOULD BE THE ARGENTINE TANGO, I KNEW SOMETHING WAS AMISS BECAUSE GUESS WHO IS THE WORLD CHAMPION OF THAT DANCE – VINCENT OF COURSE – RACHELS PARTNER. HOW FAIR IS THAT TO THE OTHER 2 COUPLES, PARTICULARLY WHEN BRENDON AND CAMILLA HAD NOT DONE THE DANCE BEFORE. OBVIOUSLY LISA WOULD GO THROUGH AS SHE WAS THE BEST DANCER AND TOM WAS ALSO EXCELLENT AND I THINK THAT THE VIEWERS WOULD HAVE PUT HIM THROUGH TOO. I AM VERY DISAPPOINTED THAT WE ARE LOOKING AT ONE COUPLE HAVING A VERY UNFAIR ADVANTAGE OVER THE OTHER 2 COUPLES – I THINK IT IS DISGRACEFUL AND IF ALL 3 COUPLES DO GO THROUGH TO THE FINAL SOMEONE SHOULD ENSURE THAT NO ONE HAS AN ADVANTAGE AGAINST THE OTHERS, OTHERWISE MUCH AS I LOVE THE SHOW I WILL NOT BE WATCHING THE NEXT SERIES, IF THERE IS ONE OF COURSE.
I feel that as an Strictly Come Dancing fan that Saturday Night’s fiasco has spoiled the viewing of this programme for many of us. Ok so Tom was poor – then he should have been in the dance off and only 2 couples should be in the final on Saturday night. Give a thought to couples who have been evicted in previous weeks – did they get a second chance – NO – or is this a fix.
Thank you once again BBC for spoiling a good finale.
I agree with many of the comments. Unfortunately it really did look like a fix. but even before the semi- i kept on saying it must be the final as they always had three in the final before- how can anyone forget the classic- Darren Gough, Zoe Ball and Colin Jackson (Colin robbed by dancing with the dummies…)?? that was the final. they always have three.
the good old BBC, never let it be said it can think outside the box. it just has to stick to its same old tried and tested formula, and once poor old John Sergeant was hounded out for being a bad dancer-there was as spanner in the works. That was another dodgy one- as each series they have one of the lame ducks from breakfast tv limping along on the public vote til late in the competition- kate and the guy with the bad ankle- at least John Sergeant had a sense of humour and wound up the judges as opposed to cowering like the brekkie wimps.
they should have dealt with it earlier on, as obviously there would be an issue of numbers.
The voting on Saturday night was clearly a fix, with the judges conferring under the desk, to try and get the couples scores the same. len was all over the place bless him- he’s not a good liar. he messed it up by awarding lisa and brendon an 8 for one dance and leaving it to bruno to give them a 10 to even the scores with the others. and then thinking one of the couples was doing a foxtrot when it was the american smooth. i don’t think some of the judges were comfortable with the lies- hence their senior moments. but they stepped up to the crease and cast those votes.
all in all it was a shambles that was so obvious it was sad. Tom was just not that great a dancer that night. and so what if he couldn’t be saved? they would have known that the moment the scores were tied. and could have just had the vote to save one of the other couples from the dance off. but no point in the BBC losing hard cold cash from their lucrative phones lines. there is a credit crunch on after all!!
it is a scandal because it was preempted by the BBC, who would have known the moment John Sergeant departed the competition they would either have a shorter series or would have to keep a couple in for an extra week. SHAME ON YOU BBC.
Give all the money from that week to charity for Christmas. Not a penny should go to the soiled BBC coffers.
The way the BBC have handled this shambles is to roll Saturdays votes over. What? A Final should start with a level playing field for each contestant. The result could be affected by these votes ‘already in the bag’ and ultimately the winner could be the worst dancer on final night, and not the one that most people vote for on Final night. It must be demoralising for the 2 girls, who danced so well, to be aware that they may be going into the final with a vote deficit, because lets face it, a lot of people will have voted for the underdog – Tom. My voting choice last Sat may not be who I want to vote for next Sat – I object to my votes being used to corrupt the final result in this way.
The clash with the points was stupid. I, amoungst many viewers I expect, noticed that Tom would be in the Dance Off no matter what, surely someone on the show noticed too? Should have shouted down Tess or Bruce’s earphone and got Len to decide. He is established as the one who decides when the judges are tied about the Dance Off, it would have been far less scandal to let him decide about this too. I hate what happened, Tom has been trailing behind Lisa and Rach for a while now, he should have been out. He did a fantastic showdance which I guess is what saved him but he wasn’t the best dancer and if the judges hadn’t have been stupid with the scores then he’d have been out the week before.
I think that the whole fiasco was completely unfair. You can’t change the voting system at the last minute as it is unfair to the other contestants. It is unfortunate that this is the way things turned out (ie. that Tom couldn’t avoid the dance-off) but if that is the way the system works then he should not have gone through without having to fight for his place in the final as all the other contestants had. Austin Healey lost out in the dance-off. Why was the situation different when it came to Tom? Furthermore, the fact that votes from the semi-final were carried forward also put Tom at an unfair advantage against the other two contestants in the final. The whole thing seems like a fix.
I was aghast Tom won. how ridiculous. must have been a betting rig. I would have been gutted if i was rachel/vincent or lisa/brendon- with both their folks over from overseas. i agree- same applied to austin healey who was great. tom should have got the boot earlier. FIX BBC FIX. is it fair tom’s votes went through? totally rubbish voting system. not a good result. especially with the clearly rigged vote the week before. what was the point in that??
Corrupt. I noticed weeks ago the judges and the BBC were all syrupy about Tom and the ugly Camilla and were determined to MAKE them win. Lo and behold … they won! Not a surprise. CORRUPT. Someone had a lot of money riding on the outcome … enough to force the program to blatantly cheat to keep their boy in the game. Scum.
Camilla wasn’t faking those tears maybe you should learn how to spell before you judge other people. The voting system didn’t work, the votes that were casted ..everyone’s money would of just been a waste because Tom would of gone out. So therefore instead of wasting people’s money the BBC decided to carry those votes over which i think is very fair and reasonable.