It's murder on the dancefloor as Logan exits

Strictly Come Dancing / Chicken Dinner / 29 October 2007 / Leave a Comment

Public vote is the random element that can never be 100% predictable, say Chicken Dinner

The BBC will need its most powerful detergent to remove the blood from the dance floor after this weekend's show, in which the angry, weeping judges were forced, much to their disgust, to put popular Gabby Logan to the sword. Suddenly the concept of letting the public vote on matters ballroom looks like madness to the experts and has introduced an element of chaos to proceedings.

Do the judges' scores actually make a difference?

In three of the four previous series, the winner has scored a 'perfect ten' before the live final. Darren Gough was the notable exception. Bruno dished out a very dubious 10 to Kelly Brook (3.3 on Betfair) and her revolting dance partner Brendan at the weekend, in spite of their cheating.

Out of 40 eliminations in the programme's history, only 14 have featured the pair deemed the most dispensable by the judging panel. In fact, since the third series only seven of 25 have been considered the worst on show. This, of course, is absolutely brilliant news for Kate Garraway (95.0 on betfair), who dances like an elephant on the rice wine.

The lowest score by any of the eventual winners was a pitiful 19 by Darren Gough in his first week (series three). Last year's victor Ramprakash hit a low of 27, which would be a season high for plodding wastes-of-time Kenny Logan (95.0 on betfair), Dominic Littlewood (55.0 on betfair) and, yes, Garraway.

The average score by the eventual winners so far is 32.8. Both the falsely modest Kelly Brook and Alisha Dixon are already faring better than that - wading in with 34 and 33.3 respectively. The only others looking in with a shout are the towering Penny Lancaster (14.5 on betfair) with 30, and Matt Di Angelo (4.3 on betfair) with 29.6. As the final three has always featured either a 'girl, girl, boy' or 'boy, boy, girl' combo, the Eastenders pretty boy looks set fair to make it through. On the downside for the Sylvia Young Stage brat, when the girls are the majority, one of them wins.

The eventual winners have always fared well throughout the show with one exception - Gough. Kaplinsky top scored on nine of 12 occasions, Halfpenny on seven of 11, and Ramprakash on seven of 16. Cricket's favourite dancing bowler, however, managed to miss the top spot on every single show.

Top boy

In all but one series (three) the highest scorer on week four has gone on to win the thing. That's the kind of news that would make Matt Di Angelo (4.3 on betfair) - this week's winner - squeal with delight. Also working well for the child actor are his Eastenders credentials - London-based soap stars tend to do well (Patsy Palmer, fifth, series three; Jill Halfpenny, winner, series one), and being a smarmy effeminate pretty boy in the same mould as Christopher Parker (runner up, series one) might well garner him the
granny/gay/teeny votes.

Two reasons why Alisha Dixon might just win the thing

1. Last year's winner, Mark Ramprakash, scored 33 for his take on American Smooth - in a freaky twist, that is the exact same score managed by tiny-headed Alisha Dixon (2.9 on betfair) just last Saturday.

2. Jill Halfpenny was 29 when she triumphed in a dinky little dress and enormous heels - precisely the same age as, yes, miniature-craniumed former Garage rapper Alisha Dixon.

The Dark Horse?

It appears that Garraway is receiving the ironic vote - so popular with GMTV viewers and persistent weed smokers. Might she infuriate the panel/nation by winning? (As joke or sympathy votes have never yet, in the history of reality TV, mounted anything like a serious run on the title, no.)