Strictly Come Dancing is designed as the wholesome portion of weekend television where families can sit down together and see varying B to C-list Celebrities dance off in fair and friendly competition. The problem is that the results from the highly anticipated Blackpool extravaganza have some viewers suggesting that the final decision was in fact far from fair. Could there really have been a fixed result tonight?
It is hard to believe for the more die hard fan; the competitors seem to be great friends, half the professionals seem to be related to each other (the Clifton's are slowly taking over) and the judges are all dazzling smiles and encouragement where it counts. There have often been times when some of the worst, flat-footed “dancers” have progressed due to public affection for the underdog but generally it all works out for the best. The issue for the BBC here is that with the recent revelations from now ex-Strictly professional Ola Jordan and the outpouring of shock at Jamelia's departure on Twitter, cries of a fix from the Sunday result's show probably won't die down all that quickly.
Did Jamelia fall or was she pushed?
Some will say that the loss of Jamelia from the competition was a long time coming because she has danced on that floor almost twice as much as other competitors due to the dreaded dance-off, and it also wasn't the prettiest performance on the Sunday show. On the other hand, Peter Andre's jive was far from spectacular either and eyebrows have been raised by the speed with which the judges said his name to save him – as well as the slightly guilty look on Darcy's face.
With accusations of score-fixing from Ola Jordan still fresh in the minds of tabloid-reading Strictly viewers, there will be more questions about whether or not the judges, or more accurately the production staff behind the judges, really do influence the leader board in the way she claims. Whether her claim are accurate or not, there will be many viewers looking at the scores next week and wondering if one of the surprising 10s really was meant to be a 10.