DialIdol & Fan Poll Discussion for DWTS **POSSIBLE SPOILERS**

[veg_out]

I saw these tweets from Tom yesterday. What do you think he means?

Tom_Bergeron
I'll be revealing something on Monday's DWTS which may surprise both our
couples & our viewers. It'll be fuel for the Finals, to be sure!

Based on the qualifier, "fuel for the Finals," this change has probably everything to do with the show's format/couples, and probably nothing to do with the hosts/judges/band. None of the latter are going anywhere.

The whole word choice, "fuel for the Finals," makes me think that, whatever the "revelation" is, it's meant to decide one of the F3.

The biggest question, if such is the case, is "why?"

Forgive my ignorance about Strictly Come Dancing (and, for sure, educate me here), but what is the dance-off and how do they use it in SCD?

That answer will add to these ideas about the reason for this last minute addition to the format:
This season has been one of the most--if not, the MOST--successful in DWTS history. It has beat out AI in overall ratings for most of the season (if not all). The show--and many of the pros--count it to be "the best cast ever." With that success comes the desire to maintain ratings (i.e cash flow). At this point, they have WEEKS of voting data. I'm not sure if Dial Idol is accurate (again, please educate me), but the RAW NUMBERS for the season give a sound basis for why this "revelation" might be occurring.

For my own sanity, I've been keeping track of DI in a chart.
Key:
purple=# 1 in DI
blue=#2 in DI
green=#3 in DI
red=last



Since judges' scores might outweigh vote count early on, DI might matter more after week 5. At this point, Nicole, Evan, and Erin emerge as voter favorites, even though, in week 7, Erin ends up in the bottom 2 on the show. Notice that in week 7, per DI, Erin is actually 2nd in votes!

Yes, online voting, texts, etc. factor into this equation, but if we were to strictly look at DI as an indicator, we've got our F3 duking it out for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd for the past 3 weeks.

Judging only from this information, it might just be that this "revelation" has to do with the show not knowing who would be the very best final three. Depending on the voting information they have, it could be so close that they can't even figure out who to put in the F3 to not only maintain viewer interest but make for a happy outcome.

By shaking things up, perhaps, they hope that the viewers, or the audience, will actually make up the producers' minds for them.

Aside from a dance-off, the only other non-format change might just be if one of the dancers actually decided to leave the competition.....

[LuvThisStuf!]

Poor attention span this am......What's DI? tx!


....Never mind - Dial Idol. Got it. Although, DI doesn't take into consideration the text votes and those online. Otherwise, thanks for putting this together! I'm going to take a closer look....



....ok, took that closer look and Wow! That's interesting! I'm glad that Erin and Maks are getting the call-in votes, at least. If they do use a Dance-Off to determine 3rd place, it would be a shocker to see Chad dance against Evan!

[veg_out]

Poor attention span this am......What's DI? tx!

Dial Idol. It's an online site that tracks the busy signals of phoned-in votes for both American Idol and DWTS. I guess that, the more busy signals, the more likelihood that the contestant has a high voter volume.

The numbers in ( ) on the chart correspond to busy signals. DI counts the busy signals into the final attempted vote count.

[LuvThisStuf!]

Thanks, veg_out! I should take a breath before posting next time!

[veg_out]

Thanks, veg_out! I should take a breath before posting next time!

No sweat

Another thought: Another possible change could be viewer voting methods, such as giving more votes to viewers or eliminating a voting method. Hmmm.

I hate mystery

[LuvThisStuf!]

Ugh - mystery. I read ahead in novels. Once I know the ending I can go back and enjoy the story.

I hope they don't change the voting method. I like how they limit # of votes, unlike American Idol. No matter how much I like a contestant, I'm not going to invest in a product or software program that lets me redial hundreds of times. I think this is the week where everyone should vote if they really like a contestant, though.

[karalott]

Forgive my ignorance about Strictly Come Dancing (and, for sure, educate me here), but what is the dance-off and how do they use it in SCD?

It varied in format how they did it on Strictly vs here. Overseas, the DO begins during the very first elimination. The two couples with the lowest overall totals compete one last time in front of the judges. The judges then determine between the two who they want to stay (since there's 4 judges, in the event of a tie, the head judge breaks it). Here, the DO was the first 3/4 weeks of season 8 and the middle of season 9 for 2 weeks (supposed to be 3 but Tom Delay's injury resulted in 2 eliminations that week anyway). Season 8 they merely re-scored the bottom 2 couples and added that score to their total. Season 9 they did like in Strictly, voted on who they wanted to stay instead of re-scoring them.

It sounded like they intended on doing it this season, but canned it. I posted Tom's latest tweet in the media thread, but it said it's 'pulling the curtain back a bit, not changing the format of the show'. Given the gimmicks and "surprises" on this show, I'm sure he's got people all worried.

[Miss Scarlet]

I have a sinking feeling that whatever IT is, it is designed to save the judges' favorite, rather that the viewers' favorite.
They've been ticked ever since that little orange girl & Mark got booted because the viewers just didn't take to her.
Thank goodness they didn't feel the need to trot her out & make us watch her again this year.
I say a show designed to let the viewers pick their favorite should be just that. Dancing, improvement, personality, & the obvious joy of competing should all factor in.

[karalott]

I have a sinking feeling that whatever IT is, it is designed to save the judges' favorite, rather that the viewers' favorite.
They've been ticked ever since that little orange girl & Mark got booted because the viewers just didn't take to her.
Thank goodness they didn't feel the need to trot her out & make us watch her again this year.
I say a show designed to let the viewers pick their favorite should be just that. Dancing, improvement, personality, & the obvious joy of competing should all factor in.

Tom has said it's not messing with the show's format. What he means about "bringing back the curtain a bit" I don't know. Have they ever revealed on Idol how many votes a contestant gets? I know they usually say X number people voted last night but never heard them say 'you landed in 1st place with this number of votes'. I kind of hope DWTS never actually gives an accurate vote count with each person. I'd like to know how many people voted but I think revealing where they actually stand could start even bigger fan base wars. If it doesn't mess with the format, it just sounds like something's going to be revealed. Maybe it'll impact next season

I do hope they don't mess with the voting situation. It works fine the way it is, but since I don't trust 2/3 judges, I'd hate to think they'd be given more pull with their paddles. And I think adding anything at this stage that is an attempt to ensure the final 3 they want, not just the final 2, would be serious backlash for whatever couple winds up in 3rd. Following the pros twitters, I notice Tony is taking heat from supporting Maks. The person in question actually tweeted Derek and Anna and told them to "watch their backs" because Maks is trash talking them. I guess by saying you want to win is trash talking now. Said person once supported Erin but thinks they've been bad sports and doesn't think they should win. Apparently they must think Tony needs to agree with them and support Derek and Anna, but not his best friend. Whenever I think I take this show too seriously, I always find someone else who takes the cake. Since the ringer talk was about Nicole, not Evan, and not restricted to just Maks but also Cheryl, Tony, and Louis, I wonder if that person just likes picking on Maks.

[anders332]

Raw scores show Erin leading, then Evan, Nicole, Chad at the bottom.