Craig Revel Horwood thinks the BBC should release Strictly Come Dancing’s voting figures.
The BBC has always refused to reveal voting stats from the show, despite most other programme’s doing so.
Rival shows The X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent and I’m A Celebrity all release detailed voting breakdowns at the end of their respective series but the BBC doesn’t follow suit.
The BBC puts the decision down to not wanting to “affect the way that people vote” – although why this is a concern after the series is wrapped up we’re not sure.
The BBC state: “We invite you to vote for the dancers that you liked best, based on their performance in each show and during the series. Releasing voting figures could affect the way that people vote, and also have an impact on the participants. We therefore do not disclose the exact voting figures.”
However Strictly judge Craig says releasing the public stats would stop fix claims.
He said in a chat with the Radio Times last year: “I only wish they’d make the figures from the phone vote public, to stop talk of it being fixed. But if one celeb gets 13 million votes and another gets two, it might not go down well.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Craig went on to confess he often found himself googling celebs after the line up each year is revealed.
He explained: “I don’t set out to be nasty, at the start of each season, we only find out who the celebs are an hour before the information is released to the press, and then I have to google the names quick-smart because I don’t know who they are.
“The celebs are willing to accept the money and they know what the gig is. The sportspeople on the show always take the criticism well. Actors are scared, afraid of failure.”
Strictly Come Dancing will return to BBC One in 2019.
