Byline: Liz Thomas
ANGRY Strictly Come Dancing fans have demanded their money back after the voting shambles that hit Saturday night's show.
Hundreds of viewers protested following a bungle in the scoring system that led to all three semi-finalists being put through to next week's final.
The BBC and internet message boards were inundated with calls and emails branding the outcome a 'fix'. But the corporation insisted there would be no refunds.
The judging panel gave both model Lisa Snowdon and singer Rachel Stevens and their dancing partners maximum points and Holby City actor Tom Chambers one point. That meant that no matter how many votes Chambers received in the public phone-in - when viewers vote to save their favourite contestant from the weekly dance-off - he could not escape.
But even though that should have been clear to the show's producers, they still allowed phone lines to remain open on Saturday night for almost two hours. Some two million votes were cast. Calls cost from 15p on a landline but are as much as 80p on some mobile phone services.
It was not until the start of the follow-up results programme that hosts Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly explained that phone lines had been frozen because of the tie.
The BBC refused to offer any refunds, adding that any votes cast will be rolled over to count in next week's final. A Strictly spokesman said the phone votes were ' cost neutral', the phone votes were 'cost neutral', meaning the BBC did not made any money from them.
Corporation insiders said that the number of complaints received was likely to top 500.
Viewers and MPs said the only suitable recourse was to offer a refund.
John Whittingdale, Tory chairman of the media select committee, said: 'People need to be refunded. I cannot understand how this has happened again after all the phone-in problems and scandals at the BBC - how can they still be making a hash of things? 'It may be an unusual situation but the BBC should have been prepared for different eventualities. If you are going to run phone-ins then you have to get them right.' One commentator on the Strictly message board said: 'I think the whole thing is a big stitch-up, with the judges manipulating the result to make their choice of finalists inevitable.' Another accused the corporation of cynically changing the rules in order to maximize ratings for the final.
Chambers's survival was assured after BBC executives realised the points system would render the public vote to save him from the dance-off useless.
Because both Stevens and Snowdon's judges' score was tied, they received a maximum of three points, while Chambers received one point.
After the public vote, Chambers could have achieved a maximum of only four points, meaning that he was always going to be in the dance-off regardless of which way the public voted.
The corporation decided it was fairest to allow all three contestants through to the final.
A show insider told the Daily Mail: 'It is an unprecedented situation but the result is hugely embarrassing. It does feel that we just haven't got to grips with the rules on our own show.' Media commentator Steve Hewlett said the fiasco had been 'an accident waiting to happen'. He added: 'It's just a bit incompetent, it wasn't thought through beforehand.' The BBC is being forced to tread delicately because there was a huge public response to the perceived bullying of former ITN political correspondent John Sergeant by the judges. He was ridiculed about his dancing ability.
Sergeant quit last month, and it was partly down to his departure that there were problems on Saturday night's programme. There were originally meant to be three couples in the final, but Sergeant's decision to go threw the elimination process out of kilter.
It was initially decided to continue voting off one couple each week and have just two in the final, but that was subsequently changed.
Jon Beazley, controller of BBC entertainment production, said: 'We're really sorry and upset about what happened but it was an unprecedented situation.' The BBC previously came under fire after it emerged that between 2005 and 2007 it had kept more than [pounds sterling]100,000 that viewers had pledged to charity.
The cash was generated by callers voting after phone lines had closed on about 20 shows, believed to include Eurovision and Fame Academy. The money should have gone to causes including Children In Need.
In July 2006 Sport Relief viewers were encouraged to enter competitions they had no chance of winning and winners were faked by using production team members.
That November Blue Peter allowed a child visiting the studio to pose as a caller in a phone-in competition when technical problems stopped real calls getting through. Blue Peter was in trouble again in January 2007 after the results of a poll to name the show's cat were altered.
And in March last year viewers of Comic Relief were encouraged to enter competitions they could not win because lines had closed.
. John Sergeant has agreed to return for the Strictly final. He and dance partner Christina Rihanoff will perform in a medley with the other contestants who have been voted off the show.
l.thomas@dailymail.co.uk
WHAT YOU'RE SAYING ..
'I feel cheated! I voted to keep my favourite in and expected to see one go out and not to see all three go through. What is going on, BBC?' KAREN L, SURREY
'What a con! I can't believe the BBC is playing games again in phone vote shows. It's not OK that people's votes go through to next week' ANNA, LONDON
Reader comments posted on our website 'John Sergeant's withdrawal obviously caused a headache for the series producers. To run a semi-final with no winners or losers feels wrong and once again the BBC have hoodwinked their viewers' MIKE, WIRRAL
'Could this be nothing other than a money-spinner for the BBC? I don't care any more who wins and will not be watching next week's so-called final' BRIAN, NORTHAMPTON
Have YOUR say on all the big stories at www.dailymail.co.uk/debate
WHAT WENT WRONG
WHEN the judges give their scores, the couple ranked highest is given three points, the couple in second place is given two points, and the couple in third one point.
On Saturday, Tom Chambers and partner Camilla Dallerup were in last place, getting one point.
Rachel Stevens and Vincent Simone, and Lisa Snowdon and her partner Brandon Cole, tied in first place, getting three points each.
The public vote - in which viewers vote for the pair they want to save from the weekly dance-off - is scored in the same way, so the act with the most votes is given three points and so on.
But Strictly Come Dancing executives realized that even if Tom and Camilla scored the maximum in the public vote, they could still achieve a total of only four points and so couldn't escape being in the dance-off.
Even if Rachel and Lisa achieved a lower percentage of the public vote, they would still get either one or two points each, enabling them to either equal or beat Tom's score.
So any public votes to save him were rendered useless..
