Strictly Come Dancing set-up

I'm in a lather of indignation this morning and it's all to do with last night's Strictly Come Dancing.

For the first time this series I actually voted, in a bid to save Tom and Camilla. His performance was very average compared to Lisa and Rachel's, and they have overtaken him on "The Journey," but nonetheless, I wanted the perverse delight of the public saving Tom, and Rachel and Lisa being forced to go in the dance-off, which might have seen Rachel booted out. Too funny! Plus I wanted Camilla to go further than the semis this time.

Anyway, in the event it all turned out to be in vain, because despite the public being exhorted to vote to save the couples, the results show became embarrassing as voting was hurriedly brushed aside with no dance-off and votes allegedly being carried through to the final.

But this is a scam, surely? If you think you're voting for a particular event and you find out you aren't?

Of course it's all John Sergeant's fault. And no doubt the Tristans at the BBC laboured long and hard about what to do in the last programme when they might only have two finalists. How can you pad that out, even if the professionals or Barry Manilow come on eight times?

But remember it happened twice last year: we lost Tarbuck early on and then Kelly Brook close to the semis.

How about next year we have a "spare" celeb dancer who trains just as rigorously each week, and is shown rehearsing on Claudia's programme so we all know about him or her; who can then step in when a celebrity bails? That way the public wouldn't have to be deceived and it would be even more entertaining, particularly if the ghost celeb snatched victory at the last minute.