Strictly Come Dancing: Kellie Bright’s Dance Off Shocker Proves Mid Table Is Danger Zone

Given that Carol Kirkwood was bottom of the judges leaderboard, it’s no surprise that the weather presenter left ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ this weekend, but it was a shock to see who she was up against in the dance off.

Kellie Bright was clearly shocked to find herself in the bottom two, and the expressions on the other celebs’ faces said it all. What the what the?

Copyright [BBC]

Kellie scored 32 for her waltz on Saturday night, placing her fifth with the judges out of 10 contestants. Helen George, Jamelia, Katie Derham and Jeremy Vine all scored lower than the ‘EastEnders’ actress, but all received more support from the public.

Could it be that Kellie just isn’t as popular? Surely it’s a case of that mid table danger zone again, where viewers assume the celeb is safe and don’t vote.

Kellie has consistently been in the top half of the leaderboard, even taking first place in week five,

Carol had been bottom of the leaderboard on four occasions, but kept getting saved from being in the dance off by the viewers’ votes. Jeremy has also been languishing at the bottom with the judges, but he’s never been in the dance off.

It’s been a particular feature of ‘Strictly’ over the years that the underdogs get votes, while those who rank in the middle with the judges get ignored. We’ve seen it this series with Jamelia, who’s been in the bottom two on three occasions despite receiving a higher score with the judges than plenty of others.

The formula for avoiding the bottom two is to either be so good that it doesn’t matter if nobody votes for you as you’re at the top with the judges, or be so bad that you get a shedload of sympathy votes.