Strictly Come Dancing voting shake-up sparks viewer backlash as elderly fans 'alienated'
Nancy Brown | 10:02am Sun 28 SepThe first live show of Strictly Come Dancing 2025 was hit with complaints last night after a voting shake-up left viewers raging.
Saturday night (September 27), saw all 15 hopefuls – including newcomer Amber Davies – perform for the first time in front of the live studio audience and millions watching on BBC One.
However, after changing the way votes will be cast this year, the BBC was soon inundated with complaints.
Host Claudia Winkleman spoke about the voting change on the first live show of 2025 [Credit: BBC]
Strictly Come Dancing 2025: Voting changes announced
It’s all change on this year’s Strictly Come Dancing. Instead of viewers being able to phone in and vote for their favourite celebrities, this year, all votes will be cast online. And that’s caused some to complain that the BBC could be alienating the show’s older viewers, many of whom may struggle to vote online.
Host Claudia Winkleman explained that there would be no results show this week. She said: “Tonight the judges’ scores will be carried over and combined with next week’s. That’s when the vote will open and you get to have your say for the very first time.
“And, speaking of voting, I have news. This time it is changing.” She then introduced benched pro Neil Jones to explain more.
He said: “This year for the first time on Strictly, voting will be available online only. Crazy right? To have your say you have to sign in or register for a BBC account first. Now, pay attention, head to the website or scan the QR code on your screen now for all the information you need.”
Complaints pour in
Viewers were less than impressed, though.
Taking to Twitter, one commented: “@BBC your new voting system takes out a lot of the older viewers that loved to call in and vote. Shame on you.”
A second added: “Very sad how exclusive the voting is this year internet only. I have friends who have watched every series and always voted by phone. Not this year. They don’t have a smartphone or internet at home. I wonder how any others won’t be voting this year?”
A third also commented and said: Voting is now online only? Way to alienate and exclude a good chunk of your audience, Strictly.” “Getting rid of the voting by phone is so wrong,” said another.
“What about the older generation who might not have a smartphone? They need to remember how many elderly people love Strictly who might be excluded from voting,” another added. “It’s exclusionary and risks indirect discrimination,” said another.
Strictly Head Judge Shirley Ballas will also see her deciding vote shared this year [Credit: BBC]
Head Judge Shirley’s power shared
That’s not the only change, though. It was also announced last night that Head Judge Shirley Ballas will no longer have the deciding vote if the votes are tied after the dance-off.
Instead, the power is going to be shared between the four judges, with a different judge having the deciding vote each week.
How to vote online for your Strictly Come Dancing 2025 favourite
To vote, Strictly fans need to head to the Strictly Come Dancing homepage on the BBC website here.
You’ll need a BBC account and you’ll need to be signed in to vote. Voting will open during next Saturday’s live show (October 4).
According to the BBC website, the couples will be listed in alphabetical order. Strictly fans will then need to select their favourite dancing duo by clicking the plus icon next to their name so that a 1 appears in the box between the plus and minus buttons.
The website adds: “You can allocate all your permitted votes the same time by clicking the ‘+’ button again for another couple or the same couple you have already allocated a vote to. If you want to remove your vote from any couple, just use the ‘-’ button next to their name.
“Once you’ve allocated all your votes you won’t be able to press the ‘+’ button anymore. If you’re happy with how your votes are allocated then click ‘Submit X Votes’ at the bottom. The button will confirm how many votes you will be submitting in one go eg. ‘Submit 5 votes’. You can now cast all your votes at once, or cast them one at a time as you did last year.”
It concludes: “Once you have submitted your vote or votes it cannot be changed.”
Read more: Flustered Claudia Winkleman forced to address live show blunder
