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Strictly's Healey looking for refund
Wednesday 17 December 2008
Speaking at a volunteer charity event in London's Hyde Park, the former England rugby ace said he, too, would be asking for his money back after voting for 'Holby City' star Tom Chambers in last week's show.
Healey, who was eliminated in the 12th week of the show and scored fourth place overall, said the debacle was down simply to a "mathematical freak error".
Angry viewers bombarded the broadcaster with complaints after all three semi-final couples were allowed through to next weekend's final.
Singer Rachel Stevens, dancing with Vincent Simone, and presenter Lisa Snowdon, with partner Brendan Cole, were awarded exactly the same score by the judges.
This meant that, no matter how much public support he received, Chambers, paired with Camilla Dallerup, could not be saved from the dance-off.
Healey said "I'll be phoning back after my four million phone calls for Tom Chambers, to claim my money back - which approximately, by my calculations, is about £3.2 million."
Father-of-four Healey said he expects Chambers will be "delighted" to be in the final as it looked as though he was heading off the show.
"As for the two girls, they will just pleased to be in the final," he said.
Viewers sent 1,687 emails and made 193 calls of complaint at the decision to let all the couples stay.
A statement from the BBC said it worked with an independent adjudicator to decide the fairest way to tackle the controversy. The contestants' scores will be carried over, and will be disclosed on a leader board at the beginning of next Saturday's show.
Once one pair is eliminated, the two remaining couples will start from scratch for the final, also taking place on Saturday.
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