The popular BBC show "Strictly Come Dancing" was hit by fresh controversy today after its Christmas edition suffered voting problems.
Four of the six couples competing in the special edition came joint top of the judges' leaderboard, meaning the other two could not win the show when the audience came to vote.
Proceedings then came to a halt while the head judge Len Goodman re-ranked the couples.
The problem emerged after similar voting confusion marred the show's semi-final and led to more than 1,500 complaints from viewers.
"During the course of filming the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special, there was a four-way tie at the top of the leader board after the judges had voted," the BBC said in a statement.
"In these circumstances Len Goodman, as head judge, ranks the tying couples and that is what happened on this occasion.
"In order to allow for this contingency the show was stopped to give Len an opportunity to reach a considered decision and for producers to brief the presenters and dancers on the changed running order."
Unlike the annual series, which was won on Saturday by actor Tom Chambers, the public were not involved in a telephone vote for their favourite act.
The semi-final was overshadowed by confusion after the judges awarded the same points to Rachel Stevens and Lisa Snowdon, meaning Chambers could not be saved from a dance-off whatever the outcome of a public vote.
Producers decided to put all three contestants through to the final and to carry over the millions of votes already cast. The BBC was later forced to offer a refund to disgruntled viewers unhappy at that decision.
The voting problems also follow the controversy caused when former BBC political correspondent John Sergeant quit the show after the public voted for him to stay on despite him regularly finishing bottom of the judges' scoring table.
The Christmas special features Chambers, Snowdon and Stevens along with Alesha Dixon, Kelly Brook, and Jill Halfpenny who were contestants in previous years.
Reuters