Lisa Snowdon furious over rival Tom Chambers' Strictly Come Dancing victory

Lisa Snowdon was "fuming" after Strictly Come Dancing rival Tom Chambers made the final, her dad revealed yesterday.

He said the model and TV presenter was furious her rival escaped the axe after a voting bungle during the semi-final a week earlier.

And Nigel Snowdon, 56, also claimed friends and relatives were unable to get through to vote for her during Saturday's final showdown between Lisa, soap actor Tom and former SClub7 singer Rachel Stevens.

He said: "There is something wrong if Lisa gets a perfect score and doesn’t automatically go through like last week.

"It was the mother of all cock ups and Tom dodged the bullet big time.

"To be honest Lisa was fuming because she felt that she and Rachel should have been in the final outright.

"Something went wrong and it needs to be sorted for next year because some of the voting was bordering on farcical

"The whole show was just one big popularity contest."

Holby City star Tom got through to the final - despite having the lowest marks from the judges - because BBC bosses realised they had messed up the voting system.

The show's producers took a last-minute decision to let him compete, and he and partner Camilla Dallerup went on to seize the crown.

Speaking at his home in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, Mr Snowdon said some people had been unable to vote for Lisa.

He said: "I had a couple of texts from friends and family who were panicking because they couldnt get through.

"We were at the studio and they were telling me that they had been trying to vote for Lisa but having no luck.

"I have had no problems getting through in previous weeks but it worries me that others couldn't cast a vote for Lisa on Saturday night.

"It might have been very different if there were lots of people having the same problems."

But he added that Lisa, 36, was not bitter over Tom's victory.

He said: "In the end though Tom deserved it on the night and Lisa is happy and proud that she made it to the final.

"We had a real good knees up with Lisa at the BBC studios in London and I was surprised how cheery the atmosphere was.

"Fourteen weeks has taken it out of her but she has come out of it smiling.

"Im very proud of what she has done. Its been a brilliant show."

Mr Snowdon spoke as controversy over soap actor Tom's victory deepened.

Yesterday Liberal Democrat peer Lord Tyler called for BBC director general Mark Thompson to "come clean" about the voting bungle that saved him from the axe despite having the lowest marks from the judges.

The constitutional affairs spokesman vowed he would use Freedom of Information laws to expose the the full results of the semi-final vote.

He said: "Technology is available at the BBC’s disposal to ensure license-payers know just how many votes each contestant got.

"It is a fiasco."