As the title says, accordng to the press, the BBC are looking for a 5% cut in the budget for the next series of Strictly.

Where woud you make the cuts?

I would cut the presenters fees, surely they could save more than 5% if they paid the presenters what they are worth, rather than the inflated fees they have been earning for the past few series.

Just axe one of the judges........job done......I would say personally that SCD would have no problem finding a 5% saving without it affecting any of the actual dancing.....As you have said the presenters are both highly paid......the judges are paid a lot more than the pro dancers......and they could (not what I would want to happen) cut back on the number of episodes of ITT. I dont think they will have an issue with this personally.

Replace Bruce with a new cheaper presenter would meet that in one fell swoop

And if they need more - cut the judges fees to reflect the amount of work they actually DO on the show.... They do not deserve to get more than the dancers and the celebs for sitting on their backsides for a couple of hours a week as opposed to putting in up to 30 hrs a week taching and dancing.

Cut back the amount of shows rather than the 4 weeks of just Men or Women, that also cuts down on 2 Professionals and 2 celebrity fees.
It was too long last year.

What about a productivty bonus for the celebs, instead of paying them a fat flat fee, pay a much smaller one, and then a bonus for every week they survive, so the winner gets a nice bonus and the runner up gets a bit less.

My preferred option would be the presenters, especially Ms Woodentop, Tess. Having seen Kate Thornton present the tour 2 years running now, she would be an excellent replacement, for someone who quite frankly, I have never found very engaging.

Also, returning to a dozen couples would surely assist too! Whilst I love the show, having as many contestants as we did last series made it over long.

Good idea. I would also 'lose' Tess I'm afraid she adds nothing to the show as far as I'm concerned.

Cut the the amount they pay Bruce & Tess.
Cut the amount they pay the Judges.

Ban the use of spray tan

I agree i think the judges and the presenters should have a cut in pay.

They'd make a fortune if they banned the spay tan!

Do we really need two presenters?

Not wishing to turn this into a Non-apprecaition thread for Tess, but I think in fact she detracts from the show. Her inability to even manage a few steps in dance at the start of the show is embarassing (and Kate Thornton was able to trip the light fantastic even when heavily pregnant!). And who could forget the blooper about Flavia and Matt and what they'd be doing when the series was over, which embarassed them and rubbed Vincent's nose in it.

And I bet her salary is more than 5% of the show's budget!!!

There, got that off my chest!

I agree - and think there are several others who do as well. I find her irritating, annoying and not funny in the least.

what i think would work well is..
get rid of tess im afraid to say
BUT..
keep bruicie for what hes doing now.. but replace tess with Claudia, (so claudia does ITT and The 'Tess's' lounge.. or like others.. replace Tess with Kate T..
would that work?

and cut the amount they pay for the judges.. from £90.000 to id say £40.000-£50.000 each, thats still alot and imo, would sort out this 5%. and they do not need all that money, they have the easiest job for crying out loud! the pros should get more but they dont..

also make it 14 couples again, like series 5 and not 16..

I like having 16 couples ... the longer the series the better as far as I'm concerned. I miss it

I think I would keep the salaries as they are for the pro dancers because this show really is their bread and butter and, to be honest, I'd keep the same amount for the judges. I like the idea of paying the celebrities for each show rather than for the whole series - I think that the majority of them are doing the show to raise their profiles rather than for the cash! I wouldn't replace Tess with anyone - I think the bit 'behind the scenes' is quite meaningless.

So do I. She doesn't ask any decent questions and interrupts the flipping answers anyway.

Tess: So how do you think it went?
Female celeb: Well, I think ...................
Tess:Ah, but if <insert male celeb> had got his guns out.......

Difficulty is that without knowing the show's budget we don't know what 5 per cent of it is.

However...there are probably areas where they could be doing things more cost-effectively without it being too obvious to the viewers or compromising the production (and staff) too much. For example, are they getting best value from the external services such as the training studios, taxi companies, etc etc.???

Must agree with everything that as been said.

But if Bruce was to go anton would prove a much cheaper alternative.

Why not get rid of the band and singers or replace them with a cheaper versions and preferablely ones that could play and sing better.

Cut the length of the show, cut the presenters - have someone else instead of Bruce. That would cut the expenses down by 50% let alone 5%!

Excellent idea!

Just have Matthew Cutler dancing with all the female celebs, give him a bonus and cut down on his wardrobe.

Works for me

Seriously, completely agree that we could manage without Tess, can't see any added value there. The judges are definitely overpaid. I'm sure if they walked out there would plenty of people ready to replace them for a more realistic fee.

I'm not so sure about reducing the number of contestants, though. The longer it's on the better.

Pay cut for the overpaid ones, and have one less celeb? It's hard to know exactly how much takes up 5% but that would be my first choice.

Cut the number of contestants, thus reducing the length of the series - it was definitely too long last year.

Cut the presenters salaries and if necessary replace Bruce with Anton and Tess with almost anyone.

Leave the judges and pro dancers salaries as they are but no increases this year. If the judges don't like it, they are easily replaced.

Agree, Fliss, cut the band then we might get some decent singing and replace them with recordings like *whispers* DOI.

Cut the "guest" appearances - they're only there to promote their latest single/album any way.

I agree with cutting the number of couples back to a manageable number and having them all compete against each other from the off

Yes, completely agree with this. I mean, the Spice Girls, Barry Manilow, Bette Midler to name only three. They must have cost a lot more each than a pro dancer for the whole series!

Replace the judges - they must be quite expensive now and their contribution to the show seems to diminish with each season.

And 14 weeks is definitely better than 16 ...