Just listening to Aled on BBC Radio 2 - while doing the paper review he said he hoped that the stories about Arlene were not true. He went on to say that Arlene was very experienced and well respected within dance and while she was "not always very nice to me" I respected her views. He said "I do not want Aleesha there".

I have to agree with him - as annoying as I found Arlene (all the judges have annoyed me in some form or other) I think this idea stinks. Arlene knows her stuff - I cannot work if this is ageism or just plain stupidity on the part of the BBC

I heard that too while I was getting up this morning.

I agree with Aled, putting Alesha in as a judge is total stupidity. Ok she learned a bit while doing the show but she knows zip about real dancing and choreography.
Cant see it being ageism though as I think Len is as old if not older than Arlene.
If the Beeb start mucking about with the bits that work and leaving alone the things that dont they are seriously heading for meltdown.
If they really want to change the judges then at least bring in someone who knows just a bit about the job not just changing for the sake of a bit of eye candy.

I didn't know Aled was still so interested in the show!

The rumours of Alesha stepping in make it seem silly, but really Arlene should be sacked because of the way she behaves towards the male celebs. If the equivalent of her comments were made by Len to the young attractive female celebrities, people would be horrified.

If Arlene goes the replacement has to be a woman, but there are plenty of really good options, especially Karen- who is a professional and respected judge, and also strongly associated with the show. I don't see why they need to dumb the show down like this. I know as far as they're concerned it's about entertainment and not dance, but even casual viewers seem to think Alesha would be a ridiculous choice as a judge