I do love Alesha, but from all the comments I've heard from her, she seems like one of those voters who consistently favour men because the poor ducks have it so much harder. If she brings that approach to judging it's going to hack me off.

Oh go on then it's ours. Will some one tell me when its my turn to dance with Mat please. Well he is ours isn't he

LOL point taken

I agree with you.

All the judges are a pain in the bum from time to time. So why just replace Arlene? Oh, I know it's because she's a woman, an older woman. Let's get rid of her and get some totty on the show.

Alesha Dixon was a fab contestant on SCD and she just might be ok as a judge but this does not alter the fact that she is NOT qualified to be a judge. How are the pros going to feel about being judged by a former contestant?

Personally, I think it's all about her popularity with the fans and getting some totty factor on the panel like the rival show The X Factor. I thought the BBC was above this.

i'm quite surprised - i didn't even realise that arlene was leaving for definate ! i think aleesha will be good, she's more likeable and charismatic than arlene imo, but i think maybe she may need to know that teensy bit more about dancing, i know she's a talented dancer and everything but she's not professional.

i'd prefer arlene doing it
also i think camilla should of defo got it over alesha cuz she's been through it and she knows what she's talkin about

i feel a bit sorry for arlene bless her
she's just been kicked off for no reason really
i'm glad she's got a new job though

Awful awful decision to put her on the judging panel.

But, the more worrying move in my eyes is putting Arlene on the One Show as their 'Strictly expert'. Why do they need a Strictly commentator on the One Show when we've got ITT . . . or have we still got ITT (in it's current format) ? . . . . .

how can they put her as a judge? she wasnt even a great dancer, her ballroom was ok her latin was DREADFUL

Last year Alesha was always on SCD and/or ITT. Also last year, she was with the SCD team at an awards prog.
Was this inevitable?

Great news i am so happy Alesha got the job

As for Arlene getting the sack she's only got herself to blame with her disgraceful comments about John last year

Alesha is NOT qualified to judge on the SCD panel. Furthemore, ALL the judges made derogatory comments about John last year.

For pete's sake - how the hell can Alesha judge the technicalities of ballroom dancing.

Do the beeb think that Alesha's popularity as a competitor will translate to viewing figures as a judge? Methinks not!

Might be the big switch off for me - unless I resort to the mute button when Alesha gives her verdict and even worse laughs.

Arlene was professionally qualified to judge dance: Alesha - words fail me!

I hope Alesha is taking a crash course in the technicalities of the dances. The remaining judges on SCD aren't scared to argue with each other and if she doesn't know her stuff, they will make her look stupid.

Unless of course they are cared of SCD's golden girl.

As much as I like Alesha I think this is a ridiculous decision by the BBC.

They've obviously looked at Cheryl Cole on the X Factor and how well she did, how she rejuvenated the show etc (if you believe all that hype - personally I wasn't that impressed). But SCD is NOT THE X-FACTOR! No offence to anyone but most people can hear when someone is singing well or not, dance is a completely different art form. You could study it for years and years and still not know everything! So what is Alesha's role on the panel? - it's obviously not as a dance 'expert'. Is it 'former contestant'? Well she'll probably be empathising with them too much and dishing out high scores!

Arlene knew what she was talking about and on the whole was a very fair judge. Alesha is a nice, bouncy young woman (but with a hell of an irritating laugh - if she does that I'm off!) but she is being hung out to dry by this decision IMO. The core Strictly audience is probably a bit older than the viewers of XF so they may be expecting expertise rather than pretty faces on the judging panel.

Hmm. 'Brucie's Babe', I'm convinced he's had something to do with her being hired


(Please note: I'm not for one minute saying that anything untoward is going on The very thought is horrendous!! I just think he admires her a lot and is pushing her career. Phew! My comment could have been totally misconstrued.)

Totally agree.