Originally Posted by HeidiB:
“Len and Bruno had far more serious flaws but, as men, are still in situ. Len often shouted over Arlene when she was evaluating performances. And what happened? Bruce moved on to Len without allowing Arlene to finish! I don't know how she managed to put up with this unfair treatment.”
I felt that Len stopped listening to anyone in the last series. In fact, there was one occasion where he completely lost it with Craig, yelling at Craig that he never says anything positive. I know that Craig can be hard but in the last series he made a point whenever possible of finishing his comments with something positive at the end of all the criticisms. He was actually saying positive things on that occasion but Len chose not to hear it.
I don't think anyone is disagreeing with the basic concept of Arlene being replaced, however, everyone
is disagreeing with:
» The fact that only Arlene is being replaced and no other judge or presenter. (It's impossible not to see in that the BBC's dislike of older women.)
» The fact that Arlene, with many years' experience as a dancer and professional choreographer, is being replaced by a new judge who has almost no dancing experience.
Had Arlene been replaced by Karen Hardy, as an experienced professional ballroom dancer and judge, or by an experienced dancer of the calibre of Bonnie Langford or Wayne Sleep, then the outcry would have been far less.
I've said this a number of times but Alesha would be far better as a kind of mentor to the contestants, giving moral support and general advice regarding coping with the strain and pressure of doing SCD. She could combine that with being a kind of roving reporter for ITT, visiting each contestant each week and reporting back on how training is going.