Aside from her drooling over the male dancers, Arlene was possibly my favourite judge.

She often said what I was thinking.

I'm a week behind everyone else on here but just want to add for what it's worth, sometimes she annoyed me, sometimes she infuriated me and 95% of the time she said what I was thinking and gave damn good advice. Many thanks Arlene. The show will be very much poorer without you.

And you deserve a medal for putting up with the grumpy old git next to you rolling his eyes every time you dared to open your mouth. If anyone had to go, I would definitely have shown him the door.

Lessons in Life - Male Judges on TV shows

Len and Bruno are men and therefore don't do things subtly - up jumps the 10 paddle and it is immediately obvious they have got carried away.

Arlene on the other hand being a woman does things much more subtly - an extra mark when it matters most and she almost gets away with it as only other women would spot any subterfuge.



*****Runs for cover giggling hysterically*****

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Had Arlene been replaced by Karen Hardy, as an experienced professional ballroom dancer and judge, or by an experienced dancer of the calibre of Bonnie Langford or Wayne Sleep, then the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.

Hi memmh!

I agree Len was out of order last year, but quite frankly the whole panel were just awful and if they had behaved like that in Series 1 then I doubt if it would have become such a successful show.

The fact that Arlene is not being replaced with 'like for like' is the major point (especially on here) plus the obsession with the age thing making it worse.

The more I think about it, the more I think Alesha could be good for SCD. But I'm sure I'll be in the minority for a good while yet.

Hi, Buddy

I think Jay Hunt has made a very bad decision and, unfortunately, I have to agree with those who are predicting a Kelly Brook on X-Factor type situation. However, my crystal ball could be wrong so I'll be fair enough to give her a chance, even though I don't agree with the decision.

I don't agree with the decision in the sense that it would have been my choice, but I've come to terms with it and my glass is half full again!