Style over substance is the new BBC motto.
I certainly won't be watching it, as it is obviously no longer about the dancing.
I certainly won't be watching it, as it is obviously no longer about the dancing.
Alesha confirmed as new judge...what do you think of that?
3 of 4
Much as I like Alesha, I will echo what most fms have already said. It is quite ridiculous to try and "do an xfactor" on SCD. The BBC always has to dumb everything down and to replace Arlene with Alesha is quite insulting to the professional dancers.
It may also be do with the fact that the BBC gets very panicky if they "shock horror" broadcast a show without having an ethnic mix. SCD has been accused of being racist as the naughty GP sometimes will not play ball and vote the way the BBC would prefer. By using Alesha they cannot be called racist. Bruno and Craigs fake tans do not appear to count.
As I said I like Alesha but feel she would be a better judge on a singing contest. Arlenes experience obviously counts for nothing
It may also be do with the fact that the BBC gets very panicky if they "shock horror" broadcast a show without having an ethnic mix. SCD has been accused of being racist as the naughty GP sometimes will not play ball and vote the way the BBC would prefer. By using Alesha they cannot be called racist. Bruno and Craigs fake tans do not appear to count.
As I said I like Alesha but feel she would be a better judge on a singing contest. Arlenes experience obviously counts for nothing
VM -
Go to the bbc homepage, and right at the very bottom click on "complaints". It's easy to follow from there......since I found that link I haven't stopped complaining about all sorts of things
Go to the bbc homepage, and right at the very bottom click on "complaints". It's easy to follow from there......since I found that link I haven't stopped complaining about all sorts of things
Originally Posted by StrictlyRed:
“VM -
Go to the bbc homepage, and right at the very bottom click on "complaints". It's easy to follow from there......since I found that link I haven't stopped complaining about all sorts of things”
“VM -
Go to the bbc homepage, and right at the very bottom click on "complaints". It's easy to follow from there......since I found that link I haven't stopped complaining about all sorts of things
”
thanks
i'll do the same,back soon
She'll play a similar role to Carrie Ann Inaba on DWTS. Lets face it Arlene had to go, she was very poor less series, especially when delivering her pre-arranged sound-bites.
SCD needed to change things last series was dull at times, a real lack of wow-factor. I actually prefer razzmatazz of DWTS and am pleased SCD is going in that direction.
Alesha fits all the BBC remits (young, black, talented) so it doesn't surprise me they offered her this. She is a great advert for the show and their agenda.
I think she'll play a "nice judge" role. I struggle to see her being nasty in anyway to the contestants.
I also think she'll be good at it, because lets face it she's good at pretty much everything else. She may not be "qualified" but the others are, so we getting different points of view ,and lets not forget they are judging celebs here on a TV show, not the world latin dance championships.
SCD needed to change things last series was dull at times, a real lack of wow-factor. I actually prefer razzmatazz of DWTS and am pleased SCD is going in that direction.
Alesha fits all the BBC remits (young, black, talented) so it doesn't surprise me they offered her this. She is a great advert for the show and their agenda.
I think she'll play a "nice judge" role. I struggle to see her being nasty in anyway to the contestants.
I also think she'll be good at it, because lets face it she's good at pretty much everything else. She may not be "qualified" but the others are, so we getting different points of view ,and lets not forget they are judging celebs here on a TV show, not the world latin dance championships.
I rarely watch the show I'll admit, but when I heard the news I thought it kinda made sense, but was kinda weird.
What I think they should have done is, since they are adding a 5th judge for the last few weeks as it gets more sort of technical, why not have Alesha as a fifth sort of "Entertainment factor" judge in the early weeks. Not even always Alesha, bring back other contestants who have been through it because I think they would add an extra element to the show having someone who judges the performances on entertainment rather than technicalities. Then as the final stages come around, the entertainment factor is less important and Darcy can come in to make the full 50 points based on technical ability.
Also the main reason I don't mind watching SCD is to laugh at Arlene's dreadful face lift, when she stops talking her face contorts to a different position every time, it's very entertaining. They shouldn't have sacked her for her age.
What I think they should have done is, since they are adding a 5th judge for the last few weeks as it gets more sort of technical, why not have Alesha as a fifth sort of "Entertainment factor" judge in the early weeks. Not even always Alesha, bring back other contestants who have been through it because I think they would add an extra element to the show having someone who judges the performances on entertainment rather than technicalities. Then as the final stages come around, the entertainment factor is less important and Darcy can come in to make the full 50 points based on technical ability.
Also the main reason I don't mind watching SCD is to laugh at Arlene's dreadful face lift, when she stops talking her face contorts to a different position every time, it's very entertaining. They shouldn't have sacked her for her age.
Originally Posted by NoNoDrama:
“She'll play a similar role to Carrie Ann Inaba on DWTS. Lets face it Arlene had to go, she was very poor less series, especially when delivering her pre-arranged sound-bites.
SCD needed to change things last series was dull at times, a real lack of wow-factor. I actually prefer razzmatazz of DWTS and am pleased SCD is going in that direction.
Alesha fits all the BBC remits (young, black, talented) so it doesn't surprise me they offered her this. She is a great advert for the show and their agenda.
I think she'll play a "nice judge" role. I struggle to see her being nasty in anyway to the contestants.
I also think she'll be good at it, because lets face it she's good at pretty much everything else. She may not be "qualified" but the others are, so we getting different points of view ,and lets not forget they are judging celebs here on a TV show, not the world latin dance championships.”
“She'll play a similar role to Carrie Ann Inaba on DWTS. Lets face it Arlene had to go, she was very poor less series, especially when delivering her pre-arranged sound-bites.
SCD needed to change things last series was dull at times, a real lack of wow-factor. I actually prefer razzmatazz of DWTS and am pleased SCD is going in that direction.
Alesha fits all the BBC remits (young, black, talented) so it doesn't surprise me they offered her this. She is a great advert for the show and their agenda.
I think she'll play a "nice judge" role. I struggle to see her being nasty in anyway to the contestants.
I also think she'll be good at it, because lets face it she's good at pretty much everything else. She may not be "qualified" but the others are, so we getting different points of view ,and lets not forget they are judging celebs here on a TV show, not the world latin dance championships.”
I agree with all of this! The only judge who's qualified here is Len. The others aren't. Bruno danced in an Elton John video 25 years ago, Craig is mediocre, and Arlene is just bonkers. Although Craig can be funny.
How quickly everyone forgets just how bizarre the judges can be. I know there are Lisa Snowden fans around, but please...she wasn't better than Rachel, or Austin, or Tom, really. The general public saw nothing in her. For most people here, they (the judges) were watching an entirely different show. And let's not forget all the crap Arlene said about John Sergeant, basically provoking that huge debate by not keeping her mouth shut.
It wouldn't bother me if they replaced all of them.
Originally Posted by Philly1234:
“I agree with all of this! The only judge who's qualified here is Len. The others aren't. Bruno danced in an Elton John video 25 years ago, Craig is mediocre, and Arlene is just bonkers. Although Craig can be funny.
How quickly everyone forgets just how bizarre the judges can be. I know there are Lisa Snowden fans around, but please...she wasn't better than Rachel, or Austin, or Tom, really. The general public saw nothing in her. For most people here, they (the judges) were watching an entirely different show. And let's not forget all the crap Arlene said about John Sergeant, basically provoking that huge debate by not keeping her mouth shut.
It wouldn't bother me if they replaced all of them.”
“I agree with all of this! The only judge who's qualified here is Len. The others aren't. Bruno danced in an Elton John video 25 years ago, Craig is mediocre, and Arlene is just bonkers. Although Craig can be funny.
How quickly everyone forgets just how bizarre the judges can be. I know there are Lisa Snowden fans around, but please...she wasn't better than Rachel, or Austin, or Tom, really. The general public saw nothing in her. For most people here, they (the judges) were watching an entirely different show. And let's not forget all the crap Arlene said about John Sergeant, basically provoking that huge debate by not keeping her mouth shut.
It wouldn't bother me if they replaced all of them.”
Matter of opinion Philly - I thought L&B were better than both Tom & Camilla and Austin and Erin, but not as good as Rachel and Vincent.
Yes, I realize that it's a matter of opinion...but the general opinion of the public was that she was the worst of all the people left, and didn't deserve to stay. There was a lot of jury nullification going on in the voting. But now Arlene is some kind of saint? No.
It was rumoured at the end of last series that she was going to leave anyway. Maybe she wanted to leave.
It was rumoured at the end of last series that she was going to leave anyway. Maybe she wanted to leave.
Congratulations to Alesha. I think she'll be a great addition to the judging panel...someone fresh, who'll be able to relate to the celebrity dancers and their experience.
I wasn't keen on Arlene. I disliked the way she'd latch on to one of the good looking celeb dancers early on each series, from that moment on she would lose perspective, become blinded by her crush. The whole thing was distasteful, lacked professionalism imo. On a more shallow note, her bottoxed face was beginning to scare me.
I'm not being ageist btw, I'm in my early 50's myself.
I wasn't keen on Arlene. I disliked the way she'd latch on to one of the good looking celeb dancers early on each series, from that moment on she would lose perspective, become blinded by her crush. The whole thing was distasteful, lacked professionalism imo. On a more shallow note, her bottoxed face was beginning to scare me.
I'm not being ageist btw, I'm in my early 50's myself.
Its rubbish, how can she possibly JUDGE someone elses dancing. She knows nothing about the technical stuff. I cant believe the SCD appointed her. And she irritates me so much. Camilla or Karen should have been Arlenes replacement.
I do like Alesha but I just don't think she knows enough to be a judge. I think it's terrible that they've got rid of Arlene because of her age- why are men allowed on TV no matter how old they are yet women are axed when they get too old?
I'll still be watching but I definately won't like it as much with five judges. I'm one of those people who doesn't like change.
I'll still be watching but I definately won't like it as much with five judges. I'm one of those people who doesn't like change.
maybe some people need to go back and look at some of Arlenes's judging and comments from the last couple of series, she may well be a qualified choreographer, but she is certainly NOT a good presenter or even commentator. All her lines and alliterations were so obviously scripted and always badly delivered. It was actually quite embarrassing watching her some times as she struggled
Alesha Dixon can bring nothing to SCD as a judge. Getting rid of Arlene Phillips is a big mistake. Arlene has years of experience in dance and choreography.
As for the producers excuse that they are trying to encourage a "younger" audience to watch - well we have 80year old Bruce Forsyth as a presenter, and one other judge well into his sixties. The other two judges are middle aged.
The difference is that the presenter and remaining judges are all men. As with Moira Stuart, the ex-newsreader, Arlene is a female.
Darcy Bussell is a professional dancer - so I can understand that decision - but Alesha Dixon?
As for the producers excuse that they are trying to encourage a "younger" audience to watch - well we have 80year old Bruce Forsyth as a presenter, and one other judge well into his sixties. The other two judges are middle aged.
The difference is that the presenter and remaining judges are all men. As with Moira Stuart, the ex-newsreader, Arlene is a female.
Darcy Bussell is a professional dancer - so I can understand that decision - but Alesha Dixon?
Originally Posted by strawberry66:
“Much as I like Alesha, I will echo what most fms have already said. It is quite ridiculous to try and "do an xfactor" on SCD. The BBC always has to dumb everything down and to replace Arlene with Alesha is quite insulting to the professional dancers.
It may also be do with the fact that the BBC gets very panicky if they "shock horror" broadcast a show without having an ethnic mix. SCD has been accused of being racist as the naughty GP sometimes will not play ball and vote the way the BBC would prefer. By using Alesha they cannot be called racist. Bruno and Craigs fake tans do not appear to count.
As I said I like Alesha but feel she would be a better judge on a singing contest. Arlenes experience obviously counts for nothing”
“Much as I like Alesha, I will echo what most fms have already said. It is quite ridiculous to try and "do an xfactor" on SCD. The BBC always has to dumb everything down and to replace Arlene with Alesha is quite insulting to the professional dancers.
It may also be do with the fact that the BBC gets very panicky if they "shock horror" broadcast a show without having an ethnic mix. SCD has been accused of being racist as the naughty GP sometimes will not play ball and vote the way the BBC would prefer. By using Alesha they cannot be called racist. Bruno and Craigs fake tans do not appear to count.
As I said I like Alesha but feel she would be a better judge on a singing contest. Arlenes experience obviously counts for nothing”
Indeed - and Arlene's gender and age count for everything -out she goes!!
This ludicrous and sexist decision has put me off the show.
Why the stupid execs who made this decision think that having on the panel someone younger who knows nothing about dance will improve "younger" viewer ratings, is a mystery to me.
It is also an opportunity to shove aside an older woman (sexism in the workplace) and engage a younger non-white one (diversity quotient
)I can imagine that Alesha's inclusion will p*ss the other experienced judges off and her judging will leave much to be desired.
Originally Posted by Moontaker:
“Congratulations to Alesha. I think she'll be a great addition to the judging panel...someone fresh, who'll be able to relate to the celebrity dancers and their experience.
I wasn't keen on Arlene. I disliked the way she'd latch on to one of the good looking celeb dancers early on each series, from that moment on she would lose perspective, become blinded by her crush. The whole thing was distasteful, lacked professionalism imo. On a more shallow note, her bottoxed face was beginning to scare me.
I'm not being ageist btw, I'm in my early 50's myself.”
“Congratulations to Alesha. I think she'll be a great addition to the judging panel...someone fresh, who'll be able to relate to the celebrity dancers and their experience.
I wasn't keen on Arlene. I disliked the way she'd latch on to one of the good looking celeb dancers early on each series, from that moment on she would lose perspective, become blinded by her crush. The whole thing was distasteful, lacked professionalism imo. On a more shallow note, her bottoxed face was beginning to scare me.
I'm not being ageist btw, I'm in my early 50's myself.”
Arlene knew her stuff - she has years of experience working in the dance world as a professional.
Alesha has no experience whatsoever. Her being able to "relate" to the celeb dancers is of no account really. She has no technical expertise
As for botox - most celebs, many much younger ones, have face fillers - particularly their strangely chubby cheeks - so Arlene is not alone in this.
Originally Posted by Romus:
“Arlene knew her stuff - she has years of experience working in the dance world as a professional.
Alesha has no experience whatsoever. Her being able to "relate" to the celeb dancers is of no account really. She has no technical expertise
As for botox - most celebs, many much younger ones, have face fillers - particularly their strangely chubby cheeks - so Arlene is not alone in this.”
“Arlene knew her stuff - she has years of experience working in the dance world as a professional.
Alesha has no experience whatsoever. Her being able to "relate" to the celeb dancers is of no account really. She has no technical expertise
As for botox - most celebs, many much younger ones, have face fillers - particularly their strangely chubby cheeks - so Arlene is not alone in this.”
That may be your opinion, but there are plenty of people on here that think Arlene's conduct last year was also a reason why she was chosen to leave. Not everyone was a fan of Arlene even though when she was actually giving her expert opinion she was good - there was more to Arlene than that. I am not saying the ageism thing wasn't a factor - just that it isn't likely to be the be all and end all of the decision.
I also don't agree Alesha has nothing to offer. She is an entertainer so knows about performing and has been through the whole SCD process, so she can empathise with the celebs and knows something about ballroom/Latin - how hard some things are to learn for example. She's is also a very smart cookie with lots of common sense and I do think she can make a contribution.
Just my opinion of course.
There are hundreds of thousands of performance judges voting each week. Len is qualified to judge Ballroom. Craig seems to have made a bit of an effort to educate himself about ballroom and at least knows how to use the scoring system, which seems to have been beyond the other judges (I can’t see Alesha handing out enough 2’s by the way). Like Craig, Arlene was a dancer, but had way more experience as a choreographer. Bruno was a dancer. Bruno will no longer be the least qualified.
One of the strengths of the show is that you have to work very hard to learn to ballroom dance, even if you have some previous dance experience, eg. Rachel’s hand positioning last year was beautiful, and contrasted with others who were hanging on for dear life as they were dragged into position. To remove the technical side and base it more and more on performance will steer it towards pop video dancing, and there are plenty of alternative shows. I’m less likely to watch a dumbed-down version.
They could have asked Karen Hardy instead – that would have made more sense to me, but I guess Alesha might see this as a stepping stone to get into TV presenting.
One of the strengths of the show is that you have to work very hard to learn to ballroom dance, even if you have some previous dance experience, eg. Rachel’s hand positioning last year was beautiful, and contrasted with others who were hanging on for dear life as they were dragged into position. To remove the technical side and base it more and more on performance will steer it towards pop video dancing, and there are plenty of alternative shows. I’m less likely to watch a dumbed-down version.
They could have asked Karen Hardy instead – that would have made more sense to me, but I guess Alesha might see this as a stepping stone to get into TV presenting.
To be honest if i was going to replace a judge for last year's show if would have be Arlene. As others have said her conduct wasn't great esp over John Sergent (though some of the pros and other judges were no better), she started to become a sound bite and her behaviour with male contestants was a bit too much. Arlene also said on I think it was ITT that she was thinking of leaving as she wanted to do other things.
I would have replace her with a ballroom dancer prob Camilla.
The Judging panel has always been unbalanced in its male to female ratio and in its performance: ballroom expertises ratio
Personally I am going to Alesha a chance but if i was the bbc the panel would be if they were bringing in Alesha
Craig - Choreographer/dancer who has at least learnt some ballroom techniques/judging
Alesha - Performance and can empathise with the contestants - knowing how hard it can be to learn a new skill
Len - Ballroom expertises
Camilla - Ballroom dancer (or Karen at a push - not my fav dancer by a long way but has judging experience)
The only other problem I see is that a lot of people thought the scoring was out of control last year with too many high scores I can't see Alesha scoring harshly to anyone
I would have replace her with a ballroom dancer prob Camilla.
The Judging panel has always been unbalanced in its male to female ratio and in its performance: ballroom expertises ratio
Personally I am going to Alesha a chance but if i was the bbc the panel would be if they were bringing in Alesha
Craig - Choreographer/dancer who has at least learnt some ballroom techniques/judging
Alesha - Performance and can empathise with the contestants - knowing how hard it can be to learn a new skill
Len - Ballroom expertises
Camilla - Ballroom dancer (or Karen at a push - not my fav dancer by a long way but has judging experience)
The only other problem I see is that a lot of people thought the scoring was out of control last year with too many high scores I can't see Alesha scoring harshly to anyone
Originally Posted by fatskia:
“ Len is qualified to judge Ballroom. Craig seems to have made a bit of an effort to educate himself about ballroom and at least knows how to use the scoring system, which seems to have been beyond the other judges (I can’t see Alesha handing out enough 2’s by the way). Like Craig, Arlene was a dancer, but had way more experience as a choreographer. Bruno was a dancer. Bruno will no longer be the least qualified.
”
“ Len is qualified to judge Ballroom. Craig seems to have made a bit of an effort to educate himself about ballroom and at least knows how to use the scoring system, which seems to have been beyond the other judges (I can’t see Alesha handing out enough 2’s by the way). Like Craig, Arlene was a dancer, but had way more experience as a choreographer. Bruno was a dancer. Bruno will no longer be the least qualified.
”
Tbh I think in terms of dancing technique our judges, aside from Craig, were delivering less and less in the way of detailed critique last series.
Len, having originally being quite hot on this as you would expect, was getting particularly vague on the detail. Bruno had never really bothered with detail and Arlene was coming out with mostly a load of rubbish. Maybe they had been told to dum it down a bit?
But on this basis I think Alesha is perfectly capable of fitting in with the other judges in terms of commenting on technique, i.e. not very much!
I don't mind adding someone like Alesha for the performance judging, but I then wish they'd add Karen for a bit of cred with the dancers (both participants and viewers).
Darcy is a ballerina which I don't see gives her relevent experience to judge Strictly, if she is supposed to be the token technique judge.
Originally Posted by StrictlyRed:
“I have bombarded the bbc with my complaint.
They will listen to me.
Obviously.
”
“I have bombarded the bbc with my complaint.
They will listen to me.
Obviously.
”
Sorry for quoting my own post
So much for complaining to the bbc........
I finished my complaint to the beeb by saying yes, I would like a reply, but not to bother if all I going to get was their standard bland response already printed on their "response to complaints" page.
So what did I get?
Their standard bland response .....................
Wonder what they will reply if I complain about their response to my complaint?
Originally Posted by fatskia:
“There are hundreds of thousands of performance judges voting each week. Len is qualified to judge Ballroom. Craig seems to have made a bit of an effort to educate himself about ballroom and at least knows how to use the scoring system, which seems to have been beyond the other judges (I can’t see Alesha handing out enough 2’s by the way). Like Craig, Arlene was a dancer, but had way more experience as a choreographer. Bruno was a dancer. Bruno will no longer be the least qualified.
One of the strengths of the show is that you have to work very hard to learn to ballroom dance, even if you have some previous dance experience, eg. Rachel’s hand positioning last year was beautiful, and contrasted with others who were hanging on for dear life as they were dragged into position. To remove the technical side and base it more and more on performance will steer it towards pop video dancing, and there are plenty of alternative shows. I’m less likely to watch a dumbed-down version.
They could have asked Karen Hardy instead – that would have made more sense to me, but I guess Alesha might see this as a stepping stone to get into TV presenting.”
“There are hundreds of thousands of performance judges voting each week. Len is qualified to judge Ballroom. Craig seems to have made a bit of an effort to educate himself about ballroom and at least knows how to use the scoring system, which seems to have been beyond the other judges (I can’t see Alesha handing out enough 2’s by the way). Like Craig, Arlene was a dancer, but had way more experience as a choreographer. Bruno was a dancer. Bruno will no longer be the least qualified.
One of the strengths of the show is that you have to work very hard to learn to ballroom dance, even if you have some previous dance experience, eg. Rachel’s hand positioning last year was beautiful, and contrasted with others who were hanging on for dear life as they were dragged into position. To remove the technical side and base it more and more on performance will steer it towards pop video dancing, and there are plenty of alternative shows. I’m less likely to watch a dumbed-down version.
They could have asked Karen Hardy instead – that would have made more sense to me, but I guess Alesha might see this as a stepping stone to get into TV presenting.”
Bruno has a fair amount of credits as a choreographer in TV and film.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0867330/
Originally Posted by dome:
“Bruno has a fair amount of credits as a choreographer in TV and film.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0867330/”
“Bruno has a fair amount of credits as a choreographer in TV and film.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0867330/”
Duly noted. He has done choreography of a quite a few pop videos as well, and I was being harsh on him. He and Craig can battle it out for the least experienced, but they are still miles ahead of Alesha.
I also feel this is the wrong job for Alesha, but Jay Hunt has said that this years Strictly will be more like a bit of fun rather than a dance competiton, so maybe it won't matter that Alesha knows nothing about the technicalites of the dance.
I am sorry that Jan Hunt feels she needs to alter the format of the show more of a reality/entertaiment show, the entertainment was the dancing.
Most people who watch strictly don't want
Big Brother/Jungle thats why they watched Strictly also many celebs wouldn't go on Big Brother/Jungle but would do strictly because it was a bit of class.
Strictly was fine the way it was, I wish they would leave it alone.
winnie
I am sorry that Jan Hunt feels she needs to alter the format of the show more of a reality/entertaiment show, the entertainment was the dancing.
Most people who watch strictly don't want
Big Brother/Jungle thats why they watched Strictly also many celebs wouldn't go on Big Brother/Jungle but would do strictly because it was a bit of class.
Strictly was fine the way it was, I wish they would leave it alone.
winnie
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