Just in case you are reading this Alesha we are not blaming you at all for this fiasco

The people who are to blame are Jay Hunt, and the people who decided to use Alesha in the wrong role

Strictly is not a FOCUS group- and Jay Hunt and her cronies need to remember that what they may gain in younger viewers they are running a massive risk of losing an established audience

There is still time for common sense to prevail- maybe use Alesha in a roving mentors role on ITT - that is what she would be best at.

And bring an experienced pro dancer on to the panel- as they would be better qualified to judge. There are plenty of pro dancers on Strictly who choroegraph to a strong performance level

The fallout from this could wreck Strictly- and it will all be Jay Hunt's and her cronies fault for ruining the show

Alesha you are not to blame at all- the anger on here is not directed at you at all but the middle management idiots who have tinkered repeatedly with the format

If someone offered me a job I wasn't qualified for, I wouldn't take it

but that seems to be the point, she is qualified to judge from a performance and experience point of view, which is what the BBC woman said in her statement that she was brought on to do

So what is the point of Craig and Bruno- why must we have three performance judges- surely two dancers and two performance judges is fairer- you know a bit of balance- or haven't the suits cottoned on to that fact

Do we even need another 'performance' judge?

What i like about Craig is that he judges the performance but he can also add on the technical problems at the end.

Is Alesha just going to tell people that the put passion in the performance? I could sit at home and do the same thing.

Lukey- for once you and I are in broad agreement- Camilla Dallerup should have been offered a judges role before Alesha

I do like Alesha- but she would be better as a mentor on ITT

Sadly Camilla probably isn't high profile enough for the BBC.

I wouldn't mind any pro taking the job.

Shame - she knows her stuff- what next Dale Winton replacing Bruno

I agree with footygirl it's not Alesha's fault that the BBC seem to want someone with her lack of experience and knowledge to be a judge. But I would have thought as an ex-contestant she wouldn't want celebs to be judged on performance without any technical consideration at all, and for that reason would turn down this role.

So someone has obviously persuaded her- you can hear the spiel now can't you

And whoever that person is clearly pretty selfish and on an ego trip

Hmmm...Alesha did say the Strictly crew were like a family to her. If that is the case, I have to ask why she would take a job knowing that one of her 'sisters' or 'brothers' was far better qualified to take the position? Personally, I'd feel damned awkward about it myself, and at the very least ask them directly how they felt about it

I wonder how they DO feel about it?

Methinks plenty of sealed lips on that one- knowing that any criticism of this and they would be out of the door- given a foxtrot oscar so to speak

Anton made it very clear on The Wright Stuff he didn't think Alesha should be a judge. This was at the time it was first rumoured in the press.

I recall Anton saying some years ago that they (the original pro's) made up their mind to do Strictly on the grounds that it was better to be on the inside of the tent so they were in a position to make sure that the whole thing wasn't a mockery and detrimental to dance...Lots of dance fans apparently feel that this latest move will be doing just that...

I've got a feeling - and it is just a feeling - that this year may be the last for Ian, A+E and D+L as well...

And we all know if that if that happens the press will cite it on Alesha being introduced

Alesha you have still got time to get yourself out of the mess you have been dropped in

Oh hell- then she is in an even worse position now with that

It makes ME wonder if Arlene was unpopular behind the scenes and that's why it was her for the chop rather than one of the others? Is it to do with the John Sargeant fiasco last year?

To the best of my knowledge only Len has spoken publicly about Arlene's sacking and Alesha's getting the job. Is everyone else now terrified of opening their mouth and giving an opinion in case they're next in the firing line? Has there been anyone who's actually come out and said 'Welcome Alesha, nice to have you join us' publicly eg one of the other judges or Tess or Claudia? Or are they all waiting a while in support of Arlene and careful of her feelings after her humiliating sacking? I think we all know Bruce will be over the moon about this without having to be told, but the silence from the rest of the team is deafening

Good luck Alesha. I think they've chucked you in at the deep end and personally I wouldn't have taken the job. A lot of people take Strictly very seriously and will pick up on every mistake, bland comment etc that you make. You could be word perfect in the job but some will still criticise you simply because you're not Arlene. I'm miffed myself at her firing but I genuinely wish you well, you can't have even imagined the furore that there would be when you accepted the job.

I have to agree with everything that has been posted here - this is the wrong move, and if they wanted AD to appear, then for the love of god why not use Darcey B (or similar) as the permanent judge, with Alesha guesting at the end? That surely would have made more sense. It's sending the wrong message as to where SCD is going.

"I think they have chucked you in at the deep end Alesha"
"We know you are not to blame Alesha"

WTFluff................She has accepted the job, she knows what she is doing unless ofcourse she is doing it out of love and not getting paid

Quite - since when is a grown woman with years experience in showbusiness and an accomplished media operator not responsible for her own decisions?
I think it's interesting what her decision says about her own career direction. SCD is hardly going to bolster her credibility in the music industry which suggests the so-called resurrection of her recording career is down the pan.

Whether Arlene was popular backstage or not is only a small part of part A of the question...What concerns me is that dance experts were over-looked in favour of Alesha, which suggests to me they've been looking for a way to get her onto the show for some time and weren't particularly fussy about what role she had...I don't think anything that Arlene might have said or done would have made a blind bit of difference tbh.

Umm not really. A platinum album and 3 top 20 singles.... that isn''t what I call "down the pan."

I think you may well be right here Stu - shame they didn't oust Tess really....

Then why pray is she doing SCD? It's a mainstream show with a profile that is as far from what would appeal to a young r'n'b audience as is possible to get. I understand totally why Alesha competed in it to raise her profile when she didn't have a recording contract but why she would do it now defies belief if that contract is not under threat or she doesn't want to move into much more mainstream broadcasting. Nothing wrong with that but lets not kid ourselves this doesn't have implications for her as a recording artist.

Missfrankie - Alesha has never hid her love of SCD, so being given this chance (albeit an odd one) doesn't mean her music career is down the pan, she could just be taking an opportunity that she really, really wants.