I really don't understand Alesha Dixon an I've sort of gone off her after this.

She was in a fairly succesful girl group who then split up and she was quiet for a couple of years. She comes on Strictly and wins it and shows her great personality. She then gets a new record deal off her Strictly success and it does quite well- it wasn't a gimmicky record at all, it had some very good stuff on it.

Then for some reason she decides to become a judge on Strictly?! So is that what she wanted all along...to be a presenter, or to be a singer, or does she just want to remain in the public eye regardless of what she is doing??

So odd.

If the article is true then that is really unfair on the professionals- who let's face it do all the work. If anyone deserves an amount like that it is them given they work seven days a week training and choreographing

This just gets worse, and worse. If true (and it is of course, an 'if') then it's outrageous a total novice and 'celeb' should be paid more than professionals with over 60 years of combined dance experience. Why the frig does anyone even bother working hard in this day and age, just go the cheap route and join a TV show and your career is made.

I may be in the eye of the storm in terms of my grumpiness at the moment, but Alesha has seriously gone down in my estimation over this.

I totally agree - they must be fuming - they don't always take too kindly to the remarks from the Panel and they all have dance experience! They won't take too kindly to Aleesha giving them feedback

what I do not understand is why do we need Aleesha telling the viewers about "the performance" - we not thick - we can make our own judgements about the performance what I am interested in is the techincal ability - sometimes I have thought the performance was great only to have the panel point out the technical errors - I really cannot understand what the BBC/Aleesha have agreed to this

God knows what is coming next- I dread to think

Jay Hunt has got a lot of explaining to do with why she has done what she has done

i can imagine the pros would be very annoyed and maybe even insulted at being judged by alesha, i bet if she says something out of line to the partners of brendan or james all hell would break loose !

I agree and I'd also add I still take with a pinch of salt articles that contain the words "according to an insider".

Who knows? - maybe the Sun rumour about Alesha sparked the idea in the first place - stranger things have happened.

I would imagine the pros are still happy to take part for the salary and the exposure or they simply wouldn't sign up. After all this time rightly or wrongly they must have got used to being classed as 'workers' rather than 'stars'. My guess is that as they all liked Alesha as a contestant they will get over this quickly and get on with their jobs.

Remember the judges don't judge the pros although they often compliment them. Why should Alesha be any different if she is judging performance rather than technical skills? Having been through the whole experience at least she will be able to identify a hard routine or a very technical one.

I can't see Alesha saying anything that would particularly upset a pro tbh - she's hardly going to turn in to 'the nasty judge' which is usually when the pros moan after the scores/comments have been given for a performance.

I think that this is an odd situation normally if a pro has told the judges 'you don't know what your talking about' - they've been angry/frustraited/protecting their celeb etc but have know that really the judges were right in what they were saying.

However if they say the same thing to Alesha to a certain exten they'll be correct as she doesn't. How much ballroom experience has she got since SCD? How will it affect how she scores Matt.

Also why do we need anbother judge for the last few weeks or is this to try an avoid a repeat of last years farce?

A big f**king $hit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quite an anti-Alesha back lash building now isn't there?

It's hardly surprising though. It seems to be very cut throat decision on her behalf. When she was being screen tested for a judges role she MUST have known that she would be ousting someone else. And if she didn't know then she certainly knows NOW

This isn't like Cheryl Cole taking over from Sharon O, for a start Sharon voluntarily left. Cheryl is judging a bunch of amateur singers and compared to them she has a wealth of knowledge and experience. Can the same really be said for Alesha Dixon? Yes she's obviously going to have more experience than the novice celebrities but those amateurs have VERY protective professional dance partners who have accumulated a lot of dance experience and knowledge over the years. I cannot imagine that they'll be happy if Alesha says something derogatory (even in her 'nice' way) about their protege's performance especially if they disagree and think the celeb did fine. No doubt they'll be warned not to upset the new STAR of the show though (), which will only breed more discontent and one of them WILL eventually blow their top. Place your bets now ladies and gentlemen as to which Pro Dancer will crack first
Last edited by lotty27 : 12-07-2009 at 16:40

At a guess Brendan or James

My money is on James and possibly Erin - I remember Erin questioning why Zoe was awarded a 10 for a dance she felt wasn't perfect - she is not afraid to speak her mind - as for James we know he likes to speak his mind

I suppose Brendan is a possible

It's not odd at all. She's just taking advantage of the opportunities offered to her. That's what successful celebrities do. Why is this so difficult for people to understand?

I don't know that it's that different. Cheryl has experience sure, and she's good at the performance end of what she does, but 90% of the people who get to bootcamp will be better singers than her. It's a bit rich for her to criticise that aspect of their performance.

Mind you she said nothing of any substance last year so the issue didn't really arise.

I agree with Erin! She's a tough, feisty woman who won't care who she upsets! The male Pro's might be a bit hesitant to 'pick on' Alesha at first, they'd probably get accused to being big old bullies, especially if Alesha looked upset* but the girls might well let rip and not be bothered in the slightest


(* a look I bet she's practicing to perfection if she's read all the backlash against her, after all a little bit of sympathy goes a helluva long way )

I don't agree. It isn't about whether the competitor is better than the judge (no doubt many of the celebs on SCD will not dance anywhere near as well as Alesha, but some may be better). It is about knowledge of what is expected of the competitor i.e. knowledge of technique. I made an earlier post (on the "Alesha, we're not blaming you" thread, in a response to a post by you) about how technique plays a different part in SCD and Dancing on Ice (where the performance is supposed to be to certain technical standards and rules) to the X factor (where there are no set technical standards as such). Now you could argue that Alesha is there to give a performance view, but since the panel of judges was already technically weak, it has now been further weakened by someone who knows even less than the person they were replacing.

Surely if DOI can find at least 3 credible judges, SCD can?
Last edited by Vivacious Lady : 12-07-2009 at 17:19

Very true but I meant her experience of the cut throat music industry, she knows the ropes so to speak. What's new and 'happening' compared to someone like Louis with his Westlife obsession Cheryl has the experience of massive Arena tours etc, what it's like to live in the spotlight and how it can literally change your life over night. She can bring those experiences to the table but I agree on her 'judging' other singers who are WAY better than she could ever dream of being.

Personally I don't think she can sing for toffee and is INCREDIBLY over rated! All she seemed to do last year was cry prettily and call everyone 'babe'

But I'm digressing from the all important and INFINITELY BETTER Strictly!

I disagree. The judges frequently comment on choreography, which is the responsibility of the pro dancers. These comments are not always positive.

Could it be that Alesha is off doing something else for those weeks, and the BBC are "accommodating" her?

I think Craig is doing panto

All together now- Oh no he isn't...

Oh yes he is

That godawful Nikki thing from Big Bore as a contestant? Sharon Osbourne as a contestant to pick up the X-Factor fanbase?

And that could be just for starters ....

Alesha is a gorgeous girl, fabulous personality, best ever winner of Strictly....................but a disastrous choice as judge.

She simply does not qualify AT ALL to sit there in judgement of dancers especially the pros !!

Apparently in a meeting with producers they were all FUMING at the news, but will publicly support.

Surely there must be any amount of professional choreographers who could have been screen tested to see if they made good telly, and been given the job, or better yet, a familar face, one of the existing pros, who may have wanted to swap places.

Fair enough about the difference between the technicalities of singing and dancing, but although the strictly panel may be a bit weak in terms of ballroom technique, Bruno and Craig do at least know quite a lot about the art in a general sense.

I don't think a panel of Bruno, Alesha, Craig and Len is any weaker than the DOI panel, which people seem to be forgetting includes Ruthie Henshall who knows absolutely f*** all about anything and is very opinionated and biased into the bargain. Alesha is more knowledgeable about the subject she's supposed to be judging than Ruthie is.

Although the DOI panel has three knowledgeable ice skaters on it, in reality, you're lucky if you get to hear from two of them as they don't all get to have their say and the spotlight is usually mugged by Ruthie and Jason.

I think this is a very fair point about what Cheryl can and does bring to the table.

Cheryl was a huge success last year, not because of any pearls of wisdom she had as a judge, but because she looked good and interacted well with the contestants. I imagine this is exactly what the BBC want to achieve with Alesha. It's a very lazy strategy, yes. And I don't think it will achieve their aim of marketing the show to a younger audience. This is an ill conceived, ridiculous policy but I won't even get into that.

However, I don't think having Alesha on the panel will do the show any real harm. Those who watch the show will continue to do so, bar a few die hard Karen/Camilla/Arlene fans.