Having just heard the news about Arlene and the shameful way she has been thrown on the bonfire in the name of "refereshing" the show, I cannot bring myself to watch it any more.

It's so sad. If they wanted to "refresh" the show, they should have got rid of Len. He was the only fusty one in the panel (not to mention favourtism, smugness and general rudeness to the other judges). The rest are great.

Also, if they were going to replace anyone, shouldn't they have been replaced with people who know stuff?

This is out of order. The BBC is clearly being both age and gender discriminatory and I think a strong and formal protest should be made. How dare they use license payer's money to continue the oppression of older women in this way.

I hope that Arlene sues, although I'm not sure if the employment laws hold true in the area of entertainment.

It is with greater and greater resentment that I pay my license fee these days. The BBC is starting to disgust me big time.

Arlene is self employed - and as such was on contract to the beeb. They have done nothing to breach regulations covering employment - they simply haven't offered her a new contract.

It still stinks, though.

Nothing to breach regulations...Where have I heard that phrase recently?

True they haven't offered her a new contract, but if the article is correct and someone who has been with the show for years has not even been given the courtesy of being told about the why's and wherefore's of that decision face to face, I consider that to be morally repugnant and cowardly tbh...and it adds another layer of grease to an already slippery story

To be fair, Stu - she MAY have been told! We just dont know.

It always seems to be the way at this time of year. The worst news is, of course, Bruce and Tesspit are back!!!!

JJ

Well jj, going by the article and putting that together with what happened to Nicole when she was dropped, I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't more truth in it than fiction.

Yep! Bruce and Tess back as well...I'm not convinced yet that i'll be though. The whole thing is getting pretty depressing

Looks as if the bbc are desperate. X Factor have not really altered much if anything in the race to the ratings. They are happy to leave it to the bbc to make a complete mess up yet again.

Strictly will never attract the same young audience as x Factor, so why the constant meddling? ITV must be having a real laugh.

Arlene was controversial last series but then so was Len, he is always guaranteed to be rude to everyone and saying one thing and then doing the opposite. They are all characters which added to the show, love em or hate em.

So now the panel consists of one washed out grumpy dancer, two eccentric choregraphers, and one singer who knows zip about dancing.

how can the BBC be age AND gender dircriminatory ?they gave Arlene a contract on another BBC show, and they replaced her with a female. Oppression of older woman seems a bit ridiculous given she's still on TV.

The BBC are entitled to make whatever changes they think the show needs to freshen it up, why not wait and see how it turns out before commenting, that's what i am prepared to do . Give it a chance

.

The X Factor make bigger changes than this every single year. This year they're changing the audition format to increase the levels of bearpit aggression knowing from the Susan Boyle saga that people get off on it. As stupid as the Alesha decision is, I think that's a far more unpleasant and ratings- chasing decision.

.....because these boards are for having discussions and that's what we are doing?

Exactly look what happened to Nicole she was not given the courtesy of a phone call either. I read the article and am not surprised the dancers etc are furious I bet if someone had told us that a former winner was going to be a judge we would not have believed it.
I shall miss Arlene with her expert knowledge even if she could get on your nerves as did all the judges!!
Not sure I shall view the programme in the same light now.

Yes it is outrageous, morally repugnant and cowardly etc.

But my response was to the OP who hopes she sues. I simply pointed out they have breached no employment regulations.

I think by far the worse news is that Richard and Judy are going to be in it

From two years of postings I do know Susan is too lazy to ever be nasty or extreme about anybody or anything. If a sincere ardent fan like Susan turns lazily against the idea, it is truly serious.

I cannot stop wondering if Alesha has prepared some secret weapon to counter all her disadvantages and charm unbelievers, just cannot think what she could possibly pull out of her handbag.

It is sobering to wonder if Alesha may be shown as opposed by all sides in front of 10 million viewers. If the Beeb wobble and pull the rug Alesha's thriving fanbase may never be the same again. It is a change carrying big risk without big benefit.

I can just about bear this major tweak, its the promised future changes I'm worried about.

I dont trust Jay Hunt as far as I can throw her.

It seems that Jay Hunter by mistakenly observing the commercial success of Cheryl Cole on X-factor has added two and two to get five. I'm finding it hard to recall a worst decision made by the BBC on a light entertainment programme. It's like one of the Master Chef judges being replaced by Matt Dawson because he won it 2 years ago. Funny how they allow 80 plus Bruce to continue but feel the need to replace Arlene with a lady less than half her age.

Surely this hasn't been confirmed.

As I said in a previous thread "be careful what you wish for". I've never wanted ANY of the judges replaced I just wanted them to stop acting as if they were bigger than the show. I truly believe that Arlene has been scapegoated for the whole John Sargent fiasco. I "might" have accepted her being replaced by someone like Karen Hardy but, a "gifted" amateur who I felt was very lucky to win on the night is a bit of a slap in the face to the audience and Arlene. My only hope is that she's there to empathise with the celebs and doesn't start trying to tell the pros what to do! I can already see Len patronising her and Craig dismissing her, and goodness knows what Brendan will do!

To all those "screaming" for Brucie to be replaced, remember this decision!

Alesha won Strictly 2007 - but why is she considered so 'gifted?'

Goughie and Lillia won the 2007 Christmas special and Jill and Darren won the 2008 christmas show.

I learned to dance Laura and so I empthise with the contestants - but does that qualify me to judge others? A definite no!

There is an awful lot of prejudice against "older" women in presenting jobs on the BBC, more so than any other broadcaster (but they are all at it to some degree).

Could it be something to do with the very large number of women executives at the BBC nowadays? There are lots! and they seem to be all in their late thirties/forties.


I don't know about these things but do women as they approach "olderness" start to fear it and perhaps want nothing to do with it?


In the case of BBC1 controller Jay Hunt, looking at her decisions when she was in charge of Daytime TV it's amazing how few women over sixty were involved in any programming in a presenting capacity. Or in any capacity.

There was also a tendancy to follow the exploits of men in her programmes, as if women just don't do anything of interest.

Jay Hunt comes across like a Bridget Jones of the BBC.

Exactly. I'm looking forward to the new line up. I thought the judging panel were getting too big for their boots last season, especially Arlene and Len. Their egos had landed.

Good luck to Alesha, I think she'll be great....add energy, freshness and a new perspective as she's been through the same experience the celebrity dancers will be going through.

Well quite, it's always amused me that the supposedly most popular contestant ever couldn't win a Christmas special on the votes of just a few hundred people.


And ditto!

I don't need Alesha or anyone else to tell me how to 'emphasise', I do. I do appreciate how hard and nerve wracking it must be.

I can foresee the amazing word to be used a lot. If you thought Rachel was bad.......

She wasnt even second it was between Darren and Gethin for the Xmas special......which is why they had to ensure on the following Saturday that Gethin didnt get to the final.....to ensure an Alesha win........oh bum I didnt actually say that did I ......I thought I had actually got over that

Oh the joy of Strictly so many conspiracies so much to be 'outraged' about.....cant wait

Don't worry, I'm still not over it either. You Are Not Alone.