Absolutely spot on, she is not a novice, she is only one of 6 people in the UK who are strictly champions. so that in my mind makes her perfectly placed to comment, far better placed than an armchair fan.

I don't actually care if Alesha is the best judge ever, it's why she was put on the panel I have a problem with, and why the other three judges remain.

Can you expand that a bit?

If you want to refresh the judging panel why replace only one judge, particularly the only woman, and why replace her with a woman more than half her age with no qualifications.

Why keep the rest of the judges? I thought last year all the judges did things that were out of order, Len giving 10's to dances with obvious mistakes, Craig spouting bile at every tv camera about JS, and Bruno's favouritism towards 'his girls'. Arlene seems to be taking the rap for everyones bad behaviour.

All the judges are 50+ if Arlene's too old so are all the judges, as is Bruce. Get rid of the lot of them. A panel of Phillip Jackson, Karen Hardy, Anton Du Beke and Alesha, then her expertise on the performance side works. Kate Thornton replaces Brucie and Gethin replaces Tess. Now do I deserve a job at the BBC or what?

Can I ask what you mean and how you know why she was put on the panel?

Very sorry , just saw the note above this .I dont agree with your thinking but you carified what you mean ,
Do we know what goes on behind scenes. Maybe , Just maybe Arelene was a nightamare .? Who knows .

I'm sorry but none of that makes her qualified to judge. By your arguement that would every other winner qualified. Do you seriously think they were all considered for the job? The minute you put people on the panel who are judging from "knowing how it feels" you ruin the show. The judges are there to judge and not take into account sob stories, injuries, lack of time, etc, etc. You can't take things like that into account as it's not fair on the other contestants who don't have excuses at the ready for why they performed badly. If this is whats going to happen it's going to cause more problems than last year.

As for being taught intensively by Matthew- again you could say the same for any number of past contestants who stayed in for a long time and were taught by the pro's. All the celebs are taught "routines", they are not taught in the same way as you would be if you went to a dance class and started from scratch. Therefore I doubt Alesha knows anymore about dance than any other successful past contestant.

If she's continued her dancing and actually learnt to dance from either Matthew or somebody else, in the way she would have done had she gone for ballroom lessons at a dance school, then I guess she may well know more than we're giving her credit for. If anyone knows she has I'd love to know. The thing is we've been told she's only judging performance, so she's obviously been told by the BBC she doesn't have to comment on the actual dancing. Which is just bizarre to me!

Sadly, I think the producers are going to be more concerned with getting her "look" right rather than what she actually says.

It might not be purely a question of Alesha being younger than Arlene. The Beeb must feel she's more poular, too - I certainly find her more likeble than Arlene. I find Bruno, Craig and Len more likeable than Arlene, too, and am glad they're staying. It's a question of personality rather than age. Arlene didn't add much of value to the panel for me.

In your opinion. I disagree.

You disagree with a lot of people then!

Can I ask if you are backing Alesha because you are a fan or because you genuinely think she will be a good judge?

I actually thought the point of the judges was that they were there to be disliked not liked! So now personality is more important than experience and knowledge.

There is an outside chance she will WANT to pull out when she sees how some people feel, I suppose, but since she has presumably signed a contract it seems unlikely she can.
I watched all the series except the first one but I think the programme has had it's day. The whole fisaco with John Sargeant turned me off and then the voting business in the semi final made it look so amateurish compared with the X factor.
This is a desperate measure to revive a dying show. Unfortunately, I think it's more likely to kill it

I agree with much of your vision for a revamped Strictly (except Kate Thornton ) but I would argue that the ageism accusations that are flying round originated, and have been fuelled by, the anti-BBC media. There is no logic in Arlene being the sole casualty in a revamp if the only criterion was age. I suspect it is designed as a shot across the bows to the other judges, to keep them in line, and was fuelled by what happened on The X Factor last year.

Why Arlene? We will probably never know the real story unless Arlene herself spills - but the fact that she's accepted a contract with The One Show rather rules that out. Until she writes her memoirs, that is ...?

The BBC is notoriously inept when it comes to decision-making and handling its own PR. It is overstaffed at executive level with people who often have very little experience, yet who come up with half-baked ideas like this one. Clearly nobody there thought through the implications of this decision and that it might upset some fans of the show. Moreover, nobody considered how the likes of the Daily Mail would report it. The BBC have, again, scored yet another own goal.

Alesha won't be quitting, we don't what she'll be like yet, so it's not worth losing sleep over. I'd recommend a cocktail ...

You might be right. We shall see.

I certainly think SCD should follow TXF model of handing the entire vote over to the public at a certain point (and not just for the final). The judges have too much power now and that is what damaged the show so badly last year.

All depends now on the new scoring system we've been primed to expect.

We can only hope it's not the half-baked fudge they've made with the choice of judges ...

Lesley Garret continued with dance classes, so she'd be more qualified than Alesha.

ive only read the first couple of posts on this thread..
im sorry but..

IT IS NOT ALESHAS FAULT!!
the bbc was going to drop arlene anyway, they just took on ALesha, so its not aleshas fault that arlene got the sack, its nothing to do with her!

and lots of people on this forum are hipacrits (sp.)! most of you wanted arlene to go at the end of last series! and now shes gone, you think its a contravisty!!

seriously

I didn't want Arlene to go. I'd have loved Len and Bruno to go as they have detracted from my enjoyment of the show the most. Although I've had disagreements with Arlene a lot of times over the past 5 years, I've always respected her opinion. She knows her stuff.

Alesha was offered her position and she took it. She could have turned it down on the basis that she isn't qualified to judge people on a dancing competition (it still is) when all she knows is the 10 routines she learned 2 years ago. She chose not to. Why she's chosen to retread old ground like this when she has a singing career and a booked tour, and she has disappointed many people according to her site, I don't know. It may backfire on her big time. It's a fickle business and she could easily turn off as many people as the BBC hope she might attract. Seeing as the bulk of the audience is the middle aged woman who may have seen Arlene as their representative, Alesha is going to do nothing for them.

The problem with Arlene going IS the perceived unfairness of it being the one woman on the panel and horrors! Is over a certain age. I say biased Bruno is next to flipping useless on the advice he gives and should have been the one to go.

Presenter yes, Judge no, when it comes down to it she only knows the basics so I think they should have someone who can really dance, seems to me that it's kind of insulting to those who have studies dance for years, surely they had someone better placed than her to do the job, not especially fond of Arlene but at least she knew what she was talking about

As a middle aged woman after watching Series 6 I did want Arlene to go as she detracted from my enjoyment of the show. I also wanted Bruno to go, but not Len.

Alesha would not have been my choice to replace Arlene or Bruno, but I like Alesha and I am quite happy to see how it works out. I certainly don't think she should not have taken up the offer to appear on a show she clearly loves and that will keep her in the public eye. How can that harm her music career?

As far as her website is concerned it didn't take me long at all to find out -
[LIST][*]18 comments have been left by 14 people on Alesha's website
[*]5 of those people do not support Alesha
[*]2 don't think she is suitably qualified[*]2 are unhappy about the change in show dates as they had tickets[*]1 admits joining the website just to make a negative comment about ageism, so not likely to be a fan in the first place[*]All 5 joined the website after the SCD announcement[/LIST]
A drop in the ocean compared to the uproar on this site alone.

If the BBC get the choice of celebs right SCD will still enjoy big audiences whether Arlene or Alesha is on the show.

.....pull out now!!!!


How many times have I heard that!!!??

JJ

Are you on the right forum?????!!!!

Alesha should pull out - and the BBC should make a Junior Strictly, which she could front.

We get Arlene back where she belongs, Alesha still gets a job
... and we get another show

If only lol

Why couldn't they have BOTH women as Judges?

Open her up to an American market DWTS?

I am beginning to wonder, after a dinner-table debate last night, if the same fuss would have been made if the job had been offered to, eg, Carole Smilie, Kelly Brook, Jill Hlafpenny, Louise Lytton. I hadn't thought of it myself until someone set me thinking last night that there may be more to the forure than just an age/beauty thing.

Yes, I think there would have been that same fuss. For me, the issue isn't entirely about Arlene being replaced: it's mostly because she's being replaced by someone with very little knowledge or experience of dance. Had she been replaced by someone younger, who has appropriate expertise, the BBC would still have been accused of ageism but I've a feeling the furore would have been substantially less.