I thought that all the judges went too far in their comments about John Sergeant last year. Yes, they were right in the substance of what they said, but they didn't seem to have the sense to realise that they way they said it was antagonising a lot of viewers. But that wasn't just Arlene, that was all of them.

Her manner of expressing herself wasn't always great but it was worthwhile digging out the substance of her comments from in amongst the alliteration because the contestants who took on board her advice tended to improve.

I think she's been the weakest judge for quite a few years now. I'm happy she's gone but not that she's been replaced by Alesha.

I did think Arlene over-stepped the mark in calling JS lazy (yes his latin was rubbish and he was worse than some people who got evicted before him but calling someone lazy is a personal judgement on someone and that's not on - people also forget that he wasn't quite Kate Garroway - some of his ballroom was actually at least reasonable and it peeved me Len got on his high horse that Heather Small and Andrew Castle were in the dance-off when actually Castle was probably worse than JS) and the judges panel needed a refresh but agree with a lot of people that a new judge or two with MORE ballroom/latin knowledge was needed not less. Also Len is far more annoying (due to grumpiness and marking according to mood and his dominence on ITT doing a good job of convincing people he thinks the show is about him) and provided they brought in someone else with ballroom/latin knowledge I'd far rather he was replaced (Bruno only escapes because he's entertaining and he might mark differently removed from Len's influence). The over-marking was a factor in all the judges to a greater or lesser extent - Lisa's bloody ccc got a 40 that was the fault of ALL the judges.

Maybe Alesha can crib up on some knowledge - however bad it is that an older lady with a body of knowledge being replaced by someone younger and prettier and the worry that Alesha won't really contribute anything - the lady is not a bimbo as she's being portrayed in some quarters of the media. I think this decision is mad and they'd have done far better to replace Tess with Alesha (why why why did Tess get a new contract when most people seem to be either annoyed by her or indifferent to her).

I think that's true - no one else told Christine to get to a ballet class and it did wonders for her not to mention helped the program as I think a lot of people watch to see people get better.