http://www.mirror.co.uk/2009/07/29/s...5875-21554808/

... not sure about this one tbh. Esp about Sharon Osbourne who I personally think SCD could NEVER afford (pay cut or otherwise... surely she'd charge premium??)

Im interested in the pro's angle as well tbh (rumours of some refusing to sign their contracts). i dont think their wages are very high in the first place as they start training in Aug and the show runs through to Xmas...

The pro's are very poorly paid.

Atrociously so!!

The hours of work they put in training, working on choreography and doing their own dances its a f*****g disgrace that the judges and the likes of Tess (who does very little herself...) get paid tonnes in comparison...

It's all wrong in my opinion that Bruce and Tess are paid a fortune but the pro-dancers are so poorly paid THEY do all the work!!

I have a feeling I read that the celebrities used to get £50,000 for the series, so a cut could bring them down to £35,000. But I don't think they should get more than the professionals. The wages to cut even more are those for Bruce and Tess who could so easily be replaced by other people.

TBH I think Bruce and Tess should be on a flat amount of £100k for him and £50k for her. The judges should be on £30k coz they do very little and the rest of the pot should be divided between the pro's and the celeb's as they're the ones who do all the work. The pro's should at least be on £60k each imo

If the above is true - then the alleged attempt at gaining ratings on X factor goes right out the window - if the BBC want to compete with X Factor then they simply HAVE to attract the stars to the show - and pay them!

I find it equally amusing and distressing that Jay Hunt's disgusting behaviour looks likely to finish off one of the best (if not THE best) shows on TV.

Also, I'd like to know WHY the budget has been cut when our licence fee hasn't gone down - if any thing it's gone up so what are the BBC doing with the money they're saving?

i'm sure it simply down to market value, the pro dancers may get paid less than the judges but i imagine they must get the same as the celebs. It is a great profile for pros and probably allows them to make more money outside of strictly in demonstrations etc then they would make if they did not have the "TV Presence" Darren and Lillia, and Anton and Erin must make a load of money from their tours, not sure they would sell so many tickets if they were not "strictly Pros"..

Seconded, wholeheartedly!

Thirded

The Daily Telegraph website has now picked up on the story...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/t...e-Dancing.html

It makes you wonder which celebs will take on the challenge if people like Richard Madeley (*although in my opinion wouldnt be my first choice) are backing out.

Personally I would have loved to see Shazza doing battle with the judges.

Sounds like a load of bollocks to me. Rather like the newspapers decided to make up that certain people were going to be on the show to fill a slow news day (possibly encouraged by the show and the celebs themselves making vague comments to drum up publicity), and then to fill an even slower news day and cover their own arses they say that these celebrities "pulled out" due to low pay.

Last thing I read on here was the judges got £90k.

I hope the reports are true that Sharon isn't doing the show, although how someone can 'quit' a show they have never been on is beyond me.

If the report has any credibility sure it means a contract was turned down? I can't see Richard turning it down for that reason to be honest.

What I find interesting is that according to older reports i.e. last series and earlier (if you believed the papers), Bruce was supposed to get £450,000 per series and now he has apparently had his £660,000 salary reduced to £500,000!

This report is the one that people usually quote on here when talking about who gets paid what.

I believe what we have been told about the pros salaries as it came from the horse's mouth, but I still think supposition has been taken as fact when it comes to anyone else's salary on the show.

PS According to this thread Bruce used to get paid £900k!

I a gutted that SO and RM may not be doing SCD. JOKE!!!!!!

I would rather see the pros get a decent rate as well because they work very hard.

I'm slightly disappointed Sharon won't be taking part- if it's true of course. I thought we might actually get someone this year with a personality! As for pro dancers refusing to sign their contracts, it's interesting nobody has actually been named. I thought everyone signed up in June.

I've said this before on here about why the pro dancers are the lowest paid- it's because speaking parts, ie. the presenters and judges, are always paid more in television. Dancers are actually classified as action parts, which I know is ludicrous, but they are being paid to dance not speak. Therefore they are always going to be paid less than everyone else. And although a lot of the pro's are stars in their own right now, the celebs are always going to be paid more because they are supposedly more well known.

There's a good summary on here about the whole situation
http://tv.sky.com/is-strictly-in-crisis

I'm glad Richard Madely isn't on this I'm very happy he's off our TV screens!

I think he would be quite a good dancer and Mrs O would be hilarious but I don't blame them for backing out.

I thought the celebs got paid less than the pros. Last figure I remember being tossed around (from last series) was £25K for celebs and £30K for pros.

The celebs apparently get variable wages depending on how famous they are (and what their agents can negotiate for!)

The pro dancers get paid less than the celebs; but they are still paid very well compared to what they would be earning if they were standing around in various studios hoping that someone will book some lessons, which is what most of them would be doing. Some of them have earned 'celeb' status, but only because of scd, and have raised their lesson fees way out of proportion.

When the show first started, the pros were not expected to put in more than about 10 hours a week with their celebs, and the fact that some of them now practice 4-5 hours a day, is down to them, and the competitiveness that has developed in the show generally.

I'm not much interested that we're losing either Richard or Sharon although I would probably have found Sharon quite amusing.......

....I'm much more concerned about losing any of our pro dancers. If TPTB carry on as they are, theres not going to be anything left of our show worth watching. and in a year or two the show will be filled with unfamiliar names and faces of both celebs and pro's trying to grab a bit of limelight.

As for the Mirror's article; I'm really glad Richard Madeley has dropped out, but oh dear, how on earth will poor Bruce survive ..... what only £500,000 for a few hours work on one evening a week???

I actually thought the practice sessions were much longer than that, although it probably depends on which stage of the competition you are at.

The standard has been set now though, and each year people are looking for bigger and better routines. To practice any less than this would result in much lower standards, and then everybody would be up in arms...us included

Providing they put in the minimum hours required by the contract, anything else is up to the pro + celeb partnership. Some are far more competitive than others, and also if the celeb isn't currently employed on other work, then they have far more time.

I'm indifferent, it might be rather amusing to see Madely run round the dance floor!?!

The BBC have just made a statement saying that Richard Madeley and Sharon Osborne ahd never been signed into contract and so it is untrue that they have dropped out due to money.

So looks like it's true then

Richard Madeley has an overblown sense of his own importance, if they have offered him Strictly (which I hope they havent) he should do it for 5p as no one else will pay him much.

Instead of paying the celebrities less, why don't they have fewer of them. 16 is far too many and the all girl/all boy weeks are a bore. I believe they originally started with 12, and I think that is plenty.