I would caution blaming Jay Hunt for everything.

She announces these things, but the decisions are really taken by the executive producers.

The idea that an executive producer doesn't get to decide the casting for a show would be unthinkable. They are the ones that make these choices.

Karen was my favourite pro dancer but this news is not at all unexpected.

I think she was great for the show as one of the real 'marmite' characters and one half of the one of best partnerships the show has seen.

Excellent news.

They seem to be so obsessed with "attracting a younger audience"

As long as they have high audience figures, what does it matter whether the audience is young or old?!?

That is NOT true and this post is an example of exactly how the media manages to spreads gossip.

This article is pretty accurate - http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009...rd-brightspark


I completely agree.

Jay Hunt is the public face of the BBC ,but she doesn't make every decision! I'm no particular fan of Jay Hunt, but this blaming her for everything at the BBC is getting ridiculous and some people on here should know better given their day jobs!

This is I think the most worrying thing.
The BBc should provide an alternative the the "yoof fest" of XF not scuttle after the same audience. They tried that with Fame Academy and regreted it.
SCD is a fine Saturday night alternative to the the frenzied and fame obsessed XF

They are not doing much to quell the ageist claims by recruiting much younger dancers as replacements.


Are the celebs having an upper age limit as well?

Really sorry to hear that Karen will not be returning. I loved her partnership with Bill I think even more than with Ramps although of course he was the better dancer and they well deserved their win.

SCD certainly seems to be changing so much and I do not feel for the better. It will be so different without Arlene, Camilla and Karen. I am sure after this series all the pros will be concerned about being replaced with younger pros.

Haha! Well, this is serious business! I only do the 5 kisses in the pink forum cos it feels a bit too fluffy to do it anywhere else!

I just think it is so sad that the BBC feel the need to jazz up a series that has proven to be so popular.

I fear they will loose more viewers than they attract. I think with the younger professionals we may also see a break away from traditional ballroom dancing.

I will reserve judgement until the series starts but doubt it will remain on my 'must see' list.

hello everyone! how are you?

i can't say i'm shock at karen being axed, i'm not sad or happy about her leaving as i wasn't a great fan of her dancing, but i truely believe she should be on the judging panel i love to listen to her opinions about the dancing i will miss her on it takes two
Last edited by vincent's mojo : 03-08-2009 at 19:42

But if that is the case why hasn't she stopped the changes- she has the power to do that

no i wont go that far ,having seen her on POV a while back she doesn't look that old herself ,in fact probably younger than me ,but half the brains when comes down to this. shes also got the looks ,which means i would probably bed her ooops did i say bed her no i feel shes done a good job ,but slipt up here ,big time,needs a smack

Do you think she realises that everyone is blaming her- if that was me I'd be mortified- and trying to put things right

thats a good question, i wa going to email her ,but forgotten her email adress. i did have the email adress to her PA but lost that too. i think jay could be jay.hunt@bbc.co.uk

And if a decisin had provoked such a response that Arlene did I'd be reversing it - if I had the power to do so

I am extremely sorry to hear that Karen will no longer be a part of Strictly Come Dancing. In my opinion she was the best professional dancer and choreographer, as well as being an excellent teacher and lovely person.

I think that all these ridiculous changes are in response to falling audience figures but those in charge do not have the wit to see that the very changes they themselves introduced have partly caused that fall. I am speaking in particular of the awful dance off, often featuring two of the worse dances, which we all had to watch twice.

i think that in itself was contriversal with the dudges.

i would think it was karens decision but i prefer having some new faces it just mixes things up a bit.

if the beeb had gone with having new pros every series this would never have happened but i guess there aren't enough dancers who would be willing to take on the mammoth task.

Very sad to see Karen won't be back either !
I loved her style and her passion and she was a great asset to the show.

tbh, I'm now actually starting to dread tuning in to watch
all the mature men in the company of strictly young women
Right now, it doesn't appeal to me at all.

But why would she do that if she is okay with the decision?

The ageism row might be trundling along, but imho it is not really focused around SCD - it is more general than that.

Found the following article.

Jonathan Ross to host Strictly Come Dancing

No, not really! At least I don’t think so - yet. But nothing would surprise me at the moment. In Strictly Come Dancing the BBC seemed to have found the successor to the family variety shows that graced the 1970s and 1980s. Something that appealed to younger people, parents, grandparents and children. A combination of skill, celebrity and (ex)citement - and that old fashioned ‘good, clean fun’.

After dropping probably the most technically knowledgeable person on the show, Arlene Phillips, for the talented but not professional Alesha Dixon a few weeks ago, the BBC have oudone themselves by removing dancer Karen Hardy and replacing her with, according to the Daily Mail, a ’sexy Lithuanian’. Nooo! The partnership of Karen and one of my favourite cricketers Mark Ramprakash three years ago was probably the sexiest ballroom dancing pairing of the modern age. They should have been on the silver screen! Not only was Karen technically brilliant at dancing and choreography, but also enthusiastic and a seemingly friendly person too.

If Karen wants to retire from the dancefloor at the grand old age of 39, then she should have been offered a judging position. But this just smacks once again of the pursuit of youth at all costs. What next, the replacement of Anton du Beke? Now that really would be the end of SCD on my Saturday viewing.

Agree that Karen might have been a good replacement for Arlene, but the bbc already seem to be favouring Anton by giving him several presenting jobs.

Just found this. This is exactly what I was thinking would happen.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukp...a2v1Cc-lr_e2dQ

Thanks, I did think that perhaps the Mirror had twisted things to soup things up (as all tabs do ).

Glad to hear she'll still be involved.