incorrect, it was jill

I'm afraid all my worst fears were confirmed last night. Alesha shouldn't be on the panel. As others have said she doesn't know much about judging dancing. She has been put on the programme to attempt to attract a younger viewing audience. This won't work. Her best solution is to sit there and continue to make irrelevant and silly, useless comments. I, for one will simply ignore her, as I hope all the proffesional dancers will also do !!!

I feel a bit sorry for Alesha - she definitely shouldn't be on the judges panel, however, like lots of unqualified people, she was offered a good job and she accepted! Not her fault - the Beeb made the mistake. Even with Arlene being very annoying at times, she DID (and does) know her stuff!

She is not fearless like Simon Cowell the professional, nor pretty and charming in the way of Cheryl Cole. Her street talk does not fit well into the world of ballroom. Her legs, the best in show business, are hidden behind the judges table.

Good candidate, wrong job. And a heavy price to pay.

well i didn't mind her to be honest i thought she will improve as the shows go on but it was her fault because she accepted the role as a judge, but im happy that she has because its a nice change obviously i will have to wait and see how it panns out

Exactly and for those of who haven't watched SCD from the start, the other judges were nothing like they are now back then. They grew into the job and developed their on screen personas series by series. Try watching an episode from Series one and you will see what I mean.




Excellent post.



In your opinion.

I feel sorry for Alesha on the basis that she was lambasted long before she ever took up the job. I never liked Arlene - her voice was grating, and she was always trying to be too clever, or something.

The way I see it is that we still have 3 judges who can fairly be called "experts", and now we have a judge who is more like Joe Public. I don't mind if Alesha says stuff that my friend and I are already saying to each other. We're not experts in any way, and have only picked the odd technical thing up after watching the show for a few years. Alesha is well ahead of us, in that she has actually learned the dances. Plus, for the poor old nervous contestants, she is the one who knows how hard things are for them, and she maybe has more realistic expectations of how they might perform in the early stages. So I think she brings something different to the show, and I'm ready to give her a chance.

One more point - there was only one dance that Alesha scored higher than anyone else. Otherwise, she scored the same as or below others. So I hope people will let her grow into her role, and bear in mind that she only has Bruno being nice to her atm. The other judges were kind of giving her the cold shoulder, I thought. Poor girl.

Having watched the show again in iplayer, I think that even though Alesha was 'bland' with her comments, I actually agreed with her scoring overall. Willing now to give her a few more weeks, and I hope she would stop contradicting Bruno ever so much...

To be honest, the other judges comments dont exactly set the world of dancing on fire.

I did 2 years of ballroom and latin 12 years ago when I was a teenager. Im definately not qualified to judge dancing but I said pretty much word for word what CRH and Len were saying last night about the flaws in the dancing.

I must admit i have never properly watched strictly as i just can't get into it (X factor all the way ).. but i decided to watch it yesterday just to see how Alesha would be as a judge.. and i actually thought she was very good ! I know people are upset about Arlene and argue that she has tonnes of experience etc.. but that's what the other 3 judges are for. It's nice to have someone on the panel who literally has been there, done that, and can empathise with the contestants, and give comments on their general performance and the way they look on the dance floor etc, whilst the other 3 can really home in on their dancing skills. I think she brings something fresh to the show and i wish her good luck.. it was her first show, she's bound to be nervous.. so i say give her a chance !

You obviously are a Cheryl Cole fan then.

She's oh-so-understanding and nurturing in X-Factor, and it seems you feel Alesha should play the same role?

I actually think besides the rather bland comments she gave, she was quite spot-on with her scores.

Don't feel sorry for her in the slightest. She knew what she was taking on when she agreed to do this and must be prepared to take the backlash and be criticised for it. I found her completely and utterly pointless.

I thought the whole show had a great buzz about it, and I enoyed the relationship between Bruno and Alesha. The biggest test as far as the BBC are concern is if at the end of the series the changes means it beats the X-factor in the ratings.

Ooh no i actually don't like Cheryl Cole much at all.. my fave judge is Dannii Minogue

Seeing as i don't watch SCD (yesterday was the very first time i actually watched it all the way through) i am not really qualified to comment on Arlene But i just thought Alesha did well and i felt a bit sorry for her.. i know it must be annoying for the proper fans who have watched Strictly since it started and have seen a very qualified, professional judge be replaced by a past contestant who doesn't know anything technical about dance (well no way near as much as Arlene anyway), but i just feel as though she will do a good job as it is nice to have someone different who maybe the viewers can relate to, as she is not a professional dancer, and neither are a lot of the casual viewers, so she can comment on things that perhaps the casual viewers pick up ? Sorry if i have annoyed anyone.. that's just my opinion anyway

Not sure why Dannii got so much bad press against Cheryl Cole. I normally don't follow the X-Factor but caught clips on youtube now and again. Dannii can sing (much more than Cheryl would ever dreamt of), that's for sure.

Maybe people like Cheryl because she's prettier and younger than Danni??? Well, such may work in X-Factor, but it seems to backfire in SCD apparently.

And, your opinion is just as valid as anyone's so no need to apologise!

Rather than spend ages typing a response, i've picked the posts that best reflect my opinion.


Agreed. It was her first show as a judge, so I expect her to take a few weeks to get comfortable. It took the other judges a while to settle into their routine, so I'll allow Alesha the same opportunity.


Yeah - she wasn't all 'nicey-nicey' for the sake of it. Imagine what Arlene might have come out with. Joe was billed as the favourite before he even set foot on the dancefloor and he was clearly nervous and out of his element last night. Alesha was fair in her criticism without being cutting.


Definitely. Last year there was a strong (in my opinion) 'us against the judges' vibe, which was reflected in the voting. At times the whole thing turned into a ridiculous pantomine. A change was needed to refresh the show


Yes, I agree. I found it nice that there was someone on the show saying what I was thinking; I felt more included in the show. That's why I like Danni and Simon on X-Factor - they (more than any other judges) say what I'm thinking at home.


So did I - in fact a few times I 'scored' a dance from the comfort of the armchair, and Alesha agreed with me. I know some of them weren't necessarily the most technically adept, but they were entertaining nonetheless, and this is an entertainment show. We need a judge to reflect that!

I think that's a large part of what left a sour taste last year - the John Sergeant fiasco. He was technically rubbish, but bloody hell did Kristina choreograph some entertaining routines. I think Ola gets a rough time of it on this front - in her first 3 years she only got one semi-decent partner, but bloody hell did she make up for the lack of ability of the other 2 by choreographing some damn pretty entertaining routines! Kenny's kilt? The head-banging tango? Not technically great, but very entertaining nonetheless. If I want to watch top-notch technically perfect routines all the time I'll buy some instructional DVDs. This show should be entertaining as well, and I think having a judge looking at that is a good thing.

I say give Alesha a chance, she is multi talented a nd im sure she will grow into the roll. The judges need a shake up

maybe they are saving Karen for head judge ???

She's no worse than that "fly girl" Carrie Ann Inaba on the US version, in terms of credibility. However, her scoring is a bit awkward, I guess.

Her advantages: she looks fantastic, has a warm personality and balances out the judges' table.

Last year was entirely too shrill and OTT - often the judges were just a sideshow. And who needs to watch Arlene Phillips slobbering embarrassingly over all of the male contestants. It was a bit beyond the end of the pier.

However, Alesha does need to assert her own personality and not just mimic Cheryl Cole and, I guess, truth is if the producers wanted to include her in the show they probably would've been better off giving her Tess Daly's job.

Absolutely correct. She can bring an insight into it all that's unique. Give her a chance.

Interesting idea.
How would the public respond to Cheryl Cole as a judge on Strictly?

not a nasty comment at all, just stating a fact

I supported Alesha from week one when she was on it and I really like her

I don't think she's the right person for the job though, but it's not her fault

my point was, she's getting paid well for it, is beautiful and successful so why would I feel sorry for her?

Yeah i know ! I felt so bad for Dannii last year she was almost completely edited out of the audition stages.. but luckily this year they are giving her lots of screen time
And yeah i agree.. whilst that may work on XF it seems SCD viewers much prefer experience.. i think it makes more sense though as just about anyone can tell if someone is singing out of tune, but it is harder to tell if someone's footwork is not all quite there.

And aww thank you for being so nice


Hmmm i reckon people would completely slate her.. she doesn't have any proper dancing training i don't think (?), whereas at least Alesha has been on the show and won it, so you can see the link there. Bringing Cheryl on the show would just be completely ridiculous, and i really don't think she would fit in with the judges at all. The banter between Bruno and Alesha last night really reminded me of Cheryl and Simon on XF though haha..

Sorry? No.
She's a judge on a dance show without the credentials to be there.
Hey, it's a gig. It pays. Her career didn't exactly rocket after SCD despite Bruce's ghastly smarm.
All the judges (possibly bar Craig last series) were striving to be "controversial" and Arlene got the boot. I still think it was age-related. Len was vile and Bruno can be very cutting.
Alesha will just make kind comments. At least she didn't come over all technical. She adds no value but she's OK.

Arlene didn't bully John Sergeant off the show!!!!! From my memory the men were far worse, especially Bruno and Len. They were really nasty to him.

I don't like Arlene at all, and I do like Alesha, but she's really not cut out to be a judge on the show. It should have been Karen or Camilla.

I think people will forget quickly and after a few weeks it will be just how the show is. But the judges are unpopular with a huge part of the audience. There are always loads of very negative comments about all of them on here. Alesha knew what she was taking on, so no I don't feel sorry for her. I very much doubt I will like her much, even though I like her in other settings, just as I don't like Len, Bruno or Craig most of the time.

The atmosphere isn't the same as X Factor and so I don't think the Cheryl Cole comparison is really relevant. On X Factor you can get away with 'you did good and made the song your own' because they don't have to score, so Cheryl can be seen as nice to everyone. Alesha is going to have to rank them much more definitely, and people won't like it when they don't agree.

I only felt really uncomfortable when she had to comment on Matthew and Martina. I just felt then, Well, no way is she impartial and it felt unbalanced.