Tad annoying? Or should I say more than a tad........

Always thought she was sickeningly smug when with Ramprakash and ain't seen much else since to suggest differently. Her appearances on ITT also seem to confirm my suspicion.

Anyone here know more about her and willing to defend her? Or am I right ?

Smug but she's got the goods to back it up to be fair.

There's nothing to 'defend'.

I can see why she might irritate some people. Certainly I think she has a very healthy opinion of herself.

Conversely she has more charisma and gravitas than a bunch of the other pros put together... and her 'choreography corner' on ITT this year is truly excellent.

Well this is kind of what I am talking about. I think it is just "okay" and I see 9 out of the 10 things she talks about myself on the Saturday night but she dresses it up as if she is the only person in the world to spot certain things - hence why I find her a tad annoying.

At least she didnt say "BIG POINTS" a dozen times this week.

Sorry, I've just started a thread at the same time asking WHY Karen wasn't chosen as a judge - can't disagree with you more!

She's a high achiever - you don't get to be one of those if you're plagued by self doubt.

Maybe it's her confidence that rattles your cage?

That's kinda the whole point. She takes the individual points we'd have all noticed and then puts them in context with respect to the particular dance and explains why it's important or why it's difficult or how it fits with the theme of the dance or doesn't as the case may be. Why particular things are impressive when done well by the male celebs or female celebs depending on the circumstances etc, etc.

I don't want her to go off on a professional critique that I'm just flat out not going to understand.

I really like her on ITT

I couldn't stand her as a dancer on the show

^
This.

She has bags of personality, and not scared of voicing her opinion, and give me that anyday than the same old safe anecdotes from the rest.

Honestly I'm not afraid to admit that I'm very ignorant about dance and she not only made a lot of points that I hadn't considered but explained them well enough that a thicky like me could understand it I thought CC was brilliant this week, loving the Hardy

I think she is superb.

My husband , not a dance fan in any way , has been watching with me and tonight asked why wasn't she asked to be the new judge ?

I personally don't find her annoying and certainly not smug. As mentioned above you don't get to the level she has , or any of the others , without having confidence in your ability.

We all see different things in different people. Some people see smug, some see confident, some see bubbly. I just see enthusiasm and a total passion for dance.

I inadvertantly owe an awful lot to Karen. I've never met her and probably never will. Over the years I have struggled with agoraphobia, and during the latter end of 2006 was feeling especially down. Karen's enthusiasm struck a chord with me, and I remember watching the first lift in her showdance with Mark and thinking "you see what you can do if you just put your mind to something?" Watching her bring the best out in such a shy individual, someone I'd come to identify with as he struggled repeatedly with nerves, gave me the determination to start getting out and facing my problem head on.

Karen really is a good teacher - I have a lot to thank her for.

I absolutely agree with you!

Pleased to hear she helped you

I love Karen- her dancing, personality, everything- I think she's great,

that's a lovely story thank you for sharing it.

Watching SCD for 7 series has also encouraged me to come out of my comfort zone

Seconding arddunol, Miah and killickswife completely - Karen remains my favourite pro to ever take part in the show. Her enthusiasm, passion and total love of dance shine through every single time she appears on ITT or on the dancefloor, and for me, the show is the poorer without her this year.

Agree with every word!

I agree! Don't find her smug at all. She's got a lot of self-confidence but that's not the same thing.

Len obviously has respect for her opinion to go by what he said on the phone. Claudia's also made it clear that she loves CC.

Fair enough - good discussion , soem of the points people mentioned was what i was wondering about hence my call to others to "defend" her from my accusation of smugness. and nice to see it didn't descend into a fight.

Yay group hug group hug!