WHY oh WHY????

Aleisha is a great former contestant, character and she's improving all the time BUT....

WHY was Karen Hardy NOT chosen to be on the judging panel this season?

Her critique and analysis on It Takes Two is superb and she would have been such a fantastic addition to the show.

I'm sure Camilla would have been excellent also.
It would have made far more sense and been more professional and entertaining to have one of the former professional dances progress to being a judge.

For those who will come back and say, 'Aleisha has competed and knows how it feels and what the nerves are like' ...I will counter.

The professionals work with the celebrities for countless hours a week and they will fully underestand, appreciate and would be able to express how badly nerves/lack of confidence/sheer panic affect the celebrities.

I believe 'Strictly' got this very wrong and if they can't redeem it this series - and as much as I love and admire D'Arcy Bussell - as a guest judge - Karen or Camilla would have been much more deserving of the place

Karen is brilliant on CC on ITT. I could watch her all night - really knows her stuff and explains things so well.

Maybe she's too busy to take on regular judging on SCD? She would certainly be good.

Can anyone tell me why Karen isn't dancing this year?

After watching Karen's critiques on ITT over the last couple of weeks, it's a moot point as to whether Len, Craig & Bruno could have competed with her.

I've learned more listening to Karen for a week or two than I have from the other three combined in seven seasons of SCD.

I wonder if the three of them had any input into who should be the new judge after Arlene's departure?

What Karen does so well is explain what is needed in the dance. She makesthe technical side of the dance so easy to understand

Because a lot of people can't stand her.....

Karen's a natural when it comes to assessing the dances and articulating what us non-experts should be looking out for.

I think we need to accept Alesha's here to stay. But I'd rather Karen was brought in as the fifth judge than the ever so dreary Darcy.

I wonder if it was more the case that they wanted Alesha to be part of the show rather than getting rid of Arlene or one of the judges: Arlene had to make way for Alesha.

If any of the other judges go Karen would make an excellent judge.

Whilst I really couldn't care less about the Alesha situation, I'd be very interested in what scores Karen would have given each dance. Purely out of interest, really.

I wish they would repeat ITT later on BBC2 or some other channel as its not always possible to be in by 6.30. Second time missing the wonderful Karen. Don't like watching it on the PC but will have to.

Why should that make any difference - she knows what she is talking about- surely that is the most important thing

I agree entirely and there's a little doubt in my mind after listening to Karen talk about 'heel and toe - rises and falls- to Claudia - that Claude might not have learned to dance a whole lot better in all these series of ITT if she hadn't had to get up 'close and personal' with Lechy Len ...bless her - what a trooper!

I agree. Whilst Karen does come across as very knowledgable on ITT and talks a lot of sense, she does have the advantage of not having to give scores. That's when the knives really come out from the audience.

And you used to be such a fan!

Absolutely no reason why they couldn't schedule it in to BBC3 during the SCD season.

We could even have an extended version - Karen could critique ALL of the dances from the previous weekend instead of just a handful.

Incase you haven't noticed, plenty of people dislike each of the judges.

And from what I can gather, even those who didn't like her much as a dancer on the show (when even I as a fan can see how it may have annoyed some people when she felt she had to defend her partner), people are generally preferring her in this role. I think she'd be great. She has the respect of the other dancers as someone who knows what they're talking about, she's a Latin expert which we still don't have on the panel and I think she'd be straight to the point but in a fairly balanced way.

She's got a hell of a lot of support on the BBC boards.

People cannot stop praising her.

I saw a lot of messages asking for her to be made a judge on teletext as well.

Karen might not have been everyone's favourite pro, but they can see the advantages of her in the role of judge.

I think Karen is excellent in this role (Choreography corner) but judging by her performance in the Living TV show dont think she would have been right as a judge she came over so wooden when judging on that show - expand her role on ITT yes

I think she has been quite a revelation on ITT, Her explanations of the intricacies of the dances is brilliant. I wouldn't bet against her becoming a 5th judge (if not 4th) next year based on this performance. I'll bet the BBC are delighted she has moved into this role so smoothly and been totally convincing.

Oh come off it - there'll be a bunch of slack jawed lame brains sitting in Broadcasting House, scratching their stupid heads, wondering why no one came up with the name 'Karen Hardy' during their New SCD Judge brainstorming session last summer.

PM for you BruciesToupe

I doubt it....I was always of the thinking that the Jaye Hunt wanted Alesha on the panel in some capacity to try and get some X factor kudos and try to make a larger dent in the youth market.

Karen would have never have fitted that brief in the first place. I bet she (Jaye) thought everyone would just love her (Alesha), think it was the best idea ever, what a genius she was and she (Jaye) would be credited with creating the Cheryl effect for SCD.

I really believe, it was never about a new judge for the new perspective, it was about trying to copy the impact that the new judge had for the X Factor.

Can't see it myself - a ballroom expert with something interesting to say and who knows what they're talking about might make overmarking, swollen-headed "head judge" Len look a bit surplus to requirements.

Yeah - I guess I sort of know that, really.

I just wanted to say something rude about the BBC.

Ha ha I getcha!

Maybe the BBC are delighted (but through slightly gritted teeth) that the wrong person is getting loads of praise...

Oh well!