CaroUK SCD is NOT a Strictly a Dancing competition and the judges are there to entertain as well as offer advice. Jo hardly looked destroyed by the comments - comparing someone's dancing to a bush kangeroo isn't personal and Craig and Bruno have said far worse before as has Arlene telling Georgina Bouvova she couldn't walk properly and a comment which prompted James when called "a nasty piece of work" or words to that effect by her to retialate "you can talk". The only thing the judges have said which struck me as off was Arlene calling John Sargeant lazy because the one piece of critisism that upset me was an instructor telling I wasn't trying because I wasn't getting it right which is rubbish.

At the end of the day you know what you're letting yourself in for or you should when you go on Strictly which a lot of people do for the publicity as people pointed out. Craig Kelly responded to the 'Dad down the Disco' comments with a comeback and Matt Dawson and Julian Clary also had comebacks from Craig R.H too which is part of it. It strikes me that Brendan has it in for Craig R.H as he didn't mention Bruno being equally rude and laughing out loud at Craig's comments and although there's a protective element I think some of it is the dislike of Craig and a grab for public votes which made me want to vote for Craig and Flavia just to try and get him and Jo out. I find Jo's ickle girl act a tad irritating but that elevated for me at the time it a full-blown dislike. However my dislike of Brendan was really formed last year when he continually complained and stropped every time he got marks he wasn't happy with when I think him and Lisa were actaully over-marked on occasion. His strop over their jive particularly annoyed me and his comments in comparison to Eriaustin's salsa on ITT he like rubbing salt in my wounds over the fact they had been eliminated and I suspect a lot of their fans felt the same way. The weird thing is that I agreed with Brendan about the judges in season four that for Craig to say he wanted more filth from him and Claire's foxtrot and then the next week bitch that their salsa was more like a pole dance was inconsistent and I can understand why he got miffed about that. However Brenda has spotted that this gets him talked and his partners voted back in no matter how bad they are and if he really has that little respect for Craig R.H's judging comments he either needs to quit or find someway of resolving that.

It must be love that's making Kristina so defensive of Joe she wasn't like this with JS.

Kat - - I'm very aware that the show is a piece of light entertainment masquerading as a pro/celebrity dancing competition.

That said I have never found playground bullying and name calling particularly entertaining - and that is what Craig (and more recently Bruno) do to the less able contestants with their acid tongues. Yes they stand there and take it with a smile on their faces during the show, but several pros are on record as saying that it does hurt the celebs and dents their confidence.

Craig is very nice to those who can turn in a decent performance, but rather than encouraging the weaker dancers with constructive comments he seeks to belittle them with nastiness. Len for all his faults DOES criticise but nearly always in a nice way - and unlike Craig he is at least qualified to judge ballroom dancing.

I'm no Brendan fan - and I find Jo's ditzy little me act irritating and yes they were one of the two worst couples to take to the floor this series. However, she does put in hours of training each week and comes out and does her best and it would have been nice to see her get congratulated for delivering her best dance to date rather than being compared to two JUMPING creatures when she was being told her dance was SKIPPY (which is at least a valid comment to make about a Viennese Waltz).

I think Brendan and Craig don't like each other very much, but I do think Brendan made a valid point in his phone chat with Claudia on Monday when he said that Craig had made a dig at him and Jo whilst supposedly discussing the costumes as part of the Friday Panel - When talking about Jo's dress Craig said something like "its a bit longer than usual - so it will hide her dreadful footwork" or words to that effect. I heard it at the time and remarked to my daughter who was watching ITT with me that it wasn't part of his remit as costume person to make an assumption that their dance was going to be bad (something most of us expected but not necessary for him to say it at that point!)

I'm on Brendan's side in standing up to Craig and refusing to stand there and take further abuse, (and as I said - I wish some of the others would do it too when Craig comes out with his more outrageous put downs) but I still won't vote for him and Jo to stay in. As far as I'm concerned they can leave tomorrow with heads held high to have lasted until week 6.

Very well said. Like you, Carol, I cannot stand playground behaviour, bullying, and acid-tongued name-calling. I also dislike "animal imagery" when describing a contestant's effort even though CRH promotes it. I dislike the way Craig, Bruno and the sainted Alesha name-call and pick on the weaker celeb dancers. To me it is not entertainment.

Re 'animal imagery' , did you not see the clip on ITT last week where it showed the pros calling the celebs all the animal names under the sun. Ricky said to Erin ' you've called me a duck and a rabbit, how many more names you gonna call me, said in a joking way of course.

I think 'animal imagery' is a very useful descriptive tool for the pros to use, in helping the celebs see their faults.

I did see the clip on ITT last week - and if it is used when teaching that is one thing. I did actually say in my post "catty animal imagery" which is quite a different thing altogether. I agree with Carol UK.