Wiggy?

Save us from this self-opinionated bore. The only one to accept a hefty fee for appearing on CIN and for more than twenty years.

He should be made to retire to live in the forest he owned in Scotland, from the bad old days of tax incentives for tree planting. This left great swathes of the countryside hidden from view, cloaked in commercial pine forests which, which when harvested, left the landscape looking like a post-Hiroshima disaster area.

Oh please no! I live in Scotland!

That explains Cowdenbeath then, never knew it used to be a commercial pine forest.

Bruce is clearly not up to the challenge of fronting up a live show, but his ego is so big that not only can he not accept that, but he's becomes increasingly overbearing and domineering when things don't go his way.
He apparently refuses to wear an earpiece so the production team can't talk to him and Tess walks a tightrope between being the principle driver of the show whilst having to stay in her role as 'Brucie's Assistant'.

I think Tess is probably quite a competant presenter, but she gets little or no opportunity to demonstrate her own personality in the present circumstances.

I'd like to see her paired up with someone who'd be prepared to go 50/50 with her instead of 80/20 as happens at the moment.

I'm driven to distraction by Bruce's constant, almost obsessive repetition this series - the shuffle, the pose, the welcome, the doddery joke, the rehashing of old catchphrases, pretending he's talking to someone when the camera's on him, the fake frustration when people don't laugh at his pathetic attepts at humour etc etc.
Give us a fresh face who can give us a bit of variation for goodness sake!!


ps - I haven't been in the audience of Strictly, but I've been to recordings of QI and HIGNFY and they both had a guy on the floor who indicated when we should clap, laugh etc through facial expressions and waving his arms around like the conductor of an orchestra, and more like a crazed windmill when he required a more excited reponse than polite applause.

Nice story about Bruce in the Mail today.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...r-patient.html


It must be nearly thirty years ago. My sister lives in Sunningdale.
Her daughter was invited to an infant schoolfriend's birthday party. On her return from the party, her daughter said she'd had a good time and one of the other girl's daddy's had come and played the piano, sang songs with them and told funny jokes.
My sister worked out that it had been Bruce Forsyth.

That's a lovely story.
But I don't think anyone on this thread is complaining about Bruce as a human being.
They're complaining about incompetent presenting on a flagship show.
The cynic in me wonders why this story has only surfaced after 30 years as Forsyth comes in for more and more criticism in his professional life.

I don't have a newspaper story to back it up, but some 15 years ago in my town, a huge new golf complex opened with a big charity day event involving a tournament for Pro golfers and celebs.
A few places were auctioned off for ordinary people to take part and my friend's dad paid close to a thousand pounds for the honour of 9 holes with Brucie, who he (a senior police officer) said was one of the rudest, most unpleasant and superior characters he'd ever come across.
He refused to sign autographs, wouldn't be photographed for the local paper and didn't join the other players for the refreshments afterwards, instead of which he and Ronnie Corbett ate in a private side room of the hotel and left without saying goodbye to anyone.

It was disgusting and completely unprofessional. His audacity in thinking he has the right to stipulate what sorts of comments should be made by the judges is breathtaking, particuarly since he directed his wrath at one of the few things left on the show which is actually worth watching. Without Craig the thing would be so saccharin it wouldn't be watchable.

I loved the way Craig seemed completely unmoved by Bruce's criticism though: it really looked like he couldn't care less what Bruce thinks

I'm amazed that people can't see through these judges.
Their main purpose seems to be "self promotion."
Craig's "Bush Kangaroo" remark was just an attempt to top Bruno's and get a bigger laugh. It was totally unnecessary in the circumstances and then to try to justify it later by excusing it with the "animal imagery" nonsense when it wasn't about that, it was about him trying to be funny, was just pathetic.

He should leave the jokes to Bruce, as bad as they are.

Er... nobody laughed at Bruno's grasshopper comment and nobody ever laughs at Craig's remarks so I'm not sure where you are coming from there.

There has to be some criticism of the dancers to balance out the gooey squishy yumminess of the rest of the show. Without Craig (and even more so now that Arlene has left) it's just a yucky love-in.

Give us a break!

I wouldn't have posted that if I hadn't heard the audience laugh at Craig's remark.
There's none so blind as those who cannot see.

But I agree about the "yucky love in element," but then it's just a Saturday night entertainment show for the whole family,....what do you think it is?

Well, I'm equally sure that I remember boos and gasps at his comment and the walk-put by Brendan but if you can find a video of the laughter I'd happily admit defeat on that point.

I actually can't stand the idea that "family" entertainment has to be bland and lacking in any kind of tension. It's just not true and the fact that SCD is losing out so badly in the ratings war to the much more dramatic X Factor (and harshest judge Cowell is a big favourite for his sharp comments) just goes to show that it isn't the sort of thing people are after in this timeslot.

"What you can stand" and what this show is really, are two different things.
For all its faults it's the BBC's best entertainment show.
Yes it's lost viewers, but that's more about the BBC messing with the format every year, than competition from the X-factor, the latter appeals to a much younger audience, the BBC seem to have done their best with constant changes to antagonise their audience which collectively is somewhat older.

It may be the BBC's best entertainment show but it's not holding up against the competition at all. They haven't really messed with the format: the problem in my view is that the format has not changed enough and is looking really tired nowadays. It is undoubtedly competition from the X Factor which is damaging the show's ratings: the BBC have admitted that by moving it out of the X Factor's time slot to avoid losing viewers.

Did you read that before you posted it? You've contradicted yourself in the same sentance.


The BBC has made constant changes to this programme for several years, including the much derided Sunday show "in" then "out" each change has been the topic of endless debate on here every year. So it's pointless me continuing with that dialogue.

Because the ratings fall dosen't necessarily mean those people are now watching the X-factor.
Plenty of comments on here over the years from people who disliked the changes saying they won't be watching the current one.
As I said it isn't all the same audience for both programmes. A large proportion of SCD viewers wouldn't be interested in the X-factor. If they stop watching Strictly it's because they choose to do something else.

One or two of my family think the series and the programme are now far too long and are unwilling to devote so much of an evening to it. So they've missed out a few Saturdays in the early stages, but may watch once it's down to those left who can actually dance.

Multiply that across the country....


You're welcome to your views, you won't change mine.