They exercise their right to comment when they score the dances.

They make their feelings perfectly clear who they did and did not rate then.

The rest is up to us. It's no good giving the public a voice if they're going to whinge when they don't like what we have to say.

Well the premise is that it is a dance competition, that's why they dance and not just come on stage and, say, bowl (in Phil's case) or ..er ...entrepreneur in Jo Wood's.
If the public vote for an obviously weak dancer (Craig) then that does give the judges some scope, i think, to have a go at the public - do you not agree?

Len's lost the plot - did he not give someone an 8 this week when they clearly were utter ****

So how can he then go onto complain about anything, when he did that I thought what is the point of being good if that fool Len is just going to mark someone high to annoy the rest of the judges!

There judges are the stars of the show. The judges are the stars on all these talent type shows. The contestants and dancers contribute but realistically the judges have gained most from the show.

However they are a bit too far up their own arses considering they can all be easily replaced. Bruno in particular has become a bit of a monster. He gushes over his favourite then is quite unpleasant and rude to poorer couples.

When will the judges (and some of the people on here) understand that this is not a serious dance competition, it is a light entertainment show, so what does it matter if the public vote for who they find entertaining rather than the good dancers.
The judges have no right to critisise the public for the way they vote, seeing as the viewers pay good money to vote for the celebrities they like. By treating the viewers like they are stupid they are pushing them away- no wonder X Factor gets better ratings, the viewers don't get nearly as much flak for voting for the twins despite the fact they are terrible singers, and that is actually a serious singing competition with a £1 million record contract at stake.
People need to chill out and remember that this isn't a life or death situation- it's just a bit of fun for goodness sake!

No I don't agree. If it were not for the public - the show would not be aired, if it were not for the public paying their television licence fee the judges would not get paid. The judges are there to give constructive criticism and encourage, not to throw hissy fits and throw their toys out of the pram when the voting doesn't go their way. They should treat all the contestants with a little more respect (all the judges have been downright rude with remarks like "drunken rag doll" or the likening one celebrity to a kangaroo etc. etc.).

It must be completely demoralising when the judges are so dismissive of their efforts. The public are going to save a celebrity that has received a verbal lambasting from the judges because most people will support the underdog because of the unfair treatment they have received.

I don't remember ever seeing Bruno on ITT - perhaps I missed it that night?

Craig, although I have said how much I like him this year and that he is the one who puts into words what I'm thinking about a performance, he is very much aware of what is said on the forums and everywhere else (as are all the Judges) and frankly I think it has all gone to his head - he now thinks he is invincible I reckon.

Len is 'old school' and still dwells in the glamour days of Come Dancing. He has the same attitude as most of his generation I feel - that of 'best is technically proficient' - it's what he grew up with and he knows how to judge technique.

Alesha for me is a chance to breathe easy when it comes to her turn to judge.
She is not going to 'nit pick' and make me cringe in sympathy for the dancers and she can handle Bruno!

Bruno has annoyed me for the last 2 series.
He out of all of them is all 'Me, Me, Me'.
I find no warmth or emotion in his eyes whether he is complimenting or criticising and his sole aim is to attention seek.
All of the Judges will have their favourites, it's only natural, but Bruno has no qualms about making his known when he should be displaying impartiality.

The outbursts are clearly staged - no judge with years of experience would act in the manner that Craig and Len did last Saturday so publicly.
Their appearance on ITT last Friday was so full of fun and camaraderie so there is no real animosity between them.

It's all showbusiness after all.

I'm not totally convinced that it was staged, especially after Craig's appearance on ITT last night. H glossed over the spat, and stated that he and Len had spoken about it (the spat) afterwards and that all was OK between them (as you would expect as both are professionals and would be unlikely to let a difference of opinion sour the relationship). After all, disagreements happen in work environments, and sometimes words are said.

I think you might be right , But I am wondering why they would stage that ? Do they think we tune in for SCD to see judges shout at each other ? I dont get it

It was spoken about a lot last year - the judges acting like the show's all about them - 'the stars of our show' (a la Brucie )

Bruno has become the worst - he was rude to Ricky G - and his comments bordered on the personal. Get rid of him please and bring in Karen Hardy who would make a brilliant and fair judge


And judges - just because you don't agree with how the public vote does not give you any right to sling insults at us and the way we vote

Personally, I find it quite amusing whenever the judges embark on a "Travesty/heinous dilemma/I can't believe this has happened" outburst.

Len, Craig and Bruno should certainly be prepared for this by now. Are they really so blind/stupid that they assume things will be different seven series in? The public voted to keep Chris Parker to the bitter end (and even Craig is better than he was), they kept Kate Garraway significantly beyond her ability time and we all know what happened last year. Plus ca change, plus ca la meme chose.

If they still persist in chucking their toys out of the pram every time a dancing numpty stays in ahead of one of the perceived favourites then let them. Whatever floats their boat I reckon.

Doesn't it? People are assuming that same right - to sling insults when they disagree with the judges, on this very thread. Read any of the numerous threads on the judges to identify the hypocrites. People are good at dishing it out but can't "take a tackle" from Len themselves.

I hope that doesn't apply to me

You be your own judge on that. I can't frankly be bothered to trawl back though your posts to find out - not the vindictive type.

At least you weren't the one who used the word 'hate' in the thread title. Imagine if Len had not confined his comments to "nonsensical" and "ludicrous", but had said "I hate the so-called great British public" instead. It would have been Armageddon on these boards!

I'm with JohnfromWales on this: here's his take on the Craig voters.

"Yep, Jimbob and Cletus have sat on the redial. The knuckle-dragging humunculi, amoebic throwbacks and lobotomised dribblers have torn up their ASBOs and pointed at the screen: 'Funny man make me laugh' they mumble while their care-workers reach for the phones. Just think of the damage they could do if they had opposable thumbs."

You can say absolutely anything if you say it with style like that.

But why? It doesn't make me feel they think I am stupid. Why do you think it's saying that of you?

Superb

I only have three problems with the judges this year -

1. I wish Bruno would stay in his seat (he is standing up to make his comments on the current series of DWTS too).

2. I wish Bruno's comments were reflected in his marking - I think his marking is pretty spot on btw.

3. I wish Len would stop over marking to compensate for Craig's scores - but I've wished this since the first series.

Otherwise I'm a happy bunny as far as the judges are concerned.

PS I didn't agree though with Len's 'head judge' dance off decisions twice this year .

Voting always comes with an expectation that people will vote responsibly on the relevant issues - not on any other issue but what the show is about. Altering the leaderboard is what the public vote is for - but that doesn't mean ignoring it and the dancing and reversing it for any old reason possible. The SCD voting is done by a small, self selecting group of individuals who have some reason or other to vote when most people do not. The vote doesn't represent anyone but the few people who vote. Its perfectly proper for the judges to point out when they think the voting is "ludicrous" for a dancing competition and that the result is totally destructive. Indeed its the duty of the responsible people to point out that they think the show is being endangered and that such voting is grossly unfair to the people who are trying hard and taking the dancing seriously. If the only way to outweigh the non dancing vote is to get more people to vote you would have to point out the consequences. Thats also what you would expect anyone to do in a judging or teaching position if they thought that their people were being judged improperly on their looks, race or sex or class or penalised because they got good marks spoke nicely and didn't play the fool in class.

Its also the role of the judges to point out who is good and who is not and who is useless and they are dealing with adults who ought to be able to cope with having it pointed out to them that they are dire. Its not the job of judges to pretend the hopeless are actually good. How its put in the final analysis is irrelevant - its not a charm competition between the judges and some people like the panto comments. The fact is some people are hopeless and others are poor and unless you don't accept the idea of failure they will have to be told so. Penalising the good students because people disagree with someone else criticising the bad ones is just immoral any way you look at it.

It isn't good TV when you eliminate all the contestants who are good at what the show is about - its a pointless panto come comedy show, come beauty competition that could be ended after the first 30 minutes - and one that can't survive because the show is no longer what it is described as and what it has become is indefensible.

Its not actually la meme chose you suggest . Its getting worse. The voting has gone from a few weeks of support for the under-dog with no one else much better suffering to the support lasting longer and longer and shifting to whoever is next bottom of the poll. It then turned up as a massive 40+% vote for JS. Its now turning up with support for the 4-6 weakest contestants. On the other end of the scale its gone from one good dancer not getting votes to most and possibly all the best dancers geting none. The result of that is that real contenders are going earlier and more of them are in danger. In the past personality votes usually accrued to the people who merited them by making strong progress - now they are with people who have made little, gone backwards or just want to go to Blackpool. Its not the same thing and its heading more and more each year to a contest where the competitors don't make the final and possibly the winner wins for nothing to do with dancing.

The mystery is why Bruno and, much less than usual, Craig are stirring this hornets nest up. If its some producer with a suicidal aim of turning the show into a panto there's no reason to go along with them and certainly no reason to penalise the innocent by voting for the panto ending.

I would be demoralised if I was called a kangaroo.

Any chance of giving me an example of one of those "insults" please - I seem to have missed them all?

They "throw toys out of pram" as you put it when they (as dance judges) are forced to choose to eject one dancer whom they believe to be a better dancer than a number of other couples. If you see it as protecting their favourites, then that is your choice, but (as has been explained a few times by Len and Craig) they are there to judge on the elements of the dance, not to throw out good dancers over lesser dancers. And, as professionals in their field, they might be entitled to show some emotion in that respect.

Bruno likened Jo to a grasshopper - that was below the belt
And then being rude and dismissive to Ricky G with his Daniel Craig comment

There is no need for rudeness like that which is bordering on insulting

He likened her dancing to a grasshopper, and as has been explained before, very often in the expressive arts (acting, dance etc) "animalisms" are used to convey a certain feeling/look or emotion in order to get the idea across.


You might have a (just) point about it being dismissive, but it being rude is open to debate. But insulting? Not really (as you yourself seem to indicate by stating bordering on insulting).


But I guess on that we won't agree. However, I did query your post which stated that insults were slung at us (the voting public. Maybe it was badly worded, but that did suggest that the judges were insulting us (which they have not to my knowledge).