When Alesha first said it, my thought process went somewhere along the lines of:

Holy crap, she looks vicious!

Actually, that was vaguely funny, she was right, I'm glad she said it.

Oh god! She was so vicious, I hope she didn't just cause people to vote for him.

... I can't believe she actually said it like that.

Now I've slept and watched it again, what she did was disgusting. It's not just what she said, because when you type it up you're omitting something vital.

When Bruno said it, it was with good humour. He didn't look angry or annoyed. That's just the way Bruno says things. Craig took it with humour too. What Craig said was no different than what he usually said. He uses imagery to describe things. Stompy and flat foooted isn't an insult either, it's a dance fact.

As for Alesha... the key point is that she looked and sounded absolutely venemous. The second the camera flashed to her it was like black poison was steaming out of every orifice. It came across as though she was saying what she did viciously and full of spite, saying things just to hurt him.

Having thought about this more, I still don't think Alesha should or does empathise with the contestants. Craig (RH) had it right when he said that she is personally i.e. emotionally involved with the contestants which the other judges are not. She does need to get over this if she is to continue. Maybe she was too harsh on Craig, but someone needed to say it and the whole Blackpool fiasco was seriously undermining the show.

I am one of the biggest Alesha fans and I fully supported her in the first few weeks of Strictly and I thought she was actually proving a lot of people wrong about her appointment. But this week she was completely out of order. As a former contestant she should know that it is a amalgamation of a popularity and a dancing contest and that people vote for both.

To me the Alesha that won SCD is a completely different one to the one who said what she said to Craig this week and I hope she can find her way back.

Aleshas problem is that she still lacks credibility as a judge. Therefore when she is criticial of a performance it's a case of "on what authority do you say that?".

Problem no.2 - Alesha actually thinks she's a credible judge.

Whilst you don't agree that Alesha should be there to emphasize and support the contestants other people think other things. It was the original reason the BBC gave when they brought her in and when there was an outcry to the signing. Unfortunately she has the arrogance to assume she has the experience of the other three judges which, of course, she severely lacks. She becomes more like Bruno every day.

Putting all that aside - she was really vindictive last night and however weak Craig's dancing might be - she has absolutely no right to speak to him like that. Completely unprofessional - but that is exactly what she is. Jumped up little Madam. She completely humiliated the poor man and he didn't deserve that. Okay, he was the worst dancer in the competition (oops no he wasn't, Ricky Groves was) but my heart went out to him. The sooner the BBC come to their senses the better and give the job to Karen Hardy.

I wonder if Claudia will mention this on ITT this week -

With you all they way!!

I was thinking the same thing today.
When she was commenting on Erin & Rickys dance I really wanted Erin to say "how would you know, your not a professional dancer or choreographer"

Following on from smileycat's post - I'm in three camps where the Alesha as a judge thing is concerned. I vacillate between thinking she's doing a good job and should stay, not caring either way, and thinking her appointment was a grave mistake.

While I wasn't up in arms about last night's events (though I thought she should have worded it better) For some time now, I have felt that Alesha's problem on the panel is the apparent lack of empathy she has for (some of) the contestants. Now I'm not suggesting she trots out empty platitudes to make the audience like her, but I'm now convinced that she took the criticism of her first show too much to heart and maybe after chatting to Bruno or Craig, who reminded her that judges are there to play the pantomime villain role and won't ever be loved, she has adopted her version of the Arlene role which unfortunately doesn't work, as that may have been one of the reasons Arlene was sacked (age aside)

The first "audience televoting after a live show commented on by a panel of judges" programme was Pop Idol, and the judging panel on that show became the prototype for subsequent shows. There was Peter Waterman, the avuncular fuddy-duddy judge who had the best CV of the panel but didn't like anything too modern (Len), Simon Cowell, the po-faced judge whose opinion everyone hung onto and who could cancel out all the other judges' comments with one cutting sentence (Craig), Dr Fox, the joker with dodgy judging credentials who could get away with murder because of his turn of phrase and humour (Bruno) and Nickie Chapman, the kind, understanding judge, there as she could empathise with performers being an ex PR person, who had something nice to say to even the worst performer, especially after all the other judges had ripped them to pieces. Now for me, this is where the "problem" lies with the Strictly panel and Alesha/BBC production/her manager. She doesn't have the experience or the personality to be one of the first 3 but she seems unable or unwilling to sustain the Nickie Chapman role for very long, which is quite frankly the only role that can work for her.

Until she, the show's producers and whoever else is advising her have a rethink of her role on the panel, I'm afraid she'll continue to be on a sllppery slope. Baying for Karen or Camilla to replace her is not the way forward as there's a reason the BBC didn't appoint them, considering they were both available and happy to remain involved with the show. What I feel needs to happen is for someone to find Alesha at her least arms-folded-across-chest defensive mode and explain that the way she's coming across could affect her future prospects as a TV personality, as that's an angle I suspect she'll respond to. However this is an enduring problem with modern "celebrities" who get to a point in their career where they mostly seek advice from acolytes and end up being encouraged to "be yourself"

Unfortunately (or fortunately for Alesha) being a talking point is seen as a positive by TV execs, and there is a possibility that her new "shoot from the hip" style will be encouraged if it leads to more column inches and higher ratings in subsequent weeks. In her (understandable) quest to sound knowledgeable and relevant to the panel, she is alienating the people who contributed to her being there in the first place, and someone needs to point this out to her sharpish.

I've always supported Alesha and I'm sad to see her wonderful 2007 victory tarnished in this way, but I feel she can turn it around. Although she has been around for years, this is her first major TV gig and what we're seeing here may just be inexperience, which hopefully will get better with time, sensible advice and professional guidance.

i dont understand all the fuss, Craig was Crap, he has been told for 8 weeks to up his game with no result. He Does actually think he is better than he is, and he is really bad, even after the comment from alesha he was still saying he thought he was great.... how many ways can the judges tell him , whatever they say to him he will never make a dancer........ he got to Blackpool by default and by the public pleading, when quite clearly there were much better dancers that DIDN't make it because of his fan base and pleadings...... I think Alesha just ran out of patience and thought enough was enough..... I certainly didnt want to endure any more of Craig..... well done Alesha for saying what so many people were thinking

Yes I saw it. It was sad the nastiness had made her cry but it was great how she picked herself up and got on with it.

Not arrogant at all, just realistic and ballsy.

Well that's fine but what did you expect Craig to do? Step down like John Sargent? He's was there not through cheating but because people were voting for him exactly as the rules state. Why have people less able to dance in the competition if you don't want them to take part.

Leaving aside the fact that Alesha is infamous for mangling the English language. It has to said that for someone who only had a few months lessons and never danced with anyone other than her teacher and then to a well rehearsed regime, she sure do come over as a nasty little knowall.

I think the fact that Alesha thinks she is a good judge is laughable.

And how much is she being paid to 'endure' Craig's dancing? .. oh boo hoo!

Totally agree. I can't believe the nonsense being posted here about her comments. Craig & Arlene have said as tough if not tougher things in their time.

Alesha just said what everyone was thinking. I'm not surprised she was annoyed at having to choose between Zoe & Ali last week. Zoe totally deserved to be here this week & Craig really did not.

Len has got angry with contestants in the past - like John S & Kenny - when good dancers are ousted instead of them.

Hmm I'd say the same about some of the comments on here.

But what she said wasn't tough; it was just downright rude.


And what exactly did she expect Craig to do about it?


Can you quote what he said to them so that we can compare it to what Alesha said?

"You're better than you think you are", yes Alesha these words apply to you too!

Chacun a son gout. Personally I thought it was tough rather than rude, and perfectly true. It was certainly no harsher than things Craig & Arlene have come out with. Posters defended (judge) Craig's comments to Jo Wood.


To be less cocky, less blasé, & more humble.


I can't remember the quotes verbatim, but you can look on Youtube.

For goodness sake when has he sounded cocky? Sure he thought he was better at dancing than he was but that can be thrown at a lot of them, Natalie and Ricky Groves for instance. What did you (and Aleisha) want him to do once Zoe had gone? Step down like John Sargent? He was just taking part in the competition like everyone else.

Why did someone need to say it ? Why should Alesha (or anyone) need to say that Zoe should have been there instead ? How is that in any way constructive or a critique to Craig's dance ?

All the other judges, however harsh they may have been, commented on him & his dancing - to me, that's how it should be.

If the people who spend money on voting have voted for Craig over Zoe, then that is how it is. Alesha having a go at Craig about the way that the voting has gone, to me, is unacceptable.

Yes, I'm so glad Craig has gone, and yes, I agree that it would have been better if he had gone earlier, but Alesha failing to critique his dance because she was so eager to insult him is not the behaviour I would have expected, especially from Alesha, who I've always thought was a lot better judge that people seemed to give her credit for.

I thought her comments to Craig were disgusting. Quite honestly who does she think she is!!! Craig had family members in the audience but Alesha did not think twice about saying that Craig was basically useless and he thought he was a better dancer than he was. No matter how she felt about Zoe being voted out of the show last week it was not necessary to talk to Craig like that. I could take critcism but humilation on television before millions would be a bit much. I am amazed that so far none of the celebs have actually given as good as they get from the judges!!! I doubt if I would stand there smiling!!

I think the thing the annoyed me the most was the way she said it.

Whilst Craig has probably said worse, we see from his appearances on ITT that he is actually a really nice person.

There was venom in the way Alesha spoke to Craig last night seemed completely real.

But his comments to Jo were about the dance. Alesha's were not - they were about the fact that Craig was voted through & someone else wasn't - and her - 'You're not as good as you think you are' - how was that related to the dance he had just performed ?

It's a completely different situation to the comments made to Jo.