Not a flame in any way but...are you therefore suggesting that all the current judges are helpful to the lesser talented celebs?

No way!! Claudia IS It Takes Two. If she were to be repaced it would be a whole different show.

Karen would make an excellent judge though.

Fair point. I think, however, there was a suggestion that she is a wondeful, supportive and knowledgeable individual. My view is that she is clearly knowledgeable, but would fall into the rather tiresome category of being unnecessarily critical of the poorer dancers (which is consistent with many of the other judges!)_

I agree. Karen's knowledge of dance is incredible and she's very natural in front of a camera. If there's any justice in this world she should replace Alesha in next year's series. I think she could become the best judge on the panel. She has the expertise but seems calmer than Len and Bruno (Bruno's jumping out of the chair gets a bit tiresome after a while!) and she wouldn't be bitchy like Craig.

I like Karen, it would not offend me if she was a judge. She seems firm but fair and I always liked listening to her when they had her on BBC Breakfast.
No one really irks me as a judge at present either though, I just don't really have much time for Alesha period.

I really like Claudia as the ITT presenter though.

Claudia is perfect for ITT. And one of the good things about this series is that Karen is not in it. Sorry, but she's a great dancer but very annoying, and as a judge or presenter we wouldn't get the good stuff (her dancing) but only the bad (talking too much, too loud, too much gurning etc.).

Have you seen her on ITT this year doing CC? She is excellent at it and if you look on the ITT thread, I don't think anyone has said anything negative about her in this role. After giving her opinions on the pros' choreography and the celebs' performances, it would now be a natural progression for her to join the panel as a judge.

wasnt she fab on Live from Studio Five tonight, teaching Kate and Phillip the cha cha cha, she looked gorgeous and the dance was actually pretty decent!

I love Karen on CC on ITT and have thought all series that she would make a brilliant judge.

Yes, I have seen her. Yes, she is competent. And yes, she still grates on my nerves and I don't want to see any more of her, surely not a judge.
Let's face it, there is no single judge or pro or celebrity who doesn't have both fans and people who can't stand him. I understand there are people who like Karen, and hopefully Karen's fan can understand that there are a lot of people who can't stand her (including people who don't bother posting on forums).
And as I said in the past, it's a bad idea to have any pro move to judge (including the ones I like) since there can be conflict of interest, real or perceived favouritism or axes to grind, and it's in the interest of the program to avoid that sort of controversies. Surely we can find some other good candidates!

I think her angry at Gary Rhodes was more to do with him not putting the hours in and generally being quite arrogant than a lack of ability. She was very supportive and has I believe remained friends with Brian Capron who wasn't a good dancer either.

I actually think Karen is very good at not having favourites - she certainly didn't spare Brendan and was quite vocal in pointing out Kelly's faults on BBC Breakfast despite the fact Brendan was her pro-partner at the time and someone here has said is friends with her husband. I don't always agree with what she says but what she says is always interested and sounds well informed. I think the best judges are marmite personalities - they're not there to be liked one thing Alesha I don't think really got.

Karen is a great professional and undoubtedly know her stuff re dancing and is more than qualified to be a judge on SCD BUT when doing the same thing on the Living show she was awful came across very wooden and not at all natural. On ITT or Breakfast time she has had time to prepare her stuff and therefore comes across really well - just don't think on the spot stuff is her forte

Couldn't agree more!

Not everyone adores her - in my view, the sainted Karen is responsible for choreographing some of the corniest dances ever seen in the history of SCD, although I freely admit I was amused by her total domination and relentless bullying of that sap Ramprakash as she drove him inexorably toward the attainment of the Glitterball.

She also possesses an irritatingly shrill and shrieking laugh, and has managed to set a standard of Olympic-level gurning which still equates with 'talent and personality' in the eyes of her devotees!

I'm a Karen fan I was really hoping she would be a new Judge this year. Mind you with all her commitments she would not have been able to do it all the way through this series. I suppose she may not have taken them on, if she'd been given a contract with a nice fat reward as big as Alesha's (allegedly).
I must admit I loved Alesha up until she became a judge & now she makes my skin crawl, so who knows Karen may have had that effect too!
Claudia must stay for ITT, surely she would never give it up unless there was some terrible emergency etc????

I'd love to see Karen as a judge, at least introducing someone who already is a professional judge we would know she had the credentials to spot the good from the bad. With a bit of luck we'd get another judge who would be prepared to use scoring paddles lower than 7!
Let her replace Bruno, he's rapidly turning into a caricature of himself!

I agree. Karen is a fantastic person, dancer and commentator. She could bring that bit of magic back to the show.

She'd certainly make viewers disappear. Me for one - she irritates the *bleep* out of me