God - no!!!! I got that bit from another thread where somebody else pointed to an old interview where Bruce named him as someone he'd like to see take it on after he retires.

I think someone else's point that without the time being allocated for his "gags" we get to hear more of the judges, and hopefully more constructive criticism would happen rather than the very short time currently allowed.

I thought little and large were presenting when I turned the TV on and saw Ronnie and Tess together.

yes and I for one did not miss that 15- 20 minutes at all , I said to my husband whilst watching the show that it seemed to moving at a much aster pace than usual and I loved it !

I think Tess would be "bricking it" it more as the Tesspit had a better atmosphere, genuine warmth and knowledge of the dances and dancers who clearly like her more too.

I can't agree sadly with the majority on here or the rest of the threads. For my part, apart from the various crisises which obviously affected the show anyway, I missed Bruce. He gives the show its character. Tess was competent but no more. For my part, I LIKE the jokes and the warmth he brings to it. Claudia was great and should be backstage permanently. Corbett was there purely to fill in some time at the start else with one dancer out, they would have had very bad timing issues. I don't think he was there as a serious replacement. It was a case of panic stations at the studio on Saturday and they did pretty well to get a show on at all. ITT will be interesting tonight.

Agree with most of this post , Tess is ok doing the backstage job but Claudia would be even better at that job imo. But Brucie bricking it i doubt it yes hes not irreplaceable but for his age hes still better than most at presenting a fast moving live show in the nature of strictly.

Some good point's in this post , i agree.

More claudy in my opinion.............

I didn't miss Bruce at all. I was extremely happy when it was announced he wouldn't be doing the show. Don't get me wrong, it's a shame he's sick and I hope he's better soon.

I just think he's lost what made him a great entertainer. He thinks it's all about him and keeps intrrupting the judges. He waffles, then tells the judges to hurry up as they're running out of time.

His joke are lame and out of date. He stumbles over his words and can't read the autocue. He is way overpaid for the job he does. I don't care if he took a pay cut.

Most of my friends fast forward through his bits.

Why people think Brucie was so brilliant handling that really confuses me.

The mics got tangled and Karen & Mark stopped dancing.

The sound lady ran on and sorted out the problem then turned to run off

Bruce grabbed her and tried to dance with her stopping her making her escape as unobtrusively as possible.

He then had to wait for the producers to tell him via a floor manager that K&M could restart and that took longer than it needed to because he won't wear an earpiece.

Bruce had no need to go anywhere near the sound lady - and had he been wearing an earpiece the control desk could have communicated directly with him rather than through a floor manager.

I think Tess (or anyone else for that matter) would have handled it just as well.

Tess did a brilliant job on Saturday dealing with the absence of Bruce, the injury problems which resulted in timing issues and having to chat to Ronnie C in the audience to justify his presence. In fact she showed that the show can run perfectly well without him and that she herself is a very capable presenter. What a shame the PTB felt we needed to have the likes of Ronnie C there rather than just leaving the ladies to get on with it!

Can't dance, can't sign, can't joke. You could be describing me. Hope I can screw a lifelong successful career on those talents.

I don't see Brucie bricking himself over Saturdays show. There was nothing in Tess or Claudia to move his bowels