Accepting she may have some good comments to make about the dancers, the only problem is she hasn't been judging them from the start of the series. The other judges have been there from week one, given their scores, can compare and contrast the performances and alter their scores. Bussell hasn't judged them so she won't know if this week's dance is better than one they did, say, four weeks ago. She wasn't there to see the journey. It doesn't make sense to add a new judge near the end of the series because she's not judged their journey. One of the points of the show is to judge the dancers as they grow, as they mature and get used to the experience. Now along comes a new judge with no prior history of judging the dancers and her marks are supposed to be valid!

If you want a fifth judge add it at the beginning of the series not at the end of the series. That seems daft.

Bit late to worry about it now, this has been coming since the start of the series!

Surely the judges should mark on the perfomances on the night not how good they were on previous weeks or how much they have improved.

In any case, I'm sure she has been watching it.

Edit: I have put the wrong bit in bold!

She's probably watched the rest of the show though, so probably has at least a rough idea of the contestants' journies. Also don't the judges score a dance on it's own merit instead of comparing it to other dances ?

She has been in the audience for several shows at least .

Len is the one who judges based on "is this better than previous dances?" then as I gave that 7 I will give this 8 " etc ?
The mark given on any show must be for how the couple danced that night , not based on how they danced 3 weeks ago.

Darcey should'nt be a judge simply because Strictly doesnt need five judges. Tomorrow they'll have more judges than contestants. Its ridiculous.

Darcey was on Breakfast TV this morning and she said she had watched recordings of every single show, also she had been taking ballroom and latin lessons from Natalie Lowe's coach in Australia.

Why do the powers that be make life so difficult for themselves?

What's the point of giving Darcey a crash course in Ballroom and Latin when there are already people qualified in both disciplines who could judge instead?!

Karen Hardy, who is an experienced judge, is not considered good enough for SCD. So she goes to Australia to judge World Championships.

Darcy Bussell, who has no exoerience as a judge, comes from Australia(where she lives) to be a judge on Strictly.

Simples

Karen Hardy was NOT considered "not good enough" to be a judge; she was already committed to the World Championships, so couldn't undertake it anyway.

JJ

Why hire a popstar with limited dancing experience and no judging experience to be a judge.


Maybe they don't understand the concept of global warming.

Maybe they collect airmiles.

Who knows how the minds of the powers that be work at the beeb, maybe they are all on day release from the funny farm.

She is a BBC fave. She started on Dawn French and has just made her way into the BBC family. It's such a nepotistic organisation. You get hired once and then you're never off the bloomin' box.

Don't see the point of her at all. Not in SCD. Would much rather have Joe or Josephine Public in the fifth slot.

Firstly, according to many arcitles and pages on the internet, Darcey is English but relocated to Sydney with her family when she gave up professional dancing.

Secondly I'm hopeful she's a good judge and is successful as maybe then they can replace that god-awful Alesha Dixon. At least Darcey was an award winning professional ballerina, making her much more qualified than Alesha Dixon.

Slide Darcy in and Alesha out....so she can do her tour.....simples

I won't pre-judge her judging...I'll reserve judgement.

If I'd pre-judged Alesha, I would have looked silly. I would never have predicted her performance to be as bitchy and her marking as erratic as it has been at times.

Oh so that'll make her a "proper" ballroom judge?

She's just a well known "name" added by the BBC to "strengthen" a weak line-up of names.
If it were stronger, she wouldn't be there. Hasn't been necessary for the last six series, but then the ratings were more competitive with X-Factor.

It's just about chasing ratings and ruining the show.

This highlights something that has been bothering me for a while regarding the Karen Hardy should have been judge this year comments. No one actually seems to consider whether she'd actually want the job. She may actually have better things to do with her Saturday nights for 3 months

I also won't be pre-judging her. People are always moaning that the judges have their favourites by this stage of the competition, I'm hoping a fresh perspective will be a good addition.

Surely we don't need five judges when there are only four competitors.

So no chance of bias in favour of Ricky there then.

(Stir, stir)

Fully agree with the above quotes.

I was less bothered that Arlene was ditched than I was by the pathetic choice of replacement.

Can anyone tell me just what Alesha has brought to SCD?
Absolutely sweet FA to my mind.

Fully agree with the above quotes.

I was less bothered that Arlene was ditched than I was by the pathetic choice of replacement.

Can anyone tell me just what Alesha has brought to SCD?
Absolutely sweet FA to my mind.

Ooops sorry for the double submission!

Wow!

I think a lot of you are condemning Darcy Bussell before she even takes her seat between Len and Craig.

I think she is going to give a very new and refreshing view to what she sees in all the couples performing on Saturday simply because she is coming onto the panel at this stage.

Apart from that - she is a professional dancer who will take a very objective view of what is presented before her without any bias based on previous week's performances or favourite personalities.

What Darcy doesn't know about dance and performing and her qualification to judge this competiton is simply not worth mentioning...she is far more qualified than any of the rest of the panel

Darcy does not have the experience or qualifications to judge ballroom/latin dance.

Now if her remit was to judge ballet no one could claim more in depth knowledge and experience than Darcy - but this SCD, not Sleeping Beauty, Giselle or the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, wherein Darcy still reigns supreme.

There is a vast difference between this:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filearcey_Bussell.jpg
and getting down and dirty in latin.

The grinning smiley has nothing to do with me - it came with the link - and I couldn't get rid of it.