i was thinking, i kinda got abit bored this season for some reason and ive never done that before. ive been a loyal fan all the way through but things just got abit samey this year.

the american series is alot more exciting after watching this season. here are a few things i think we could change.

- if need's be keep 16 celebrities, have the men perform on a friday night, and the women on a saturday and on the saturday results show have a man and a woman voted off.

- just because there is sixteen couples doesn't mean the show has to go on for fourteen weeks. Double elimination's are great add a few of them into the series i think it adds abit of spice. so the show only need's to go on for 10-12 week's.

- Add more dances. ever series we end up with the same kind of dances more or less but i think we should add
mambo
charleston (as a permanent dance)
lambada
bolero ( i know it's very similar to the rumba but still its a nice dance)
even the jitterbug.

- I noticed that in the american series they are also out of hold alot !!, this makes it more exciting, im not saying that they should be out of hold as much as the americans but just abit more than what we do.

and i want the pro's to be more creative. surely they are just at the same standard of the americans so we can do it too!!.

they are my thoughts. what are yours ?

ditch the dance off

ditch the sunday night results show

that is all

I hope they keep the change they made of ditching the semi final dance off and in addition, ditch the quarter final one.

I would like to see more in the life of the pros or training footaged from pro group

Keep the Charleston, ditch the Rock'n'Roll- nobody really did a good one. Lose two couples so we have 14 instead. No more guests pass their sell-by-date, such as Andy Williams and Rod Stewart.

NEVER, under any circumstances, have the lindy hop on the show again. Sorry to anyone out there who likes it but I thought even the pros, Natalie and Ola, looked ridiculous dancing it.

Introduce more dances as the OP said, mambo is one I would enjoy watching.

And my most controversial idea... have a weight restriction for the female celebrities taking part. Nothing ridiculous like 8 stone or whatever but in many of the dances the female celebrities will be lifted and it's not fair to expect the male pros to be able to do it (well). I just think it leaves the judges in an awkward position because with Natalie Cassidy there was a lot of moves she didn't do/struggled with in her r 'n' r routine and it's difficult for them to penalise someone because of the routine not being good due to their size. I know that not many people will agree with this but I do think it is essential for taking part in a dance contest....

You're right that is controversial. Anyone would think that Nat is a heiffer instead of a normal sized woman.

Only one change required for me .... ditch Alesha Dixon.

Work out how on earth the 5th or 6th best dancer could possibly win and take steps to ensure it doesn't happen again before you end up with everyone any good at dancing going early or not turning up in the first place and everyone left there competing in a gurning competition. You can't have one person putting on a comedy routine when your better dancers are being given dull professional routines and are marked accordingly. Its easier said than done because the example has been set and its difficult to see them eliminating or refocusing the public vote on who stays out of teh worst dancers, but they could at least give their better dancers music, outfits and props and routines that made them look as entertaining as the comedy routines from the weak dancers. On the other side of the equation perhaps they need to specify and show what has to be done more so its obvious who can't do it and why the low marks follow.

Cut back down to 12 couples, ten weeks.

Dance-off only for the first half of the competition.

Judges to have a diminished role in the competition- not encouraged to be controversial or have silly arguments.

Replace Alesha with Karen, and Bruno with another professional judge.

Camera work to stop being so ridiculous and show the routine properly

Traditional music more encouraged for Paso and Tango

Keep only the ten ballroom dances, AT and Charleston for the main competition. Others only for group dances and pro demos.

Charleston and AT to be seen as 'special' dances which cannot be repeated in the final, unless the pro/celeb want to incorporate elements into the showdance.

I think you have it spot on Katie. Agree with all your points.

Pretty much agree with all of this too and in particular your comments regarding the judges. Once upon a time they used to have a bit of dignity but that seems like an awful long time ago now...

Ditch the rock n'roll and the re-cheorographed again dance - both are pointless espeically the second.

Have a contigency built in so that if someone drops out for whatever reason then this can happen and there's still a three person final it also means that two people can drop out and there's still a two person final. I'd prefer a double elimination in the semi-finals which can be converted into a single but something needs to be done.

Down to 14 couples might be an idea but I'm not that opposed to 16 - do NOT increase from 16 though.

Replace Alesha with Karen on the judging panel and don't bring back Darcy Bussell.

I would disagree that Chris was the 5th or 6th best dancer - Ali was patchy with her latin being not that great and her AT wasn't good, Ricky W was dull for a reason I can't quite put my fingers on and Jade had to pull out for nothing that can be blamed except sheer bad luck - ok if you factor in Zoe that's the 5th best but out of 16 isn't that bad and as I've said before they just weren't that great this year. The fifth best dancer in series four for example was Carole Smilie and her winning wouldn't have been a travesty.

Especially agree on both of these. Two person finals suck!

The mattesha/mavia one didn't but it would have been even better with Kelly or Gethin there too and on the whole they aren't as good as three person ones. It was so nice to have a three person one again in series six and how dull would a Rachel/Lisa one have been.

Before I note what I'd like to change, let me comment on this. I think the American version is far too theatrical - people complain that SCD is not about the dancing anymore, but the US version is so far further removed from the dancing it almost doesn't matter anymore (case in point: Nicole got a ridiculously high score for the first week this year). So I don't think they need to be out of hold anymore, the rules are there to challenge the pros, who I believe show much more skill than the US pros, and they're definitely creative enough - it's not all about flashy lifts.....



Anyway, what I'd change:

Have only 14 couples - 16 was too much.

Go back to girls dancing one week, guys the next for the first round at least - but keep the idea that every couple has to do Ballroom and Latin before an elimination (that's one of only 2 changes i think they got right this year)

Ditch the rock n roll, the re-choreographed dance and the Lindy Hop (I agree that even Natalie and Ola, who are fabulous dancers, looked ridiculous doing it, and I hated the choreography). Keep the Charleston but either have it as a dance the couples have to do new in the final, or add the mambo/merengue/another new dance to do in competition as well.

Keep the competition Viennese Waltz and maybe add a competition Latin round one week as well - jive or paso?

Replace Bruno with Karen (or Camilla if Karen doesn't want to do it) - there needs to be an experienced pro on the judging panel who's competed fairly recently, or still performs. Don't ask Darcy or any 5th judge to join the panel....

Fix the elimination system so that if someone drops out (which is highly likely looking at previous series!) we still get a 3-person final, with someone being eliminated before the showdance like it used to be.

Go to public vote only from the quarter-final onwards...

Don't go back to the Sunday night results show - everything on the Saturday worked fine.

Ditch Len's masterclass from ITT and replace it with either a masterclass from the professionals, or giving them more airtime to talk about choreography etc. (but come up with something as hilarious as the dance machine challenge again)


I agree with this. More pro routines, less stupid time-filling guests would be nice too

Erm...the public wanted Chris and Ola to win. That's it. There's no need to over analyse what is essentially a light entertainment show for the public to enjoy and vote on.

If they didn't find Ali or Ricky equally entertaining that is their own business. It is up to the professionals to choreograph the routines after all, and if they and their celebrity can't evolve a partnership that the public can identify with, then it's tough frankly.

I'd go with 12 as it would make it easier to get quality celebs and we get an extra week with the 2 dances before elimination.

I like the idea of a double elimination at the semifinal to give 3 finalists - in case there is a dropout due to injury etc. I'd be happy to have the dance-off until we were down to 5 from 12.

The judges I would like to change their role a bit, with more realistic (harsh) marking, more dance-related advice etc. They do have to cater for viewers who are only interested in being entertained, so I think they still have to be a bit excitable at times.

Agree with you Katie on changing the judges, and the camerawork.

I'm a fan of changing the music from the traditional - if it works. I thought Ola did well with the Tango and Paso when she had weak partners, and it prevents the show becoming 'samey'. Chris's Paso has over 100,000 hits on Youtube, so it must be popular.

I agree with you Katie also on the AT and Charleston.

That was kind of what I meant about all of them! None of them actually sucked, they just would all have been better with a third contestant.

Cut it down to 14 couples (no idea which pros I want to go though, I love them all)

Have a 3-person final instead of 2

Have a Sunday Show instead of 2 Saturday shows

GIVE DARREN AND LILIA GOOD PARTNERS

katie, I agree with every line. We obviously want to be watching the same type of show.

Agree with this post too. There is too much over analyzing of the public vote and worrying about whether the winners are 'worthy'. I think the issues are with how the format of the show has evolved, not the way the public vote.

I think you're spot on there! And if people had issues with the public vote, I doubt there'd be so many calls to scrap the dance-off either completely or at least from the quarter-final stage!

Most of the bigger female contestants have struggled with dancing in the competition. I'm sorry but that's the truth, I was just using Natalie as an example because if you look back at her rock 'n' roll dance she did struggle with it. The ugly truth is that there is a high level of fitness required to be able to do the dances properly.

I would agree with most of that ! (although I'd still be happy with 14 couples )

I'd also add a plea to the producers to never use the DWTS style ballroom choreography on strictly ! I've just spent the past hour completely puzzled as I'm sure they were supposed to be dancing the VW but to me they all looked like the american smooth !
Also makes me laugh that Len is the mean judge over there !

Becker, appreciate that you've already acknowledged that your suggestion is controversial but I really don't agree with the concept of a weight restriction, not least because I don't think lifts should play a big part in the dances anyway. In competitive ballroom and latin dancing, they don't include lifts, and so this is really an SCD thing (don't know about rock and roll competitive routines but don't particularly want to see that dance on strictly in the first place). Personally I often find the lifts ugly and incongrous.

In any case, if there is going to be one then using the same logic, why not apply similar restrictions to the male contestants e.g. if a male contestant is going to struggle lifting their partner or on the other hand is too weighty to move quickly. I'm not seriously making that suggestion, but do want to make the point that many comments on weight do seem to be made about the female contestants only. Also why not apply a height restriction (evidently tall people are more difficult to lift) - again just for illustration rather than a serious suggestion.