I think you hit the nail on the head. That's what DOI should be all about. Fun, glamour, a bit of fluff on a Sunday (better on a Saturday night). Of course judges can be a bit harsh (look at Nicky, he manages without resorting to personal insult).

BTW next time you criticise a heterosexual/transsexual/transvestite person, you might add the same disclaimer at the end.

Good advice - otherwise a certain poster will label you as homophoebic.

Yes that does annoy me a lot, because it simplifies the issue. I know lots of lovely gay and heterosexual people, and I know a lot of horrible gay and heterosexual people. Never have I attributed their loveliness or horribliness (not a word I know) to their sexual orientation, and it annoys me if people use it lazily in an argument instead of considering the issue from a logical point.

No! I like him (though can't say I would like him so much if I was on the receiving end of some of his insults).

Must confess - I`m surprised at how close the voting is..

Yes, the poll's incredibly close.

Yes please, he is not even original, funny or likeable.

I wish he would go and take Emma Bunton with him.

Even Simon Cowell is at least witty. I think the skaters should be critiqued and so long as it's fair, done with humour and no underlying nastiness.

Yes I think he should, him and Emma Bunton should be axed. Emma Bunton didn't know a thing about ice skating IMO.

Yes, his blind hatred for some performers is ridiculous.

Jason should go - he is indeed a poor man's Cowell - but forgive me if I question Simon's wit.

He's acerbic and caustic but it doesn't require wit to say:
"That was truly awful" (whilst lounging back in his chair as he tries - and fails - to look superior.)

I've seen very few XF abd BGT programmes - I must have missed his witticisms.

Hmmm, that poll is closer than I thought. Seems the Mary Whitehouse brigade aren't as popular as they think they are.

Yes.
I've tolerated everything he's said up until now, but he has been really quite nasty and personal this series. Tweeting his opinions about the contestants after each show = unprofessional, calling Gary boring = nasty and hurtful, worse than saying Sharron was like a flying piece of poo in fact, because at least that insult actually means something !!



However, a small part of me thinks that he does in fact make great television.

I disagree - I'd much rather listen to him than the others because he is fair and constructive without being nasty at all, unlike Jason.

Completely disagree with poster saying Robin is boring ; he is the most accomplished skater on the judging panel. He,out of all them, knows exactly what is takes to be a skater and dancer! Jason on the other hand knows nothing about skating and his comments this series were far too personal and in some cases downright rude!

I voted "yes" even though I'm in two minds.

Jason can be constructive and (though it might not seem like it) sometimes offers the most useful advice. He can also be entertaining and I do think there's a point to his being on the panel. However, he blatantly favours some celebs while having an obvious downer on others. He seems to believe his own publicity and really doesn't know when to draw the line. His constructive criticism seems to stop at those he favours and he offers nothing but insults couched in metaphor to those he dislikes.

I'd like him to be replaced mainly because he's been increasingly unprofessional this series and it seems to indicate that he believes the show needs him.

If the show does "need him" then that's sad and, to my mind, indicates that it is the show that has the problem if Jason really is the solution. If DOI can't survive without Jason Gardiner then it shouldn't survive at all.

Very well put Tabitha (lovely user name!) The show should never be about one judge he is merely one of the panel; however, this series his dreadful comments have taken over the show which is completely wrong. Mind you Holly doesnt help because she insists on asking his opinion after nearly every skate!

Knowing how everything is so well controlled by the production company, I doubt that it's her choice who she has to ask for comments. Someone will be whispering in her ear!

The "get rid of him"s are drawing away from the "keep him"s in the poll.

Yes that's probably true thinking about it! Holly probably wouldnt voluntarily ask Jason, she doesnt seem to like his rudeness either!

Jason's too nasty but violence is ok.

I've got time for a few people on here who don't like Jason's comment and the way he expresses them, and they themselves don't personally insult people and are never rude. But I find it laughable from people who seem to have no problem with nasty comments or personal insults as long as they're the ones making them.

I've just been watching Dancing with the Stars and there are just three judges.

There is no 'nasty judge' and it doesn't suffer from the fact. The judging is not at all bland. They do call a spade a spade if necessary but there is more emphasis on the humour and entertainment.

If a routine is excruciatingly bad, I have no problem with anyone saying so. Calling a spade a spade is fine. However, there is no need to call a spade a heavy, inanimate tool that spends a fair portion of its time shovelling excrement. Even though that might be true.

In saying, "I'd like to see him insult someone face-to-face without an organisation to back him up or protect him. I can see a couple of black eyes and a broken nose then.",
I did not advocate violence - I just think it could happen. I don't believe violence, either verbal or physical is acceptable.

Jason makes nasty comments and personal insults, and gets them back on here from people who can make them, unlike the celebs in the programme. That's not laughable - Unfortunately it's the only way justice can be meted out to him, even though it's not something I would normally do. There has to be some way of making him realise that he isn't clever, witty or funny, and forums like this seem to be the only way, when neither OFCOM or ITV will take him to task, although it does seem that ITV did tell him to tone it down.

Obviously you're fan of Jason and the kind of insults he makes on national TV during a family programme, thereby telling youngsters that that kind of behaviour is OK. You obviously think that's OK too. Children re-enact a lot of what they see on TV, and, having seen him being mimicked in the school playground by bullying children against those more timid, I think he should either be removed from this programme or made to stop making comments such as likening to Sharon as sh*t". As for OFCOM saying that he used a biological term, children asked what the word meant. What would you say to explain it to them to make it an acceptable insult?

Excellent post Dancing Demelza. I work for a charity that supports vulnerable children in school and one child was called "a piece of faecal matter that wouldn't flush away" - why? Because Jason Gardiner had said that on television and the children had picked it up.

What a wonderful example he is - NOT.

The people who don't approve of Jason's performance on DOI are a disparate bunch, I would have thought. Many of them are hardly Mary Whitehouse! Oh, and the Mary Whitehouse brigade were never popular.

Nevertheless, I don't believe Mary Whitehouse would have advocated violence.

I do not advocate violence, but by the same token I wouldn't advocate acting in a way to attract the possibility of it.