Last month there were reports that Bruce had yet to sign for the new season of SCD and was waiting for a meeting in April with the BBC to see to what degree the series was being revamped.

It's now May and there's still no word. I want Bruce back but does the silence speak volumes?

I do hope so!

Reports are he still hasn't signed the contract. Tbh I doubt we'll get much in the way of a concrete answer either way until the show line-up is finalised with the pros and celebs contracts in July.

But in saying that, I hope that silence means he's unlikely to sign the contract, as I think there are numerous people who could do a better job as the show's presenter (in fact, I can't think of many who could do worse!) They'd need to be quietly looking for a new presenter by now if that's likely though....

i hope that he is back. I know that is jokes are corny but he love the show

I hope he's not. Hes been presenting now for 7 series, during which Pro's and judges have changed, but not the presenter. And there were times last year (like when he was singing) when the show was just EMBARRASSING.

Sorry for ageism, but I dont think an 82 (?) yr old should be presenting BBC1's prime time Sat night entertainment show!

I disagree, it will be very, very difficult to fill this role with the right person when Bruce retires. The balance has to be correct to get someone who is not too overpowering and they must have a passion for dancing and likes SCD. The only person I believe who could fill this role is Anton. Brian Connolly can be very funny but may be too overpowering and I don't know if he likes the show.

The trouble is (IMO) that when the show started, nobody had any idea if it was going to be a success or not so the BBC wheeled out Brucie to host it as a safe pair of hands for a Saturday night prime time show.

The problem now is that the show has been a runaway success in its own right and therefore isn't The Bruce Forsyth Show (much as he would like to think it is) but it seems that the BBC are too cowardly to tell him and to get a proper professional presenter in rather than an 82 year old song and dance man who tells terrible jokes.

I was hopeful that when Jay Hunt took over at the BBC and got rid of Arlene that she would have the guts to get rid of Bruce too but so far that hasn't happened.

He was a great tv host in his day, but it really is time he retired gracefully before he makes even more of a prat of himself than he did last year.

Please read my post - I agree with everything you said, I was saying that I hope he doesn't sign a new contract - i.e. that he doesn't come back!

Having Bruce as a presenter is the thing I hate the most about Strictly's current format!!

Anton would be just as bad - he barely ever gets the humour right either.

You talk of a balance between not being overpowering and having a passion for dance. I disagree that Bruce achieves that balance - I think he tries far, far too hard to make the crowd laugh, and prompting them to is certainly not achieving the right balance. People like Paul O'Grady, Brian Conley...there are a lot of people who could tell jokes which actually make people laugh of their own accord, whilst learning and remembering how to pronounce all the pros names right and being far quicker at picking up on the reaction to what the judges say....

So I don't think it will be difficult at all to fill the role - his and Tess', for that matter...

I think following the ageism storm last year that Bruce will be on Strictly as long as Bruce wants to be - it's not like they can replace him with an older model after all.

I think he's great, but I also think that there's going to be a time when he won't be physically able to do the show much longer, and I think it would be better for him to retire on a high than to hang on in there until he literally cannot.

As far as replacements go, I vote that if Tess has a contract the she should be brought out to do front of house - why does it always have to be a man out front and the woman relegated backstage/offside (see also Holly and Phil on DOI, Vernon and Caroline on 19 yards). Anton could, in my mind, handle the Tesspit, and we could keep Claudia on ITT.

Maybe its because she's better with the contestants and knows how to relate to them in the after dance interviews. I cant really imagine Bruce with the right amount of empathy. I've never really seen it as a relegation or secondary position.

I agree. In fact I think it's a better job than front of house!


As for Bruce retiring on a high....that would've been 5 series ago!

Missing post

Makes no odds to me either way. For me the presenter is incidental and the least important thing about the show.

what the bl**dy hell is he doing on the election show?????????????????

He was pitching to be Prime Minister

Will the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights?

Still no word about Bruce as we move towards the end of May? Something is going on...

If the new Government is talking about making the BBC reduce the salaries they pay their senior staff and the ridiculous amounts they pay their so-called "stars" it may well be that Bruce decides not to do it even if it's offered as the money won't be good enough. One can but live in hope lol

I think you will find that the BBC pay their "Stars" less than any other channel, with the exception of maybe J Ross and G Norton

They certainly pay the professional dancers a lot less than they deserve!

I am sure they get the "Going Rate", but the point is that the budgets at the BBC are already much less than at ITV.

The Daily Mail insists today that Bruce still has not committed to Series 8 but is meeting with BBC executives in the coming weeks. Bit late in the day isn't it? It's just 12 weeks to the Press Launch.

I still find it faintly ridiculous that Bruce and Tess (and even the judges!!) get paid so much more than the pros and celebs who actually do far more to make the show what it is!!

Their per hour rates are so unfair it isn't true. As we saw last year, tha show can function perfectly well without Bruce - but withour the dancers it would be tragic!

There are plenty of dancers out there who would do the job... but as you can see from the debates on here, not too many hosts or judges around