ABSOLUTELY - her perceptive comments to Matt "The ladies loved you" Gavin "Your bum looks great" and Michelle "I felt for you" made me wonder just what I've been missing.

The ongoing criticisms of Alesha might be wearisome for her fans, but I think it's unfair to throw accusations of prejudice/bigotry/jealousy in the faces of those who criticise her.

If the audience are racists, how on earth did she win the show in the first place?

I didn't say they were racist. I was listing the only possible reasons I could think of for the constant barrage of petty insults that come Alesha's way. Unless people think I'm right it shouldn't bother them. I was musing on what it is about her that gets people so riled up because I'm sorry, I can't imagine that a person's poor grammar can enrage people to this extent.

A friend worked on the BBC website during Alesha's first series as a judge and took feedback. A huge volume of the criticism fed back to them about Alesha was very racist - full of slurs and innuendo about the BBCs hiring policies. I wouldn't claim that all of Alesha's critics or even a majority or even a large minority were motivated by racism, but individuals who constantly call her a "gangsta", or mock her as though she speaks in a bizarre sort of Jamaican patois (both of which I see regularly on this forum and in other places) do the rest of her critics no service.

So how come she won her series of SCD and considered by many to be the best contestant ever?

She won because she got the most votes out of the two people in the final. I don't see how that's mutually exclusive with "a small but significant volume of the people who don't like her are racist".

To use a slightly(!) inflated example, President Obama was handily voted president of America. With huge approval ratings. He was a very popular president. That doesn't mean that there isn't a large body of dissent to him, and a small but significant body amongst that criticism is racist.

Same with Alesha. The majority of Strictly voters went for her as the winner. She was a popular winner. There were still people then who couldn't stand her. A small but nasty, and virulent, and loud, body of those people are racist. They send comments to the BBC complaining about this n****** that got above her station. Trust me, they're on the duty log. They're the same people who bombard the BBC with nasty comments every time a mixed-race couple is shown, or any time a black person presents anything.

I'm not claiming that racism is the prime motivation for the majority of Alesha's critics here or anywhere else. I think it's ridiculous to claim it is. But many people who criticise Alesha seem to think the very idea that any criticism of Alesha at all might be racist in motivation is ludicrous. It really isn't.

Great post. I don't know what you say about Karen is true but I'l take your word for it, very funny all the same!

Yes, I've noticed that too, and it puzzles me because Alesha doesn't speak anything like that. She has a typical London accent, similar to Sir Alan Sugar -- who also says "you was" a lot, but unlike Alesha, doesn't seem to get any stick for it.

Great point I hadn't noticed that .

Why does everyone seem to think that if your from ''London'', it is seen as an accent to get ''you was'' and ''you were'' mixed up?!?

I know many Londoners and they seem to cope fine with it. Grammar is grammar, it's either right or wrong, like it would be in an English exam.

Alan Sugar and Alesha Dixon should just learn to speak properly.

I loved Alesha as a winner of SCD, but I don't want to see her as a judge of SCD. As others have stated her repeated use of "you was" drives me to distraction. I don't dislike her but neither do I really rate her critique (I only really rate what Craig has to say). But as others have stated we simply have to accept that she is here to stay.

It's you're.

And no: Standard English is only one variety of English. Worldwide, there are literally hundreds of others. Within the UK there are also many. Non-standard was is also, for example, used in a weird little pocket on Smith Island in the Chesaspeake Bay (see Schilling Estes, 2000). And that's just one example. Interestingly, on Smith Island, this variety levels the positive constructions of to be to was (I was, you was) but the negative to were (I weren't, you weren't) - and this is exactly the same as the way Alesha would construct it.

It's just a variety of English.

My criticism of Alesa as a judge is not based upon racism - it is appalling that she was subjected to that. My criticism remains: she s simply not up to the job of judge... hovever I have the feeling this year she is keeping her head down in preparation for a dignified exit next year

Craig gives an honest if sometimes brutal opinion of what he sees,
Len is gentler but also gives honest and knowledgeable opinions.
Bruno is manic, seems to have favourites
and
I mute Alesh
I gave her a fair chance last year, but can stand her no longer

Although Bruno is manic and his contortions are irritating in the extreme he does give constructive criticism. He talks about frame, lines, body extensions and although his demonstrations seem a bit OTT he gives visual advice that the celeb can work on.

How very presumptuous of you...

I say "you were", but I don't get my knickers in a twist every time I hear someone else say "you was" -- but then again, maybe I have a higher level of tolerance than the grammar police who patrol these forums...

Because like it or not, it is a regional dialect, and the way working class Londoners have been speaking for centuries.

It's not just Londoners who speak like that. Mancunians, Brummies, Bristolians, Liverpudlians and many others will be heard saying, 'you was', 'it weren't', 'we done' 'I've fell over' etc. They (and Alesha) know how to speak correctly, because they've been taught. But they just can't be bothered.
If you're on national television, as Alesha is, then she SHOULD bother.
And yes Alan Sugar's use of 'you was' has been flagged up on quite a few programmes.
But even if Alesha spoke perfectly, I still wouldn't take much notice of her vacuous inanities.

ahem... grammer point. It's 'you're' NOT 'your'

(... now how do you like them onions)

or 'those'

(b*ll*x)

National television these days is meant to be representative of the population as a whole - you know, those people paying the licence fee that pays Alesha's salary, among other things.

I suspect there are more people out there who would say 'you was' than who would shrink from ever doing such a thing. There are even people out there who say it knowing it's wrong grammatically (Mr LL, a sub-editor for the national press, being a case in point).

Wanting Alesha to speak 'proper' English because she's on the telly is a bit like wanting every American film to be re-dubbed so that when it's shown in this country they refer to 'petrol stations' and 'pavements'. Wrong in the context of where it comes from, and frankly over-pernickety.

And has anyone mentioned that in the context of the other judges, Alesha's voice is about the most normal of the four?

I don't care how she speaks. I also don't really listen to what she has to say. It's all a bit bleugh. Most of the time they could put a member of the audience in her place and get similar remarks.

People would turn a blind eye when it comes to her grammar, like they do with Len, if (a) she had proper credentials to be a judge or (b) if Arlene hadn't been so cruelly removed from the job. Alesha is a likeable girl really..

I am not saying she's perfect and I realise this is labouring a point, but last night offered an illustraion of how sometimes Alesha does get a bit of a raw deal from her fellow judges (let alone the viewers). It has still not yet been clarified on this thread so please indulge me for a moment.

Unless I totally misheard the comments being made (and I've watched it twice) Alesha said to Matt that he "did well to keep up" with the pace of the music in his QS. Craig subsequently said that he disagreed with "the timing issue" that he thought Alesha had raised; Alesha then responded by reiterating her remark and saying that he'd misinterpreted her. I'm not saying Craig deliberately twisted her words, but it shows how easily these things happen (regrettably I have colleagues who do this on a regular basis to the extent that I sometimes wonder if it is deliberate, but I digress).

To be fair her contribution in terms of technical knowhow might be a bit limiting, but then if we have the others who talk so much about things like promenades, jetes and attitude turns (when probably most of the audience would need to look then up to even start to understand them) surely there can't be much harm in having one judge who doesn't do this and simply talks about the performance and offers some perspective as an ex contestant (and winner). Is it the role or the person that people are not happy about though?

I really cant see what all the fuss is about. Alesha adds glamour to the judging panel, she makes very relative comments on the contestants and dancing (I often agree with her so cant fault her) and her odd blib in the grammar department means zilch to me.

The criticism of her grammar is just nitpicking and I cant help but agree with some other contributers that prejudice may be involved. Tess has a strong regional accent and that apart her grammar isn't perfect either, yet I hear no criticism of her. Worst still is Len's grammar, it's truly awful, yet no thread's been started.

On the other hand, some critics may just be simply jealous of Alesha's beauty or are still stinging that she won her series of the competion over their favourites.

Interesting theory Rikki. Someone could go back to the old Matt de Angelo appreciation threads and see if the same posters' names crop up as among the Alesha dissers.

But do excuse me if I can't be bothered myself.