It wasn't a quick reply, it was as the OP suggested something she wanted to get in and say that she'd scripted earlier. I know this because she said the exact same thing on This Morning the day before.

You could have always bothered reading my response to CaroUK's post, in which I explained the reasoning behind Craig's comments.



And how exactly can you speak for 'the vast majority of reasonable viewers'?

That might indeed be the reasoning Servalan (and thank you for your reply) - but booked to be the panto villain or not - it doesn't take away the fact that on the whole - viewers don't really like seeing people being humiliated in public by a supposed expert pouring scorn on their efforts in front of 7 million viewers. We are as entitled to our view of the situation as you are to yours.

Good, bad or indifferent, the celebs have spent a fair few hours in rehearsal halls honing their performances for the main show, and they deserve a modicum of respect for that. Craig shows up for a couple of hours on a Saturday evening and gets paid (on previous years quoted figures) three times as much as the pro dances and twice as much as the celebs for a lot less effort.

If Craig's pithy "critique" is expected by the participants and its only supposed to be a bit of panto villainy - why does it devastate some of them so much when they hear it? And indeed affect some so much that they need to have their confidence rebuilt by the pros before they can even start preparing for the next show.

I find it a bit two faced that Craig is so different away from the main show. I don't mind the fact that he stands by his scores (although he is being harder on Ann than he was on previous duffers as he famously gave Kate Garraway a minimum of 2 points ("one for each foot" as he put it), I actually think that the other 3 judges do tend to overmark particularly in the early stages - and don't seem to have heard of relative marking either, but I for one don't like seeing a celeb having to stand there and take some of the abuse Craig and Bruno hurl at them thinking they are being clever or amusing.

As far as I am concerned there is nothing clever or amusing about hurting other people's feelings.

I'm not actually a fan of Ann's dancing - I think she's terrible and should have gone in week one or two, but whether the dance purists like it or not she has got the public support and for that reason alone deserves to stay as long as she still has that. I admire her for having the guts to

a. do the show in the first place given her size and shape

b. keep a smile on her face as she competes in the light of the hate and bile being hurled at her by judges, media and some members of the public (and yes - I for one am laughing WITH her not AT her), and

c. not giving a stuff about what Craig has to say on the show. I'm sure that if he passed on his criticism and advice in the way he does on ITT she would be more than happy to listen to him - if he doesn't treat her with respect - why should she give him any?!

Very well said.

Craig doesn't mark low, he uses the full range of scores in a reasonable manner. What's unreasonable is the other judges (especially Len and Alesha) simultaneously raising expectations and devaluing the higher scores by never giving less than a 5 (and they only give that in a dire emergency).

One question, why if (as you claim) viewers do not like to see someone publicly humiliated does Ann keep getting through to the next round? This is IMHO what the voters are doing each week. Some may well be laughing with her but many must surely be laughing at her galumphing along each week. I for one find humiliation comedy of the this sort totally cringe-worthy and cannot watch.

On the other side of the coin, praise from Craig is actually worth something and you can see both the celebrities and professionals visibly swell up with pride when they get good comments from him. Plus when he does criticise he usually ends with a sweetener of praise. If someone is just going to talk over him they will never hear this.

You can tell from the couples reactions that an 9 from Criag is worth a 10 from any of the other judges.

The comments in ITT are completely different from the main show where there just isn't time to go into such detail from each judge. It's mainly just bullet point sound bites which can be talked over by a combination of any or all of the other judges/Bruce/the pro dancer/the celeb dancer/the audience. ITT actually gives longer to discuss than he gets in the show proper and there are also video clips to use to illustrate the points. Completely different situations.

I don't have a problem with Craig, we need a range of personalities on the panel. Also he responds fairly well when someone fights back. Like when Brendan corrected him on a technical point last night, Craig conceeded the point. There was no nasty response as there was from Len the other week. As for Ann, I don't like the presumptuous way she discusses what she is going to be dancing next week or the week after.

Why not? What she's saying to the public is if you want to see a first rate FUBAR next week vote for me. No better or worse than ploys adopted by other celeb's.

There was no need to thank me for my reply - that remark was aimed at someone else ...

For the record, I am very happy for everyone to different views, nor am I saying mine is right - and far be it from me to behave like the opnion police, as a certain FM has been doing lately.

However ...

My comments about Craig in a role as the 'nasty judge'/panto villain aren't opinion. They're fact. The judge with a sharp tongue and bitchy put-down is part of the DNA of every reality/competitive show like Strictly. It always has been. That's how those shows work and it's what the audience expect. It's no different from casting a baddie in a soap. Like the contestants, the judges are characters, and Craig's role is to be tough on contestants and occasionally bitchy. So if you have an issue with this part of the Strictly format, blame Moira Ross, not Craig - he's only fulfilling his brief.

I have to take issue with you saying that viewers don't like this, as while that may be true for you, it clearly isn't true for the wider audience. If there was such a strong public feeling against it, shows like Strictly would either get four 'nice' judges or Craig would be told to tone it down. The fact that this has never happened in eight years shows that the majority of the public like him playing the bad guy on the main show. If they didn't, we'd sure as hell know about it - like what happened on Dancing On Ice earlier this year.

Now, it may be you don't like comments Craig makes - but I suspect you may find that you are in a minority. Has he gone too far now and again? Yes - and so did Arlene. But he's been quite constructive most of the time and was - again - with Ann last night, but she just dismissed his comments because they don't matter to her and, besides, she'd rather get plugs in for her next dances.

I'm sure there may well have been some contestants who get upset by Craig's bitchier comments but, whether sports personalities or entertainers, they already work in industries where they will have heard far worse yet kept going. Patsy showed exactly how to silence Craig last night: she made a joke of it in her VT then wowed the judges with her best performance to date. On current evidence, Ann just can't be bothered making that kind of effort. I'm not advocating people having their feelings hurt, of course - but this is an entertainment show and the judges' comments are just as much part of the entertainment as anything else. If you don't like them, fine - but from where I'm sitting, they're pretty harmless. Sticks and stones and all that ...?

And the judges may have been critical of Ann, but 'hate and bile'? Sorry - heard nothing resembling that. And where is the media matred of Ann? From everything I've seen, it's the complete reverse - she's being hyped to win, and anyone who thinks she shouldn't is a 'snob'. There are countless articles supporting her, plus Ann's own columns in the Daily Express and the Radio Times. Please can you provide links to all the anti-Ann media 'hate and bile'? Because I'd say it's a drop in the ocean compared to all the media support she has.

Ann isn't doing Strictly to show she has guts. She's doing it to promote herself as a personality, and she needs negativity from the judges to fuel the image she is creating for herself as some kind of public hero. It's cynical and empty - just like the 'comedy' routines she performs. But then beauty is all in the eye of the beholder ...

Craig has been consistently acid-tongued for 8 years of so, and many seem to like that. Nevertheless, he has definitely changed his persona in this series. He is much kinder, and gives much more positive feed back. Altogether warmer and less 'Horrid'.

Perhaps he has been advised to tone it down, but whatever the reason,he so obviously has.

It would be good to hear what he has to say about Ann. She may not want to hear it, but others might.

[quote=Kim P;45641824]I don't have a problem with Craig, we need a range of personalities on the panel. Also he responds fairly well when someone fights back. Like when Brendan corrected him on a technical point last night, Craig conceeded the point. QUOTE]

It was James who corrected Craig.

I am very fed up with AW getting her 2 pennorth in throughout the judegs comments. I know she is a politician, but could someone tell her to please shut the f*** up???

The majority of viewers don't like Craigs acid tongue, the show would be much better off without him, viewers like Ann sparring with him, she is to hot for him to handle.

You get funnier by the day with your completly made up statistics. No rhyme or reason to anything you state as gospel .Its aimed to agitate but I just now laugh out loud at the nonsense .

It's also aimed at getting as many Anne threads as possible on to page one.

I am afraid to say they are getting her through the next round each time.

Not strictly true across the board. Depends what degree you are doing - and what you income is - its going to be means tested.

[quote=skimpy_scampi;45646393]
I was watching some DWTS on youtube today and David Hough told his partner she should straighten her legs for the cha-cha, so I am not sure that James should have corrected Craig.......but you are right.....Craig had the dignity to not to answer back.

Thats a very rude thing to say, I don't blame Ann for having something to say in the face of the onslaught from the judges to get her out.

Gosh that's an impressive bit of spin you've managed to put on facts that are entirely opposite. Len in particular has been very careful to say every week that if the public want her in that's fine by him. Craig never gets a chance to comment but quite rightly would comment on her appalling lack of dancing which is after all what he is supposed to do. Neither Bruno nor Alesha can possibly be accused of launching a 'get Ann out onslaught'. You really are on another planet aren't you.

She may be your favourite but she's certainly not mine and there is absolutely no reason to suspect she is supported by a majority - just more each week than at least two others.

She is not interested in feedback on her dances - just in getting in her plug for the coming weeks in a desperate attempt to garner enough votes to stay in. Her foxtrot was both bad dancing and devoid of any comedic value this week. That's not to say I haven't enjoyed any of her dances (well Anton's comedy sketches to be more accurate) but fail to see why on earth anyone voted to see more of her based on the foxtrot.

All the judges have been making snide remarks about Ann and laughing at her right from the first show, you can see it in Lens eyes that he is stalking Ann, biding his time and waiting for the right moment to deliver the fatal blow to get her off the show.

Persecution complex?
Paranoia?

I'm speechless.

*headdesk*

The views on this message board do tend to be quite extreme and not reflect what is going on in the real world, where vast numbers of voting viewers are supporting Ann and like hearing her one liners to the judges, some people would have you believe that Ann only has two or three fans out there who are multiple voting for her, which is obviously absurd and not credible.

Its clear to everyone watching that the judges have given Ann no encouragement or constructive comments whatsoever, dancing is for everyone whatever their physical ability.