I always thought they were getting Anton ready for that role - hence giving him different shows like that cooking thing and Hole in the Wall to build up his experience.

I dont think Tess and Claudia would work for the full show.

If they went that way, Tess wuld be the main presenter, and Claudia would be the number 2. IMHO Tess does being the number 2 presenter well, but just doesnt have the presence or personality to be the mian presenter, she is more suited to being the side act.

On the other hand Claudia is more of a main presenter, her persoanlity works better at this than being the second presenter. The problem being is that i just think Claudias presenting style and personality is just too niche, edgy and quirky to be the main presenter of a mass appeal, slightly older appealing show like SCD.

I agree that Anton was probably being groomed as the next host, but that was before all his bad publicity. At the same time i dont think he fits with the new producers vision for SCD, hes more old school. As for Norton, i cant say i was a big fan of him in the dancing show he did for BBC1.

I can't see Barrowman working as host. The theory on the SCD forum is that in giving Anton Ann this year, arguably one of the most talked-about couples ever, the BBC are attempting to redeem him in the eyes of the public. I can buy that, as he is coming across very well indeed.

I did always think Terry Wogan would work as host.

I personally see Tess capable of the main presenter role if they get someone genuinely spontaneous to do the right hand man/woman job she does now. Tess can be a good presenter playing it more straight.

Claudia is very good at what she does best which is ITT in the Strictlyverse.

I agree with you that Anton is more suited to the old Strictly.

Graham Norton was good with the contestants in Strictly Dance Fever but with his chat show doing so well, I doubt they would risk him on the show, seeing he might turn off some viewers.

I bet Robbie is loving SCD being the focal point of today's convo for once. X-who?

Agree with that.

Zilch chance of it, I would think.

Week on week, SCD is up 800,000 viewers and TXF up just 190,000. May cause some head-scratching at Cowell Towers - is there any tabloid space left for them to colonise in an attempt to regain the momentum?

Tess and Claudia are support presenters to me. They need a really good number one presenter. I'm going to throw another name out there. Michael McIntyre *ducks*

Sorry- can't abide him.

I always used to defend TXF in the past as up until last year there was at least one with genuine talent but this year it's just dire. Every contestant can be compared to someone from previous years, it's just all so tired and contrived. And Simon Cowell, who used to be so honest, pretends that they're all superstars.

How about a big Saturday night BBC1 return for Noel Edmonds?

Deal or No Deal seems to have run its course now, I think he would be more than capable of anchoring SCD although I suspect it probably wouldn't be his sort of format.

Well it needs someone witty and quick to be the host. There are good presenters and then there are good & entertaining presenters. I prefer the latter. Such as Noel Edmonds on House Party or Cilla Black on Blind Date.

Noel has just signed for another two years of DOND. But it's interesting that BBC Studios have taken over production of the show although it's staying in Bristol. I guess Noel could do both if necessary.

Actually Noel did present old Come Dancing for a time.

Just found this on the net: "Edmonds also revealed that he had not enjoyed hosting 'Come Dancing' - he felt decidedly out of place in the whole set-up - so he did not stay long in the role."

http://www.ukgameshows.com/ukgs/Noel_Edmonds

SCD's a different ball game to old Come Dancing though!

On the subject of Noel and Saturday nights, I spotted this on Google - Noel's House Party has just beaten TXF to title of "Best Saturday Night Show Of All Time" in a poll of the public!

http://swns.com/noel-edmonds-beats-s...ow-291318.html

A well deserved victory too. Any comments?

Not sure TV Burp merits third place amongst some of these shows!

And no Juliet Bravo either. Shocking.

True but Noel is really in his element when it comes to live TV.

Yes we were talking about this on Gallifrey Base. I think it's a well deserved win and I'm glad people remembered when the show was really good. Great to see it beat the rip off Saturday Night Takeaway as well. The Two Ronnies should have been higher though.

almost missed Strictly in that list- languishing down at #13!!

Surely the 'big mo' Robbie speaks of should have pushed it higher.....maybe past the truly iconic, smash hit Brucie format of the past, The Gen Game.

(Even You Bet is rated far higher by those surveyed!!)

It might not have made the Top 20 at all if they'd done the poll 12 months ago...

I'd put that down to SCD appealing mainly to an older audience, who wouldn't vote on online polls maybe?

I have often thought that Brian Conley would make a good replacement for Bruce.

blimey..a contrite comment from RobbieSykes. Maybe changing the clocks back has affected him today??

There's no question that SCD is much improved this year. Obv they need to cast his replacement right, but will Brucie REALLY be a loss next year (if he goes?)

Halloween didn't seem to hit XF though I doubt it will fare so well tonight - last years results jumped to 13.9m on the same weekend last year and I think any significant week-to-week growth will be difficult tonight. The one thing working in favour of the show this year is that they should have a top 5 that is far more talented and far more interesting than last year when it lost a bit of momentum towards the end.

Strictly seems to be on form, over 10m at this stage is very impressive for the show. Ann Widdecombe sounds like this years John Sargeant.

Very good for Piers Morgan as well - I think that's his third highest ever and highest for a non-X Factor appearance. Rod Stewart is a decent name to have, it started a bit earlier and some people who had never watched probably gave it a chance last weekend.

Halloween weekend and young people are out while the elderly are barricaded indooors. Jeez I wonder why the gap between SCD and X Factor is not at least 2m in SCDs favour? Very poor showing from the celebrity reality show.

I imagine a few SCD viewers got their broomsticks out last night, George.

Anyway, we all know that TXF's audience is so utterly devoted to worshipping at the font of Cowell and Cheryl that any semblence of a social life goes out of the window from August to Christmas.

TXF viewers getting invited to Halloween parties? - come off it...

Strictly hasn't really closed the gap on The X Factor that much so far this year. Since Strictly started this series, its Saturday episodes have on average had 2.6m fewer viewers than X Factor's Saturday shows. By the same stage last year, Strictly on average had 2.4m fewer viewers than X Factor's Saturday shows. In that respect, X Factor's lead has actually increased over SCD.

Yes, yesterday's gap of 1.8m is the smallest so far this series but I'd put that down to the "Halloween effect". It's no coincidence that the smallest gap between the two shows last year during the live stages was also on Halloween weekend. The gap between the two shows next week will almost certainly be bigger.

I'm not knocking Strictly because it's ratings are brilliant this series but just trying to prove that it's not true that SCD has closed the gap significantly on X Factor compared to last year, which Robbie seems to be suggesting. Strictly's obviously improved but so has The X Factor, and the gap between the two shows is very similar to last year's gap.

And that's just regarding the Saturday episodes. On Sundays, TXF is a good 4m or so ahead of SCD, which is as big a gap there's ever been between the two programmes for same day ratings comparisons.

I tend to look at ratings on a week by week basis during a series, to see whether there is any momentum or decline, rather than checking against the comparable episode from 12 months or more ago.

No doubt when we shortly come up against the Jedward effect from 12 months ago, the method of reporting on here will change back to week on week, as that will mean reporting TXF ratings as "down x % on last year" and that would never do...