We are led to believe by all the chat (especially on ITT by Claudia) that Len represents the "Voice of reason" to balance out Craig's grumpiness and Alesha and Bruno's "niceness", but does his marking really bear that out?

Not only did we get his bizarre marking of Kara and Artem in Blackpool - odd enough to rival Alesha and Bruno giving Scott 9 for repeatedly forgetting his steps, but this week Len seems to be unable to judge who is better than who.

This week he decided Pamela was best (10) and Ann was worst (5), but he marked Scott, Matt, Kara and Gavin all the same (9).....surely not!!

I really despair of Len, I used to think of him as the "voice of reason" I guess..but I don't know what's happened to him over the years lol.

Think it's the bosses that make him a bit sour at times, if it wasn't for them he would be more likeable. Sold his soul to their agenda methinks.

I think maybe I'd like it better if each judge ranked the competitors rather than gave them scores, that way they would actually have to think about who was better than who!

He's the worst by far.

Him deciding Gavin, Scott, and Matt were on par with Kara tonight was a disgrace - don't even get me started on marking Kara's American Smooth only one point higher than Anne!

...and poor, poor Kelly Brook...

So would I lol.

The thing I've noticed with Len is that his comments are often correct (apart from Kara's AS ) but his bl**dy paddle is nearly always wrong. So he is the voice of reason but he's the paddle of bewilderment!

Only one word for Len, lol.:

I think he's the worst judge there. He's inconsistent, he's the most likely to give a high score to a crap dance, he's also the most likely to underscore a dance by a female celeb and he's the one I count on most to be biased.

He gave Kara and Gavin the same score this week. Enough said - that's not a voice of reason, it's obvious insanity. s28 of the Mental Health Act might be in order.

Len voice of reason? don't make me laugh.

The voice of madness more like!

Len votes on expectation. He expects a lot from Kara, hence he is very picky with her. Same for Matt. He is more lenient with Gavin and marks him based on personal improvement. With Ann he is sitting on the fence with a default 5. His marking for Scott is a mystery to me. Len seems to try his hardest to find excuses for Scott which are all a bit lame. Like "the rumba is too difficult for the male celebrity", "you made a few mistakes but I won't focus on that", "you came out and you gave it a go", "you messed up the routine but I know you are a good dancer so I'll give you a 9 anyway", etc. etc.

I think Len's fixation on Scott is a bit bizarre, and I think it's deliberate, as in instructed by the bbc to stir things up and provoke a reaction from the viewers (and ultimately generate more votes).

Agreed. I don't see how the pros can possibly benefit from the comments he makes about choreography, as his response to "messin' abaht" is so inconsistent. I'm not surprised that they ignore him and do what they like.

If he always and consistently penalised faffing about and over-use of props and the like, I would be delighted, because I hate all that stuff and would rather they just bloody danced. I happen to think it's quite lazy to tell the story by tacking on non-dance bits to the beginning and end. The point of the competition is to use the medium of Ballroom & Latin, so they should try and tell the story within those parameters.

But Len often doesn't penalise that stuff, or even mention it, for weeks on end. Then he'll suddenly get a bee in his bonnet and give someone an insanely low score. Without the consistency though, there's no incentive for the pros to choreograph more dance content.

Having said all that, I do like Len and SCD wouldn't be the same without him. I'd rather have Alesha and Bruno replaced by two people who judge more like Craig, and Len can be Len and do what he likes. One lunatic judge is fine, three isn't.

Agree totally, he lets his ego overcome common sense.

I just wish the supposed ballroom and latin 'expert' was of a higher calibre than Len to be honest. This year more than ever he has been inconsistent, ignored blatant errors in the dances (especially from the USA imports) and not picked up on timing and other issues. I also feel more than ever that this year the lack of ballroom and latin expertise on the panel has really shown - the programme dance wise is becoming a bit of a commedy

Think so too.

For all the calls to replace Bruno or Alesha, I think Len is the one who should be replaced. He's the one judge there who's supposed to judge it from a latin/ballroom POV and as the one who's supposedly most informed, he's the least likely to score fairly and consistently. I would love for him to be replaced by Matt Cutler.

Reckon so too.

*faints*

If only...or Ian Waite!

I know, I know. You're so right. But somehow I can't imagine SCD without him and for all his myriad flaws I do love him!

Len to me is a greedy so and so, he ought to go.

Greedy?

Well he does dwts as well, greedy in my books.

Oh I see. That doesn't bother me. I just wish we could have Tom Bergeron in exchange for Brucie...

So would I lol.