Originally Posted by penelopesimpson:
“Sorry, me again, but I'm so angry. The only judge with any fame? Are you being serious? Arelene Phillips was famous all over the world and not just in the dance community. She did Cats, Les Miz and god knows how many other shows. You can't seriously believe that more people knew Alesha Dixon than Arlene Phillips?”
I am talking about fame to the general public. Arlene Philips was remembered by a few older people from her name being associated with Hot Gossip though I don't think she appeared on camera herself then. Apart from her period on Strictly Come Dancing she was completely unknown to the majority of people as were the other judges.
Alesha was not a major star but she was known through her singing group and attempt at a solo career before she appeared on Strictly Come Dancing. She still has a career in her singing which though enhanced by her appearances on Strictly Come Dancing is unrelated.
The other three obviously had reasonably successful careers before Strictly Come Dancing but it was unknown to the general public.
I quite like her, apart from Craig she is often the only one to make a genuine comment during judging. The others are more liable to put on a performance with some pre-scripted one-liners. Arlene Philips used to try to do the same but was never as successful at reading out jokes and I often just found her irritating.
As always with the tabloids you have to have a bit of caution because I doubt whether the BBC have published the individual payments to judges and professionals so it is quite likely speculation.