Think that Craig would have something to say about anyone becoming seen as chief expert (on ballroom or any other kind of dancing) if he's in the room.......

She killed Come Dancing, along with Angela Rippon and David Jacobs.

I can't see it being anyone to outspoken, Craig is there for that reason - I also don't believe for one minute it will be an all male panel either.

Thankfully that should put people like Jason Gardener well out of the equation

I wouldn't be surprised to see a Cheryl Cole, Danni Minogue or even an Emma Bunton being brought in. Before anyone starts foaming at the mouth, I'm not a fan of any of them.

Reasons being:

Cole: Dumped by Cowell, was rumoured to be signing for new BBC show the voice, but instead Will I am has signed. Will I am is Cole's manager and now has contacts within the BBC. Cole might see this as an excellent opportunity, she is a huge fan of dance too.

Minogue: Was supposedly a shoe in for BGT and that has disappeared, something is going on with her, I suspect an X-Factor return but wouldn't rule out SCD.

Button: Is available and has already been a contestant on SCD. An outsider.

Its going to depend a lot on if SCD want to blow their budget on a big name judge - Personally i'd get someone like Karen Hardy in who would be economically sound, and use any money saved for obtaining better celebrity's

SCD is not like X-Factor, which has become more about the judges than anything else - SCD can survive with low key judging, but what it does need to improve is the quality of celebrity.

The celebrity turn out was quite poor this year - It will be interesting to see what happens.

NO NO NO to Arlene Karen Camilla 'The Grant' Widdy Darcey Jennifer Cheryl Cole Jason Gardiner Louie Spence Sisco wotsit from SYTYCD

Should get Lilia back, obviously.

Anyway I seriously doubt any replacement will be announced until about a month before the next series so we'll have to wait and see.

Ola (assuming a role is found for James)

Kristina- would be very good - she has handled the comedy celebs, bad celebs and got to the final.

Erin - frees up Anton to be paired with the "comedy" celeb.

Ola or Kristins could play up the slightly mangled English pronunciations, which could be a big hit - a bit like Sofia Vergara playing Gloria in Modern Family on Sky. James would also be a good "technical" judge if any of the males moved on.

Agree with Brucie not wanting to go - hard call for the BBC - he has been on stage most of his life so retiring is hard to imagine. If he gave up Strictly and then went into a helath decline there would be a horrible backlash in the press (mostly from the hypocritical ones saying he should go now as he is too old probably)

However Len and Bruno still doing DWTS is an issue, so it might be that as there HAS to be a change in the Judge's lineup they make more changes. Combined with a shakeup of the Pros.

What probably will happen is that if they go for a current/ recent Pro - the one that does the best screen test/ audition with the other judges will get the gig. This may be a surprising choice.

They don't come back, judges or dancers.

Don't expect it to be Karen Hardy, she's there every year, no "headline mileage" in that choice.

It's all about ratings, so expect someone controversial leading to extensive media coverage and endless multiple topics and comments on here.

NO to Louise Redknapp, Jennifer Grey, Nicole Scherzinger!

YES to Adam Garcia - would happily look and listen to him rather than Bruno's usual OTT antics. Don't think it'll happen though

YES to Lilia or Erin - if I had to pick one I'd plump for Lilia because she has experience as a judge and she was the best most successful pro teacher who taught complete novices to dance and perform and got them to the semis and finals. Again I don't think it'll happen though

I bet the BBC go for a 'controversial celeb' again

Camilla Dallerup or Lillia, I do miss her.

No to Karen Hardy, leave her on the red button option.

Don't let it be- Anyone without a dance background
Also don't let it be Louie Spence. We have Bruno- and he's both better than Louie and knows the phrase "tone it down"- even if not by very much...
Former Pro- or a superb choreographer like Arlene. If BBC don't then they're killing the show slowly when they've been granted the perfect opportunity to fix it!

Also- I think it'll almost certainly be a woman- so I don't think messers Spence, Barrowman, Grant or the likes will be available. It'll be woman for woman. My bet may well be on Erin- if Anton is moved up to role of Presenter as many people suspect he one day will be x

Luckily Spence has just been made a judge on Dancing on Ice ITVs inferior imitation of SCD - he's just about to start his first series - so unless the BBC want to start playing silly games a la Cowell - I think it'll be highly unlikely he'll be asked to join Strictly.

I'd still love to have Adam Garcia as a judge on SCD - he's from the world of dance and show biz - I heard him on the red button commentary with Karen and I thought he was very good - he's also a judge on 'Got to Dance' so he's judged dance shows before and that's not really a rival show to SCD - also being very shallow here but he's absolutely gorgeous to look at as I said before I don't think it'll happen but hey ho I can dream

ANYBODY BUT Arlene

Surely not. It was 'the best line-up ever' apparently

Someone mentioned Jill Halfpenny- now there's a shout...
Best celeb dancer- could have been a pro- replaces Alesha's role but may also be able to give some technical opinion considering she had some training elswhere...

But if not her, then it has to be a former or current professional, it simply has to be. If you say you want someone who, like Alesha, knows the pain and the journey that goes on backstage- rewatch Mark Ramprakash getting his scores for the Argentine Tango and Salsa, and tell me Karen Hardy doesn't know how it feels...

Aliona

I'd love Ian to be a judge but another bloke would need to be off for that to happen imo.
I think Kara would be a nice choice or Zoe. I'm not too keen on Karen (she seems to think with her ovaries a little too much) but I think she'll probably get the job.

Nah, she should replace Len

Hope not- somebody needs to keep her in check! Long Live Goodman!

Seriously?????

I would like Ian Waite, but unlikley as this would unbalance the panel (unless they got rid of Bruno and replaced him with someone normal ). Other than that either someone who understands choreography and dance or Erin Boag or Karen Hardy, again unlikely as they would also still have Len as the traditional ballroom expert.

No doubt the BBC will go for a 'name' regardless of ability, who will be controversial to get the publicity and headlines.

I think it's a shame that Darcey Bussell didn't make a good impression, because I thinkk she would be good. She was only there as a guest, for 1 week, so didn't feel comfortable being critical. But I bet she could be, as she's lived in a very critical ballet world. And she certainly knows what she's talking about.

But she lives in Australia, and has small children, so it would be impractical for 3 months.

I'm not sure Artem would be keen on his ex turning up as a judge?
Also - unless you watch DWTS (I don't) she is not known of here at all.
Same for the other two ladies you mentioned - the Beeb will want to go with someone well known to the GBP I'm sure

Sorry, but I think you will find she was on more than once. I would have liked her to have made a good impression but the odds were always long and she was really brought in as a counterbalance to the woefully out-of-her-depth Alesha. Being knowlegable about a subject doesn't mean you'll be good on the tele and much though I am a huge fan of Darcey's, she is simply too remote and glacial.

I wonder if they plan to nick Kimberly Wyatt from 'Got to Dance'? She has a lot of dance knowledge and having studied at the Broadway Dance Centre must know something about ballroom. She is very easy on the male eye, and can string sentences together and finds a nice way to critisise even the most hopeless. I think if offered she would jump at it to extend her profile. Hope that doesn't mean the end of 'Got to Dance' though!