Went to Laine, so can dance well. More popular on her series than Alesha was on hers. Has lots of acting and musical theatre experience. Would bring in an ITV audience. Did OK as a interviewer on multiple ITV shows last year. Alesha isn't obviously a bigger personality either.

Agree, the BBC wouldn't pick her, as she's not a BBC asset, but if you can't get a Spice Girl , can't find a singer from a lesser girl group, and don't want an old male comic or the ubiquitous Barrowman, or a female version of Bruno or Craig , the list isn't long. It gets very short if you want a female. Take off anyone better known who is working, factor in the low pay, and factor in the problems someone with expertise now knows they face if they ever use it to criticise anyone on one of these shows, and it gets shorter. If Jills doing more theatre or films you almost end up with Karen by default, and she just risks throwing the chemistry of the panel and more contradiction, less credibility, and bigger anti-judge votes again.

Wrong again.

https://twitter.com/#!/danwootton/st...58861575958528

https://twitter.com/#!/danwootton/st...60899714088961

How the hell is BGT a bigger show? I understand the XFactor but BGT.

I guess she wants to release an album so it makes sense plus the £££

What did she do / say on Chatty Man?

Her WeightWatchers song, only released two days ago, has already reached #26 on iTunes.

BGT will give Alesha a chance to show of her personality more. Many people, excluding the haters, found her hysterical on Chatty Man (whether that's for the right or wrong reasons, I don't care...) and I think she'll have good chemistry with David, who will no doubt be another Bruno Tonioli sidekick.

Also the constant flirting with Simon, like when Cheryl was on the XFACTOR.

How the hell is Holden still there though? What is her talent?

Thank goodness Simon got her off the show.

Karen or Carrie Ann please.

Not a hater as such, just couldn't take her seriously. Haven't managed to read all the threads relating to this, but for me personally (and also several friends who watched the show) I just couldn't take her seriously.

I don't think winning the show gave her an automatic pass to suddenly become a critic of other people's dancing ability (same with my friends). And never having to hear that snorting laugh again? Bonus

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...da-Holden.html

'Thoroughly Magic Mandy' () has no talent whatsoever. Unless Les Dennis cares to be more forthcoming ...

However, I can't see her taking too kindly to Alesha muscling in on her spotlight. Catfight, anyone ...?

There is a God ! Irrespective of the reasons why she went, just glad she is going. No problems with her as a person, pleased she won't be there next time. Hope the Beeb sees sense and replaces her with a proper judge who know about dancing

I really doubt she was pushed
She has three seasons of a live entertainment TV show under her belt and can sing and dance.
While her being on the SCD panel may not have been everyone's cup of tea, she was perfectly competent in her role .
She's also young, gorgeous, and black - I'm hard pushed to name another black female with a higher profile in light entertainment right now
Amanda Holden's tenure at BGT has been a real career boost - I'm sure Alesha's profile will continue to rise at BGT - also given the panel line up, it looks like SC will be very keen to make the next series work.

What had Amanda Holden done apart from BGT?

The Grimleys, Cutting It, Wild at Heart ....

BGT raised her profile and opened West End doors for her - her career had begun in musical theatre, so landing lead roles on the back of her panel job seems a pretty good result to me

It doesn't follow that because someone thinks it is 'not a good move for her', it means she must have been pushed! Illogical.

It's her life and she feels it's right for her at this moment. With the benefit of hindsight she may think differently, she may not.

Good luck to her.

Yes, very recently in Shrek in the West End, in between losing a baby and I believe gaining one? I don't care for her, but aside from her personal loss, professionally she seems to be doing well enough.

I think that's spot on. I don't believe she can seriously expect to resurrect her singing career, she was never an enormous "star" anyway.
If the "alleged" figures are correct, Alesha will more than treble her earnings..that's quite an incentive. I think they may have hinted that the next series of Strictly would be her last, so that made the decision even easier.
Purely on the face of it, the decision doesn't appear very wise. A judge on Strictly is a higher profile media position compared with one on BGT. But given the enormous increase in earnings, and perhaps the chance of a switch to X-Factor (which remains a big deal in telly-land despite last year's shortcomings) in the future, it may be a smart move on her part.
Alesha is not stupid. She must have sat down and thought long and hard about where she would would be in two or three years time. If her time on Strictly was running out, she probably thought it was a lucrative gamble worth taking.

BIB - sorry, but Alesha would have had to behaved much, much worse than she has for the BBC to want to get rid of her.

The BBC has a diversity policy it pursues extremely rigorously (really - you would be scared ...) so, given the dearth of non-white faces in primetime entertainment, do not underestimate how big she was for them. Given her track record, her time on Strictly was not running out. Much as some people on here might like it to have been ...

And, although she isn't British, Nicole Sherzinger would tick a similar box for the BBC's diversity bods - so, given the show's ambitions as an entertainment show (as opposed to the dance competition some mistakenly claim it is), it wouldn't surprise me at all if she was a contender for Alesha's job ... at the very least.

Hmm. Good post.

Does anyone remember when Cheryl Cole had a new song out and she sang it
on X factor.
Alesha had a song out at the same time and wanted to sing it on Strictly but wasn't
allowed because of BBC rules.
This might have something to do with it. Maybe it's more
to do with moving from BBC than moving from Strictly.

Strangely enough, it hasn't been front of mind for me!

Re Alesha being told the next season of Strictly could be her last...I think that was suggested by the Metro today. But they are a "stable companion" of the Daily Mail, so how much truth there is in that rumour, I don't know.
I must admit, her behaviour on the Alan Carr show a couple of weeks ago puzzled me. It was funny, and not too outrageous by the standards of that show, but the she was like someone let off the leash for the first time in years.

Not forgetting (although she would probably like us to) the BBC1 circus sitcom Big Top !

I think Alesha certainly had ambitions beyond Strictly and probably viewed it as a means to an end. The BBC were all over her as a non-white primetime entertainment face and she let them lavish her with attention (and money ...). But there's obviously been a thing between her and Cowell - she didn't praise TXF over SCD for nothing. She probably thinks he's her passport to Hollywood, or something ... For her sake, I hope she's a bit more clued-up, because Cowell clearly has no loyalties to anything other than his bank balance.

I didn't see her on Alan Carr but if she behaved in the way you say, it's obvious the deal was set up well before SCD finished. Indeed, given her appalling scoring this year (ten, ten and ... yes, another ten ), I would wager Cowell approached mid-series, when TXF incurred a lot of bad publicity and Strictly's ratings went from strength to strength. All of which matter more to him than Alesha herself.

Or someone whose inhibitions were let loose by a bottle or two of wine.