Your right, the judging panel this year is already a big success.

I like Louis. Thought he was going to be completely over the top, which he is, but he also gives valid comments and criticism.

me too

I love the new judging panel. Louie is usually a first class irritant but he's very constructive and honest. He has far more gravitas than Jason Gardner and Emma Bunton combined. Katarina is wonderful also.

I like how Louis sticks to where his knowledge is..thats where Emma and Ruthie went wrong, they tried too hard to give alot of advice on the skating side, when they were clearly there for performance.

Louis talks about elements of dance and performance, and is very constructive. Hes great!

Louie is doing a great job, as you say, giving good honest constructive criticism without being nasty.

Well done Louie, thanks for saving Charlene, that was the right call.

I was prepared not to like Louis Spence, I'm not a fan of posturing, camp performers. But he is coming over very well, his critiques are positive and constructive and he mixes serious with a bit of humour.

I'm still not keen on the way the gay judges think they can make personal comments about the bodies of young male skaters - it's as bad as if a straight male judge made sexual comments about the women.

Otherwise, not bad at all. The judging panel is good this year. The female judge is excellent, to the point and intelligent.

love the judges, as two skaters and only one dancer on the show it is much better. Original panel okay as well as had more skaters on the panel. Last couple of years was a joke imo

I love Louis, but he's not a patch on Jason.

The panel this year are so safe....and boring.

You might say safe and boring, but I quite like that DOI is defined by the "talent" rather than the squabbles between the judges and what shoes they're all wearing.

It isn't just the gay judges, nor is it just the male contestants gay male judges leer at. Katarina absolutely leered at Matthew in his first show. Bruno (SCD) doesn't discriminate, he sexualises the women as much if not more than he does the men and Arlene perv'd over anything in trousers!

Then you get gay judges such as Jason and Craig who practically freeze out any male celeb attempting to flatter or flirt with them.

I too have joined the Louie Spence fan club. I really like him, and apart from his judge's comments which are serious and sincere, everything he says makes me laugh.

Basically he is OK, but he has got a couple of calls totally wrong - Andy A in the first show, and Sebastian last week. There was no room for cheesy showmanship in Mad World.

He has been a pleasant surprise! I only knew him from his appearances on Harry Hill's TV Burp, and found him annoying then, but I think he makes a decent judge. Maybe it's because he doesn't camp it up too much on DOI!

Louie is giving them all valid comments and encouragement,
I look forward to what he has to say.

I guess we are all entertained by different things and Jason's absence from the panel seems overwhelmingly popular on DS.

However, with viewing figures down this year, I think quite a few people may just be missing that extra bit of spice Jason brought to the show.

Personally speaking, I have been less interested in the show since the new panel came in. I find it all just a little too bland and safe and have just dipped in and out the last two weeks, instead of watching the whole show and skipped the skate off altogether this week.

Then again, I do like the Cowell and the Revel Horwood types more than most!

I think part of the problem isn't so much that Jason has gone, but that Louie is trying hard not to be Jason, and you can tell he doesn't want to be booed, so he is playing it all a bit safe.

It wasn't warm and fuzzy, but when we'd just watched a dull performance, it was quite refreshing to have a judge say so.

Much better than I expected.

I soooo agree with this. I never watch the X Factor because its all about the judges...I HATE that

double post

I think I saw The Daily Mail are claiming the drop in figures is due to the 'loss' of Jason.

Personally I really enjoy the new panel. It is one of the highlights of DOI this year for me. Some of the stuff Jason spouted was just so wantonly unpleasant I would change channels, so I am pleased he is gone.

However my viewing of DOI has been much less avid over the last 2/3 years, and this is down to a few factors:

- I find the routines quite boring, at least for the first half of the run. This is partly down to the predictability of J&T's choreography, and also that it takes a good few weeks for most of the celebs to be good enough to handle anything interesting
- the endless ads drive me mad
- filler chit-chat.

But it's definitely not because Jason has gone!

Louie puts a smile on my face too.

Sure was, what was Robin thinking? I think he should go and sit on the naughty step!

Robin has a very good record of judging by performance in the skate-off, and given that Corey improved his performance and Charlene phoned in a disaster, I'd have gone for Corey too on that basis.

The above said, as long as I feel the judges are making decisions based on their personal integrity, it's fine with me whichever way they vote. I didn't agree with keeping Heidi over Andy A in the first week, but I was totally comfortable with the explanations all three judges gave.

Back on topic, Louie wins any battle - physical or metaphorical - for me with Jason. Jason really did value his so-called wit over being constructive or helpful, or actually critiquing the performance half the time. If people want to tune in to see someone in a position of power being gratuitously horrible to famous people, why don't they stick to Newsnight - it's on a lot more regularly