Chris Moyles

As I say every year, what's wrong with sticking with the already established Tess/Claudia combination? They work very well together, they don't make the show about themselves and they keep it on track and moving.

The perfect replacement?: Hugh Jackman.

But never in a million years.

Barring that: T & C (why would people think strange having two female presenters?).

Are there actually people who genuinely want to KEEP him?

Shockingly yes!

I thought this as well, he has West End and stand up experience so can ad-lib.

Saw him in "Me & My Girl" and he can dance very well, so could even "pop-up" in the Pro Group dances.

Also likeable without being camp.

Aled Jones is maybe another "safe" pair of hands - I wondered if the Daybreak gig was to get him experience of Live TV so he can take over the Strictly job.

Len has no presenting experience, and also does DWTS at the same time as Strictly so that might be awkward.

Julian Clary...

I love him, but he's too rude. He'd joke about bum sex with Len & that would be that.

Second this. I enjoyed last night; the dancers and the judges were the focus, not the presenters, and the pace was spot on given the number of couples to get through.

I suspect if we'd had to sit through Brucie and his 'jokes', we'd have missed a fair chunk of judges' comments as has been the case in the early stages of previous series, and I'd rather hear what the judges have to say than listen to Bruce - or any so-called comic replacement - stumbling through another poorly-timed, unfunny joke.

Unless they did a total revamp with all new presenters I can't see how they could bring another guy in and effectively demote Tess. She's the main anchor for the results and gets the gig when Bruce can't do it.

I think it would cause an uproar media wise if a guy came in and got the gig and Tess was sidelined out back again

What's wrong with it is they are crap at it.
The judges totally ignore Tess like they did twice last night when she tried to interupt them and Claudia can only play the I'm thick card so many times before it gets boring.

Bill Turnbull. Ex contestant but I think would add a bit of irreverence. Bit like Tom on DWTS.

I think that Tess is fine presenting the odd one off show (I appreciate the change from Bruce stumbling over his script) but I personally don't feel that she has the charisma to do it full time... her delivery of the scripted jokes fell a bit flat. I love Claudia in Tess' role though.

Yeah, he could work too.

Another Bill Turnbull vote here. He ticks all the boxes:

Experience of Strictly (so he knows what the contestants are going through)
Can do live TV (3 hours for 3 mornings per week and does Mon-Weds so would be fine for Strictly over the weekend)
It will be about the show not about him
Nice wry sense of humour

Need I go on....

Michael Ball ? Has song and dance experience and live presenting.

It shouldn't be a performer, it should be a presenter. The judges are there to supply the dance experience. The show flows much better with a presenter who gets on with the job instead of making it all about themselves. The focus of the show is supposed to be the celebs and their pro partners, after all.

Fair point - I don't really like it when Bruce adds in his dancing/song routines.


I was just following on from the Brian Conley suggestion but adding that MB has live presenting experience.
I like Bradley and Brian and although they have live experience from a standup/comedy stage type show I can't recall if they have the live TV presenting experience that the likes of Graham Norton have. I'd rather keep Tess and Claudia than have Graham.

Only one choice I can see and that's Claudia

I totally agree. It's more important to have a great presenter who keeps the show moving smoothly than someone who has dance experience. Tom Bergeron has been a popular presenter of Dancing with the Stars since 2005 without being a dancer.

I'd love Graham Norton to do it, but he's not desperate and does not need the money. He'd get bored too I think

Tom Bergeron from DWTS would be excellent but I doubt he'd do it and he wouldn't have a clue who most of the celebrities were.
I'm undecided about Anton - I like him but he can be a bit "me, me, me" (such as when he's constantly interrupting Tess giving out the phone number) so I wonder if we'd just be replacing one huge ego with another?
I'd also be quite happy with Graham Norton or Paul O'Grady.
I don't see why Tess and Claudia shouldn't do it though, if they both want to. By and large, they've had a very favourable response on the occasions they've covered for Bruce. We don't necessarily need a male/female combo when two women have proved they can do it perfectly well.

A previous post mentioned that Tess might struggle to fill in the later weeks when there are less contestants. On the it takes two thread, it was suggested that for later shows, when judges can be (and should be) really picky and scrutinise everything, a fifth judge might be a good idea. Karen Hardy was one of the names suggested. I think that would be a great idea as there would be no need to fill with inane jokes and cringingly bad VT's - we could hear more judges comments (which would hopefully be constructive!)

Paul O'Grady and Claudia would be perfect imo.

I once saw someone suggest Chris Hollins

Cannot think of anyone who would not be better than SBF.:yawn:

Tom Bergeron of DWTS is the ultimate host. I cannot think of anyone over here who has the same wit, style, easy, classy presenting style. He is fabulous!

Tess and Claude are fine as sidekicks but neither one of them has the skill to carry a show.

I wish they had, but they are still very much the 'giggling girlies'.