1. Change the format so that the couples dance the same type of dance each week.

2. Change the voting so that you are voting for the person to be kicked off.

3. Weight the voting so that it is based on points/votes rather than relative position in the leaderboard.

4. Make the results show the same night.

1. Fewer different dances each week i.e. 2 or 3 at most.
2. Proper dances to proper, appropriate music. ( Band great though!)
3. Proper dresses and male attire.
4. No props or stupid VTs.
5. Stop having so many new pro dancers and bring back Ian.
6. Get a proper presenter e.g Graham Norton and let Tess and Claudia do the jobs they're better at.
7. Stop Len doing his nasty, rude bit when Craig is talking and when the audience boo him.
8. Use the scoring system used by every other listing company in the UK responsible for producing an ordered list !! So if you have 15 couples, the top scorers from the judges get 15 points, the bottom scorers gets 1 point, not 2, 4, 5 or some other number. If there are 14 couples it similarly starts at 14 and ends up at 1. That way the poor dancers don't end up only just behind the middle of the leaderboard. If two couples get 15 points because their judges scores are equal, the next couple gets 13, not 14. But always the bottom couple(s) should get 1 point.

I'd put in an option via the red button to split the screen into 2 boxes so that we couild see the singers properly in one box and the dancers in the other.

I think I'd have the results show shown on the same night too.

Isn't a lot of this above the remit of the producer? Surely the producer doesn't get to pick the presenters or sort the scheduling. What the producer need to do is make the show as good as possible within the schedule given and with the chosen presenters.

Only two things: Get rid of Tess, stop the stupid VTs.

Get rid of that big dumb blond and her hunchback sidekick.
Replace the VTs with almost anything.
Have correct kind of music for each dance.
Either get rid of the viewers vote (it works for bake off.) OR double the weighting of the judges scores.
No more "acts" on the Sunday delayed broadcast of the results unless they are prepared to sing live with the house band.
Get rid of the prompted booing and cheering - its like some 3rd rate village panto at the moment.

I agree about the prompted booing and cheering, plus I would add standing ovations. We very rarely used to have them unless the dance was exceptional...

I disagree over Claudia. I adore Claudia, but would happily say goodbye to Tess. She just isn't natural...

1) Ditch the 'sob stories' aspect of the VTs - the family members, the loving dog who watches the TV and barks in time to the music, all that rubbish. Just show the Celeb and the Pro interacting with each other.

2) Let the Pro (with input from the Celeb) choose the music and do the choreography - with help available if they need it for the dances they aren't experienced in.

3) DO NOT FORCE THEMES OR PROPS ON CONTESTANTS - If you want a theme, set it for the week and let THEM decide how to work with that.

4) Stop trying to manipulate the votes by telling the judges how to vote (I am almost certain that this is currently the case.)

Then I'd sit on my hands and let the people who know what to do (the pros, the dancers, the designers, the editors, etc.) do their jobs without me messing it up by interfering.

Keep both Tess & Claudia, have the results show live.
Instead of the public voting for a favourite, vote for who they want to leave.

1) The VTs are there so the crew can set up for the next dance and the cameras can get to their positions.

2) Same as above.

3) Personal opinion, people like him.

4) Viewers disagree, people like them both. Only people on DS (who think they're the majority) dislike them.

Big accusations there. There's definitely no vote rigging going on, you should be careful what you accuse people of.

Interesting thread, although I think Strictly is fine for the most part and needs just a few tweaks. Here's my two-pence worth...

1. Reduce the use of props.
I'm not completely against the use of staging and props - a little theming can be good - it has to really add something to the dance though or be suggested through the music itself. For example, Patrick and Anya's Charleston last year NEEDED to feature Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, whilst the addition of the table and café theming to Sophie and Brendan's Charleston topped and tailed their routine well. Obviously the theme weeks lend themselves to using props but outside of this I'd really like to see them used more sparingly and only when appropriate (In other words they shouldn't be used as an excuse for faffing about!).

2. More appropriate/riskier music choices.
Paso Dobles to the "Superman Theme" and "Simply The Best". Tangos to "Stop" and "Sing". So far this hasn't been a vintage year, music-wise and feels as if being recogniseable or popular is more important to song choice than suitability. Yet when a more traditional piece of music is used (Susanna and Kevin's Paso to "Los Toreadors"), or something less well known but that fits the theming ("Rock It For Me" in Sophie and Brendan's Charleston), the effect can be spectacular. Fewer 'safe' music selections please!

3. The Judges
Ditch the dancing intro each week - it's just silly. No more guest judges (unless it's as a stand-in for one of the others). Not convinced the panel needs an overhaul, but it would be nice if we had more than one judge from a ballroom background. Pros like Karen Hardy and Anton are the obvious choices for replacments, but I don't think the BBC should be scared to pick unknowns either, so long as they have a suitable background and are TV-Friendly. Just steet clear of the Donny Osmonds and Jennifer Greys of this world and it'll be fine.

4. The Pros
Think the male pros this year are a good group and each have different strengths. I do kind of miss James though - despite the attitude he was a good teacher and got the best out of some very average partners. I know Robin was injured but I wouldn't bring him back unless Anton leaves - I think they inhabit the same sort of role on the show. For the girls, I'm expecting this to be Ola's last year (like James, I think she's a good teacher so would be a bit of a shame). I'd also let Aliona and Karen go, so some new faces next year would be good (although I wouldn't mind if Anya was given another chance). I quite like the DWTS idea of partner switching for a week, if only because I think it'll show up who's a good teacher and who isn't...

5. Format Changes
Stick to 7 men and 7 women - that extra dancer is one too many. Reduce the final to three couples from four (again, it can be a little crowded). For the first two weeks make everyone dance a waltz and cha-cha - it starts things off more equally and makes comparison easier. Don't bring in the non-ten dances (Charleston, Salsa etc) until week 5 or 6. In the event of leaderboard ties, make the judges re-rank the couples so no one goes into public voting with an equal score. Have an hour long ITT sometime after the final - the red button interviews with Zoe last year proved that it's needed.

Get rid of all the judges.. I am sure there are better ones out there, who are funnier and more experienced.. keeping the same judges year after year gets boring and predictable.
And change some of the long term dancers. for younger ones.. with only a three year contract..

Get rid of Claudia
Get rid of Tess
Replace with people who can PRESENT without thinking they are stars/comedians.
They don't even have to be famous, just presentable people with a little knowledge about dancing, clear voice and good manners.

A lot of posts here have been calling for the Dance Off to be axed. I can't remember how they used to eliminate couples before they brought the DO in. Does anyone out there have the patience to explain to me how it used to be done? Thanks.

Er... Judges being pressured to vote certain people up does not equal vote rigging in a legal sense.

Do you seriously think we'd have seen some of the marks we saw this week if there weren't some 'advising' going on behind the scenes?

The judges votes are mostly pantomime - but they can be used to either sway the audience into thinking someone is better than they are, or worse than they are, or they can heap unfair criticism on a Celeb in order to make it seem like they are less of a sure-fire finalist, or to spur the public into voting to save them. There is a LOT of manipulation of the public that goes on with the judges votes and comments.

No patience required.

Totally as done nowadays except that when you got to the two couples who were in the bottom two, it was the couple with the lowest number of 'points' who went home.

DS old-timers will say that the dance-off was brought in because Joe Public had the temerity to vote off someone who was the judges' favourite one week, and that the judges didn't like it. Though as Joe Public still upset the judges by refusing to put certain people (John Sargeant, Ann Widdecombe, etc) in the dance-off I don't see what real good the dance-off achieves. Equally, the judges pi$$ off the public when they refuse to get rid of people who are voted into the dance-off several weeks running. e.g.Lisa Snowden, three weeks out of four - weeks 9, 10 and 12 in series 6. Serves the judges right that they had to suffer 'bacofoil'. And yes, I am still annoyed that we lost Jodie and Austin because of the dance-off. (If they'd been eliminated because of having the lowest number of points, then fair enough.)

Many thanks Nellie

1. axe Claudia
2. show results live
3. axe over-used theme weeks such as Halloween etc
4. stop stupid VT'S

I don't like the idea of voting to get rid of someone. Strictly is a positive show so it's only right that you vote to save.

The things I would change are the camera work (maybe introduce a fixed view camera either from the judges perspective or above) and get rid of most of the props and save the silly costumes for Halloween. I agree with people who say that some of the song choices have been utterly horrendous.

The main problem isn't the judges or the contestants or even the vast majority of the format (cheesy VTs, the dance-off, the duffers staying in over better dancers).

The biggest problem is that for whatever reason the producers have tried to X-factor the show, tinkering with what wasn't broken and at a time when the X-factor was petering out anyway.

So we now we have the cringeworthy judges dancing entrance (even though Darcy patently refuses to co-operate with it). We have increasingly bizarre unsuitable costumes (especially the men). Worst of all we now have half a dozen dance styles (or more) on each show, which unsettles the majority of the audience and makes it even harder for the duffers. As a result, the standard of dancing has actually dropped (apart from the very obvious ringahs).

It really wouldn't take much to fix it, but the producers need to stop trying to lower the tone. They're not helped by Tess, who isn't working at all. They need someone who can handle live TV and think on their feet whilst channelling old fashioned light entertainment charisma. Graeme Norton has said he doesn't want it, so who does that leave?

A few of the past winners of Strictly would do a great job I'm sure. Like Jill Halfpenny, Kara Tointen, Natasha Kaplinsky, the BBC guy whose name I can't remember.

Nail on the head.
They have relentlessly driven the show down market. Shame, really.

Those past winners are not trained TV presenters though (apart from Kaplinsky, but she would probably be too cold seeing as she is a news presenter). And actors are not necessarily presenters either. That leaves the BBC guy - Chris Hollins.

Spot on - Strictly never needed to go down the X Factor style or presentation, but they took it there all the same. And the show is much poorer for it.