I know Len is not leaving, but he is the head judge and can alter the result in the event of a tie.

Which of the other three judges should be made head judge if Len left?

Craig.

Craig. he should be head judge now. He is the only judge who scores correctly and speaks any sense.

Got to be Craig

Bruno. He knows what he's talking about even if he's loopy. Though it would turn to chaos

I would hope they would get someone in who actually knows about classic 10 dancing. None of the other existing panelists, whatever their other strengths and talents, do. To my eyes, Craig is the least qualified to be Head Judge, even though he brings an interesting performance perspective to the comments and is considered good entertainment, as the pantomime 'grump' by many.

I think they had Craig as the head judge when Jennifer Grey was on, though that's pretty forgettable and easy to switch around. It also didn't count for anything since it was a non-dance off series anyway.

I would probably be OK with either Craig or Bruno being head, but not Darcey.

It matters infrequently enough that I probably wouldn't care that much who the title was appointed to in practice, though.

Personally if it's a choice between Darcey, Craig and Bruno (and not a new more qualified judge) then I would choose Bruno, once you cut through the craziness he gives some good advice.

They don't need another head judge. They don't need a head judge now.
They just need a better way of dealing with a dance off tie.

The obvious choice would be to replace him with a talented popular expressive raven-haired woman who is a familiar face from the show over the years, who has experience both on the live portion and from doing It Takes Two so they can handle any interviews they have to do there, and a vast experience of ballroom dancing, having learnt from Len himself how to dance.

I am of course talking about Claudia. Possibly with a sheet over her head.

No one on the current panel, certainly NOT Craig.
They need someone who has the perfect balance between being a bit strict and lenient at the same time but most importantly who has a LOT of expertise and background in Both discipines (Latin & Ballroom ) and neither Craig, Bruno or Darcey fit that criteria. So if Len leaves, they need to bring someone else with the same expertise to be head judge because none of the current judges will do (I do like them btw but its the truth; jmo )

would hope they would bring in another judge from the ballroom / latin world - would not be adverse to Ian doing it or someone like shirley ballas karen if she was not as wooden as on that programme she did for living tv but not anton

The problem of course is that the judges have been given roles to act out and that make makes them unfit for other roles. Bruno would be the best replacement from the current panel but he would have to lose his extravagance and what would Bruno be like without extravagance? Head judge needs more experience than Darcy possesses. Craig is the pantomime villain and he will be kept that way. Using a bigger range of panels should be good but when you use them at the wrong times it is actually bad.

None of present team and most certainly not Craig who demonstrates weekly that he is the least knowledgeable with zero worthwhile advice for (viewers) contestants
Len unknown outside of the ballroom/Latin world prior to SCD and it makes sense to go back into the same recruitment pool

I think it should be either Craig or whoever replaces Len.

This is a "show."

Think "audience puller."

Probably Graham Norton.

Seriously, there shouldn't be a "head judge."

With the situation where there's a 2-2 draw over an elimination, why should one of those people have a deciding vote?
None of the four judges have ever shown consistency in their marking.

The head judge "casting vote" can lead to accusations of manipulation by the producers, as the judges "do as they are told."

Most votes from the public should count in the event of a tie.

I would like to see Karen Hardy as head judge. Although I'm a ballet fan and love Darcey Bussell as a ballet dancer and expert, I don't think she knows too much about ballroom. Other than that, Craig, but he is a bit too theatrical for my tastes

Yes, they do.....

If Len went they would need to replace him with someone from the world of ballroom/Latin dancing. Another "celebrity" judge like Darcey (much as I loved her ballet dancing) would make even more of a mockery of the panel.

Len wasn't know to the non-dancing world prior to Strictly, so there is no reason why they couldn't replace him with another generally "unknown" ex-dancer. My nomination would be Nicky Miles! Dancers on DS will have surely heard of him(?) & he'd make a first-rate judge. Not only extremely knowledgeable, but witty and clever as well.

None of them are good enough. It should be Anton.

Have 3 of them. Then there can't be a tie.

I would agree with you, but one of them must be experienced in BB & Lat.

This seems to be less a "who should replace Len as head judge" thread as a "who should replace Len full stop" thread.

Seriously, does anyone truly believe there's a real need for a head judge other than to decide the dance off result in the event of a tie? Other than that, what is the point? What more do they do than the others?

Well, apart from receiving some general toadying from the presenters, have a pointless "lens" (Craig's camera, Bruno's binoculars and Darcey's... nope, can't think of anything - she's out, don't have quite the same ring do they?), interrupt the others and shout at the audience like some risible pantomime villain obviously.

He may speak sense but he speaks it very rudely . Yes , yes , i know its meant to be panto but there is no need to put people down

I can!


"Darcey's Daguerreotype."

Len might have one, it's more his era.