I have read much comment about ringers in SCD. These are celebrities that have received past training in dance.

So my question is should all celebrities that have received say three years or more training which has dance as a significant component be excluded from SCD?

It seems to me this would exclude most actors and actresses and many singers: so maybe it would be easier to exclude all those in the acting profession and all those in the singing profession? This would leave us with:

Retired, Semi-retired, Injured sportsmen and women
Retired politicians.
Newsreaders
Weather ladies and men
Presenters (with no prior dance training)
Models (with no prior dance training)
Religious Clerics
Popular scientists
Musicians (with no prior dance training)
Members of Royalty
Lords and Ladies
Comedians
Magicians
Celebrity Cooks
Quiz show hosts
Former big brother contestants (with no prior dance training)

Your premis is faulty:

Politician have been known to dance competitively in ballroom and Latin

Sports men too

It's not possible to exclude all "ringers" nor would I want to

12 weeks of Jeremy and Carole would be boring to me

I like the ringers. It's fantastic watching people like Jay and Helen who can produce beautiful performances. Maybe I'm a bad person but I don't worry too much about the "fairness" of it

Having said that, I also love it when someone like Anita comes along who seemingly hasn't had a "ringer" status attached to her but who shocks everyone with how good she is. I guess she would be the perfect winner for those that feel the trained performers have an unfair advantage - unless she's had some dance training we don't know about!

Angela Rippon was a newsreader who I believe had ballet training......
Brian Cox, physicist, was previously a musician.....

I am sure there are people in many of those categories who have experience. As the years have gone on with Strictly, I have come to realise that I rather like the mix of the good and not so good.

I certainly wouldn't be watching if the celebs were ann widdicombe, john sargant, judy murray, irwan thingy, Jeremy vine et al.

I WANT to see some (preferably at least 3/4) good dancers that I can enjoy. Don't mind some dross in with them (say a 1/4). And if this means they had ballet or any other training years ago, or even not years ago then bring it on.

It would be impossible to have a show without ringers. Its is upto a viewer to give their support to a candidate who has made a journey like Anita. I agree a series full of Carole's and Jeremy's would be boring. I didn't vote for Jay, but have to say I enjoyed watching him dance.

Natalie Gumede got hammered on here every week for being a "Ringer" but now it appears that it is ok to have had Dance training. All very strange as Jay appears to have a lot of support even although he had a lot more training than Natalie had. I am trying to think what the difference between the two is. apart from the obvious.

I prefer to have so-called ringers. I like seeing beautifully performed dances.

i like a mix of trained, non trained but talented and able, triers with a sense of humour and/or panache.

i do not really like complete duffers unless they are outstanding in the personality / humour stakes.

Vince Cable is a retired politician.

Natalie had a lot of support on here as well

The obvious? That she had Artem as a partner who didn't really teach/incorporate the real elements of the different dances, especially the ballroom despite her ability? The fact that we had week after week of essentially very polished contemporary 'show dances' from a very able dancer instead of her learning and performing the required elements of the individual dances as she was well capable of doing was what put me off her.

So do I and so does the general public. The viewing figures prove it.

There were a few of us that spent the series defending her but they were a lot of very very nasty comments towards her which were pathetic.

I just wonder at that comment, I know Natalie was training for a career in dance before her injury.

It seems odd to me that Jay can have had a lot more training than her.,

Do you have evidence to back up your statement?

I would be really interested to see it if you do have the evidence

If everyone was at Iwan's level not many people would watch because it would become tedious watching mistakes over and over again without any prospect of a glimpse of magic.

I like the contest basis of Strictly and it would be ideal if everyone started off on the same level.

Learning to dance well is very difficult though, so ideally you want people who have some basic ability in either dancing to a basic level or something like gymnastics to a high level - otherwise you will not get great dancing for the first few weeks and viewers may skip the early weeks.

It is an entertainment show based on a dance contest and entertainment scores as well as dance - as does popularity.

I'd like past dance experience information to be available, but it is extremely difficult to provide that information in a fair, unbiased way.

Because it is an entertainment show, the producers have taken the position of providing some indication - if they choose. There doesn't seem to be a hard and fast rule and I can understand why they wouldn't want to be drawn into what would become a whole mess.

So we are left with what we have - a mixture of past experiences of dance or performing, and at the end of the show, the final is judged by the viewers on whatever basis they choose to vote.
In Series 3, 6, 7, 10, 11 & 12, arguably the best dancer didn't win.

Denise Van Outen got a lot of stick for being a ringer too but that could be because James made it worse when they were judged.

It's a TV show. If anyone is really that bothered, they need to step away from the TV and do something else.

There have also been a lot of nasty comments about Jay, if you care to read the multiple threads. I didn't like it for Natalie, and I don't like it for Jay....or any of the other contestants over the years.

I have never cared if someone is a ringer or not. For the dhows to be good we need a balance between the duffers and ringers. I'd hate a show full of Jeremies, but one or two duffers are needed each season, especially if they're as endearing as Jeremy.

You and me both, it makes me LOL when some of the FM's complaining about Jay's previous dance training... found nothing wrong when Ray Quinn was toping the leader board every week on DOI.

It was also made worse by her continual denial of her experience "oh in Chicago I spend most of the time sitting down" which was absolute rubbish. She was appearing on stage dancing in a paid professional capacity.

I don't think anyone should be telling anyone what to do. People watch SCD because it is a good entertainment show with elements of competition and this forum is good for people to come on and discuss what they have watched. Even if we don't agree with everyone at least we have a chance to discuss SCD.

I prefer a mix of abilities . I dont think I would watch a series of Russel Grants and Iwans and poor dancers
Jay wowed me last night , I stood up and clapped . He entertained me , I am not fussed what he did or didnt do before