There have been many threads recently discussing the various pro dancers and should they stay, should they be replaced, who should replace them etc. Similar discussions have taken place concerning the judges.

Admittedly I have not paid a great deal of attention to this forum so maybe this has been raised before, but what is the general opinion of the Holy Trinity of Tess, Claudia and Zoe? My personal opinion is that Tess is totally out of her depth in her role as main presenter, Claudia is very good as the comic foil and Zoe is just plain irritating with her little aside looks to camera on ITT

I am not being sexist, but I personally think a male/female combination on the main show works much better and I would drop Tess and replace her with a male presenter. Quite whom I am not sure (as long as it isnt Graham Norton)

Thoughts and suggestions anyone

But enough to know there are lots of threads. Which there are.

We all have our own ideas, don't we?

I like Tess and Zoe and am perfectly happy with them but Claudia annoys me so much. Her props are, imho, just plain stupid and her Blackpool Brolly and emerging from The Tardis had me going wtf yet that appeals to you.

If you take this quote and substitute entertain for fool, it is quite appropriate.

You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

Abraham Lincoln

Btw ''I am not being sexist, but''........................you are being sexist.

Merry Christmas.

No changes, required, or wanted, say 11 million viewers.

Merry Christmas.

Rubber neckers watch car accidents but they don't necessarily like everything about them

I agree with the OP Tess is completely out of her depth and should step down. Who should replace her ? I haven't a clue, but someone who has a personality


Judges:
Keep Craig, his critiques are pretty spot on even though his delivery needs to improve.

Darcy, Len and Bruno needs to go. All three had a bad season, showing blatant bias towards certain Celebs. Both Len and Bruno been quite nasty this year with their critiques and quite personal at times, I will never forgive Bruno laughing at Jeremy's dancing, there was no need for it. Darcy gushing over certain celebs is quite embarrassing to watch.


Dancers:
Now Aliona has quit along with Ola and Most prob Kristina (if she goes into the CBB house this Jan, as rumoured). Only Pros IMO should not have their contracts renewed next year is Janette & Anton. Janette has proved she isn't a very good teacher & her dance skills are limited.
Talking of limitations, Anton's Latin leaves a lot to be desired. Anton is left out on the sidelines in group dances or demoted to a comic roll during the Latin group dances.
This year especially has highlighted Anton's weaknesses & IMO he has now passed his sell by date.

Bruce:
Needs to retire gracefully. IMO it isn't fair on Claudia being pushed out when Bruce is wheeled in to do the Strictly Specials, CIN & Christmas.
Bruce needs to stop clinging to the past and concentrate on his Golfing.
Bruce is no longer Mr Strictly, he gave that up when he announced he was leaving the show.


Voting:
IMO they should continue the Judges scores and the Dance Off through out the series until the Semi Finals. Semi Finals & Finals should be Public votes only, with NO dance off.
I would like the BBC be more transparent especially in the voting. I can not see any reason why the BBC can not publish the voting percentages AFTER the series has ended. I still do not understand BBC's reason behind the secrecy "It may impact the way the public votes if the percentages are released"


Merry Christmas to all

Tess, Claudia and Zoe fulfill there roles very well imo. Tess works well at keeping the show moving and flowing along nicely without making it all about herself.

Whilst Claudia's jokes are a little silly they're just nice little comedic bits that slot into the right moments and don't hold up the show.

Zoe builds good rapport with the contestants and pros on ITT and is good at handling things when someone goes off script. Looking at you Jamelia!

I've been watching from the first series and although the format has gotten a bit stale, my main complaint is that the show has become over-produced. Likely this is due to its efforts to draw a wider audience and compete against other Saturday night shows. I still enjoy it, but not as much as I used to.

One of Tess's greatest attributes as far as this show is concerned, is that she's a bit bland.

Some seem to have such a short memory.

We suffered the constant self-aggrandisement nonsense of a geriatric presenter for years, who tried to make it "his show." It never was. Towards the end he often replaced humour, with irascibility and petulance and sometimes slowed up proceedings with his lame unfunny jokes, to the extent that occasionally, they had to miss out a judge's comments (hang on! and in some instances their own efforts at self-aggrandisement!) to keep the show running to time. Len seems to be going down the same route, I guess it's an "age thing."
Tess can read the auto-cue and keeps the show on schedule. What more do we need? Claudia does a great job and between them, they are all the show requires as regards presentation.

I think the BBC are more than happy with this situation and they're likely to be working for a lot less money than was Bruce.

What we don't need, is another "in your face" presenter, as was Bruce.


But maybe some would welcome it.

I speak as I find.
He was OK to launch the show in the first series, but over the years I went from supporting him on this board, before his decline into his irritating and embarrassing behaviour, to being one of his critics.


However, I expect the show to be "improved to its detriment" again, next year.

This worries me.

The Stars of the show need to be the dancers (and I would include the pro dancers), not the presenter. I find Tess (and Claudia) OK.

Any show does need to avoid becoming stale. It's essential that some things should change, perhaps a gradual turneover of pro dancers, and occasionally a judge. Of course, the selection of celebs does change every year. That formula is tweakable.

I believe DWTS ran a min-competition for prospective new pro dancers, allowing the viewers to vote for a new pro(s) they would like to join the show. I thought that was a good idea. I'd like to see that idea made into a series of 3 or 4 shows - to run some time during the Spring or Summer. There must be a lot of eligible pro dancers who would like to audition for Strictly, and I'd like to see them compete for the job(s).

The show Eggheads twice ran competitions to find their next Egghead, I found this worked well. Both Barry & Pat are great additions to the show.
I can't see why the BBC can't do the same with potential Pros, around Easter Time, a series of 6 programs. It would keep the Strictly Fans interested through out the year

Yet again someone wants to change just about every aspect of what is probably the most successful programme on British television and just keep a couple of professionals who are presumably their personal favourites.

The current presenters work well, including Tess, and I see no reason for a male presenter to be brought in. I commented in a Top Gear thread that when a female presenter is suggested to be use then the BBC is accused of being Politically Correct i.e. they want an all male set of presenters. But on Strictly others complain about an all female presenting team, is it also Political Correctness to include a male one? Some of the judges annoy me at times but I can't see any reason to change any of them.

Why on earth would the BBC want to makeover a show that is the top rated Saturday night show? The formula is obviously right

The show is *more or less* fine as it is but complacency is not an option if Strictly want to stay on top. The odd tweaks can always be made.
Tess is fine - she's the straightman and is much better suited to her current role than when she was in the TessPit, chatting / congratulating / consoling the couples.
Claudia is brilliant in her role. She is ideal and part of the reason I watch.
Zoe is similarly great on ITT. Very personable and if Claudia ever left she'd be the perfect replacement.
The judges are mainly fine. They have differing personalities and POVs and they play their role well. Darcy is so much better than Alesha's overexcitedness and Arlene's...well, being Arlene. I'd swap Len though; he's far too grumpy and is offended when others disagree with him.
As for the pros, it's important that they don't 'outshine' the actual celebs. The likes of Pasha, Oti, Natalie, Brendan, Aljaž and Janette display their partners features well and choreograph accordingly (although Janette's choreography is dodgy at times), whereas Gleb, Anton, Kevin and Joanne bloody love the limelight and think it's all about them.
Finally, I agree with what someone else said about no dance off in the semi final. It shouldn't be down to the judges who reaches the final.

Gleb and Kevin, sure. Anton? If there's been one refrain for their dances it's been how beautifully he has displayed Katie every time so whatever other (legion) faults he may have I find it hard to convict him of that one.

But Joanne? Joanne has never danced with anyone on Strictly who wasn't a joke dancer. She has never had a partner on Strictly she didn't want to distract attention from. So how the devil can you presume to make such a judgement? Or is it enough that she's a Clifton?

imo madness and would encourage any pro I know not to do it especially if the public were doing the choosing

that sounds good not get rid of the only qualified judge and ditch some of the best dancers sounds REAL good

Anton loves the limelight and, whether he displays his partner well or not, I've grown tired of the constant "how far will Anton reach?" questions, and his OTT performances on both Strictly and ITT. Katie has well and truly played second fiddle to him this series, as have some of his previous partners.
I'm tempted to that, yes, it is because Joanne is a Clifton that I'm not keen. But, she's a victim of the way the programme have bigged / favoured her and her family - every slot on ITT possible...front and centre of every pro dance. She certainly laps it up and would benefit from a lower profile (and a less childish sounding voice)...

Well, it's REAL simple. You replace Len with another qualified judge and hire some new dancers - they're ten a penny.

On a programme like SCD, it's not the paper qualifications that matter (they are also ten a penny), it is the personality and popularity of the judge. Like it or not, Len is popular with most viewers apart from a small number of people on Digital Spy.

I'm not saying he isn't, it's just that his grumpiness and constantly having a go at the studio audience for daring to defy him and boo when he says a negative comment isn't exactly endearing.
I'll never get over the time he was criticising Kara and Artem (I think) and the booing started. He stopped talking, stood up and glared around the audience, as though he was suggesting "how dare you - I know better than you"
He has often said it's personal opinion as to whether a dance is considered 'good'. He wants to practise what he preaches because for my money, he's the worst judge out of the lot. And that includes Arlene and Aleysha :O

I don't think the show should change yet to be honest, apart from a couple of pros (Anton and Janette I guess?).

The presenters complement each other perfectly IMO, and Zoe does well on ITT.

The judges, as much as I have my complaints with them (Len, really), they are lightning in a bottle. They play off each other fantastically well and each bring so much. I mean, Len should go in the next couple of years but I'm happy for him to stay for now.

One thing I would like to change is to have the finalists do EVERY dance.

But yeah, apart from that, don't change!

Len is becoming like Bruce, more irascible the older he gets. He has always liked to be considered the "elder statesman," but that's a bit of a joke now due to his increasing petulant behaviour.
It's been suggested before that the BBC or the judges manipulate the results, but it isn't true.
I do think they do try influence the voting as they did on Saturday night.
But the public made their own choice which put them firmly in their place. In the end it showed they really aren't that important.
If Len retires I wouldn't want Anton as a replacement, he thinks too much of himself and always has too much to say.

Strictly is one of the most watched shows on TV. Leave it alone.

This is a sexist and pointless post. The question of changing the presenters has been discussed to death over the past THREE years, so please give it a break. Claudia's wild jokes usually misfire (apart from the ostrich on the Christmas show) but if they make her happy, OK. Last thing we want back is a male presenter ot argue with the judges and ogle all the contestants.