Joanne was hardly "heavily involved" in It Takes Two though. I can remember one early segment where she turned up dressed like a 6 year old, then a semi disastrous backstage interview segment where she clearly wasn't quite ready for live presenting, then she introduced a few clips of rehearsals for pro training, then she subbed in a handful of times for Karen in Choreography Corner (which she wasn't even the only person to do). That and the Blackpool segment were about it.

If she was popping up as often as Ian Waite (who was basically the second host) then I'd understand it, but for most of the first two months of the run at least everyone was wondering why they'd even bothered announcing her as a presenter because she was barely there. This, like most of the "THEY WERE SHOVING THE CLIFTONS DOWN OUR THROATS THE WHOLE TIME" stuff seems like pure revisionism.

Well, the Cliftons weren't involved in the Do The Strictly dance, which was heavily publicised - nor were they included in the Strictly Come Dining and the Pro-Files segments on ITT.

You'd really think our new Clifton overlords would be better at ....err.... overlording.

So what did she propose would happen if those "foreign" nationals were to get to the semi final then? So take this year for instance.....

Would that mean that because Jay and Georgia were unlucky enough to have a "foreign" born pro that they would have to withdraw from the competition leaving Kelly and Katie?

I think the EU booo-ro-crats would have something to say about such a concept in the case of Giovanni. I wonder if she considered this?

Surely if it applies to pros then it applies to contestants as well right? So this year there wouldn't have been Peter (born here but not British according to wiki) and Daniel. Not such a major loss but if you look over the years then it also would have meant we would have lost some more contestants and pro's that contributed a lot to the show

Contestants such as Nancy Dell'Olio, Jerry Hall, Holly Valance, Michelle Williams, Pamela Stephenson (I assume still), Jason Donovan, Martina Hingis, Diarmuid Gavin (born in London but Irish?), and Jennifer Gibney.

... and the remaining contesentants would have had to double up on Pro's with Aliona, Aljaz, Andrew Cuerden, Anya, Artem, Brendon, Brian Fortuna, Camilla, Erin, Flavia, Giovanni, Gleb, both Hanna's, Hayley, Iveta, Izabela Hannah, Janette, Jared, Karen C, Kristina, Lilia, Katya, Natalie, Nicole Cutler, Ola, Oti, Pasha, Trent, Tristan and Vincent all ruled out. In fact the only ones left which were British and lasted for more than one series were Anton, Darren, Ian, James, Jo, Karen H, Kevin, Mat and Robin.

Also don't forget that we would have lost Craig and Bruno ..... (and not forgetting Jennifer and Donny!)


Pros

Don't worry, the world will soon learn....

*laughs maniacally*

I'm not saying they were heavily involved but they were involved in more segments on SCD such as Kevin & Jo and the juke box at least three times, (from memory I only remember Janette being the only other pro do do it one week),

Kevin also did a "Ask the Pro" slot with Janette

Karen was involved in that Strictly Spotlight quiz thing that only a couple of pros did this year and she did a "Tricks of the trade" video and was one of the only/few pros that did

So really, against the things I mentioned that they weren't included in, they haven't really been over represented. It's been about even.

Yeah probably more than others if you really want to analyse it (I recalled a couple of others and edited my post to include them) but not dramatically so. As I said, I wasn't saying they were heavy involved, but they were very active on ITT and more so than others such as the Kristina for instance.

Added: Also Karen did the slot for SCD Lebanon and Karen & Kevin did the "How to do a perfect..." (Rumba, Samba etc) slots.

ITT is just the BBC 2 spin off programme. It's hardly prime time exposure. Most people I know don't watch it (or even know it exists). They're travelling home from work when it is on.

Also, why are the words of some random commentator being taken so seriously and being used to support some argument that too much Britishness may undermine SCD?

Honestly, I'm just not following the logic of this thread.

The argument now seems to have mutated to one that suggests that too many British people on a spin off early evening programme (including the presence of a knowledgable World Champion) might be undermining the quality of pro dancing and teaching (which actually isn't that high anyway) on the main programme.

Apart from the come dine with me bit, it would have been nice to see more of Oti, especially as she was out of the competition so early. For that matter, did Brendan do much of anything?

What a non thread this turned out to be. 50 something posts based on a comment in an article from the Daily Fail. This has to be a new low, even for this forum. I should have never posted here in the first place.

.... or at least until the next Cliftons-bashing thread gets launched.

I am glad you did post....
It is an interesting point for discussion, as the EU referendum could affect Strictly if the UK votes to leave.

Every Pro apart from Kevin, Anton and Joanne (possibly Brendan by marriage) would have to apply for a UK work permit.
Who would assess who was "worthy" and who is not ??

I recall many years ago there was a proposed EU quota on "foreign" (non-EU) TV programmes. Someone pointed out what were CMT (Country Music television) or MTV Base (hip hop) supposed to broadcast ?
Belgian Country Music bands?
Dutch rappers?

Really?

Then how can you explain Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest?

With all these things it's a question of "follow the money." Britain leaving the EU won't affect Strictly in the slightest. With guaranteed earnings, dancers from any country will be able to appear ion Strictly. The programme is a world-wide earner for the BBC and thus the government.

Bosman, Kolpak, various agreements and treaties of association between the EU and the rest of the World, mean that (assuming we become a sort of "Norway") there would be very little difference to work permit issues, except temporarily citizens of Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia, not known to be vast reservoirs of talent in the ballroom dancing world.

You seem to have settled permanently in this "non-thread".
I am glad that there are enough thinking individuals here to get the OP point and contribute their thoughts on the issue.

Ooops, shame on me. I forgot Karen and Matt.

But where does that last conclusion come from? It is so twisted that I don't even recognize what it is based on. Clearly, not on anything I said.

Seems to be a lot of attempts to dictate what people can/can't talk about at the moment. For my part, I'm missing Strictly desperately (sad face) and will chat about pretty much anything Strictly related!