I've not heard of almost half of them this year... but I still think it's appropriate to call him by his proper name, rather than the name of his TV show.

He's not a judge anyway - he's a barrister.

How sad for you but does it really matter what he is called as long as he is happy with it.

William Shakespeare's - "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet"

Was that really necessary?

To me, go with what's he's best known as, and that is Judge Rinder. It's easy recognition.

I look at it as if say we had Twiggy on the show, she'd be known as Twiggy, not Lesley Hornby. She still calls herself Lesley, she's said that before, I've seen her say that, but she's known to us as Twiggy.

Go with what's best known is what I say.

Well, as I've said already, I don't know almost half of this year's line-up, so calling him "Judge Rinder" is of little help to me as I don't know him anyway. I suppose if we take that to its logical conclusion we have to have "Model Lowe" and "Long Jumper Rutherford".

Nah! He has a proper name. Let's use it and not pander to this pseudo American nonsense!

As time goes on, I think they will start calling him by his given name.

Fingers crossed.

I had never heard of Judge Rinder, or Robert Rinder, but after seeing his general demeanour on the intro show, I am really looking forward to watching him, he seems like a lot of fun.

I really hope they call him Robert. Calling him Judge is ridiculous. However, in the past we have had DJ Spoony (who was known as Spoony) and Goldie. But they are at least nicknames. Judge isn't a nickname as such. It's a role he plays. He's not even a real judge.

Well.... quite.

DJ Spoony wasn't even a real spoon!

Maybe he took his name from the verb rather than the noun.

Well to be fair if we didn't pander to it he wouldn't be on the show cos he wouldn't be on tv.

I watched it once, never again!

Well, I wouldn't watch it anyway - not even once - but I meant "let's not pander" to the nonsense of referring to him as "Judge" when he isn't one.

Even if he was, we don't address judges as "Judge" in this country.

that made me laugh for some reason I'd never heard of Rob/Robert before but I think he's got a good sense of humour, I like the way he speaks and I'm looking forward to seeing him dance

We certainly need some fun.

Don't understand why people are getting worked up about it.

He is a proper judge on the TV show - it isn't an act as they are real cases settled by him.

He's referred to as "Robert Rinder also known as Judge Rinder".

Surely it's up to him, and no-one else how he's referred to on Strictly - Robert or Judge, it's his choice. Be offended if you want, but if it's his choice to be referred to as Judge then you have no right to be. If he wants to be referred to as Robert, then again it's his choice.

Well I hope you're right as I've already started an appreciation thread for him under his judge name and its too late for me to edit it. Oops! Hopefully it won't prove to be too upsetting....I'll try hard to refer to him as Rob from now on

I certainly wouldn't be offended... but if he expressed a preference to be referred to as "Judge", rather than his given name, I'd have to conclude that he was a bit of a wally.

he should be called what he wants to be called, its like I have a double barrel 1st name but would rather be refered to as John so what does that make me then?

What does that mean?

Are you going to dance on Strictly?

I wish I was but my point is if I was to do SCD I should be called whatever I'm comfortable with right? same goes for judge Rinder

I'm not too sure that the Judge part hasn't come from the Beeb as that is what is on-line.

I have actually heard him introduce himself as Rob Rinder.....not a mention of 'Judge'.

Actually, is does matter, because he isn't a Judge and therefore he can't use it as an official title, and he really ought not to be using it as a nickname since he is in the field of law. Indeed, even on "Judge Rinder" he introduces himself as "Criminal Barrister Rob Rinder".

If he were a Judge then he would be entitled to drop his forename and be called Judge Rinder (like becoming a Lord as in "I am Lord Melbury, so I simply sign as Melbury")

Well, no he's not "a proper judge" on the TV show as it isn't a proper courtroom (it's a TV studio) and he has absolutely no powers under law whatsoever. It's a voluntary arbitration service that happens to look like a court and is filmed for entertainment.

As I mentioned above, it isn't up to him to call himself what he likes, some job titles and statuses need to be protected, and Judge is one of them. You can't for example suddenly decide to call yourself a doctor and start to pretend practise medicine, you will get into trouble.

(That's actually how my elder brothers nursing training ended, he's (e.g.) Derrik Richard, and he refused to stop writing his name badge with "DR Surname" and he was kicked out.)