The show needs another ballroom/Latin expert to take the place of Len. It would be a farce to have a head judge on a show that is based on bb/Latin dance, who does not have the sort of experience Len has.

Craig is well aware of his limitations, which is why his JOB is to judge performance in the couples, not technique - which is Len's job.

That's a joke.

Assessing "Performance" is subjective, down to personal preferences, with no criteria against which to judge it.

It's a shame as I usually think he speaks sense and by all accounts he's a total pussycat backstage, but this week he really was unnecessarily nasty to the likes of Ed and Anastacia. I get the impression he's taken a personal dislike to Ed, after what he said about him on ITT on Friday.

I agree, he must have known about Brendan and Anastacia's injury problems but really laid into her.
One of the problems with him,is that he uses his time reeling off a long list of faults. If he has got anything positive to say it is sometimes lost because it is time to move on to Darcy.
I don't get him really, he is so inconsistant. If he is 'playing' being the nasty judge, he is not very good at it and I don't believe he wouldn't jump at the chance to be head judge, remember Michael Gove wasn't going to run for Prime Minster

He obviously personally dislikes Ed and knows because he was cast as 'the duffer' he can get away with marking him unfairly low. Which is a shame because Ed could probably dance amazingly and still be given no more than a 5 from Craig.

Craig is behaving oddly this year - marking so high the first week, being so rude the second... I can't help but think that since they're changing the judging panel next year with Len leaving, they're recalibrating a bit, mainly with Craig. To what end, I don't know, but I think Craig's a professional guy and wouldn't be going off the rails without a logical reason.

I think you are right, Craig has been cast as the 'villain' and to live up to that he is acerbic quite deliberately

I loved Bruno cutting him off on Len's Lens to ask Len what he thought because he's the expert.

I agree with you. I suspect someone may have reminded him he's supposed to be the pantomime villain.

The trouble with Craig is that he doesn't have a sufficient wit or personality to measure up to the others. Also, he isn't a good dancer himself, so he is unable to give guidance about how to overcome flaws, apart from obvious things like thumb position, etc. I don't see the pantomime villain in Craig: unless he is totally won over by a performance, his remarks are extremely cutting and hurtful. Even when it is obvious that a tremendous effort has been made, he brings a nasty negativity to his criticisms, to the extent of sometimes leaving the celebrities dispirited and psychologically struggling. Rather than saying something is clumsy and heavy, he could communicate the same message by saying that it was a fine effort which would be even better with a bit more attention to getting the footwork more precise and light.

I find him predictable, dull as dishwater and unhelpful and I wish they would replace him with someone with more to offer. And I don't think he is being told to be nasty. It comes naturally.

Craig puts a downer on the atmosphere of the show, and he sometimes spoils it for me. I visited this forum tonight to see if anyone else is as tired of him as I am.

This did make me laugh, you're always raging!

I totally agree with you.

It's not rage, I'm just having a bit of fun. Just because I don't use a lot of daft smilies......

It's just an entertaining TV programme, some see as more than that.