please cover those legs up next time you're on ITT...most unnatractive

Better still Arlene stay in bed and forget about ITT.

I don't she's forgetting about ITT more like dreaming about a few young irish men!

Now come on lads, positive criticism please......

We should be praising the fact that a woman of her obviously advanced years still tries to be sexy

She has worn the same spotty dress since it started on ITT.

Arlene always wears black, is she in mourning or someting?

For her sex life....yes

Please, lets try not to get too personal and try and remember that people have feelings.

I've got an issue over her hair. I don't think it does her justice. If it was cut, conditioned and styled she'd look great. She has a typical dancer's legs, neat ankes and firm leg muscles. Don't forget, the camera plays tricks as well as adding 10 pounds.

I saw her dancing in a west end show. I won't say when but I will say this... she wears her age well.

Yes, lets hope someone sends Arlene this thread, then she might reflect on how some of her down right rude, nasty, unpleasant and uncalled for remarks make the poor contestants feel

How old is arlene anyway? i think she ages well at the end of the day she still looks after herself thats the main thing at the end of the day i bet half the people on these forums would still like to be in shape when they get to 60 its very easy to criticise others

she is 62 and yes she looks good for her age

Yes people have felings unfortunatley Arlene does not qualify as she is a wicked witch possible of the west, but thanks to her vicous tongue James managed to stay in.

hmmmm just a thought maybe Arlene wanted James to stay in the man hungry ............ well you finish it.

i watched the original riverdance the other day and in the credits as stage director Arlene Philips, can you imagine the bust ups between her and Michael Flatley. would love to have seen them

I work in performing arts and I think it's important to remember how much Arlene has contributed to making dance popular in this country. I was taught by her in the 80s - she knows what she's talking about!

Well, we're all entitled to our opinions I suppose. It's just a shame she can't control her acid tongue when dishing out the verbal lashings to the hard working contestants. If she did that, and made more sensible comments re the dancing, I'm sure the forum members, show audience and even the other judges would give her some respect, as it is, she seems to enjoy verbally bullying the contestants too much, to a point which is annoying everyone (including CRH who has not been exactly soft on them either) .

Well, she was never known for her manners. It's a tough business; all pro dancers and choreographers are hard-nosed otherwise you wouldn't succeed. Even the pro dancers in this show are as hard as nails beneath the public persona believe me.

For the love of all that is holy will someone PLEASE gag Arlene Phillips. Doesn't she realise that the vitrol coming out of her mouth is working against the good dancers and giving sympathy to the bad? Saying 'Don't vote for James, stupid middle aged women!' will only make them vote more!

*headesk*

Not half as unattractive as the way Bruno was sitting last time he was on!!

When she was a teenager, Arlene's family were dead against her becoming a pro dancer. She had to fight, fight fight, to live the dream.
She worked her way up to become one of our top choreographers and most respected dance teacher. I'm no fan, but have respect for her.

I have great respect for her as a choreographer... just not as a "Ballroom" expert.

I used to take part in her jazz dance class at the dance centre in Covent garden in the mid-seventies. It was back when she choreographed Hot Gossip, if anyone is old enough to remember the Kenny Everett TV show!

She's a fabulous and dedicated choregrapher and has worked on many west end musicals but she can be scary at times. But would people be so uptight about her comments if she was a male judge? Just a thought...

Sure would. I used to get just as annoyed with CRH when he was doing his "Mr. Nasty" routine.

Fine, criticise the dancing, if you must but try to make it constructive & no personal.

I agree entirely, I don't have any ill feeling against Arlene because she is a woman. I believe that proper criticism politely delivered, will be well regarded by by everyone (contestants viewers and fellow judges) and given the respect it deserves.

My dislike is for Arlene's attitude and lack of manners. There is no need to make personal attacks on the contestants and using words such as "disgusting" and disgraceful" etc give no direction at all to the contestants.

If she were to criticise by giving a decent description of what she thought was wrong and why I'm sure most people would feel differently toward her.

I know that some people on this forum excuse Arlene by saying you have to be hard in the pro dance world, I agree but manners are free and Arlene is not competing against them.

She now has a struggle to say anything at all on the show and she only has herself to blame for that as it is purely down to her unpleasant sarcasm.

CRH is not adverse to making unpleasant, unhelpful remarks either but at least he seems to have learned and tries now to be more constructive.

Hey Old Punkette, I took her jazz classes at Pineapple in the early 80s - didn't she put us through it?