It's been week 4 and from what I've seen, the judges are simply not fit for their job.

They are terribly biased, unprofessional, their comments were nowhere close to constructive. In short, they are killing this wonderful programme. BBC should do something about it, it's getting out of control. All the judges are nothing but a bunch of unprofessional bully. I totally agree with what Brendan said in the show and I'm sure he's not alone.

The judges should be fired!!! They don't have any entertainment value at all, can't see the reason to put them there. Look at the way they flight with each other, and their inconsistent comments, and the way their wilfully give their mark, it's just disgraceful.

The one thing i would like to see from the judges, is Fair, Consistent, constructive criticism, not just ripping the dancers to shreds. Craig is so biased its ridiculous. The only fair judge imo is Len. Fair, honest but not belittling.

you couldn't have the show without judges, it just wouldn't work because most of the audience (my self included) doesn't know a good paso from a bad one. I liked it in the begining when they didn't fight and they gave sensible marks, can we just go back to then instead of getting rid of them

I agree... Its been said all week and I'm so glad that Brendan has voiced the opinon of everyone here...

Some of them can be SO unprofessional... Its just so frustrating... They shouldn't give high marks cause someones 17... Bruno, I've loved the man, but he has to stop... Its out of order...

Just don't get me started on that old cow ARGH...

I agree, Irlene just lavishes praise on whoever she fansies that week (or whoever has 'passion' )

Craig is quite obviously bias for Emma, 8??? for a foxtrot with bad footwork??? how does that work

Bruno gets way too carried away, swearing last week giving out 10's like hot cakes. Plus his bias for Louisa rivals the Craig/Emma love fest

Len seems unable to give a mark below 6, he trys waay to hard to seem like the 'good kind judge'.

They've all become charicatures of themselves and get their act together.

Solution: GET THE BLOKE WHO DOES THE INTERACTIVE COMMENTRY AS A JUDGE! Plus some other people who actually know something about ballroom!

EDIT: and good on Brendan for telling how it is!

Sorry I have to disagree with you, THe judges do add value to the show as they all add there own personality to the show, If they were that bad why do the contestants week after week keep mentioning that they try ever harder to impress the Judges, Granted this week there have been some discrepences, but whne Bruno swears and Craig gives a positive response there is genuine entertainment. I think that tonight Craig 2 was harsh and Arlenes 4 was a tad hard. However for thwe last three seris we have had the same discussions on the Judges but overall do a good entertaining job.

You can't really call him fair when he gives Georgina an 8 and Ray a 7 can you?

Sorry...I should have added "usually" fair.

Yep, Len is as prone to inconsistency as everyone else.

Stinkies Dad is correct, but I still don't like the theatrical aspect of the judging (but I'm in a minority, hence his being correct).

I'm only interested in the scores as far as the judges are concerned; their comments and bickering etc. are often tedious. If I had my way, the judges would just give their scores and there would be a comments/"justify/explain your score" segment after everyone has danced; it wouldn't be "great TV", but everyone would have cooled off a bit and the comments would be more considered.
Last edited by CaptainSensible : 28-10-2006 at 20:06

Exactly, the voting was jsut BIZARRE tonight.

However one can't say the judging isn't constructive, Craig sometimes gives a long list of what's wrong and how to improve it as does Arlene. Len and Bruno less so, but they're the ones who are 'nicer' so it sort of balances it all out.

Well done Brendan for saying what is blatantly obvious to everyone ...... not just us forumites. The inconsistencies and diverse opinions are making a mockery of each series as they go on and tonight was the worst by far.

Yes, judges will always have different opinions of what is good and what is bad but the diversity shown tonight in almost every judgement hit a new low.
Last edited by allyfree : 28-10-2006 at 20:04

BRendan hit the nail on the head they have all lost the plot!

The last 3 series of SCD was successful IN SPITE OF the unprofessional judges. You can't say someone add entertaining value if they are there to upset, frustrate and irritate the viewers, can you? It's supposed to be a respected family show, a Saturday family entertainment, not some tacky soap opera where you heard people swearing and shouting at each other all the time.

Yeah! Leave that to Georgina and James!!!

Len is not a fair judge he gives everyone decent marks irrespective of performance. At least craig sticks with what he believes in. If he thinks they are crap they get a crap mark accordingly.

Bruno and Len are inconsistent because they end up having to give out unfair high marks because they've overmarked other people. like last week I'm sure Louisa only got such a good mark from Bruno because he had already marked Emma so high. He had to go higher for Louisa but she was not perfect last week.

Arlene though is the worst judge in my opinion she seems to mark whoever is flavour of the week. Not on performance at all.

I agree generally I've always found Craig and Len to be the fairest judges, but in different ways. Good judge/bad judge if you like LOL. Len tends to mark too positivly sometimes and Craig negitively but they kinda balance eachother out

Bruno tends to waffle about nothing in particular but Arlene takes the biscuit... she to p*** me off whenever she opens her mouth, she judges with her libido and NOT her eyes.

But at the moment I'm desparing at all the judges their obvious bias and unproffessionalism

They do make it very funny though.

The judges have become caricatures of themselves. Arlene is embarrasing, can't she get a man. she drools over the guys' physical attributes and dancing goes out of the window. I do like Graig but he is so obviously biased, maybe he thinks he will get a job choreographing Emma Bunton's new video. Bruno has totally lost it in my book, too shouty by far and Len is fair, but i do get a whiff of dirty old man about him. There must be loads of people to judge the competition fairly. these judh=ges are past their sell by (especially arlene)

Agree with you there...

I love Craig and Len and only listen to them...

Bruno is an idiot and thats why I love him, but its WRONG to be OTT and biased towards someone (just because she's young)...

Arlene, what can I say... She shouldn't be there.... She's awful... Sometimes a complete disgrace... She deserves a slap... I'm just completely p*ssed with her...

I agree OP. Used to like Craig & Len for their unbiased opinions, but my god, they are going down, down, down in my estimation. The other two, oh well, nothing more to say really

I do love it when they bicker and argue, and of course they are all looking for different things, but perhaps this season the favouritism is more blatant because they all have different favourites! Last year it was Zoe, and all of them loved her, but this year Craig has Emma (obviously an icon from way back), Arlene has Mark and Bruno has Vincent. They all overmark their favourites and undermark people they don't like. The only one trying to cut through the nonsense is Len, who is being his usual positive self. As head judge he needs to have a word and get them all back in line. Objectivity would be much appreciated, certainly by this member of the viewing public.

That said, I've always supported the judges in the past against criticism of 'let's see them hit a six/act in a soap/play snooker' and I always will. I just think they need to remember that they are supposed to be marking the dancing, not how 'taut' the celebrities' buttocks are.

Though I think the judges are quite inconsistent, i do USUALLY agree with the overal score, and ranking. So i wonder if that causes certain judges to be erratic.

ie did Len give Georgina a high score as he believed that Craig had badly under scored her, to level it more, while giving Ray a slightly lower score as he believed the other judges were more fair. And as he is so called head judge, maybe thats what he thinks he should do.

You also have to remember all the judges have different expertise, so judge differently. Craig will give a higher score to something that he thinks that the choreography is brave and pushing the limits, where Len seems to paise things that are more traditional. Arlene seems to want passion and chemistry in her routines, while Bruno seems to like a very cabaret and showtime routine, which mirror in their scores.

Look at tonight, IMHO Karen and Mark were by far the best. Ray and Camerilla were average at best (he just didnt seem to fit with the dance, compared to other weeks), and Peter and Erin were not the best, and that was reflected in the overal scores.

The only one I do think is starting to get very bias in his marking is Bruno, which I think is why Len made the remark about him tonight. And while many others might think that Craig is bias towards Emma, i think that he may favour them, but would vote according to their actually ability. He did say this week that he thought he might have over marked emma and under marked Louise last week, but without having 7.5, 8.5 as optiona it can sometimes be really hard to truely score.
Last edited by WLB : 28-10-2006 at 20:29

Thank you for pointing this out. I've noticed Len will mention technical aspects that the others won't pick up on because quite frankly they know bugger all about it.
As Len said that's why there are 4 judges they all concentrate on different aspects of the dance.

Three words says it all

On the money

HCG

Whatever Len says,even if it's all critisism, 9 times out of 10, he will mark over 5, even when it's not deserved. Georgina had improved loads but there was no way her foxtrot was worth an 8, which showed that in his opinion it was the best foxtrot of the night along with Carol's