Its even worse as they start training weeks before.

It also looks a bit odd that you get as much for I week as 10 if you exit first - is there a weekly top up?

Basically Bruce ends earning more than all the celebs and all the judges put together. Claudia has to work 5 days a week so hher figure looks reasobable. Tess seems to be doing well.

If they want to make BBC cuts why pay Brucie more than Tess? its not as if he's going to be doing much else ?

Feasible - another rumour had Kate Lawler being offered 100k for the same series. She and Brendan are almost the perfect SCD couple - explosive but fit enough to win.

I work in the performing arts and while it's easy to compare these fees, they do reflect what the individuals are worth in the open market.

The pro dancers do seem to be relatively underpaid but bear in the mind that Equity minimum for performers these days is around £380 a week for commercial theatre and £330 a week for subsidised rep.

So £1700 a week is a good rate for performers. Even Judi Dench doesn't earn that when she appears at the National. She always says she has to do the Bond films to enable her to work in theatre.

Thank God she did not do SCD - can't abide the woman .
If they'd paired her with Brendan, (who is not my cup of tea either) I'd have switched off that's for certain.

Was a little cheered this morning to read that Bruce was one of several BBC 'stars' to be called in to be told there salaries would most likely be getting cut.

Then I thought, who else is wanting him? He's not exactly in demand so even with a pay cut he's most likely to stay. He's so not worth the money and I can't say I think Tess is worth her salary either.

Sad note in reading the Mirror this morn---the possibility of a strike means that SCD may be blacked out.

NOOOOOOOOO!!! They can't do this to us. I shall go and picket the BBC if they do that

Len and Bruno jet off every Sunday to do "Dance with the Stars" live on Monday (in Los Angeles?) for network ABC, sitting with Carrie Ann Inaba on a panel of three judges.

Please not to worry about Len's pay. For a snippet on the raging controversy between judges and audience over there as well, see http://www.pittsburghpostgazette.com...208/544172.stm

Yes, to you and me, Bruce is being paid an awful amount - but compared to the likes of Jonathan Ross etc. who gets well into the millions, Bruce's pay is peanuts. And lets face it - he's not going to turn it down is he? Just as we wouldn't if we were offered it.

Anyway, as much as its an obscene amount of money - do think he's worth the money - though definitely not that much.

Just in Bruce's defence, we don't know what work he's got on and what he hasn't. He could have loads of work on for all we know.

And just one other thing, you have to remember that a lot of people actually do like Bruce, including all the professional dancers and celebrities. He is a really funny, natural performer - and its obvious that he annoys a few people on here - but he's also loved by a lot too.

Its the BBC you need to complain to about the obscene amounts of money - you can't blame the presenter for accepting it. We all would.

Don't blame Bruce for accepting the money - as you say Moonglow, we all would -- but I don't think he's worth it. Also, if he had other work, we'd know about it as like many 'stars' he's not above self-promotion.

Obviously some people like him as he's had a very long career but in all honesty, I've never met anyone who actually did like him.

Please note, the following is NOT English bashing.

I've said before that I think he's (Bruce) more of an English taste than Scots. Sometimes there's people that just don't transfer well to one country or the other, then there's people who everyone seems to take to like Billy Connolly (like him or not, he's funny). And Brian Connelly (hope I got that name right) probably has more fans in Glasgow than he has in some English cities judging by the number of times he comes up here. Bruce, to me, is very English and very cheesy (not saying you are all cheesy) and I just can't take too much of him. Maybe it's a Northern thing!

And of course the list doesn't include the salaries of all the support staff working on the show...some of them will get paid less in a year than the judges do over the course of the show.

I disagree with you I'm afraid. I've not yet met one person who doesn't like Bruce Forsyth.

And I'm afraid I don't like Billy Connolly. I don't find him funny and I find him too Scottish.

Sour? I'll happily take that for sitting giving a few comments once a week!

Moonglow --- To each, their own. We'll just have to agree to disagree.

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Stars……..............….$125,000 for first two weeks then $20.000/week until vote off
Pro Dancers……………$5,000 per week

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Makes our stars look like paupers.

Logging off to suffer ITT

Have to give it to TonyBlair, he is like GordonBrown, very well informed on fiscal matters.

Just jealous...When you have 5 mortgages to pay, every little helps.

I just feel that the pay differentials between the various parties are too great or perhaps that's my socialist tendancies coming through.

Roll on the Beeb pay reviews, might see some changes next year.