Hello Diamondlife, I remember you from last year too, and its nice to hear your views again.

Loved your post, wish you'd write more often in fact, and I'm glad you feel the same way about Arlene and Craig.

To be honest Dottie I don't have a lot of time for Brendan either however I did notice that Len seemed on a mission to "get" him last series (so was Arlene but it only lasted a week). He also called Darren "ya silly little Sheffield" (after Darren answered him back about something) but he didn't finish his sentence. I was really surprised as Darren is surely one of the nicer pros and has no "bad boy" image to live up to. And you should've seen Len's face when he said it. Talk about a bulldog sucking a wasp. Anyways he did the same thing last nite when he said Kelly was worth a 9 and Brendan was a 71/2

quite right about len

he did look like a bulldog chewing a wasp, when made the comment about Kelly being a 9 and Brendan being a 71/2

At least Bruno commended Brendan for admitting it was him who made the mistake.

winnielong

Len's really quite smutty too, which I don't like. After just watching the results show and listening to his comment that he had lots of Willie jokes to use, just found him really crude. Not funny and not something to really say at that time of night. He should have been told off about that.

Hey, I have to nail my colours to the mast. I ADORE Brendan. I was pointng out that you didn't have to be a Brendan devotee to see what ugly Len was doing to him last year.

Aww, I love Len!! I've met him, he's lovely! And the girls at ITT thought so too!

I don't always agree with Len's judging or general opinions but I still have to speak up in defence of him- his jokes are generally funny and dance lessons with him were always relaxed and fun.

I think Len can be bother with all the hype round Brendan 'the bad boy of Strictly.

I think with a lot of the pro's Len has known them for a long time. I remember him saying he'd known Karen since she was a little girl. So some of the Len says to the pro's are said from a position of familiarity which can sound harsh to others

His talking over and dismissing of Arlene is very annoying. He has the ears of the UK and US shows so he should shut up and let Arlene speak.

That is what I dislike about fans they want to completely overlook the fault of their heroes. Brendon deserved all he got from the judges for the way he behaved towards the learners, particularly Fiona and Sarah, and his flouting of the rules. When competing it is all about him, and woe betide any learner that does not match his expectations. I know people have said he is very nice as a private teacher, but I can only judge him from what I have seen of his past behaviour on Strictly. He should count himself very lucky that he does not have Kate or Latitia this time, as I dread to think how he would have treated them.
I think Len gives a very fair assessment of the dances, although he is inclined to overmark.

I like Len, I feel he is much more encouraging than some of the others and can put a positive spin on things to stop people feeling down if thy've had a bad dance. Arlene is my least favoured judge. there was never 2 point difference between Gabby and Kelly on Saturday.
As far as being crude you must have a very low crudeness threshold Moonglow. I take it you don't watch TV after the watershed if thats what you rate as crude!

But diddygirl, Strictly is before the Watershed is it not!

I find Len very smutty and wish he's shut up sometimes and let the other judges speak. His smarmy grin drives me up the wall. And he overmarks and loves everybody - makes his opinions of the contestants pointless when he just praises them everytime - even the most awful of dancers he still praises them - boring! Give me the honest opinions of Craig and Arlene any time.

I posted this last year but I think it bears repeating here. Craig and Arlene are used to working with accomplished professionals for the purpose of putting on a show for a paying public (So you had better be pretty darn good, or you're out). Len is used to working with those just starting out in dancing (whether for fun or the beginning of professional career), and so I suppose is more inclined to encourage those less gifted.

HOWEVER never (or often interrupting) letting Arlene finish a sentence is just plain rude. Never using the full range of marking to reflect how good or bad a dance is, as well as overmarking simply to "spite" Arlene and Craig distorts the leaderboard. Finally it strikes me that if SCD were to end tomorrow Craig and Arlene would go back to being highly respected West End chereographers, whilst Len would go back to teaching kids at his dancing school (not a criticism folks, merely an observation). And I always felt that Len got the job probably because he's one of Brucie's golfing mates (not that I know that for a fact or anything)

I agree with the over marking. You cannot argue aginst him knowing his stuff though, just maybe the way he communicates it could be improved in your eyes?

I think both you and moonglow have more or less the same opinion of Len..???

I like him because he is of my era when people actually acted like this and cracked "smutty" jokes. We did not have to worry about what we said or if it caused offense, and in return, no offense was ever taken.

I hope he doesn't change because of PC etc.

Keep on trucking Len, you have at least one fan.

Much as I dislike Len for having the tendency to reward those blokey -bloke types and generally is generous with his marking (Bruno is WORSE in this respect), I don't find him smutty (with quotation marks or not) at all...

I'm not sure if it is totally the same, I don't find his humour unpalatable like Moonglow does. I find it a bit......well.....just not that funny. Not that keen on Brucie's humour either. It's a good job I'm not watching for the laughs eh! I'll stick to the forum for that I think.

Diidygirl, along with moonbeam, austin and a few others you the only ones who seem to actually have opinions instead of just enthusing in that pink, fluffy way that so many non descripts do.

Long may you be tatty filarious.

Yes, Len is encouraging, but only with the very worst dancers, which I find, quite frankly, condescending. He is a vile man.

Watch out dottie, you will have the pink fluffy brigade after you with comments such as vile.

I was censured last year by the DS secret police for less than that.......LOL

So you don't think they should be given encouragement?

I'll take Len over the other judges every time, if you want to start moaning about judges, I'd rather have the odd innuendo from Len than Arlene's blatent lust for some male celebs.

More of Len's over marking as opposed to either Arlene or Craig nit picking or just plain low marks.

I'd certainly put up with the occasional 'shut up' to some of Bruno's windmill arms or exagerated expressions of 'joy' or whatever.

Vile because he doesn't feel the need to rip apart someone who was admittedly crap but instead says what was good and what they need to work on?

This is not earth logic...

I quite like Len. For sure he overmarks, but I havent heard anyone criticising Bruno who almost always gives the same score as Len.

Arlene's constant whinging and favouritism is much more annoying to me.

I quite like Craig also. I think he is the most honest of the judges, both in terms of scoring and comments.

I have no problem with CRH scoring, its his stupid remarks that offend.

Nothing wrong with constructive criticism but he is plain insulting.

P.S. Totally agree 100% with tonyblairs comments.....he is bang on the money.