They should only be allowed to critique the dance. They can keep their personal comments to themselves. Any briefing outside the SCD format should be a contractual infringement as should trying to turn themselves into the celebs of the show. Also , it should be a contractual obligation to respect the public vote ( agree to differ is ok).
TBH it's not all their fault, the producers must have encouraged them in this behaviour! I had thought they might draw back this year after Len's shameful treatment of Kelly ( i personally found him disgusting and he never so much as offered an apology!)
They need to treat people with respect and learn some good old fashioned manners!

Yep, let's have no crit, and just hold the scores up at the end of the dances:yawn::yawn::yawn:

OOoooopps spelling! Well they do behave like Juges a lot of the time!!!

Crit of dance is fine ! Nowhere in my post does it say it is not!

Got to agree. But the producers know what catches the public attention, and they are all out for ratings. so it won't change.
Alan

I SO agree with this, for me its NEVER been a problem what they say at the judging table, even if they are horrible about a dance so be it, thats their job and their opinion.

They should NOT however be allowed on ITT day after day giving their 'personal' opinions about the contestants, or to write article in the newspapers. Its definately this more than anything this year that had poured fuel on the flames of dissent.

So would "That dance was rubbish" be counted as crit of the dance, or an opinion?

It could be worded better, i.e. that was bad and then a few points about why. I also like constructive advice given as well as some posiive balance but yeah I would accept the above comment even if I didn't like it!

I think the point the OP is making, and one I agree with, is that saying a dance is rubbish is fine during the show when asked to critique a dance, but is a step too far when done in numerous interviews outside the show.

Yes Dr Jan, that is right.
I'm sure they all regret their actions now and must be feeling lousy.
Shall we forgive them?

Then they simply shouldn't be invited onto other shows - if they're asked to appear on ITT or BBC News or something else then they're going to give their opinion, simple as that.

Only an opinion until it is backed up with detailed comments.
Alan

I don't really have problems with them giving their opinions on the show (although I do think some of them could do with a course at the School of Tact, Diplomacy and Constructive Criticism during the break!) - that is what they are paid to do.

What I DON'T think they should be allowed to do is appear on every other radio or TV show giving those opinions and adding their own personal views to them. I also don't think they should appear on ITT in any role other than a normal guest. They shouldn't have access to anything other than what the viewers see of the training footage or music etc as it just gives some of them pre conceived ideas about what they are going to see on the live show. Also, as only Len is actually qualified to accurately assess what he sees, its really quite pointless having Craig and Arlene talking about the training during the week.

I don't think saying stuff on ITT is out of line as that's part of the show (or at least a satelite of it) but I agree talking to media outside that is out of line. I think the judges are part of the reason why this whole thing got out of hand though - they didn't have to keep going on and on and on about it, they didn't have to get personal - which Arlene with her 'he's not even trying' comment did and they shouldn't have a go at people for voting the way they didn't agree with or at least they should have been more respectful. Len realised this towards the end and starting saying 'don't want to talk about this' and Bruno has wisely kept out of it but I think Craig and especially Arlene helped create this situation.

They wouldn't have if the media hadn't kept asking them about it.

True, they're not blameless either.

And dancers stick to dancing...

I suppose they couldn't have refused to answer?
Alan

True - in fact I blame the media entirely for the farce this has become. Apparently they were (or the paparazzi were) hanging about outside John's house hoping for pictures of him and his wife. It was suggested in the Mail that this might have been the reason why he gave it up. Do you think this is a possibility?

I certainly do - John's the only person whose family you didn't see on the show purely because they wanted their privacy. Obviously that went completely out of the window. Seems far more likely to me than a man of John's age and experience quitting because people said nasty things about his dancing!

An Idea, How about we issue the judges with paddles with words/comments on, instead of numbers?
'Ok'
'Average'
'very poor'
'A-MAZ-ING'
'LOL'
'D-U-LL'

How about it?

I think they could have their opinions, but accept the right of the public to vote for whatever reason they like. So 'You danced very badly' is fine, 'You should not be in the dance-off, X should' is not.

Also 'He isn't very good at dancing' fine. 'He isn't trying' not. It's a fairly easy line to draw, but it would mean respecting all the contestants - respecting the people who can't dance as much as the people who can - and that they really struggle with. Arlene in particular can't seem to see a difference between 'isn't dancing well' and 'isn't trying' - presumably because dancing has always come easily to her.

The judges didn't do anything to John that they didn't do to loads of others, who put up with it wanting to be 'good sports'. It's the newspapers' current BBC-bashing agenda that's different. But the judges completely failed to understand how their comments could be used and hopefully it will make them more careful in interviews outside the show in future. Maybe, maybe not.

Apparently Len gets the most fan mail of anyone. I'd love to know if that's changed. If that's the same, the judges will stay just as they are.

Errr.... what's the question, then?

This is the crux of all this. The judges have got too big for their boots - apart from Bruno. They think they are the stars of SCD now & are going around all sorts of shows as guests/weekly panelists spouting off about what they think in quite a nasty way. They need to learn from Anton who seems to be able to get his point across with charm without resorting to personal attacks. It was made worse last saturday with James Jordan making that comment at end of show. It really soured the whole thing & brought the professional dancers category into the whole thing as well.

The reality of all this is that John was far from the worst dancer this year. Perhaps that is the problem as there were far too many folks (men in particular) with two left feet. His staying whilst unexpected at the beginning was not out of line with the performances in the show until last couple of weeks. At least he does whatever he does in time to the music unlike so many others.

Your're meant to intuite the question.It's a (rather clever) literacy device to engage the interest of prespective readers.