Cloris Leachman was a contestant on the current series of DWTS. She is 82 years old, and, as a dancer, arguably not quite as good as JS (don't want to debate that).

But she seemed to be popular with the public (though evidentally not as popular as JS), and seemed to be very popular with the media. She survived 6 eliminations, and got a lot of praise from the media for "bringing entertainment" to the show.

At no point were any of the judges rude to her. I think the worst remark she ever got was in her last week when the female judge said "you mean we got rid of Toni [the good dancer elimainated in the previous week] for this?"

DWTS simply doesn't have any obnoxious personalities on its judging panel.

Nor, to my knowledge, was Cloris Leachman ever treated with scorn by any of the other contestants, or the pros on the show.

Everyone on the show - not only the judges, but the contestants too - seem to have a personal respect for all the others, a respect which is not evident on the UK show.

I imaginge that, inside, the good dancers who were eliminated while Cloris remained on the show, may have been annoyed. But no-one showed any sign of it.

Everyone connected with the US show seems to have a collective objective of making the show light-hearted and enjoyable.

Craig, who so often talks rubbish, keeps saying "This is a Dancing Competition". (Actually, this is not a real dancing competition).

What Strictly is NOT supposed to be (and no-one seems to have told Craig this) is a public pillory.

Good point

Der Chef says

Ah yes she was the one dancing with

Mark Alexander "Corky" Ballas, Sr (thats easy for you to say )

The partner of Christina who said John S lacked moral fibre

Ohh Yeah

Different Country, different Culture.

The name says it all. USA = Dancing With The Stars. In USA, Celebrities are like Royalty.

UK = Strictly Come Dancing. An irreverant, laconic twist on Luhrman, plus a little saturday nite Mishkoff. UK celebrities are not Royalty but a clique of clichés and stereotypes, we mock and embrace them at the same time. Surely, it's the english way.

Cor, Nina Myshkow, what a bitchtastic blast from the past

I think it probably is partly a cultural issue, though I'm not sure this difference is the one under the microscope here - it's more the Americans' expectation of a proper competition and their unwillingness to cheer for losers, no matter how entertaining.

English people, by contrast, always jump on the bandwagon of the entertaining loser and bitch out the overly competitive. No wonder we aren't the world's greatest sporting nation

Depends how one defines rude. Bruno told her that only she could sell that nonsense as cha cha cha, for example. Also judges learnt not to say anything too confrontational, because she would immediatelly talk back and wouldn't stop.

Is Len not on the panel? Or am I being completely stupid?

I think he's being seen as one of the NOT obnoxious ones

In a nutshell.

In DWTS a score of less than 7 is rare and 10s flow like water coming out of a tap. The three judges (Carrie Ann, Len & Bruno) are so mild - it is all about the feel good factor. At the start of each series it feels like a bit of a game and not until a while into the series does it start to seem more like a competition when the best dancers are really going for it - and boy are they good!

I watched Cloris and she was a very fit woman for 82 to say the least and I'd say danced better than JS. However, it was excruciatingly embarrassing towards the end of her 'journey' as she realised she couldn't make much more improvement in her dancing and instead literally turned every performance into a 'dancing' slapstick comedy routine. It was obvious that the judges didn't know how to handle the situation and the outrage when judge Carrie Ann Inaba finally said something along the lines of what the OP have quoted was enormous - her quite mild comment was treated as if she ranted using four letter words! Even when she was finally voted off by the public (there is no dance off in DWTS), she didn't let up in her routine saying she wasn't going to go home!

And America was divided just like the UK.

However, DWTS has always been different in that way to the UK so to compare the two situations is fine, but it is not fair to say one set of judges acted better than another as they act differently week in week out.

Remember Strictly was the original an din thi instance it would be more appropriate to compare Cloris with Bruce than JS - that's the kind of humour we are talking about.

Cloris finished 6th so I beg to differ. It seems the US voting public support a trier as much as the UK equivalent.

I am confused OP. You say that "DWTS simply doesn't have any obnoxious personalities on its judging panel."

There are three judges and two of them are Len and Bruno. So does that suggest that a) they are better behaved on DWTS or that b) Arlene and Craig are the real trouble makers?

IMO I think a bit of both. But I;m sure Len can play the perfect English gent when it suits him

Or, are the American networks - which depend on sponsorship and good ratings and don't get licence fee money - perhaps more strict about the way the judges behave?

I would say that is another factor that shows the difference between the TV culture here and the USA.