Strictly Come Dancing 2009: Fiona Phillips Hits Out At Arlene Sacking
Former GMTV presenter and Strictly Come Dancing contestant Fiona Phillips has blasted the BBC’s decision to sack Arlene Phillips.
Channel bosses announced last week that they would be replacing Arlene with former show winner Alesha Dixon and ballet star Darcey Russell.
Writing in her column for The Mirror, Phillips asked: “Since when was Alesha Dixon a choreographer? And who, outside the chattering class pastures of the broadsheets and the Royal Ballet, cares about Darcey Bussell?”
She continued: “Arlene Phillips, on the other hand, was an essential part of the winning Strictly Come Dancing formula – her caustic comments cutting through the ice of a wintry Saturday night, willing you to throw your takeaway at the TV screen as she lay into a well-meant but hopeless celebrity dancer.”
Fiona added that Arlene is “a decent person” and acted like “a caring mother figure” once the cameras stopped rolling.
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I agree they were wrong to sack her. We don’t just want a
judge because they have a pretty face they need to have
experience as well.
I’m amazed at the BBC’s total inability to understand Strictly’s audience. They had a winning formula of class and experience and now they want to drag Strictly down to the level of the other reality shows. Although they may be experts in their own fields, who cares what a ballet dancer and a pop singer have to say in relation to ballroom dancing? I don’t. If it aint broke, why fix it?
I also agree with Fiona that it really was wrong to sack Arlene, whilst sometime you really do feel aggravated by her comments she is an authority on the subjust and although I have nothing against alesha Dixon she does not have the experience that Arlene does.
Arlene was an inspiration to all those dancers – SCD was a class show. Other “golden oldies” like me, arranged their day around sitting down and watching both the dancers and the judges, remembering all those dances from their youth. PLEASE reconsider and leave the judges as they are, they compliment each other. Why bring SCD down to the level of other similar reality shows that have “judges” just for their pretty faces – nothing against Alesha Dixon, love the girl, but Arlene is far more experienced when it comes to being a judge and she still looks SO good.