Carrie Ann and Bruno got their own threads, so I thought Len should too. Personally, I think Len is a great judge. He routinely backs up his criticisms with solid examples.

Agreed he is the best of the three. But I don't know enough about ballroom to know if the the scores he gives are appropriate.

Len is my favorite judge, but I can always tell when he hasn't had the maximum amount of sleep, because he gets SO cranky. But he is the best at judging the routines for content and actual moves. I sometimes think he's there to keep the other two from being blinded by razzamatazz. Someone could be flashy and showy and he'll usually be the one that says 'but wait, there was no samba in there, it was all leaps and throws'. To me, that means alot, because sometimes I get annoyed by all the dazzle, and Len's the only one in my corner.

Out of the British judges I think he's probably my least favourite (Bruno talks crap but he's fun and he gets away with muttering "Bullshit" on the BBC at 6.30). Len has all kinds of issues with "airy fairy" dancing and honestly some of his marks are questionable. Craig is probably the best one IMO, he may be harsh but at leasst he's less prone to overscoring (not including the Emma SpiceGirl debacle). I think Len kind of automatically becomes the sensible one on this show since he's got Bruno and Carrie Ann (who as far as I can see appears to be kind of flaky at best) for company instead of Craig and Arlene (who although bitchy and more than a little inappropriate towards some contestants does give reasonalbe marks with constructive criticism most of the time too).

I enjoy hearing what all of you have to say about Len. Dippychik I'm assuming you are referring to judges from another country?

Yeah Cora. They're the other judges from the UK (along with Bruno and Len). Those boys are really racking up the air miles, travelling between UK/US every week. Oh the carbon footprint! ;)

I just finished watching an episode of the UK panel/game show "Would I Lie to You?"--and Len was one of the panelists on episode 5. The show has 2 panels of 3 people (UK celebrities) and they each tell a lie or truth and the opposing panel has to determine which is which. Anyway, in the course of the show I found out 2 interesting/strange facts about Len and I thought I'd share. WARNING: Once you know, you might not be able to look at Len the same way again.

Fact 1: Len uses the hair removal product Immac on his armpits. Apparently, he's done it since he was a dancer because he thought it was unpleasant for his partner to have to look at his hairy armpits when he wore a vest.

Fact 2: Once while playing golf, he accidently killed a falcon with one of the golf balls.

Strange, but true.

How...interesting. Good looking out for his partner, though. Hairy pits are gross.

A question for anyone who watches "Strictly Come Dancing." Has Len become as soft as he has on DWTS on SCD? It seems like this season he's been giving out higher scores than the other two judges on many occasions and I was wondering if the same thing was happening on the British show.

Yep, he and Bruno have both become much more liberal with the high paddles on SCD. We saw 9s from the get go when the women performed and that isn't how it used to be. Craig and Arlene are getting a bit paddle happy too, to be honest. They still give out low scores (I think Craig gave out a 2) and Bruno and Len have brought out 5s and 4s. But I'm sorry to see the early 9s and 8s already making the trip across. Plus, Bruno has been cranky--I think it's all the travelling.

Thanks, oakgal. It's funny to hear that Bruno has been the cranky one. I wonder what's making Len so much more jolly this season on DWTS.

There are 3 tall, leggy women on SCD so it might be carry over from each Saturday night. Probably putting Len in a good mood.

I don't think it's cranky as much as high. Giving Kelly 10 despite the illegal lift? Insane. But Len's reaction to him was surprisingly strong. I think they spend too much time together and he just snapped at him, he was getting really testy with him over Alesha's dance too.

But don't forget the way Bruno "voted with his heart" this past week and gave Brendan and Kelly a 10 despite a clearly illegal lift --and even said that the only reason he gave them a 10 was that he didn't have an 11 paddle. Len rightly tore him a new one that night, as well.

But, that's a discussion for another subforum. My point is that, from what I've seen, more often than not, Len is the rational one on both sides of the Atlantic.

I know we got to see Len dance a little bit last season when he was going to a rehearsal to give advice, but I would love to have a results show where Len, Bruno, and Carrie Ann each do a dance with a pro, similar to when they had Tom and Samantha each do one. I think that would be fun to watch.

legaleagle I totally agree about Bruno being an ass and deserving the treatment he got from the other judges, it's just that Len's issue with him started right after Alesha's dance and she was the first of the night. The illegal lift issue was just icing.

As for Len being the reasonable one. I agree is definitely is in the US version but in the UK I tend to find I agree with Craig and Arlene a lot more (except when Craig believes the "judges tell the people who to vote for").

Thanks Len for the highlight of the night with the Texas president joke. Len always has great input, although I would like to see his scoring follow his input more often. Being critical and awarding an 8 should not be occurring.

Last night, Tom said something about Len's wives. Was he joking, or has Len been married a few times?

See, now I thought that the political comment was completely out of place and in poor taste. This, despite the fact that I agree with the sentiment 110%. It's really not very professional when you are hired to perform in a certain context on a live entertainment show and decide you will use the opportunity to make ad hominem attacks against political figures. Such figures may be fair game for such attacks, but a family-friendly reality competition is not the proper venue for doing so. I can't believe for a moment that ABC/Disney appreciated it, and if I was the producer of DWTS, I wouldn't have been very happy either, despite how many of my millions of my dollars I might be donating to the DNC.

It's no different than when those self-indulgent actors go on stage to receive their pieces of tin at the Academy awards and use their time to make political speeches. That may be why half the viewing audience is tuning in the first place, but it is still self-serving and inappropriate.

It didn't bother me (but I'm Canadian) in terms of it being in poor taste but it seemed odd because it had nothing to do with anything. It just made no sense in the context of critiquing Helio's Samba. It was a big WTF moment for me.

If he'd pulled a Kanye West, I'd be more conflicted about his comment, but I thought he was making a small joke. He may not realize how politicized America has become. I saw part of a 70's variety show (one of the primetime, not SNL) not long ago and was surprised when they would jokes against Carter, against Nixon, or against Ford. Today there's much less room for any political joke, no matter how harmless.

That was my reaction. I thought it was funny, but I remember all sorts of political jokes even through the 80s. It was not considered shocking at all. Oh well, the times they are a changing and all that.

I wish he'd read a rule book, because I think he was wrong about Derek's VW choreography.

Word! Also despite Bush not actually being born in Texas. I can see the point some are making about it being not really appropriate for the show, but I don't care. loved it.


I can see your point, but I disagree. Especially with the actors during the awards ceremonies its their 30, 60 seconds to say what they want. It's up to them if they want to thank God, their Mom, the cast, or disagree with politics.

Flick, I agree. People on live TV are entitled to comment on whatever they like; other people are free to think, "You're full of it." Len's comment didn't bother me at all.

I rewatched that a while back, and Bruno held up FOUR fingers! Which I assume has to mean that Len has had four wives. Oh my! A ladies' man? - or maybe a jerk that nobody can put up with for long?

In any case, I love 'im and his delicious Cockney accent and British humor! I think he adds so much to the show, and I get mad every time Maks makes one of his "Len Goodman should be kicked off the show" comments. I love his from-the-heart laugh - like after Albert's dance (and Len said it was like going to see a stripper - don't worry about what they're doing - just sit back and enjoy it) and after Marie kissed him. Without him, I think, like Kenny Mayne said, all the gravitas of the show would dissipate and we'd just have fluff and sensationalism.

I'm so looking forward to his trip to visit all the semi-finalists, pointing out what they're doing wrong, lol. Let's see who can handle it the best. I vote for Jennie. I think Lennie has a soft spot for her. Looking for #5 should she become available?

PS I didn't even understand Len's president joke but I liked it. Why would being from Texas make you a good president? LBJ only made it one term and his party didn't even ask him to run again (I've read he wanted them to, despite his announcement that he wouldn't run again.) Vietnam ruined him. So that's the exemplar that GW didn't live up to? (I despise Bush but still just didn't get it -- now if he'd said just because you're the son of a president, and the grandson of a lifelong senator, doesn't mean you can do it -- that I would have gotten.) But there I go, being an earnest, literal American -- he meant it as a joke, as he said, so I guess it doesn't have to make sense.

I agree w/ Maks. New judges every season. Len must go.

The joke had nothing to do with LBJ or George Bush, Sr. It was intended only as a direct slam against Dubya himself, and I thought it was hilarious (come on--like Len didn't simply say what many of us regular Americans have been at least thinking for the past six years?)

I put the negative reaction to the joke down to the same phenomenon that occurs whenever an outsider attacks a family member, i.e., "I'm allowed to pick on my brothers all I want, but God help anyone else who tries it!" ;)

And at least Len is a former multiple ballroom-dance champion and instructor, unlike his two colleagues on DWTS and his three on SCD (as much as I love Bruno on both DWTS and SCD, as well as Carrie Ann on the former and Craig and Arlene on the latter.) Len is the only one who is arguably qualified to make the criticisms that he does--and he's generally the most constructive out of the lot on both sides of the Atlantic. Granted, he can be maddeningly inconsistent at times, but without him, you'd have no judges who were evenly remotely credible when it came to analyzing technique and content the way he does.

Absolutely. There has to be at least one judge who actually knows something about ballroom dancing from first hand knowledge. I like hearing from the other judges (well, except for Carrie Ann who can get lost), but I appreciate that Len does speak from experience.

Legaleagle, word on the consistency thing. I truly admire Len's perfectionism and technical mastery, but his inconsistency drives me nuts! Helio's quickstep the best of five seasons, even better than Apolo's? Were we watching the same dances? Sigh...

I love Len, he's became my favorite judge this season. Len is being so nice and the nicest out of the other two judges.

I'm delighted he delivered a slam to George Bush. But I took his joke the same way one might take this one:

"Just because you come from Japan doesn't mean you're automatically a good Latin dancer."

Like, why would anybody expect someone from Japan to be automatically good at Latin dances?

Ergo, why would you expect someone from Texas to necessarily be a good president?

Who the hell peed in Len's cornflakes tonight?

Wow, I just had the exact same thought before coming here. Except my thought was who pissed in his coffee.

LOL - I think someone peed in his cornflakes and pissed in his coffee.

I've been very impressed with Len's wardrobe this season. I know he's always been a natty dresser, but I've found his shirt/tie color palette this season to be particularly eye-catching (in a good way). I thought the orange-yellow shirt and matching tie and pocket square from last night looked really good. Not everyone can pull off the color combos he wears, but he manages to look really sharp and striking without wearing, you know, a glitter suit (cough BRUNO cough).

Seeing Len's interaction with the kids tonight reminded me of something that I saw on SCD last season that I thought was really cute. Most people probably don't know that, at his dance studio in London, Len teaches masterclasses to young children in about the same age bracket as the ones we saw tonight. I remember seeing a segment showing him teaching a group of young boys ranging from about 7 to 12 the basics of the Quickstep, and he was a real pussycat with them. I was especially impressed with the way he reminded them that they were expected to be gentlemen to their partners at all times on the dance floor, and it really surprised me to see that the "resident grouch" of SCD could have such a wonderful way with kids.

Just watch Dan in Real Life, and seeing John Mahoney in the film reminded me of Len. To me they really look alike.

I think he should apologize to Mario and Karina for calling them a gigolo and a strumpet.

I was really surprised he said that. Whenever Len critiques Mario, he is incredibly "extra" about it. Almost like he wants to come across as harsh. You can almost hear the disdain in his voice. At first I thought it was just that he assumed Mario had a stronger dance background than he really did and expected him to be able to do more technically. But now it is starting to come across as real dislike (even though he did give him a 9 tonight). I am confused.

Len wants a salary increase if he's going to keep doing both SCD and DWTS.

Interesting. Thanks O2Sean for that link.

Well yes. I have been saying Len is being harsher with Mario because he knew what he was capable of and I still stand by that. However I did not hear the distain with that comment about "characterization". I do feel in Maks words "Len screwed Mario and Karina". I do believe he needs to apologize that he used those particular words. He does get a forceful when things make him all hot and sweaty if we go back to the other two accused of similar Julianne and Apollo and Drew and Cheryl. With Julianne and Apollo he was rather forceful with his words there too. I give Kudos to Tom's "we get it, we get it".

I don’t. Len said “The rhumba is a story of a developing romance; it’s not the story of a gigolo and a strumpet”. Even if Len had said “Mario you’re a gigglo and Karina you’re a strumpet”, (shrug)

Should Carrie Anne apologize for telling Marissa she was boring?Should Bruno apologize for telling Marie she looked like a cross between Baby Jane Hudson and th bride of Chucky?

I say no way.

I think that his critiq is his choice but those two words ... yes. I do agree. I feel it was a poor choice of words regardless of who he said that to.

Of course if Len has any kids I tend to believe it must have been a case of "think back and think of England dear"... OMG. I swear I had to just stop writing to remove that imagery from my head.. eww. In Bruno's words "go picture go"...

If Carrie Ann had phrased her comment like, "Marissa, you had all the entertainment value of a rotting corpse," I would say she should apologize. It's not what you say, it's how you say it. I thought Len's comments were excessive.

I was surprised that he equated a Gigolo and a strumpet to that dance. Doesn't he know that Gigolos rarely touch their merchandise? They know where they have been. ;P I think Len wanted "different" from them somehow... I mean did he say Sabrina and Mark were raunchy in their rumba? No he went on about the "theatrics" with them. Both rumbas were no different from what I have seen elsewhere.

I thought a gigolo was a guy for hire or boy toy, not a pimp. A gigolo has to touch his client, just like a strumpet (if Len is equating a strumpet with prostitute) has to touch HER client.

Or as Len used the terms, maybe a strumpet is just a bold and shameless female. Maybe Karina was a loose older woman (aging strumpet) paying for a gigilo.

Len was pretty harsh with Cristian some weeks (your arms suck! he basically said) and the one who would raise the paddle for him one point lower for him than Bruno and Carrie Ann would raise. He is also sort of tough on Mario. Maybe he sees the potential in them and wants them to shape up.

Sometimes I wonder if I zero in on what Carrie Ann says to the women - which is pretty harsh - and I never consider that what is coming out of Len's mouth towards some of the men is pretty rough as well. But I like Len and feel that if he's being rough and tough he likes them. ("I'm trying to help him!!")

New show: DWTS Apologies judges, pros, celebs. It'll fill up the summer.

Lol, oh yeah you are right. What was I thinking lol.


That is terrible. I swear Len needs to get out more. When you word it that way it is even worse. Sex is not dirty Len. I have three children and no stalk dropped them off. lol. I found the dance quite sexy but romantic too.


Hey maybe that can one of their filler shows. Lord knows some filler are horrible and way too much of them.

I think Len wants romance in the rumba - he doesn't care if it's sexy but he wants that - I guess storyline. I did think he was overly nitpicking Drew and Cheryl's rumba, because, while Drew was aggressive in it, it was obviously a relationship-oriented routine. It wasn't raunchy - there was a clear emotional component, IOW - it had sex AND romance. It was like Len took issue with the "character" Drew played in that dance, but hey, aggressive guys need love too. :) His aggression didn't negate the emotion.

I understood his criticism of Julianne and Apolo's rumba but honestly I think he was distracted by Julianne's way OTT performance. Busy doesn't begin to describe her in that dance. However, it's the celebrity being judged and I thought Apolo didn't share her "busyness" and OTT's and Len ought to have judged Apolo, not Julianne's dancing or the routine. He did great, IMO, IOW, even when I look at it through Len's eyes.

Helio/Julianne's rumba was ridiculous. It was a decent enough routine, but the execution was ludicrous. So however Len wanted to critique it, I was down with that.

I sort of get what Len is saying. I think he wants emotion in there.

Overall, when it comes to critique, I don't like soft-soaping. I'd be fine with the "you were as much fun as a rotting corpse" feedback but be consistent. If they mix up American style ass kissing hyperbole and soft pedaling with weeks of no punches pulled British-isms, feelings will be hurt. And if you're going to be cutting, don't cry and personalize it or "Carrie Ann" it cause that just violates the spirit of it. Carrie Ann CAN'T say "rotting corpse" - she's way too California and personal, and it would be way too freighted coming from her. The other two guys, I can see them pulling it off.