Former Strictly star Arlene Phillips says today’s judges talk too much | Celebrity News | Show and television

Former Strictly Come Dancing judge Arlene Phillips has slammed the current judges for talking too much saying: “It feels long”.

The 81-year-old also said the show was “too long” and that there is too much attention on celebrities walking down the stairs.

Speaking at the Women of the Year Awards, Arlene said: “Today in terms of audience participation, it’s too long. Let the people dance. We used to say one or two sentences. Now they’re up and down.

“People want the shorter stuff. You know, like the shorter Netflix episodes. Everyone’s looking to condense time, so it’s all about the dance.

“I don’t know how long the judges talk, maybe I’m dreaming, but it feels long. And going up and down the stairs takes time. I just have to dance in the audience.”

From 2004 to 2008, Arlene was a judge on the BBC dance competition. This year’s judges include Craig Revel Horwood, Anton Du Beke, Motsi Mabuse and Shirley Ballas.

His comments come as Strictly saw its audience figures plummet amid a backstage harassment scandal rocking the BBC.

Following actress Amanda Abbington’s claims of being harassed by her dance partner, Giovanni Pernice, and Graziano Di Prima’s subsequent firing over his behavior towards Zara McDermott, the show’s first episode (September 28) suffered a noticeable reduction in the number of viewers.

The audience count dropped to 7.1 million from last year’s 7.8 million, marking a continued decline after a previously noted decline since the opening episode of this season.

In a stark comparison to 2020 figures, the first voting episode on September 28 saw the audience drop by more than 3.5 million from the 11.8 million viewers the show captivated.

Last week’s episode of the show peaked at 6.7 million viewers, down from the 7.3 million who tuned in at the same time last year. That was before the allegations reached their current fever pitch.

Choreographer Arlene, who recently choreographed I Wish You Well – The Gwyneth Paltrow Ski Trial Musical – says she ‘loves the show’ but is ‘impatient’, adding: ‘I’m very, very critical of myself with what I want and count hours.

“If there’s a series on and I can’t get into the first hour, I’m not going to watch the next eight hours. I’m very mindful of what I’m watching and how long it is.”