I have watched all four seasons of DOI and got the DVDs of those and the tours etc.
I have also followed Torville & Dean from the moment they first appeared on our tellies and adore them as the perfect skaters, choreographers and the emotions they show in every performance they have ever given. I echo the comments made yesterday that it is about time Jane and Chris were honoured further for their outstanding achievements both in sport and entertainment. How many skaters of Jane and Chris's era are still skating and entertaining us?
The first three series were fantastic and an absolute joy to watch, so too were the road shows.
What on earth happened to this fourth series.
In my opinion it can be described as no more than total a farce, which started before the first round was even aired.
My reasoning behind this is as follows:
1) Last year 3 weeks into the show Michael Underwood had to withdraw through injury and so Zarah Abrahams was brought in as she, along with others had done the training with the celebs who were chosen to take part and was a reserve in case a participating celeb had to withdraw for any reason. I must assume there were reserves for this series also.
2) When the 2009 show first aired in January both Todd Carty and Colleen Nolan were in the line up.
3) Are we being asked to believe that the reserve celebs for the 2009 series were worse skaters than both Todd and Colleen, especially Todd.
4) From the very first show it was painfully apparent that poor Todd could not skate and was very unlikely to ever improve, even after 3 months training his skating hardly improved at all.
5) The marks Todd was scoring were so low that it must have taken a phenomenal number of votes for him to be able to progress to the next rounds without even having to take part in a skate off. I find it difficult to believe that he must have had literally 1000s more votes than the 2 skaters who were marked higher above him.
6) Allowing Todd onto the ice with his extremely limited ability was in my opinion dangerous to both himself and his partner Susie Lipanova and foolhardy. He or she could have suffered a major injury both during the training and the performances.
7) Whilst all the male celeb skaters danced on their own Todd virtually never did and whilst the other male celebs lifted their partners Todd never did. I must admit I believe it was very wise not to incorporate lifts into his routine as I dread to think what would have happened if he had to lift Susie.
8) If Todd had been made to skate off before he had, the judges would have had no alternative but to say he had to go. If they did not it would have shamed the judges and shown there was an ulterior motive for keeping him in.
9) Let us spare a thought for the skaters who did have to leave because Todd was allowed to remain. Each and every one of them were far better skaters than Todd.
The production team:
10) Who made the decision that Todd was good enough and should be included in the initial line up at the expense of the reserves? I assume that some of those making the decision were on the actual production team and the decision as to who should start in the competition were partly down to them. I also assume that both Jane & Chris had some say in this, together with Karen Barber and possibly Robin Cousins also. How would those who decided Todd should take part feel if either he or Susie suffered a terrible accident. Thank God that was not the case but it could easily have been.
The Ice Panel:
11) What was this directive that Robin Cousins gave the rest of the panel which Nicky Slater mentioned a few weeks into the competition? I am assuming that Robin told the rest of the panel that they had to limit the marks given to the skaters over the first few weeks.
12) Ruthie Henshaw is a West End entertainer, not an ice skating expert. Although it creates a balance between the judges. When she first became a judge last year she appeared fair and supportive of the skaters and admitted that she was not really qualified to judge their skating ability, more on the way they performed their routines. All of a sudden this year she has become very critical, not all of it constructive and she has been commenting on the contestants skating ability. With regard to one celeb she marked them low and said that she was not actually watching the celeb but her partner. If that is the case she could not decide how good or bad the celebs performance was.
13) Likewise Jason Gardner is no skater and he feels he can comment on the contestants skating abilities. True I do feel that most of his comments are valid. However he has become increasingly nasty and abusive and it is about time he was either told to stop this abuse or simply kicked off the panel. Constructive criticism is fine and welcome if it is going to help the skater improve but downright personal abuse and totally uncalled for comments about the individual skater should not and cannot be allowed to continue. If Jason feels that a celeb is not good enough to remain, does he not have the sense to comprehend that the more abusive he is toward the celeb in question the more the public will vote for them?
OK I know DOI is made for entertainment but there must also be fairness and those who deserve to be in the competition should stay and those who simply are not good enough and possible dangers to themselves and other must go.
If the public did actually send in so many votes to enable Todd and Colleen to avoid so many skate offs, which I question, then the way the votes are counted should be looked into. None of us know how they arrive at a figure in deciding how many got enough votes to avoid a skate off.
I also believe that those of us who do vote when the lines are open should not simply vote for someone because they are their favourite because this is being totally unfair to those who are better skaters and who are forced to have to leave. If we are going to vote we should be objective and decide who in our opinion should receive our vote on merit.
As far as colleen is concerned, after Todd she must be considered as the worse skater and again she should never have gone so long without at least being involved in a skate off. Had this happened there would be a lot more better skaters allowed to remain for longer.
There is no doubt in my mind that Ray Quinn was by far the best skater in the series and he showed this from week one, however there appears to be a question mark as to how much skating he had actually done prior to his inclusion in the show. If it is shown that he had done a lot more skating than the other celebs then he should not have been allowed to participate as it gave him a very unfair advantage over the other celebs. I also believe that those who decide which celebs do take part should look further into how much skating and/or skating ability they had before being selected.
I know that sometimes a celeb will have to skate off even though there may be others not so good as them who avoid it but this is normally corrected very quickly, but in this series there has been far too much of this.
Please don't think I have it in for Todd, Colleen, Jason or Ruthie because I am definitely not. Having watched DOI over the years I am trying to be objective in my comments with regard to the 2009 series.
I have watched and enjoyed Todd in his main appearances, Grange Hill, Tucker's Luck and Eastenders and have enjoyed his acting very much, and have enjoyed Colleen's music with the Nolan Sisters.
As far as Jason and Ruthie are concerned, I must admit had not even heard of them before DOI.
Plutus1947