The idea that Ashley or Jason have 'expert' opinions is amusing given that neither of them have any creditable experience of professional ice skating.
Ashley I don;t recognise has an expert, Jason does know what he is talking about (i donl;t like him) he can be brutel with his comments but he is fair to everyone, I didn;t notice a favourite.
However, if you stop the tape just after Beth has been anounced as the winner and look at Karen and Ashleigh's faces they are a picture, draw dropping.
Karen should not lbe a judge as she trains them too and the marking should be on the performance not what she believes they can do.
Karen should not be a judge as she trains them too and the marking should be on the performance not what she believes they can do.
I find it all the more amazing that Karen was so rude in her response to Beth's victory because she has coached her. I would expect that Karen would be happy for whichever of her 'charges' won.
In terms of 'what she believes they can do', one of the reason's I favoured Beth over Matt was because I beieve she has the skill and techique to tackle a routine of, say, Ray Quinn's standard. I do not believe this of Matt because he is technically sloppy and lacks lyricism.
Now, I have no way of knowing this for sure because neither of them was given a routine of that quality, but from what I saw of Beth's technique and athleticism, and with the improved performance skills she brought to the ice last night I thought she had the potential to deliver a much more challenging programme. Matt, I felt, plateaued early in the series.
I usually find conspiracy theories ridiculous but there's been something very "off" about this year's DOI. Had somebody like Joe Pasquale won over Matt then I can see that the judges might be a bit miffed at skating taking second place. But Beth is excellent on the ice and, taking subjective opinions into account, totally deserving of being in one of the top spots.
When it comes down to the final vote on a show like this, it's inevitable that factors other than technical and artistic ability will play a part. Matt showed himself to be cocky and petulant which will have put a lot of people off.
He also is not the best skater they've had on the show. Not even close. So I'm not surprised that people see a bias. What I don't understand is WHY there was a bias. Having seen him on Eastenders, he's a terrible actor so they can't be courting him for his acting talent. His arrogance and sulky behaviour in the face of criticism doesn't endear him as a personality. So why on earth is he a favourite?
All very weird.
Still, it was very entertaining to watch the judges' faces and his stroppy tweet to his ex who dared to congratulate Beth on her victory!
If Robin thinks that a hunched posture and sloppy crossovers is the best to even come from any of the DOI shows, then he really needs to go to Specsavers or be put in a nursing home.
To say something like that is an embarrassment to the whole figure skating world.
I find it all the more amazing that Karen was so rude in her response to Beth's victory because she has coached her. I would expect that Karen would be happy for whichever of her 'charges' won.
In terms of 'what she believes they can do', one of the reason's I favoured Beth over Matt was because I beieve she has the skill and techique to tackle a routine of, say, Ray Quinn's standard. I do not believe this of Matt because he is technically sloppy and lacks lyricism.
Now, I have no way of knowing this for sure because neither of them was given a routine of that quality, but from what I saw of Beth's technique and athleticism, and with the improved performance skills she brought to the ice last night I thought she had the potential to deliver a much more challenging programme. Matt, I felt, plateaued early in the series.
Just my opinion, based on what I saw.
100% agree, for example Beth did a brilliant spin several weeks ago, which most of them find difficult. I thought they'd build on it and she'd end up doing one of those really fast spins ice skaters do, but we never saw one again.
This girl is capable of so much, trust me I've watched her from age 9-10. My daughter was an elite gymnast a couple of years younger than Beth (never in the same league tho). When my daughter first got into the sport we thought the young girl at the top of her club was brilliant and were saying this to one of the parents one day, who was also a judge. His response was "No, there's a girl in the north west who can knock spots off everyone else, you wait and see". It was Beth. I know that doesn't necessarily make her brilliant at every other sport, but knowing how they've given the others in past years straddle jumps, backflips, spins etc and they've managed them, I'm quite sure Beth was more than capable -after all there are only a couple of Russians in the whole world who can beat her on floor! But it was like Karen was holding her back for some reason with the choreography.
Bring back the compulsory skills, that's what I say.
I find it all the more amazing that Karen was so rude in her response to Beth's victory because she has coached her. I would expect that Karen would be happy for whichever of her 'charges' won.
In terms of 'what she believes they can do', one of the reason's I favoured Beth over Matt was because I beieve she has the skill and techique to tackle a routine of, say, Ray Quinn's standard. I do not believe this of Matt because he is technically sloppy and lacks lyricism.
Now, I have no way of knowing this for sure because neither of them was given a routine of that quality, but from what I saw of Beth's technique and athleticism, and with the improved performance skills she brought to the ice last night I thought she had the potential to deliver a much more challenging programme. Matt, I felt, plateaued early in the series.
Just my opinion, based on what I saw.
That is not entirely correct though. Although Karen obviously is partly responsible for the coaching she is based in the South during DOI and Dan and Beth were training in the North. I believe Karens ex hubby is involved with training the couples in the North although I think Andrei Lipanov was also helping Luke and Jenna this year judging by some of the tweets between them. Although obviously when all the couples have been in London she will have been responsible for coaching them.
I wonder if the animosity from Karen towards the Northern couples stems dislike of her ex and his ability in helping get them so far in the series as he certainly has had more involvement in their day to day training than Karen has.
Maybe she is letting that affect her scoring and judgement. She is directly involved with training couples based near London and it is them who have not really done so well this year as it was three couples based in the North who made the top five and while I would hope she doesn't let personal issues get in the way of marking fairly I'm beginning to have some concerns.
I wonder how happy Dan will be if he watches it back and sees Karen's reaction I wonder if he will be slightly hurt that she couldn't even feign some enthusiasm for him and Beth winning given they are friends.
I usually find conspiracy theories ridiculous but there's been something very "off" about this year's DOI. Had somebody like Joe Pasquale won over Matt then I can see that the judges might be a bit miffed at skating taking second place. But Beth is excellent on the ice and, taking subjective opinions into account, totally deserving of being in one of the top spots.
When it comes down to the final vote on a show like this, it's inevitable that factors other than technical and artistic ability will play a part. Matt showed himself to be cocky and petulant which will have put a lot of people off.
He also is not the best skater they've had on the show. Not even close. So I'm not surprised that people see a bias. What I don't understand is WHY there was a bias. Having seen him on Eastenders, he's a terrible actor so they can't be courting him for his acting talent. His arrogance and sulky behaviour in the face of criticism doesn't endear him as a personality. So why on earth is he a favourite?
All very weird.
Still, it was very entertaining to watch the judges' faces and his stroppy tweet to his ex who dared to congratulate Beth on her victory!
It was all rather odd from early on too. There's usually a rush of early stories that x y or z (Chris, Ray or Clare say) is so good that they must have skated before. The show usually reacts to that, and explains what they have or have not done and how its relevant , or not.. With Matt there was one throw away line about experience early on, and because no one in the media followed up and the show said nothing to amplify we never did find out what that was about.
If Robin thinks that a hunched posture and sloppy crossovers is the best to even come from any of the DOI shows, then he really needs to go to Specsavers or be put in a nursing home.
100% agree, for example Beth did a brilliant spin several weeks ago, which most of them find difficult. I thought they'd build on it and she'd end up doing one of those really fast spins ice skaters do, but we never saw one again.
This girl is capable of so much, trust me I've watched her from age 9-10. My daughter was an elite gymnast a couple of years younger than Beth (never in the same league tho). When my daughter first got into the sport we thought the young girl at the top of her club was brilliant and were saying this to one of the parents one day, who was also a judge. His response was "No, there's a girl in the north west who can knock spots off everyone else, you wait and see". It was Beth. I know that doesn't necessarily make her brilliant at every other sport, but knowing how they've given the others in past years straddle jumps, backflips, spins etc and they've managed them, I'm quite sure Beth was more than capable -after all there are only a couple of Russians in the whole world who can beat her on floor! But it was like Karen was holding her back for some reason with the choreography.
Bring back the compulsory skills, that's what I say.
Even if Beth couldn't manage a solo back flip like Colin, she could have tried the over the shoulder back flip that Laura did, (and Chloe?) and maybe even a split jump like Ray
I usually find conspiracy theories ridiculous but there's been something very "off" about this year's DOI. Had somebody like Joe Pasquale won over Matt then I can see that the judges might be a bit miffed at skating taking second place. But Beth is excellent on the ice and, taking subjective opinions into account, totally deserving of being in one of the top spots.
When it comes down to the final vote on a show like this, it's inevitable that factors other than technical and artistic ability will play a part. Matt showed himself to be cocky and petulant which will have put a lot of people off.
He also is not the best skater they've had on the show. Not even close. So I'm not surprised that people see a bias. What I don't understand is WHY there was a bias. Having seen him on Eastenders, he's a terrible actor so they can't be courting him for his acting talent. His arrogance and sulky behaviour in the face of criticism doesn't endear him as a personality. So why on earth is he a favourite?
All very weird.
Still, it was very entertaining to watch the judges' faces and his stroppy tweet to his ex who dared to congratulate Beth on her victory!
I'm with you on this! I am always very :rolleyes: about conspiracy theories, but this series has been so suspicious that you'd have to be blind not to suspect anything! Something is definitely amiss, although I can't quite put my finger on what the judges' motives were. Why were they so desperate for Matt to win.
I feel really sorry for Beth. How awful for the judges to be so rude and childish over her win. Yes, it's disappointing when your favourite does not win, but they are the JUDGES, they are supposed to be mature and unbiased. I have a very very bad taste left in my mouth after all this. Poor Beth.
Exactly. I don't understand why they were desperate for Matt to win. Until the final, I personally prefered watching Matt skate because of his confidence and performance. So I can somewhat understand from that point of view. But for the judges to be so outrageously and bluntly in favour of him, saying he's the best skater ever - it's really bizarre. I don't understand it at all. He was blatantly not the best skater ever, he blatantly did not give the best performances ever on DOI, and this series was blatantly NOT the best!!
Strictly learned its lesson with panel favouritism eventually, and DOI need to do the same.
Judging panels should be impartial, and yes they can have personal favourites, but they should treat them any differently to the other competitors. Pamela who seemed a confident skater went out week 1 for stumbling in her skate off performance, and her stumble was cited as the reason for her departure, yet Matt who did the same in his went through against someone who delivered a faultless one. They can't have different standards for different contestants!.
As I don't watch Eastenders, I had no idea who Matt was before DOI, but I found his skating confident but aggressive. I much preferred Beth's more lyrical style, as well as her humble demeanour. She proved week after week that she was capable of doing everything thrown at her, but simply wasn't allowed the flashier stuff that Matt was given to aid the "performance" aspect.
Given the over marking for Matt by the panel this week and last, it was no surprise to see the public's sense of fair play appear and the crown go to the person who deserved it most.
And why the result was such a big surprise to the panel I don't know...... Beth was the only skater who never appeared in the dance off, so it must have been clear that she was the publics favourite.
I suspect they had a hunch she was more popular even if they didn't know the voting percentages, her not being in the skate off tells you that. I think they hoped that by bigging Matt up so much in the final that the public would go with them especially the floating voters or those who only vote in the final. It clearly didn't work though.
100% agree, for example Beth did a brilliant spin several weeks ago, which most of them find difficult. I thought they'd build on it and she'd end up doing one of those really fast spins ice skaters do, but we never saw one again.
This girl is capable of so much, trust me I've watched her from age 9-10. My daughter was an elite gymnast a couple of years younger than Beth (never in the same league tho). When my daughter first got into the sport we thought the young girl at the top of her club was brilliant and were saying this to one of the parents one day, who was also a judge. His response was "No, there's a girl in the north west who can knock spots off everyone else, you wait and see". It was Beth. I know that doesn't necessarily make her brilliant at every other sport, but knowing how they've given the others in past years straddle jumps, backflips, spins etc and they've managed them, I'm quite sure Beth was more than capable -after all there are only a couple of Russians in the whole world who can beat her on floor! But it was like Karen was holding her back for some reason with the choreography.
Bring back the compulsory skills, that's what I say.
Agreed... I think it is a pity she didn't qualify for the floor final because as it turned out, she would have had a good chance of a medal... On the ice she was capable of so much more, her splits were always perfect...
That said I would have voted for Beth and Dan (I'm in Italy so can't vote). I just liked watching them skate together more than I did Matt and Brianne.
The show had been rigged for Matt to win, pretty much from Day 1. I have to agree with some of the above posts in that somethings been a bit off with DOI this year. The reaction from the judges at the end was odd!. They are meant to be impartial, so to react like that was ridiculous.
I guess the true colours of these type of shows are starting to come out in the wash!.
Beth winning pretty much blew up the plans of the producers. The public get the final say, I just hope Beth keeps her dignity as she has done and enjoys her victory!.
The show had been rigged for Matt to win, pretty much from Day 1. I have to agree with some of the above posts in that somethings been a bit off with DOI this year. The reaction from the judges at the end was odd!. They are meant to be impartial, so to react like that was ridiculous.
I guess the true colours of these type of shows are starting to come out in the wash!.
Beth winning pretty much blew up the plans of the producers. The public get the final say, I just hope Beth keeps her dignity as she has done and enjoys her victory!.
I've watched DOI since the start, but I've never seen this kid of bias and favouritism until this series and its is baffling.
You could argue that Ray was favoured but that was justified because he actually was that good and when watching him and Maria you'd be forgiven for wondering who was the pro and who was the celeb.
Chris Fountain was the favourite to win his series, he was probably the judges favourite as well but he fell apart in the final and Suzanne ended up winnin. The judges were still pleased for her and marked her accordingly.
You would think that a genuine "competition" would be what they would want because its better than knowing in advance for sure who is going to win? That's why the previous two series have been so boring, because it was obvious that Sam and Matt W would win all along.
I feel incredibly sorry for Beth because she has won and yet the judges have acted like petulant children and have put a damper on her victory. They should be ashamed of themselves.
I've watched DOI since the start, but I've never seen this kid of bias and favouritism until this series and its is baffling.
You could argue that Ray was favoured but that was justified because he actually was that good and when watching him and Maria you'd be forgiven for wondering who was the pro and who was the celeb.
Chris Fountain was the favourite to win his series, he was probably the judges favourite as well but he fell apart in the final and Suzanne ended up winnin. The judges were still pleased for her and marked her accordingly.
You would think that a genuine "competition" would be what they would want because its better than knowing in advance for sure who is going to win? That's why the previous two series have been so boring, because it was obvious that Sam and Matt W would win all along.
I feel incredibly sorry for Beth because she has won and yet the judges have acted like petulant children and have put a damper on her victory. They should be ashamed of themselves.
Hear hear!
The panel have always had their favourites in each series but this is the first time they haven't appeared to be happy for the winner.
This time their preference for Matt was just sooo obvious, and their unearned praise and over marking of his performances were his downfall this time.
Matt wasn't in the same league as Ray, Suzanne, Chris, Kyran
And Matt W by ANY stretch of the imagination, and the fact that he was praised to the skies for all of his performances, whilst Beth and Gareth were criticised and marked down week after week didn't help his case either.... When will producers of these shows realise that the Great British Public like to see fair play and will always vote for the underdog.
Add into the mix Matt's cocky personality, and Karen saying on the likes of Loose Women that he was her winner, and he was never going to win the public vote. Beth not only came across as a lovely person, she was a damn good skater as well, and deserved at least a couple of 10s on Sunday, whereas Matt didn't deserve 8 of them as there were glaring errors in his routines....
The panel have always had their favourites in each series but this is the first time they haven't appeared to be happy for the winner.
This time their preference for Matt was just sooo obvious, and their unearned praise and over marking of his performances were his downfall this time.
Matt wasn't in the same league as Ray, Suzanne, Chris, Kyran
And Matt W by ANY stretch of the imagination, and the fact that he was praised to the skies for all of his performances, whilst Beth and Gareth were criticised and marked down week after week didn't help his case either.... When will producers of these shows realise that the Great British Public like to see fair play and will always vote for the underdog.
Add into the mix Matt's cocky personality, and Karen saying on the likes of Loose Women that he was her winner, and he was never going to win the public vote. Beth not only came across as a lovely person, she was a damn good skater as well, and deserved at least a couple of 10s on Sunday, whereas Matt didn't deserve 8 of them as there were glaring errors in his routines....
Yes, I don't understand why they would not be happy for an Olympian to win? I am baffled, totally.
That said I would have voted for Beth and Dan (I'm in Italy so can't vote). I just liked watching them skate together more than I did Matt and Brianne.
He may have been the best skater but he had 0 out of 10 for like ability. He wasn't even all that showy in the bolero which that is meant to showcase your potential, it was messy indeed. :eek:
Comments
Ashley I don;t recognise has an expert, Jason does know what he is talking about (i donl;t like him) he can be brutel with his comments but he is fair to everyone, I didn;t notice a favourite.
However, if you stop the tape just after Beth has been anounced as the winner and look at Karen and Ashleigh's faces they are a picture, draw dropping.
Karen should not lbe a judge as she trains them too and the marking should be on the performance not what she believes they can do.
I find it all the more amazing that Karen was so rude in her response to Beth's victory because she has coached her. I would expect that Karen would be happy for whichever of her 'charges' won.
In terms of 'what she believes they can do', one of the reason's I favoured Beth over Matt was because I beieve she has the skill and techique to tackle a routine of, say, Ray Quinn's standard. I do not believe this of Matt because he is technically sloppy and lacks lyricism.
Now, I have no way of knowing this for sure because neither of them was given a routine of that quality, but from what I saw of Beth's technique and athleticism, and with the improved performance skills she brought to the ice last night I thought she had the potential to deliver a much more challenging programme. Matt, I felt, plateaued early in the series.
Just my opinion, based on what I saw.
When it comes down to the final vote on a show like this, it's inevitable that factors other than technical and artistic ability will play a part. Matt showed himself to be cocky and petulant which will have put a lot of people off.
He also is not the best skater they've had on the show. Not even close. So I'm not surprised that people see a bias. What I don't understand is WHY there was a bias. Having seen him on Eastenders, he's a terrible actor so they can't be courting him for his acting talent. His arrogance and sulky behaviour in the face of criticism doesn't endear him as a personality. So why on earth is he a favourite?
All very weird.
Still, it was very entertaining to watch the judges' faces and his stroppy tweet to his ex who dared to congratulate Beth on her victory!
He's one of the judges that should be sacked.
If Robin thinks that a hunched posture and sloppy crossovers is the best to even come from any of the DOI shows, then he really needs to go to Specsavers or be put in a nursing home.
To say something like that is an embarrassment to the whole figure skating world.
This girl is capable of so much, trust me I've watched her from age 9-10. My daughter was an elite gymnast a couple of years younger than Beth (never in the same league tho). When my daughter first got into the sport we thought the young girl at the top of her club was brilliant and were saying this to one of the parents one day, who was also a judge. His response was "No, there's a girl in the north west who can knock spots off everyone else, you wait and see". It was Beth. I know that doesn't necessarily make her brilliant at every other sport, but knowing how they've given the others in past years straddle jumps, backflips, spins etc and they've managed them, I'm quite sure Beth was more than capable -after all there are only a couple of Russians in the whole world who can beat her on floor! But it was like Karen was holding her back for some reason with the choreography.
Bring back the compulsory skills, that's what I say.
That is not entirely correct though. Although Karen obviously is partly responsible for the coaching she is based in the South during DOI and Dan and Beth were training in the North. I believe Karens ex hubby is involved with training the couples in the North although I think Andrei Lipanov was also helping Luke and Jenna this year judging by some of the tweets between them. Although obviously when all the couples have been in London she will have been responsible for coaching them.
I wonder if the animosity from Karen towards the Northern couples stems dislike of her ex and his ability in helping get them so far in the series as he certainly has had more involvement in their day to day training than Karen has.
Maybe she is letting that affect her scoring and judgement. She is directly involved with training couples based near London and it is them who have not really done so well this year as it was three couples based in the North who made the top five and while I would hope she doesn't let personal issues get in the way of marking fairly I'm beginning to have some concerns.
I wonder how happy Dan will be if he watches it back and sees Karen's reaction I wonder if he will be slightly hurt that she couldn't even feign some enthusiasm for him and Beth winning given they are friends.
It was all rather odd from early on too. There's usually a rush of early stories that x y or z (Chris, Ray or Clare say) is so good that they must have skated before. The show usually reacts to that, and explains what they have or have not done and how its relevant , or not.. With Matt there was one throw away line about experience early on, and because no one in the media followed up and the show said nothing to amplify we never did find out what that was about.
:eek::D
Even if Beth couldn't manage a solo back flip like Colin, she could have tried the over the shoulder back flip that Laura did, (and Chloe?) and maybe even a split jump like Ray
Bull!
I'm with you on this! I am always very :rolleyes: about conspiracy theories, but this series has been so suspicious that you'd have to be blind not to suspect anything! Something is definitely amiss, although I can't quite put my finger on what the judges' motives were. Why were they so desperate for Matt to win.
I feel really sorry for Beth. How awful for the judges to be so rude and childish over her win. Yes, it's disappointing when your favourite does not win, but they are the JUDGES, they are supposed to be mature and unbiased. I have a very very bad taste left in my mouth after all this. Poor Beth.
Exactly. I don't understand why they were desperate for Matt to win. Until the final, I personally prefered watching Matt skate because of his confidence and performance. So I can somewhat understand from that point of view. But for the judges to be so outrageously and bluntly in favour of him, saying he's the best skater ever - it's really bizarre. I don't understand it at all. He was blatantly not the best skater ever, he blatantly did not give the best performances ever on DOI, and this series was blatantly NOT the best!!
I don't know what to think anymore.
I suspect they had a hunch she was more popular even if they didn't know the voting percentages, her not being in the skate off tells you that. I think they hoped that by bigging Matt up so much in the final that the public would go with them especially the floating voters or those who only vote in the final. It clearly didn't work though.
Agreed... I think it is a pity she didn't qualify for the floor final because as it turned out, she would have had a good chance of a medal... On the ice she was capable of so much more, her splits were always perfect...
That said I would have voted for Beth and Dan (I'm in Italy so can't vote). I just liked watching them skate together more than I did Matt and Brianne.
I guess the true colours of these type of shows are starting to come out in the wash!.
Beth winning pretty much blew up the plans of the producers. The public get the final say, I just hope Beth keeps her dignity as she has done and enjoys her victory!.
Wonder why as he is nothing special
You could argue that Ray was favoured but that was justified because he actually was that good and when watching him and Maria you'd be forgiven for wondering who was the pro and who was the celeb.
Chris Fountain was the favourite to win his series, he was probably the judges favourite as well but he fell apart in the final and Suzanne ended up winnin. The judges were still pleased for her and marked her accordingly.
You would think that a genuine "competition" would be what they would want because its better than knowing in advance for sure who is going to win? That's why the previous two series have been so boring, because it was obvious that Sam and Matt W would win all along.
I feel incredibly sorry for Beth because she has won and yet the judges have acted like petulant children and have put a damper on her victory. They should be ashamed of themselves.
Hear hear!
The panel have always had their favourites in each series but this is the first time they haven't appeared to be happy for the winner.
This time their preference for Matt was just sooo obvious, and their unearned praise and over marking of his performances were his downfall this time.
Matt wasn't in the same league as Ray, Suzanne, Chris, Kyran
And Matt W by ANY stretch of the imagination, and the fact that he was praised to the skies for all of his performances, whilst Beth and Gareth were criticised and marked down week after week didn't help his case either.... When will producers of these shows realise that the Great British Public like to see fair play and will always vote for the underdog.
Add into the mix Matt's cocky personality, and Karen saying on the likes of Loose Women that he was her winner, and he was never going to win the public vote. Beth not only came across as a lovely person, she was a damn good skater as well, and deserved at least a couple of 10s on Sunday, whereas Matt didn't deserve 8 of them as there were glaring errors in his routines....
Yes, I don't understand why they would not be happy for an Olympian to win?
Joe Public = power to decide winners
He may have been the best skater but he had 0 out of 10 for like ability. He wasn't even all that showy in the bolero which that is meant to showcase your potential, it was messy indeed. :eek:
Oh yes Robin and Karen who couldnt even show some simple manners at then end. So much for them being professional NOT
And on that note I think I am better than them as I would never act like that and send a tweet like Robin did after.