He didn't have to say yes. If he was going to do some more reality after The X Factor, then he could have chosen something truly out of his comfort zone - like Celebrity Masterchef, or even the jungle..

agreed. He's been a joy to watch all series. I don't care about the competition when I see skating like that. He is the reason I have bothered to tune in at all. (However I did love Donal too).

Don`t forget Lisa was also in the bottom two on at least 3 occassions, there was no way she had the public behind her.

Quite a few of the contestants who got voted out early instead of Coleen were still way better than her after all her weeks of so called practising. That was the problem with this series. Apart from Todd, any of the others that got voted out early could have had the same journey as Donal and improved enough to make it more of a competition.

Rules need to be changed, so that anyone at the bottom of the judges board 3 times should go out.

It never was a competition

It has been a popularity contest


If it was a competition the worst skater would have gone out week after week and only the best three skaters would have been in the final

Although I was happy with the final three, the best three skaters were not in the final

The three who are top of the judges marks should be safe and the others should be voted for, as the weeks go on only the top two then only the top should be safe In the final none should be safe

I don't think it was a foregone conclusion. Time and time again we've been reminded about the 'popularity' element in the competition, which meant that the likes of Roxy and Zoe went out earlier than would have been expected. We also had Todd and Coleen staying in longer than was expected. Basically, with a public vote, anything can (and often does) happen! To say that Ray winning was never in doubt was to overlook the 'popularity' element of the competition, the 'tactical voting', and the possibility of contestants being forced out of the competition by 'unforseen circumstances' like injuries, family problems and falling foul of the DOI 'Powers That Be'. Then there's the possibility that another contestant or contestants will 'catch up' (in terms of technical ability) with the 'top' contestant.

There really are so many variables that could affect a contestant's progress that I don't see how the winner could be a 'foregone conclusion' from day 1!

Worse we don't even know who they were because the competition went early . Jessica and Zoe were having a real competition and might easily have fought for and exchanged places in the SF and final . That might have been a watchable competition - even behind a Ray walkover. Going out to Jessica because she had more votes than Jessica and that put her into a dance off against Jessica was an absurd conclusion to that race. Donal v Jessica simply wasn't a competition at all - its not even decided on the skating. We also never got to see how far Roxy could get - she was getting better and might well have had a breakthrough week if she hadn't gone. On the male side we will never know if Ellery was better than Donal or Michael could have built on his lead over him. The show not only succeeded in having Ray as an obvious winner but there wasn't even a competition for second and the person who performed second best didn't even get second place.

There's also a real question hanging over the choreography. I didn't see one great show routine like Kyran. Clare, Suzanne's or Chris's best all series or anything as good as Bonnie's tour routine. On top of that there's a bigger question why so many people got things to do that were dull or they couldn't do or which didn't develop their full potential. I just look back at it and think with a bit more imagination and a bit more focused training we might have seen Roxy, Melinda, Jessica, Zoe Ellery and possibly Gemma and Michael doing better and Ray getting a routine that properly showcased how good he was. For me its the series with holes in the casting, random voting and missed opportunities.

I agree with some of what you're saying but not all. I really don't think that Ellery or Michael could have developed to be better than Donal. Ellery had enough of a chance but it seemed pretty clear he was going backwards if anything and Michael had already had a year of trying to improve and... well... hadn't really. The producers did drop a b*ll*ck however in their original choice of males. Who the bloody hell did they really think was going to challenge Ray? I can't see anyone in their original choices that even the most optimistic could have seen as anything other than a remote hope.

The females were more complex. Yes, Jessica and Zoe were producing a decent rivalry before Zoe was dumped off, but imo Zoe fell to the oldest DOI problem in the book. She had the Bonnie problem. Yes, she might have been able to sell a programme, yes, she might have been able to do the big money lifts etc etc, but she wasn't given the skating time. Any female who spends too much time in the air is going to feel the wrath of the public. She was also championed far too much by the "performance judges". I'm not saying they were right or wrong but when a judge who is known for knowing naff all about skating gives a six and the skating judges totally disagree, it's going to leave the celeb in a vulnerable position. As to the others, it's Gemma who is possibly the most interesting one for me. She showed in the first week that she could do a high lift. Maybe the skating would have come. Pity she couldn't keep her gob shut. I really don't think Roxanne would have had a breakthrough week. I reckon she stayed in long enough for that to have happened if it was going to.

Do we really need two threads saying the same thing ???

Who is really to blame. Ray for winning or those who selected Todd Carthorse, and Coleen"the martyr"Nolan to competed.

If they have managed to get some half decent competitors this year things would have been a lot harder for Ray, but they didn't.

However you can see a pattern developing

Series One: Gaynor Faye.
Series Two: Kyran Bracken.
Series Three: Suzanne Shaw.
Series Four: Ray Quinn.

Therefore series five you can put you money on the best female skater to win next year.

re that and other posts making a similar point -- let's just say Ray's win was entirely predictable. It was, after all, very widely predicted that he would win.

His popularity <with the people who vote> wasn't really in any doubt. Second in the X-Factor to Leona Lewis isn't shabby in the gaining of a voting fan base.

Add to that the fact that all his previously learnt skills (dancing/roller blading/performance/experience with RTV shows involving judging and how to present yourself on them) transferred across to the ice for him and here you are!

Which is why I think it may have been a mistake for Jessica to do a "big lifts" routine the final. (The big lifts being the tabletop and the upside-down candle.) And also to do a routine with that jump sequence which was guaranteed to be totally unimpressive to most viewers. Imo, "Venus" would have been a better choice, and it had a very nice spin in it too.

Meanwhile, Ray did one of his routines that had a lot of skating in it (rather than one that was a lot of dancing that happened to be on ice).

Jessica's flying routine had essentially nothing on the ice (again compare Ray's).

So for those and other reasons, I agree with thenetworkbabe that there's "a real question hanging over the choreography".

Why send the best female skater out with routines like that, rather than ones that played to her strengths?

I'm not saying the result would have been any different, but at least I'd feel Jessica'd been given her best chance, and there wouldn't be so many people saying she deserved to come 3rd because she doesn't skate.

I can't begrudge Ray's victory, because he was stupidly good. But as the posters above has pointed out, it was widely predicted that Ray would win, as he had all the tools to do so. In my opinion, that does not make an interesting competition. Jess was also a shoe in for the final, even without the popularity, it was pretty evident the judges would get Jess to the final. If it wasn't for the shocks of Donal improving so much, and Coleen's indestructability the competition would have been fully predictable from the first couple of weeks. How dull.

I thought her 'Mercy' routine was an odd choice, but presumably she had some say in it? I thought one of her more romantic routines would have played to her strengths, whereas she always seems a little robotic with the peppier routines, and would have set up the comparisons with Donal rather than Ray. That said, we know she had already been in the dance-off so it was fairly predictable she was going to be the least popular with the voting public.

Jessica probably chose Mercy because that was her second highest scoring routine behind the semi-final one. She obviously couldn't perform that particular routine two weeks in a row, though. I was disappointed with Jessica's performance of Mercy, which wasn't as good as when she originally did it.

On the contrary i would have found the whole show dull and lacklustre without Ray and Marias wonderful performances every week.

He can say yes to whatever he pleases!

Or does he have to run it by you first?

And im very happy he said yes.

he and Maria are something very special indeed.

He can, but the point was that he didn't have to and could have gone for something further away from things he could already do.

Didn't she end up in the skate-off with "Mercy", despite the high scores? I'm pretty sure I remember her skating it a 2nd time and saying she'd nailed one of the jumps that time.


I'm not sure what was worse. I think she held the upside down candle position for longer. The jump sequence didn't look quite right, but it hadn't been the first time she did it either.

In any case, the jump seq was another reason to pick a different routine. It was troublesome, and even if she got it right it wouldn't look impressive to most viewers. It would get points from the "skating judges", but that won't make much difference in the final.

Well I can agree with this thread title entirely. For me, it spoiled things a bit, there was no suspense. It was more of a 'Ooo, who's gonna get second place??' kind of thing for me.

That said, I would rather see Rays win as opposed to Coleens and Todds.

And I do feel that Ray could have been a little warmer in victory to Donal but I guess he was caught in the moment.

Actually I thought the whole victory/presentation was a bit of shambles. After he was announced as the winner, Ray and Maria went straight over to Donal and Florentine - Ray hugged Florentine and appeared to be about to do the same to Donal when Philip dragged him off. Philip then announced Jayne and Chris with the trophy, then he said something about Holly congratulating D+F but that got totally overlooked because Jayne and Chris were presenting Ray with the trophy at the same time. It did look as if Ray was cutting into Donal's moment but as the programme finished seconds later, I think it was just chaotic organisation.

I'd have liked to have seen proper comments from Donal and Florentine and for them to have got a proper ovation from the crowd for their sterling performance both last night and during the series. As it is, they were overlooked. Bad form itv.

I didn't think it was the technical elements that let Jess down (well, not in comparison to Donal anyway) - I think it was the performance. Everything she did looked like she was tired and struggling to keep things looking taut and elegant.

I would have picked Mercy for Jess, as I think it's the one she had most fun with in the pre-final stages and the one that picked up universal praise from the judges for her performance skills - the thing she struggled with the most. Sadly, her lack of performance was only made more marked by the great job she did of the routine first time round.

Oh right - imagine the reaction if he'd said "Sorry - I'm just so good it wouldn't be fair to the others."

Then the smug, arrogant knives really would be out for him.

Just a couple of questions to the OP:[LIST][*]You mentioned he was top of leaderboard every week - are you saying this was undeserved.[*]The winner was based on the public vote, so clearly the public felt he gave the best performances.[/LIST]
And before anyone comes back with the judges influencing the public - I'd finally like to ask - Did their views deter supporters of Donal and Jess voting for their favourites?