Anyway, I saw the youtube video of Clare skating with Lucasz and compared it with Suzanne (Kyran's Ice Party) and Lucasz seemed to suit Clare better than Suzanne, at least at that stage. Shame Clare is not there, because Clare vs Suzanne vs Jessica would have been a lot better (in terms of skating quality) than Jessica vs Suzanne vs Zoe.

its such a pity. they defo need to change things to allow for it. You're effectively killing a great competition. If we had a suzanne and matt, chris and frankie, kyran and mel and ray and maria it would have been fabulous.
And suzanne is easily more popular, she's a champion, but contracts are contracts and she wasnt going to throw her toys out of the pram.
Suzanne is very loyal with stuff like that, she goes back to stuff especially if they've been good to her, this show has been very very good to her and when asked back found it very hard to say no to them. Ruthie said in the live show that suzanne has been an absolute professional about the whole thing and that she really admired her for it.
Hopefully suzanne and luk will continue to get better as chris dean forecast but its such a pity they've started so far behind everyone else. It would be such a pity if she didnt get to skate bolero, as I cant see her doing the tour next year...
Yes and Id imagine suz misses claire, she's one of her best mates and is going to be her bridesmaid.
Claire has skated with luk before I think for another of kyrans parties and andrei and luk are very very similiar.
They got all to do very little at kyrans party, it was very broken. Suzanne and luk did litterally 3 mins together while she also danced with kyran and he danced with claire and his wife. It was nowhere near enough time to even get to know eachother. T&D said it takes ages for a partnership to form and that one is devellopping nicely from the 5 weeks (cant believe they've only had 5 weeks!!) they've been together but I think when they get strong it'll be too little too late...

I dare say they will massage the votes for a couple of shows to give her more of a chance of being in the final two.

Possibily but who knows...
She has her head down anyway, is trying hard and everyone thinks she'll get better, she's making up the ground fairly quickly, quicker than they expected her to by the sounds of things and they are all very impressed with how she's adapting and conducting herself and thats always very nice to her...
Its just such a pity for audiences that we didnt have her and matt v ray and maria. I do think he would have beaten her but she'd have given him a bit of a run and i think he would have enjoyed all the competition cos it would have been him, kyran, chris, suz and jess all at full strength and would have made for alot better show. I think they'd all have enjoyed it.
If we'd have had claire and bonnie it would have been a tour of dois best skaters...Bonnie would have suited luk i think.
pity pity, oh well...
Ray is gonna win the tour by a landslide, not that he probs wouldnt anyway but i think it would have been more entertaining

I can completely understand the pro being contracted to the celeb for the tv show and beyond to the tour. However, in the exceptional circumstance of a previous DOI champion being available and willing to do the tour again, they should always get first pick over their winning partner, unless the partner has won again or is at least a losing finalist. I think the sad upshot to this is Suzanne may not take part again in the tour. I wonder if Kyran realises how lucky he has been to enjoy the experience of the tour for three straight years with Mel uninterrupted. Its how it should have been for Suzanne too.

They'll have to sort something defo. Can you imagine chris without frankie for the next tour if he does it? Or will they break ray and maria if her partner does the tour and he continues to next year. They'll have to sort something out for the finalists. Cos getting them to change how they skate especially when they've only just learned for gods sake ends their competitiveness certainly for the start of the tour, it shoots them in the foot completely and gives them lots of ground to make up before the tour even starts and disappoints a big fanbase. This really cant and shouldnt happen next year, its been one of the major talking points this year and something negative shouldnt be, lots of people at the areana didnt know and people behind us went, WHERES MATT? when she came out with luk ( and its a shame for him aswell cos he's a great skater, though he does appear nervous that he might drop her when he skates you get that impression he's not entirely used to a celeb), lots of talk at interval aswell about it. If ray and maria got split there would be a repeat of the uproar next year and nobody wants that. We want to see the best against the best. They'll have to sort out something...

Will Zoe be back next year ? Will she come under pressure to resign from the tour ?

You can bet your bottom dollar.... if Ray decides to do the tour next year, he will be with Maria, no matter what, in fact don't be one bit surprised if Maria is matched with a total duffer on the show next year just to be absolutely sure nothing stands in the way of the Ray/Maria partnership. Its been too much of a lucractive money spinner.... Ray has the all important "girl fan" thing well and truly sewn up, equally with Chris, he will be kept happy with Frankie no fear.

This development this year is a first really, with Suzanne, and one would hope.. a last. Now, perhaps, their backs really were to the wall and they were short on girls, with both Bonnie and Claire not taking part, but it was still shoddy. It would have made for such a better show all around to have had Suzanne and Matt thrown into the mix as a competing couple. It will be sad if this tour marks the end of her appearances on the ice.

resign from the tour? lol, thats just a tad dramatic!
No of course she wont, its not zoes fault.
They usually only ask a finalist to come back, if even as theres no zaraah or duncan.
Usually the top two are asked to come back, dont think anyone near 5th has done a second tour
Well shes doing kyrans parties this summer and matt is free to skate. Also there will be another xmas special I'd imagine, whether she'll be paired with matt for that and have to get used to him again after this lol who knows?

I dont know why this is starting to make me chuckle all of a sudden...... but it is starting to take on something of the slapstick about it lololol. I can almost picture Suzanne being taken into some de-programming room just like those people being rescued from a cult... and having all traces of Lucasz wiped from her memory and Matt shows his face again before the summer party. lololol

LMAO YOUR FUNNY

I don't want to rub salt into a very sore wound but frankly I think Ray could adjust to another partner if necessary. To be honest he was better at week one of the series than Suzanne is after 6 or 7 weeks with this partner.

They'll practically have to do that! lol
Cos she's being shoved from one skater to the next.
Its been like someone who has only just learned to drive an automatic car being thrown into a manual one on a racetrack and someone shouting drive at them. She wont know whether shes coming or going soon.
Yes but ray had almost 4 months of training before week one of doi... suzanne had five weeks, including start of tour with luk
She hadnt skated for a year and then got this, she only learned a before start of last series, hasnt done it for ages and then told we're going to have to change a whole load of what you were used to... not easy...
They all could adjust to another partner, it's all about how long it takes and how good they'd be with them.
I'd imagine ray would do "wonders" and being very good for being at a handicap like suz is (gotta love chris dean) and would also be playing a game of catch up at the start a year out with a different partner, particularly if you had him up against the likes of suzanne and matt fresh out of a doi series or a chris and frankie... she's at a big disadvantage. They are competition for her at her best, getting her to do it with a such disadvantage is a bit crazy, but anyway.
She's gotten on with it and is making light of it and being upbeat about it, as ruthie said she's being an absolute pro with how she's adapting to it and conducting herself...

You're saying Ray had four months of training BEFORE week one of DOI. I certainly didn't know that!

of course he did, they all start training in October!! lol
You dont think they just let them go out onto the ice lol
They have to get used to skating and there partners, by the end of doi they've been skating togther none stop for about 6 months... so even a break makes a big difference, let alone a new partner, which takes a pro awhile to get used to

Obviously I know they train before but going by what Coleen said about starting in December I assumed they all began at the same time. Obviously, I knew Maria was in Austrailia till then too and I recall the fuss about Ray leaving panto to train all of which fitted in with the December start to training.

They train the celebs on their own first and they begin in october, start of november at the latest, they do it with private coaches, T&D dont get involved until dec. I think they bring in the partners late nov. they aim for them to be quite stable at that point though.
The very heavy training starts early dec, thats why he'd have to take the time off, they have 3 to just under 4 months training normally. They start early so as to allow for injuries etc.

So when Jessica talked about skating for the past four months on Sunday and when Coleen talked about her aches and pains beginning training in December they were being economical with the truth? Shock, horror!

The training bit wasnt really my point at all but anyway, just that they have a decent amount of training. Briefly people actually start seeing the contestants out and around the rinks in november and they've usually had a few lessons at that point. Now obviously it does vary depending on there schedule...
Well jess trained before anyway but thats another issue and also coleen was probs talking about the heavy training. They have them out and around a rink with a coach doing light stuff the fist month. Last year linda broke her foot which put her out for 10 weeks and she started to train again in early december...

Also I think they all get a bit overenthusiastic and leave out a month and general info, frankie said last year that chris couldnt skate before doi. I think in heat of moment they exaggerate a tad bless them... lol

But back to my point was just that they all had at least a couple of months to adjust that was all... they all get used to eachother and skate none stop, so for someone last year to be up against someone fresh out of doi is tough from the start for suz, chris and kyran. It takes them all a while to get into it and to take it up again, even with the slightest of changes when it's still something new is tough.

As I said I still reckon ray would beat suz, but I think they deprived the audience of a more entertaining show with everyone at full strength.

Hopefully they'll never do it again and would fix it next year, cos to break one of this years finalists again and put they behind at the starting line would be very dissappointing... to play catch up from the beginning isnt good...

Sorry but four months from 12th April is approx 12th December by my maths!

huh???
Ah no, I dont want the training thing to eclipse what has been a very good discussion!!
my point was simply that each year the contestants have plenty of time to get used to their partner and have a good understanding even by week one. that was all...
I dont think no matter how good you are you'd be unaffected by playing catch up with a new partner against the best of past and your own series and people fresh out.
It's unfortunate they've had to do that and I hope for competitions sake it happens to nobody else in the future. Cos not having champs at full strength against eachother, regardless of the fact that ray would still probs win is a bit disappointing and shouldnt happen again. Everyone should go in on a more equal footing, then we could judge properly how good everyone is, at the moment with suzanne we cant really. We can see shes doing well and holding her own but cant compare properly, we'll just have to take chris' word for it that for her circumtances she's doing really well... it would have been nice to see her with matt though

I think you are doing TOUR maths instead of DANCING ON ICE maths !!! Its late...we are all tired lolol

Sorry I was answering to your post before you edited it. Anyway, glad to have chatted and heard some different perspectives. I'll definitely ask Todd about his four months training next time I see him !!

I think you could have todd training for 4 years and it wouldnt make a difference. But again that wasnt my point so dont want it to become focus or anything as off shoots and throw away comments can sometimes become on these threads.

In the suzanne v ray, ray would probs win anyway, though it wouldnt be alot more interesting and entertaining if it was a more even fight...

LOL indeed. I was trying to say that on Sunday (12.4) Jessica said she had been skating for four months, clearly giving the impression training started in December. That's all!