Watching this interview with Kieron, he talks at the start about going to an audition for DOI with several other Hollyoaks people so ITV could decide who would get to take part. Have they ever mentioned they do this?

http://www.e4.com/video/jTlfnOnasJrzcYGkrZ7Mdu/play.e4

Yeah I remember Phil talking about it on This Morning last year. It's so they can see whether you're any good on the ice or not - really I think it's just to test whether you're competent at basic skating before starting training - there are some who might be so bad that there's no hope.

Yeah I've heard about this before. I find it strange 'cause I remember Scott Mills saying he auditioned and was turned down, yet surely he can't have been as bad a skater as Hilary/Todd etc.

I know that in August I had a lesson at Lee Valley and both Bobby and Gary were doing the show then. Also a friend of mine went to Lee Valley in August and saw Karen Barber with someone from Eastender and also a dark haired woman (I don't know who she is), but neither of them made it to the show.

lol, i dont really think that they choose the best skaters. They have to choose a veriety of people, The good skaters, The really bad skaters, The hunk, The babe, The oldie, The one with a story (heather mills) ect ect....

btw was there any replacements this series because i know that bonnie, clare obviously zaraah and claire were replacement. do you know if there were any this series

Danny Foster is the reserve this year.

I heard Dr Hilary was a late replacement for someone else, though I don't know how true that is.

I knew back in Nov that Dr Hilary was taking part so dont think he could have been that late a replacement,and Danny Foster was def the reserve as I know who he would have been skating with.

I know Danny Foster is one of the reserves, partnered with Katie Stainsby, however, there were a number of reports that Dr Hilary was a replacement for his GMTV colleague Anna Williamson, after she broke her ankle.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...cold-feet.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/medi...itv-television

Oh, and apparently Kelle Bryan is also a reserve, partnered with Lukasz Rozycki, who is Alexandra Schaumann's husband and skating partner and has been in some of the group numbers this year.

Oh, I can see they might need that. It was more the fact that they seemed to have a 'Hollyoaks' slot to fill in the line-up, and were auditioning lots of the cast to see who would fill it that really surprised me!

I guess it's all about having a balance, and attracting the widest possible audience. Must be an odd job picking the celebs though...

While I understand the reason behind such an audition, I do wonder what level of incompetency you would have to show before you would be deemed unusable if your profile particularly matched the spread of celebs wanted for that year's demographic.

If the likes of Todd and Dr Hilary are fine but the likes of Bonnie, Zaraah and (I think) Clare are not because they don't fit what the producers are looking for, I think there should be a rethink.

The girls in particular seem to be getting a raw deal when it comes to name over talent. I'd maybe understand it if the women ending up on the show were all so famous but they're not. There are usually at least a couple of guys who can skate fairly competently and put on a decent show. Bearing in mind the voting tendencies of this type of show, the girls need to be just as strong at skating or better. I'm not saying it's fair, it just seems to work out that way and if there are audition shows, I think the producers should use them for more than just ensuring that a brain dead rhino with four left feet doesn't make it to the first show.

Don't forget Suzanne.... she also was a reserve and went on to win it..... so what the criteria is to take part in this, I simply do not know. Danny Foster, who is a stand by this year is apparently great on the ice, yet Dr. Hillery and Tana Ramsey make the cut !!!! Madness... why would they want to pick crap skaters, surely it would make much more sense to have as many super skaters as you can to make a real competition out of it.

I was amazed to read they hold auditions!!!

How then did Todd Carty get through? Or Doctor H? It's a mystery to me.

If it's not about the basic competence on the ice - and how can it be? - then what's the point in an audition?

Karen Barber does the initial auditions. I believe she auditioned over 70 people this year. After that, tapes of their auditions are sent to Chris and Jayne and to ITV and they all decide who to put through. I would imagine contestants like Todd Carty and Bobby Davro were ITV's decision, as ITV no doubt thought they would make entertaining television.

Even though I had limited patience for Todd last year, I would actually have liked to see Bobby last a little bit longer as I'd have liked to see how he did after his panto commitments were over and he was able to put in more effort. I thought Dr Hilary should be the first man out and I couldn't argue with Jeremy leaving either.

I don't think that they will ever pick all good skaters though. They will always have a wide range of ages, abilities & backgrounds. They will also pick people who they think will attract publicity & column inches. Hence Hilary is in as this will guarantee lots of coverage from GMTV, Heather was always going to attract headlines for various reasons & Tana probably got in because they hoped she would attract attention on the back of Gordon.

I think they have cast this year's better than last series. There are a number of potential winners/finalists unlike last year where Ray was too far out in front. (I think Ray was originally asked for series 3 & he would have been better in that as Chris & Suzanne would have been better competition for him & it wouldn't have been a runaway victory).

Suzanne was never a reserve Conchie no... She was brought in to the lineup late and but she went straight into it, never a reserve...
Clare, Bonnie and Zaraah were all reserves though yes cant understand from these what criteria they jusge the girls on, also I dont think auditions for series 1 and 2 etc would have been as big as the likes of this year.

They've been holding auditions for years, but I don't know if everyone has to do it or if it's just a simple case of "can they skate?", but also their aptitude, willingness to learn, and a bit of a screen test thrown in.

I remember the year that Chris Fountain was in it, one of the other Hollyoaks cast said that she auditioned too, but obviously they went with him instead, presumably as the better skater.

Sinitta said that she'd been trying to get on the show for years, and always failed the auditions, but I don't think it's just about who is good and who isn't. They have to get the celeb mix right, so there will be soap stars, pop stars, sports stars and tv presenters that are known to different demographics. A Hollyoaks actor will appeal to a young audience, but they are unlikely to be known to anyone who doesn't watch the show, and the same for a young Coronation Street actor, so the producers will be in a position to take their pick.

Someone like Todd Carty has broader and the nature of his fame makes him harder to replace with an equivalent other, so he could get away with being terrible, and he was terrible in a fairly amusing, entertaining way. If he'd been terrible, but really uptight about it, that would have been painful to watch. Worse, someone who throws their toys out of the cot and quits a couple of weeks into training is a waste of time for everyone.

Gareth Gates said he'd been asked to do the show each year it had been on, but he'd be well known to most of the DOI audience, so any audition was probably a formality.

It's the John Sergeant/Jedward phenomenon though isn't it? Clearly bad but entertaining competitors = more people watching.

They have stand bys who practise every week too.