Wonder who Gaynor will be skating with?

I agree. Mikey is getting worse each week.

Thanks for confirming the line up.

I can't see a tour without Matt Evers so it could be him.

Gaynor seems like a really bizarre choice for the tour. The only thing people liked about her skating was her partnership with Dan, who she presumably won't be skating with this year. Not to mention not that many people watched series 1 compared to subsequent series and she's never done any of the tours before. I can't imagine many people will be fussed about seeing her.

Good to see Clare's doing it. I'd like her to be paired with Pavel or Matt personally.

I'll enjoy seeing Ray partner someone else. His partnership with Maria was great but he's the kind of skater who I feel can connect well with anyone on the ice, it'll be interesting to see what he'll do with a new partnership. Will be good to see him battle it out with Chris too, who is far less of a partner skater but has high technical ability.

It'll certainly be interesting to see Ray with another partner. Suzanne's performances did seem to suffer a bit without Matt last year so this might just show us how good Ray really is...

No Kieron then

Suzanne was given just over 2 weeks with Luk to adapt to him and to learn 5 new routines. Nicky said the problem was that due to this they had no flow and started way behind the others. Hopefully they'll realise that was ridiculous and give other people more time. Clare thankfully has skated with Luk quite a few times (Suz had just the once) as well and has trained quite a bit with him and awhile now to train with him again... Ray also has quite awhile to adjust and if he gets alex or molly they are very similar to Maria.

Clare has just confirmed on BR that she's started training for the tour this week and will skate 5 sessions a week with Lukasz starting next week so about 5 weeks and 3 routines worth.

I can't wait.

Agree, Suzanne and luks problem was that they simply didnt have any time to get to know eachother or the routines. Like you said flow is a huge huge part of it and when i saw them skate the technical difficulty was there (even Robin said young hearts was one of the most difficult routines on tour) but it was just hesitant, if anything I think Luk was trying to help her too much, Matt just sort of leaves her too it, Luk actually seemed much more nervous than Suzanne was and at one point he almost dropped her. If they had had a month together I think They'd have been very good, they were getting 28s by the end. Giving them 2 weeks was a farce and it essentially tied a skate behind her back, chris dean was actually amazed they did so well under the circumstances. I think they'll learn from last year, everyone will get their partners early and the adjustment doesnt seem to be too big. Clare has done alot of ice parties with Luk and alex is very similiar in build and style to Maria.

Thank god, lesson learned by DOI then!! She has tonnes of time with him so. Suzanne was a rather unfortunate guinea pig. Same thing wont happen this year.

It's a pity they didnt realise last year that you can't have two weeks with someone and produce wonders... !! I mean for gods sake!
Really happy Clare won't suffer the same fate and will actually get to be competitive. We'll have a good girl on tour who won't be making up a big gap from the get go meaning she can give the boys a really good run. I'm happy!!

Yes, obviously lack of time was a big part of the problem for Suzanne but it'll still be interesting to see Ray and Clare with different partners. In fact, the fact that they should both have the time to adjust and practise makes it even more interesting. Bonnie managed pretty well with Pavel didn't she? Ray and Clare are both strong skaters - I'm rather glad that Ray, in particular, has something else to challenge him this year.

Matt announced on Twitter that he's with gaynor.

That's why I'm so pleased. They actually have time this year and so should be competitive. They'll almost have the same amount of time together before the tour starts as suzanne and luk had together for the whole thing. If they had started at that point I think they'd have been very exciting, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what these new pairs can do with lots of time... Other than Matt and Gaynor really, I don't think they'll be that competitive. But i'm really pleased Clare has been given a fair shot, it'll be interesting seeing her go up against Hayley.
Also Alex and Luk seem to be taking priority over Andrei and Susie.

Gaynor said on Cool FM Radio at about 3:30 earlier today she was skating with Matt

Is Clare doing it!!!!

Would prefer her with Andrei but she's still there so Ray or Chris must be with Alex.

Clip of Clare skating with Lukasz at Kyran's Ice Party in Bristol. Was lucky enough to be there and it's a fab routine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwwOdzsy0KM

Does this mean Pavel won't be doing the tour?! Nooooooo!

Clare is doing the tour

as is Hayley

oh and Emil Atak is also doing it

I just came on to post this

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukp...QmmE2IU4TeL83A

Though personally I'd rather have Daniella

Seems like Brianne might well be doing the tour...

Which would be great news - she's been a really good addition this year.

I wonder if it will be with Chris, or even Ray, possibly? (Or will they surprise us all and fit in Kieron somehow!)

In what way?

Strictly, you're oh so predictable...

I'd love it if she were with Kieron I think he's great, but I reckon they are going to add Danny to the tour who will skate with Frankie and Brianne will skate with Chris and Alex will skate with Ray.

That was a serious question...

and so are you, but you must know that.

Danny is definitely the obvious one for them to add - he'll certainly be free to do it! Chris and Brianne have the big advantage of already knowing each other well, but then logic and DOI don't always go together, so who knows what partnerships they'll come up with...