How can Hayley be compared to Chris Fountain? Just watched his spin and it puts hers in the shade. Hayeley might be the best this year but really?

My thoughts exactly. His spin was amazing and i could watch it all day. Chris Fountain in my opinion is THE best sketer DOI have ever had. He is better than Ray Quinn as Ray had dance experience before last years show so his performances came across as brilliant but Chris only had ice skating experience. As shown by the spins Ray's was very poor in comparison to Chris's and for me after watching both on tour last year and seeing both do the Bolero, Chris is mile better and Hayley will struggle to keep up on tour this year. Yes she is the best this year but not ever as Clare is a better female dancer than her and she will show Hayley up as a very average skater and dancer this year.

In my opinon Chris, Ray and Clare wil fight it put for the chance to skate Bolero with Hayley only performing it a few times. Maybe even Mikey on popularity or Gary because of Maria and also the fact he is the best skater this year might even perform the Bolero more times than her.

Chris "only had ice skating experience" may explain why he was better at ice skating and spins? As Robin might say its not all about one spin and Ray was probably better at everything else including jumping . Suzanne and Hayley are both better actors and dancers. Hayley is streets ahead this year so her competition will come from previous years unless the vote is completely bizarre this year.

The tour is difficult to predict. The pro young male vote should be active but it will be split but so may the Clare/Hayley vote. Hayley already has a 30 routine and Clare seems to be working up a new difficult one. Could be a vote for the male competition like the 2010 SCD tour or really competitive .

I really liked Chris Fountain, and felt he was very clever with his spins etc, but that he lacked any finesse with his skating. It is DANCING on ice. Hayley is more the whole package.

See maybe it's just me but I don't think Hayley is an amazing skater, she is a really good dancer and performer though. Yes she is the best this year but personally the competition hasn't been great. Will be interesting to see who comes out on top on the tour. Chris and Ray are miles better in my opinion.

I agree, and I thought the same of Suzanne. It would be interesting to see them compete, but I don't think Suzanne is doing the tour this year.

Yeah it would be. Shame she isn't doing the tour.

Not sure what Claire against Hayley will be like. That could be quite interesting too. Does anyone know if Claire kept up the skating?

I would totally agree with this. Hayley is a great performer and a good skater but not in the same league as Chris and Ray. Chris was a great skater, but not really as good a performer as Ray. Ray in my view was and hopefully still is the complete package, so taking skating and performing into account I would place Ray first probably then Chris above Hayley. The current participants have the advantage I suppose on tour as they are more in the public eye, and both Ray and Chris have had to change partners (which may be no bad thing in that it challenges them) but the competition level has not been great this year and I would say both Ray and Chris are in a different league to Hayley overall, good though she is to watch.

Chris' performing style has really come along. His 'You Raise me Up' last year was really beautiful and graceful. He's never going to be as good as Ray or Suzanne or Hayley at dancing but he's fantastic for someone who hasn't had that kind of dancing experience.

Chris thrills me for sheer skating accomplishments though. He's continually raising the bar. I can't wait to see the tour. I'm as much of a fan of his as I ever was.

Yes. She was in Kyran Bracken's Ice Party last year.

Ok Cool, thanks!

Chris danced until he went into Hollyoaks and said if he hadnt got into Holloyoaks he'd be a dancer. Not to the same extent as the others but he is danced trained yes. It didnt really show doi though, especially his ballet, his hockey showed more. He only became polished on the last tour...

Clare has skated a lot since the show, her skating has come on a lot apparently. Same as with Kyran, he improves greatly every tour, pity he isnt skating this year!

I've been watching old series and IMHO, Kyran and Ray are the best two celebrities to ever grace the ice. I'm not a massive Ray fan but his skating was out of this world.

Yeah I've still yet to be impressed with Hayley's skating skills when compared with the stars of previous series. She did a nice hold-foot spiral one week and obviously her spin was good but most of what else we've seen of her is just toe-pick dancing. Chris was technically brilliant (and from what people have said is even better these days) and Ray had the technical ability as well as the performance skills that Hayley has. In terms of skating they are both way above her.

From what we've seen so far Suzanne is better overall than Hayley IMO. When Hayley can do a routine with this much solo skating I'll be really impressed: http://www.myvideo.de/watch/4772878/...and_Matt_Music

We'll presumably have the solo skating spot required element coming up soon so that should give her a chance to prove herself...

Solo spot is next weeks required element.
Chris has said on twitter that he's done the head banger with Brianne, and is landing his axel and even some double jumps now.

I think this years tour will be a close run competition. The current winner always does well, but Chris, Ray and Clare will be tough competition

Difficult to compare routines with Hayley and Suzanne? I was thinking Music has more content and added risk to its most difficult move but you couldn't compare it because it must be longer but when I looked at it, its actually a few seconds shorter as a routine. Its the choregraphy that may be any difference. I have a similar problem with Ray in that he clearly could do amazing things but I don't think on the show they ever gave him one of the really great routines l can remember Suzanne, Kyran, Chris and Clare for.

Going back to the original post, Hayley's spin was not as good as Chris's but it didn't need to be. She's competing against those from her year and her spin was much better than any of those.

As regards past competitors, it seems that Chris has really kept up the skating and can now do some impressive moves. He also showed last year that he's upped the performance quotient in his routines. It'll be interesting to see what Ray and Clare can do to match him and what Hayley does to keep up with all three.

Well chris had obviously done some spinning in his previous skating experiance because there is no way a novice skater can do a spin like that.

His previous was hockey, not figure skating, and the show gives them months to build up to something like that.

We can still compare with other years, and no one said her spin needed to be as good as his, just that it wasn't.

Why are there suddenly so many objections to comparing with skaters from other years? I think there were many objections when it's happened in the past.

I much prefer watching Chris to either Ray or Hayley. Good as they are, I find Chris a much more exciting skater than either of them.

Plus in all honesty, I still find Ray really creepy-looking...

And Hayley kind of nauseating sometimes...

Can't wait to see Chris skating with Brianne on the tour.

Chris was very exciting to watch but I think Ray was better technically and artistically. IMO he was the best of the best and if he had chosen to go concentrate on ice-dancing alone - in a few years time he could have been a world champion provided he had the right partner.

Christopher Dean was extremely lucky he found Jayne Torville as his partner cos he would never have made it without her. A commentator said about her years ago "she is a real Bobby Dazzler" and he also said that Jayne was lucky to have found Chris because he was very innovative with his choreography and pushed Jayne to her limit.

Chris and Hayley have totally different styles. Chris was always very confident and solid on the ice, but his style was messy. His technique was always playing catch-up with his general ice-covering ability. That's not surprising given his previous skating experience.

Hayley on the other hand is a very sharp mover. It was the timing in her last routine that was so impressive and the skating is solid enough. But her experience is more dance.

While Chris always wanted to try the next move, before he'd fully perfected the previous one. Hayley wants to work on perfecting whatever it is she is doing. It is inevitable that people will play to their strengths, but I did think that in doing so, Chris often ignored his weaknesses. I didn't see the last tour, but by the sound of things he has been working on his lines etc, so all good.

Yeah. when I used to see Chris playing ice hockey as a kid, he often stopped in the middle of a challenge to do a spin waving his hockey stick in the air. Yeah right!!! lol.

There's no need to get sarcastic !, all im saying is that there is no chance that a novice can do a spin like that !