I'd like to see Matt on DOI, as judge or contestant. It doesn't seem that SCD has much to offer him now and so I think he would be better completely cutting loose from it.

But there are so many rumours about these shows, it is difficult to tell if this one is true although the statement about his actually having been practicing on the ice is interesting.

I'm gonna go with those who think it's not true. However if it does turn out to be true then great, i will look forward to the series starting as i'm sure he will be fantastic to watch.

I just can't believe he'd risk his limbs by doing DOI!

Nor can i Buddy but if it is true then i wonder if Strictly could get one of the DOI pro's to take part one year, preferably Matt Evers

Double post

I'm excited about this rumour and hope it's true, provided that Matt doesn't have any previous skating experience. I love DOI and would love to be able to skate myself, and I think that silly rivalry aside, it makes absolute sense that a professional dancer would take an interest in learning ice dancing as a new hobby. All the more so if they feel they've been treated badly by SCD and have the chance to make a statement and earn some decent money by learning to skate with Olympic Gold Medallists.

Whoever thinks it's sad that someone might be reduced to learning to skate with Tovill & Dean has very different thinking to me.

It's true those with dance experience don't always do well on DOI, although it is a definite advantage and there is a world of difference between a professional dancer who has experience of top level couples dancing and a singer/actor who had some training at stage school.

I would worry that people might think he has too much of an advantage, but if he is truly a novice on the ice, then it will be fascinating to see how he adapts his skills. In Ray's case, not only did he have much more relevant dancing experience than anyone who went before, but he had a lot of skating and roller-blading experience, which meant that he wasn't really learning a new skill and started much better than most talented, but inexperienced contestants could aspire to, which ruined any sense of competition, and spoiled the show for me.

On the other hand, there have been people like Greg Ruseski who had skated a lot, who couldn't dance for toffee, and Chris Fountain who was also an experience hockey skater, and had dance training, so even though he had a massive, possibly unfair advantage, he had a lot to learn.

As long as there's other contestants who can provide a real challenge for Matt, why not? If there's another Ray Quinn or Hayley Tamaddon or two as well as Matt, I think it'll be a great series to watch.

You are such a chancer you! I can guess why you'd choose Matt Evers, although I'd choose Maria Filippov (even though she's female)!


I'm happy if the standard is high too. I don't think we'll ever see the likes of Ray again, but Hayley set the bar high again last year and I'd hate to see it go down again.

As someone who dances and skates I would agree with those who have said that his dance background will not give him an unneccessary advantage if he does DOI. Chris Fountain and Ray Quinn both had previous skating experience and basic skating skills are far more advantageous to feeling comfortable figure skating than being able to dance is. (in fact, having tried to teach several dancer friends to skate, they found the constant feeling of being down in their knees really hard to adapt to because of years of pulling up).

I was quite surprised when I saw the rumour because when he and Lilia announced they'd not be joining the troupe one of the thoughts that ran through my mind was that Lilia had possibly been approached for DOI because of her past skating experience. If the other speculation about her turns out not to be true she'd have been fab for DOI.

Yup, gorgeous Jeremy Sheffield last year is a former professional ballet dancer but was pretty terrible on DOI and was thankful he got voted off in week 3!

If this is true she'd make a great judge as she could comment on the skating & dance side and would be a vast improvement on waste of space Bunton.

He he he
Actually i like all of the pro's, just like i like all of the Strictly pro's aswell. Thinking about it Matt Evers is similar to Matt Cutler in that they are both lovely people and both are gorgeous to look at, so it would be a fair swap

I didn't know about Lilia's past skating experience. I agree she'd make a great judge, any banter she had with Jason would be hilarious!

Im not keen on Matthew breaking anything I think he should take over the running of the SCD show.

with him as center lead.............

I know what you are saying, but you have to remember that before Strictly, Matt had finished with the performing side of dancing; he had retired from competing, and only returned to cabaret/demonstratons/shows as a result of being on Strictly.

His "proper job" was as a dance coach at prestigious studios in London. I'm pretty sure some of his students who missed him for lessons when he joined SCD will be overjoyed at the thought they might get their coach back.

Matthew has just twittered that he has been in the Med for two weeks and is now going to Hong Kong. Interestingly didn't deny the DoI story. I can understand him not confirming it if it is true as the contestants aren't confirmed until much later in the year, but if its not true at all I thought he may have mentioned it! I thought it was definitely not true but now I am beginning to wonder.
The plot thickens!!

If he's been overseas for two weeks then he may not be aware of the rumours.

I'm sure he is aware of the rumours as loads of people must have contacted him to ask if it's true.

Matthew has got to be aware of the story...

for 1) he must have been asked via twitter
for 2) a friend/someone must have asked him when he got back from the Med
for 3) i'm sure he dosen't walk around with his head in the sand as to rumours about himself.........he has to be aware of the rumour.

It would be the easiest thing in the world to deny if not true (esp via twitter) so you do have to wonder if there is some truth in it........which opens up a whole can of worms/rumours really about his presence on SCD this year.

Mind you it beats me how a trainer could have been helping him (as i recall the article said) if he only had a week off between the pro tour finishing and going to the Med,i can't see him practicing in that week this far ahead of January (DOI) and within his only week off since April/May.

Plot thickens........denial would stop it.

Does Matt make a habit of responding to rumours or does he ignore them? If he never usually responds to rumours, he's not going to respond to this one either.

Pretty big,unusual rumour to "ignore" though,lots of implications for his inclusion or not in SCD 2010 and his participation in any SCD/DOI tours next year..........lots of his supporters "out here" will be wondering about it and although its not right to "expect" any denial it would be nice to know.

I'm thinking he is doing something on DOI for it not to be denied or else people will just be kept guessing for months maybe for it only to turn out as not true (which could be said now).

double post.

Just wondering though, if he was on one of the Royal Carribbean ships... there's quite a few of them have decent sized ice rinks on board along with pro skaters who do the shows every night. Anyone tweeted him to ask what ship he was on?

They actually 'audition' the celebs for DOI so it may be that he had a try out during that week. Might also explain the rumour surfacing too if he was spotted by someone at a rink.