Why does there always have to be a silly twist, or change in format for these shows? Leave it to the general public and lord knows who's going to be voted out. The young lady Laura looked to be the best skater there, yet she was in the bottom 3, possibly because like myself, nobody had ever heard of her. Thankfully she got voted back through, but such a shame that Angela and Nadia are out already. This is unfair because next week, there's going to be two more eliminations which will mean two more skaters going through possibly less deserving than Angela and Nadia. Obviously it would have been fairer to judge ALL the skaters at the same time but it would have taken too long, but to me it just goes to show that there's far too many people in it in the first place. Perhaps they'll do a wild card and reinstate somebody..but imo it's still a bit of a mess.

The one good thing is that they haven't decided to run the show over two nights (yet)!

Don't hire non celebs in the first place and the problem would have been solved, at least in part. That Madley girl. WTF??!!

really sad about both Nadia and Angela being eliminated

it would have "made" the programme to watch the two develop and progress their skating abilities as the series continued. I think Angela would have brought some grace to the ice and Nadia some comedy (much funnier than Colon Nolan! )

Cannot understand *why* Dancing on Ice brought this new theme into the programme - if it ain't broke, DON'T FIX IT!!!!!

sheeesh......

but saying that, really, really, REALLY hoping that Chloe Madeley - MODEL and CELEBRITY hahahaha, does get eliminated at round one, if only to be spared the gurning face and pointless soundbites from Dad Dicky in the audience......*gets ready to punch tellybox screen*

Aw, I'm sorry on a personal level that Angela and Nadia didn't get through, but this 'qualifying round' thing is just a gimmick - they're just starting with more celebrities and eliminating 2 rather than one each week for the first two weeks - so individually Nadia and Angela are no worse off than if they had been in last year and didn't get through to round 2!

Maybe this year the great British public in its wisdom has had enough of novelty contestants and did not want to watch a combination of Todd Carty and Colleen Nolan (Nadia) or a female version of Dr Hilary Jones (Angela) over more promising skaters?

Nothing against either Nadia or Angela personally - Nadia came across really well personally and would have been fun on the show - but it is a skating show.

What Angela & Sean did with their approach was pretty close to "proper" ice dancing. Admittedly Nadia didn't skate much (well not out of hold) but whereas Angela was in hold she was skating opposite Sean as opposed to alongside him which is more difficult, she also did a fair bit on her own and was quite smooth. I didn't agree with Jason's suggestion that she failed to connect with her music or her partner either. Accept that current popularity got at least one couple in over Angela as that's the nature of the beast, but it's still a real pity, IMO. Shame too that Chris' apparent new tactic of appealing to voters to choose the best skater(s) came in the skate off and not at the earlier stage.

I think, to be fair, that they have always trained up more celebs than make it to the live shows, having a few spare in case of injury, drop outs, simply don't work out etc. I know of someone who did months of training last year only to be told she wasn't needed. It is likely that this year they have simply let all of them do one week.
But I did feel bad for Angela ( I thought she did OK and was marked too low) & Nadia (not much actual skating, but great attitude!) - and their partners.

For me, the main problem with doing it this way is that they didn't make it clear enough that the judges' marks were there only for guidance and didn't count at all. I know it was said, but it needed saying more frequently. I mean, I knew it was the public vote only, but still instinctively felt that Laura would be safe because she was top of the judges' leader-board. The instinct is still to 'save' your favourites who are lower down the board, I think.

Daft of me, I know, but I can't imagine I was alone in my complacency. There was confusion about how the voting worked on this forum, and we're pretty much a self-selecting bunch of DOI fans, so ought to have known. I saw a post from somebody saying that even if she ended up in the bottom three, the judges would save her, but of course even the skate-off result was solely in the hands of the public.

It's okay to have a new angle or twist - in TV, if it ain't broke, you still fix it - but if they're going to change the way people are eliminated, they need to be a lot clearer for morons like me.

How is that -- her "not" being a celebrity -- any part of the problem of the others being eliminated?


Then why did that nightmarishly irritating guy from Coronation St get through?

And why did Robin say that what they were looking for above all was a great performance. "Performance" in these shows is code for non-skating "entertainment" (gurning, ham acting, "comedy", ...).

And why only one judge who knows about skating?

It seems to be that DOI has caved in the the "it's an entertainment show" crowd who think skating is almost irrelevant.

Qualifiying rounds...bad idea, and unfair

Unfortunately, as the presenters explained, that's why they did it.

Yes, it seems they deliberately did something because it would seem unfair.

Whatever the reality show - Dancing on Ice, Strictly, Big Brother - I think it's always a mistake to jettison people too early. You need an "episode" or two to register a proper impression. There's also the risk of contestants leaving the show early for various reasons - especially in DOI, which is such a potentially dangerous activity. If the contestants have put in weeks of training, why not let them have a couple of shows' grace before voting them off?
I think Strictly really benefitted this year from having five people in the semi and a three-person finale. For the first time in ages there was a real sense of competition.

Months, it seems, which is even better for your point.

Yes and in SCD this year everyone got through their first week (split into two groups) - so nobody went till week three.

While I understood the judges' marks were only for guidance, I did think the judges would be the ones making the decision in the skate-off, thus Laura would of course have been saved. Thank heavens the public saved her anyway, but she could have been out which would've been such a shame.

Much as I love DOI, I hope it's not going to go the way of some other talent shows and be totally a popularity contest. Much as I love Coronation Street and feel sorry for Steve Arnold being written out in a way that means he can't make a comeback, I wouldn't have dreamt of voting for him on last night's performance. I can't quite see what 'seeing Steve's funny side come out' has to do with ice dancing.

Don't see the point and what exactly is different to this being the first actual show apart from 2 celebs going out instead of one?