Ok don't attack me , i know maria is beautiful and so talented and i do love her , but she doesn't stand out to me as the prettiest or the most amazing yet she is always the one that gets the young , talented , hot partner .. even andy this year is meant to be good :/ yet jodeyne , alex , even frankie get duds alot of the time..

I have nothing against her but i see ur point, Strictly do the same with Natalie Lowe, or at least they did till this series just gone

I always liked Melanie

And Susie and Jodeyne too

she got a dud last year

i cant think who she had last year??? I remember Ray and Gary

craig mclachlan (sp?)

She had Craig McLachlan and went out in the elimination round. Up till then she has had really good partners. She came third with Duncan James in Series 2 I think Semi Final with Gareth Gates in Series 3 won with Ray Series 4 and Second with Gary in Series 5 so she hasn't done that badly. I may be wrong with some of the placings but think they are right.

Although I like Maria she doesn't really stand out for me either and have to say I have wondered why she has always had partners that seem proficient or at least popular enough to get them through the show on votes. I think they thought that with Craig last year that he had enough basic skills and that fanbase would have been sufficient but it obviously wasn't enough.

oh thats prob why i dont remember he was rubbish lol

Personally I reckon it's because Maria is a former ice dance champion, whereas other pro's are pairs skaters/adagio skaters etc. I've always thought some of the pros look uncomfortable with actual dance moves but Maria seems more natural as its her background so gets the gud'uns

oh my god i never knew! does that mean shes more experienced that the rest put together! is she the only one whos an ice dance champion?

Up until last year Maria did always have good partners. Ideally they shouldn't really favour any of the pros and all of them should get there share of good/less good partners. Frankie has had some good partners like Chris & Danny so has probably had a fair mix. This is only Jodeyne's 2nd series so difficult to see a pattern with her and she did great with Johnson last year especially given his army injuries.

I'd say Alex should really have got the pick of the bunch this year having had 2 duds in a row & Brianne having won last year & got to the final the previous year is due a dud but doesn't always work out like that. Kristina got a series of duds as well after Stefan so who knows.

I think she was a Bulgarian ice dance champ in the past. Im not sure if she's the only 'dancer' but I know a lot are national champs in their respective styles of skating. But yh she's probably in a better position when being choreographed by ice dancing legends! Lol.
I'd love to see Alex with someone good and Lucasz for that matter.

Nina's done a lot of show skating in her professional career but she started out as an ice dancer and was World Junior Ice Dance champion. Mark is also an ice dancer having represented Britain with his former partner at the World Championships.

Maria has been favoured by the PTB on the show - and it was really unfair on someone like Susie who I think is a lovely skater and a patient teacher.

They should have put Todd with Maria- and then we would have seen how profficient Maria really is.

Probably accounts for why Susie is no longer on the show

I wouldn't say Craig was rubbish, just one of those things. Worse skaters have stayed in the show.

Still doesn't account for the favouritism that is shown to her does it

We didn't get the chance to see how good or bad Craig was, he doesn't have a high profile in this Country as he did when he was in Neighbours so maybe that counted against him!

i wasnt suggesting he was the worst but he was pretty rubbish

The likes of Steven Arnold was much worse yet he stayed though

had all 16 have skated together, chances are he would have stayed, but as there were only 8 it was much more difficult for them 2 survive the public vote

It's exactly the same situation with SCD and Aliona Vilani - it's frustrating when the producers keep on favouring particular pros on these shows especially when there are other pros that are equally if not more talented.

I do like Maria but I have wondered why she's so favoured - even last year with Craig - ok he didn't turn out to be a good skater - probably because he couldn't commit to all the training but he was quite good on paper - he had a sparkly personality, still good looking and he was in Neighbours in the good old days when it was an entertaining soap opera.

Two years ago I would have put Jeremy with Maria (as Chris said he couldn't dance) and Gary with Susie.- would have been fairer given Maria won the show in the previous year with Ray

Topaz - will PM you in a mo

She was put with Craig because he is Australian and that's where she lives these days (inbetween DOI).

Some of it is down to who lives where, so Dan always seems to get the women from the Northern soaps, but presumably that suits him. I imagine the profile of the professional also helps. I just can't see Dan ever going out first week, no matter who he's got.

Yeah, I thought this. Craig was her only 'dud' but aside from that she's had one of the best skaters each year!

I don't think where the pro lives has that much to do with the celeb they are paired up with for a start they have to match up things like height and then there are other considerations I guess like personalities etc to be considered I don't think its simple that pro lives north/south lets put them with whoever.

Take last year Dan was with Kerry who lived down South somewhere, Matt at that stage was living in London but was put up in Manchester with Denise. Katie got sent to America to partner Vanilla Ice she lives in Blackpool not America and Maria now seems to live in Northern Ireland although not sure how long she has been there.

Again Dan was based in London when he partnered Linda because he moved into her house for the duration of the show and when he partnered Hayley he had to move to Leeds for the duration of the show as he was sharing a flat with Brianne.

While Maria possibly being based in Australia may have been a consideration in the pairing other factors would have been taken into account as like with Katie they could have sent another pro out there as they could have easily brought in a new American pro then rather than sending someone over but they sent Katie they could have done the same with Craig and sent another pro over there.

Also given Dan's partnered with Jen I think he has been training all over the place so far as she was on tour with Calander Girls so he would have had to go where she was at whatever time although I would assume they will now be based up North.
Last edited by Tiggergirl : 08-01-2012 at 14:02

I don't think it's as simple at that either, which is why I said part of it is down to location.

Linda was living up north doing Emmerdale when she started rehearsals. Obviously, it could just be coincidence that most of his partners were based in the north, but clearly he's happy working with the Emmerdale lot at the Leeds ice rink.

Regarding Maria living in Australia. It's not just that it saved sending someone over, it means that they'd have a connection and it's easier for them to get on with each other.

Obviously height and build is always going to come first when deciding who goes with who, but personality (which may include regional humour) and other practical considerations all come into play before they are going to get into decisions such as trying to even out the duffers.

Maria now lives in Belfst with her Boyfriend, her son also now lives with her, she tweeted a photograph of him in his school uniform when he started his new school in September.