Not sure of the programme - it might have been Daybreak. Beth and Dan were asked about Pamela's departure and said she'd trained hard and they thought she was overcome by nerves: no mention of the wardrobe 'malfunction' until a direct question forced them to address the issue.

They both looked embarrassed and said how sorry they were and Beth moved swiftly on to described how she used to 'glue' her gymnastics leotard to avoid similar slips.

It appeared to me that neither of them saw any costume mishap - nor did anyone else I've spoken to.

I was impressed with the Beth/Dan partnership. She's a down to earth young lady - no moaning - she clearly a hard worker, who accepts that the move from gymnastics holds pitfalls but is determined to give her utmost to the new discipline she's learning.

I'm pleased that they've given Dan someone like Beth this year, he always seems to get someone showbiz-related usually and I think it's good for him to have a change where there is room for the presentation and expression to develop rather than dominating the performance.

Beth is lovely - very down-to-earth and friendly. Dan is easily my favourite pro so I'm really looking forward to seeing how this partnership flourishes.

I agree about Beth, I have followed her for years on TV with the gynmastics. She is very down to earth and friendly and at the moment she is my favourite.

They were on BBC Breakfast. I think Beth could be brilliant, but I like that she's not entirely confident with the performance side of things yet. It makes it much more interesting to see someone from her background being brilliant at some aspects, but less so at others. It helps to gie an insight into the different components that make up a really good ice dancing/skating routine.

Looking at the line up at the start of the competition I didn't favour anyone in particular, I was impressed by Beths routine last week and having watched Beth and Dan's interview on Breakfast this morning and seeing how complimentary they both were about the other contestants, I am going to make them my favourites!

Yes I agree he usually gets the Northern based soap actresses doesn't he!

I think it's good for Beth too that she's been given one of the more of the outgoing pros because as lovely as she is she strikes me as a bit reserved - probably due to dedicating most of her life to gymnastics. I think Dan will work with the trainers to get the best out of her - It was a promising start so I'm looking forward to seeing how she develops.

I agree i think it's a really good partnership and that move she made in the first week leaves me excited for what else they are going to come up with. I think she might be the dark horse.

Beth and Dan were my favourites last week. She seems lovely and I enjoyed their routine.

The only thing I don't understand - and would love some ideas as to the reasons

Dan always seems to get someone young - he has never had someone from the Aggie McKenzie or Leila Morse age bracket

Why - not having a go at Dan - just a genuine question

He might not have had any older partners but he has had a couple that weren't great skaters, so pretty even that way in the scheme of things ?

Edit, Linda Lusardi is only three years younger than Aggie.

I would be interested to see how he would fare with someone like a Christine Hamilton

I've often wondered how they decide on allocating the celebs for the pros on DOI - there's no way on Strictly they'd give a long serving pro so many ringers - I know Dan is popular but then you have someone like Mark Hanretty and since he's started he seems to have just got 40 + celebs - perhaps the producers feel that Dan is a more experienced skater and that a promising celeb will be safer in his hands with the more technical moves like the headbanger and lifts etc.

To be fair to Dan he has had an older celeb in Linda Lusardi although she was surprisingly quite good but then he did have to pay his dues with the dreadful Kerry Katona - I know she was relatively young but she was completely hopeless and annoying to boot

My sentiments exactly Topaz - I am sure the other male skaters are just as good as Dan if not better even. It was the same with the ladies. Maria seemed to get ringer after ringer - and the someone like Susie was repeatedly given duds

I am sure T and D have an idea of who has the ability so why saddle the same pros with dud after dud

I'd like to see Mark Hanretty with a younger celeb next year.

Maria did have a period where she was very lucky with her partners but for the last few years she hasn't been so lucky - we'll never know how Andy would have turned out because he was eliminated early but Craig wasn't very good and this year Shayne doesn't seem that strong either. Briane seems to have all the luck with her partners - another ringer so soon!

Linda Lusardi was older she was 49 (50 later that year when she did the show) so she was hardly that young. Gaynor Faye was about 35 when she did the show, Emily Symons was about 37. Roxanne Pallett was one of the youngest he had as she was 26, Kerry Katona was 31 and Jennifer Ellison was 28. Beth is 27.

Ok so Dan has not exactly had the oldest but he has not had the younger ones either. You could ask the same question of why has Brianne generally been given all of the younger ones 3 of her 4 celebs have been in their early 20s.

Matt has generally had youngish ones. Lisa, Suzanne, Zoe and Jorgie only Lisa was over 30 when she did the show.

Maria again has mostly had younger ones her only "older" celeb has been Craig McLachlan.

So it's not just Dan that gets paired with younger celebs despite the perception on here and again part of the pairings is down to location and Dan is generally based in the North most of the older celebs are based in the South which is where other pros tend to be based.

There are obviously other factors as well when pairing them up height being an example as you cannot have a very tall female celeb with a shorter male pro as the lifts won't work and vice versa IIRC that was an issue with Sean Wilson in Series 1 as he couldn't do the lifts with Marisa.

I think footygirl you simply do not like Dan he has had poorer skaters and he has had better skaters he has also had a mix of ages. He seems to be an excellent coach and he would work well with whoever he was given and get the best from them regardless of age.

I think you also assume perhaps wrongly that being older automatically means that you will be poorer that is not always the case there are many older people who are better at doing things than their younger counterparts.

Tell me about it - I noticed via DS last week who Brianne had got - it just doesn't look fair the way they allocate the partners, and why some get ringer after ringer and some get dud after dud

I went to great pains to emphasise I was not having a go at Dan, I simply think it is unfair about Dan being given another potential winner- he has already won the series twice- some male pros haven't even reached a final

Same thoughts for Brianne - she has another ringer

Yes but in your original post you singled Dan out yet again when as I point out there are many of the pro skaters who have had consistently younger skaters yet in all these discussions it is only Dan that you bring into it.

You are now mentioning Brianne but when you do keep singling out one pro it does seem that you have an issue with them in particular and I am not having a go just stating it from my perspective as I say it is not exclusive to Dan but it seems that he is the only one that people seem to have the problem with.

If anything I find it more of a problem with Brianne as it is especially obvious. At least Dan and Matt have had a mix of ages and abilties over the years Brianne has had 2 certainly good, Sebastien should have been had he not had a meltdown and Matt is good as well so thats her fourth.

Perhaps though a lot of it is the responsibility of the pro as well. How much they push their celeb and encourage them and how much they get out of them and how hard they are prepared to work to learn. Tamara from series one is an example she didn't put in the work but could have good had she put in the effort she realised too late the work that was needed and left in the first show. I don't think any pro is necessarly paired with a dud and certainly not on purpose but it depends how training goes. Keith for example was slated as a dud but ok he is by no means the best but he was a lot better than anticipated and proved he could hold his own. I fear for Vicky because I don't think Joe has been able to commit the time needed i.e he wasn't even at todays rehearsal.

I think sometimes what T&D hope will be promising pairings doesn't always work out that way. I think they had higher hopes for Mark and Nadia and same with Susie and Jeremy a few years back and I guess with Shayne and Maria this year sadly things don't always work out the way they want I think

If I recall correctly when discussing Jeremy on the VT Chris I think said he couldn't skate. Given that Susie had just survived Todd Carty why wasn't she put with Gary Lucy and Maria with Jeremy if that was the case. T and D must have an idea of who can skate and who can't skate when they audition - either through their own sight or through feedback - so why put another dud with Susie and another good one with Maria - expecially after Maria had had the ultimate ringer in Ray Quinn

I think they had expected Jeremy to get better though but after his bad fall that was his confidence gone.

I don't think it can work like SCD to a point where you can just give one pro a "ringer" one year then a dud the next. With skating they have to take things into account like height, locations, I guess strength of the pro regards male pros if you get a less athletic pro they may not be able to manage to lift more ample female celebs which would potentially put the celebs at risk.

I will concede that yes it does seem strange that there are certain ones shown a lot of favouritism. I don't think Dan does particularly I think with Dan it is purely the case of he seems to get on with everyone so he always manages to get the best out of whoever he is paired with which is what I think maybe makes it seem he is getting the better, more popular ones.

Sometimes though I don't understand the thinking behind the pairings either and certainly think Brianne is long overdue for a poorer skater, Maria has had a good run although less so now. Matt well none of us saw that one coming. I certainly had Pamela pegged in for a few weeks at least.

I would have intially paired Beth with Sylvain and Dan with Samia in terms of personality although in the interview Dan and Beth do seem to be bouncing off of each other quite well and if he can get her to perform to suit Jason and Ashley then I think they will do really well. I think as well it is nice for Dan to have someone that he can push. Although he won with Gaynor the expections in series one were not a high and while I loved their routines they probably wouldn't do so well now and IMO Hayley was overrated as I think a lot of her stuff was toe work rather than actual skating and again in a different year would have had a different outcome.

Beth seems to have the skating ability she doesn't appear to have any fear so if she learn the performance then I think Dan will have a good year. Certainly my favourite and I hope they really do well.

I caught the end of the interview and from what I saw both came over very well. This could be a really great partnership. I agree with others it is nice that Beth isn't a polished performer as well as quite good on her skates, it will allow us to see some progression each week.

Maybe it's because Dan's such a good coach that most of his partners turn out pretty good. They all pretty much start as total beginners, maybe he's just better at his job than some of the others.
He is so patient when teaching he can get almost anyone to skate to some degree, and I'm talking from my own personal experience with him.

On SCD, winning pros usually get a dud the next year, whereas if they fall just short they often get another "Good" partner.

Although Anton nearly always gets someone who...erm... how do I put this politely?

This is a DOI thread - the DOI judges aren't known for putting things politely so, to quote one of them, let's try - "dances like faecal matter that won't flush".