I'm so sick of hearing things this series about Matt being the best male skater they've ever had do this, ever had do that.

Have they forgotten about Ray Quinn and his split jump?
Chris Fountain and his amazing spin?
Kyran Bracken.. just in general?

I mean come on. Matt is as good as he was week 1, he hasn't done anything new or WOW. :yawn:

All three you've mentioned were far, far better. Makes me nostalgic.

And not forgetting the fantastic Matt Wolfenden.

If he does win he is easily the worst male winner across all series.

He's not anywhere near the best skater. Chris, Ray, Clare, Suzanne Hayley, Matt W were all a lot better than him.

Ray was my favourite of all time. I used to look forward to his performances, unlike this lot

Mine too - Matt looks like a cart horse on ice compared to Ray imo.

Totally agree!

I was just watching a couple of Ray's old routines during the break.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpRBbbGG1cc

Look at how much content there is in that routine compared to what we tend to see now. Lots of different moves but it all flows well together to give a great routine. And he gets into character well and is completely on beat with the music throughout. I feel like these qualities aren't really considered important in this show anymore. :/

Ray Quinn was spectacular - Matt can only do one style of dancing there are at least 3 or 4 better winners of DOI than Matt

He certainly was, no-one like him. I think it was him that did the most spectacular straddle jump. Why didn't they give Beth one of those? I know she'd have done one every bit as good as Ray. I don't think they choreographed to her strengths.

Thanks for that it illustrates the difference in quality perfectly

Me too - he was so fearless. It's spoiled the show for me really. Chris Fountain was great too.

I think Matt is very good though. beth is also good to watch for her gymnasticv skills.

I agree with Ray Quinn being the best they've ever had. He skated with ease. There hasn't been another like him and certainly not Matt although I did think that Matt was better than Beth.

Matt was great tonight but Beth is clearly brilliant when given the right routines and they didn't play to them all that well across the series, and the times she was sensational she was undermarked anyway.

I'm so glad about tonight, as while I think their performances were close in the final, this feels like one of those moments where the public could see through the bullshit, everyone KNEW that Ray and Chris etc were better male skaters, despite what we were being fed, and likewise so many of us could see Beth was getting a raw deal in so many ways.

Justice, for once!!

He is certainly not the best runner-up they ever had

(that was Chris Fountain).

As much as I didn't like Ray Quinn he was a far superior skater than Matt as was Chris Fountain

No, he isn't the best skater ever and not even a winner.

Ray was awesome.

I was just having this exact conversation! I would love it if when they do decide to end the series, they had a "best of" type competition, where the top 2 from each series came back and competed against each other.
Matt would not have a chance, and even with his "I'm doing something completely different by break dancing/body popping" attitude would be put to sleep when Kyran Bracken showed that he'd been doing that 6 (?) series ago!

Don't get me wrong, Matt wasn't bad by any means, but he was far from the best.

And Clare and Laura were better too I think.

To be fair, Matt was great, but there was something so irritating about his performance style unlike most of the other top skaters we've had - I think this must have rubbed a few people up the wrong way.

Ray was brilliant his speed and skills were amazing. Matt last year was better and certainly Chris Fountain was amazing. Mat this year could hardly touch them! I think Gareth was better and was so disappointed he was out last week. I don't actually dislike like like quite a few do on here. But as for being the best not a chance.

I think the best ever have been Ray, Chris and Kyran.

I will add my vote to Ray along with the many others above

Matt is amazing but not my favourite contestant ever - however they feel the need to say these things about "best ever" every year, and to me its lost all meaning!

I agree with Ray being up there

It would have been amazing to see Beth tackle a split jump

Matt was amazing,only second to Kyran Bracken for me....He was robbed tonight imho.