Are there any questions you would like Zoe to be banned from asking on ITT?

My own personal peeve is anything which starts "How proud...?" Last night she even asked Natalie how proud her mother was of her. As though there could be any other answer than "Very".

The one I always find idiotic when a couple has been voted off is, "Were you sad to go?"
Last edited by Tiggywink : 06-12-2013 at 10:18

Any of the questions starting "how", and that is about 90per cent of them, drive me mad. How happy, How sad, How thrilled, How Proud, How disappointed were you? I am really waiting for one of them to say "Actually, I didn't give a toss".

Artem and natalie did not have a video of the week shown yesterday like they usually do which artem loves. The ones that are funny like going under the chair or Brendan's was singing.

Zoe's driving me mad. I was pleased when she took over, and once she settled in, I thought she did a pretty good job, so I'm not sure what has changed. Has she just become more manic? I've come to the conclusion that she's an okay presenter (even if it's in a style I'm not very keen on), but she's a hopeless interviewer. She has a card full of stock questions and the presenter in her ensures she'll get through all of them in the allotted time, come what may. In the process, she talks over her guests and doesn't seem to hear any of the answers or understand when to allow the conversation to develop and move away from her script. It ends up being very unsatisfying.

I agree. She is ready too fire off the next question rather than make any genuine response to the answer given. And there are so many interesting things that could be asked!

Thanks, soupy - nail on head time, I think. I was puzzling about it, because the questions themselves are just as inane as they were in Claudia's day - 'how pleased are you with the judges' comments?' was as prevalent then as it is now - but Claudia, for all her zaniness, is good at listening and responding appropriately. It's what makes her so good when talking to contestants on the Sunday show - infinitely better than Tess, who is ace with the teleprompt but lost without a cue card.

I totally agree, she never let's a conversation flow, and on the rare occasion when a pro is on the verge of saying something very interesting or revealing, she butts right in and hogs the attention again, as usual. I personally can't bear her gurning and the cameras love for her whilst the pros are demonstrating steps, so we miss technical details. She turns Ian's warm up into a comedy fest every week. We know she can dance - unlike Claudia - so her constant fake protestations that she can't do it is just boring, unlike Claudia, who was charming. I appreciate having ITT on every day and it's a great accompaniment to the main show for fans of Strictly, but it's become the Zoe Ball Show, and all about her, which is bloody annoying. The worst is the celeb Friday Panel. Why bother with people you know don't even watch the show? They should bring back the Superfans - members of the public - ie fans who watch the show and love it, for the Friday Panel. It would be far better.
Mostly I just wish she'd calm down and not be so hyper, then she might engage better with the dancers opposite her on the sofa, instead of always playing up to the gallery in the Zoo format she's used to. After all she's no longer that Ladette, but a mature Mum of 2, so be more professional and always keep the attention focussed on the people who matter - the dancers. Oh, and occasionally ask a critical question, it wouldn't hurt.
And why always dressed in black? It's so dull.

I'm agreeing with previous posters about Zoe.

I used to love watching ITT with Claudia especially when she started gently teasing and embarrassing folk like she did with Mark Ramprakash

Totally agree, it's got too much now. Although I did enjoy last nights one which I've just watched with Jason Gilkinson on it, but Zoe is so over the top, she made it sound like he brought all the pros into Strictly rather than only being involved this year, I think.

Totally agree about the demos, we know Zoe can dance well, and although she may have forgotten a bit, she doesn't need to pretend she has no idea what's going on when Ian wants to demo something, I agree Claudia used to be charming in not knowing in these sections.

yes please ban
How proud..
How disappointed...
How pleased..
How blah blah,

don't Zoe,
It will get a predicable unexciting answer FROM EVERYONE.

I like her though she's always in a hurry for some reason. I mean she gets 2.5 hours a week! lol


Claudia is the meister

you have taken the words right out of my mouth!

I cannot stand the way she pretends she doesnt know what she is doing when Ian gets her to dance with him - we saw you on the show Zoe, we all know you are a great dancer, stop faking it - its getting really tiresome

Bring back Claudia - please!

It all comes from trying not to ask "closed" questions. These are questions to which the addressee can simply answer "yes" or "no". So open questions usually start with "what, why, how, when, who, etc., so that the subject has to give more than a one word answer. This is a basic sales training technique.

That said the open question needs to be used with care, otherwise they can become inane as freguently illustrated by La Ball. Perhaps a better questions are more difficult to ask, but it does not mean that they should be avoided. "what do you think made the judges vote you off/kept you in the competiton" for example, or even perhaps, "What do think are your strengths/weaknesses for the next round?"

Just listening to the answer without talking over it and saying how 'we' all loved it and that it was stupendous/glorious/fabulous would be a start.

Ben kind of did. Just a little more elegantly

I think Zoe is fine. The producers probably choose the questions she asks.

I got very fed up with Claudia and she also likes to talk too much when I would like to hear from the contestants. Just look at her chatting to them in the results show and hardly let them speak.

At least Zoe is a change from Claudia who also talks so much when she is speaking to those who have just danced and addresses them with ridiculous nonsense. i.e. The donkeys?

I hated Claudia's "I'm too grand for this rubbish" act when Len was trying to demonstrate dance steps, and deliberately messing the whole thing up. Zoe comes across as someone who knows what it is all about but is a bit rusty. I will happily get her up to speed with a quick turn on the parquet, even if she is two feet taller than me.

She may not be so confident a dancer in 5 inch heels. Not sure I would be! Which may of course make one wonder why she wears them!

^^ This for me too. "How did you feel when you got four tens?" "Well actually Zoe, I wasn't that bothered to be honest. Ten, schmen. I'm only doing this for the publicity."

I don't think it's the questions - they're opened ended enough for the couple to answer with whatever they really wanted to discuss.

It's the bloody interrupting. As soon as someone takes a breath, she's in there with the next question even if they were mid-sentence.

I'd say all the questions that start with Ermmmm....
That's most of them.

BIB - Yes. I know she irritated some (and I accept she's not coming back to ITT ), but she listens properly and also has great empathy. I can't think who I'd like in Zoe's place - and there are elements she brings that I appreciate - so praps she just needs to go on an interviewers course ... ... (and also CALM down!)

The basic difference between Zoe and Claudia is that Claudia listened to what people were saying.

Yes, she had the ditsy thing going on, but actually Claudia has far more experience as a presenter and interviewer than Zoe. Plus the range of work Claudia has under her belt is much broader than Zoe's. Claudia has done loads of light weight stuff, but she's also done serious stuff too. She has an Arts degree from Cambridge and was originally a journalist who became a TV reporter and then a presenter.

When Claudia did ITT the show was completely live and she made doing a live show look easy, when in fact it takes skill to do that 5 days a week for three months. Zoe is a lovely person, but she lacks that skill to do a great job on ITT. She has her moments, but it's a good job so many of us are fans of the show and would watch no matter who presented the show.

Wow, you've really misread Claudia if you think she thought she was "too grand" to participate in Len's demonstrations. She was exaggerating her physical ungainliness for comic effect, that's all there is to it.. I can understand why some people who seriously wanted to learn something from Len's segment found her a bit irritating but she wasn't deliberately messing up the steps because she thought she was above the whole thing.

I get more irritated by Zoe constantly playing dumb on any matter relating to dance. I get that she's not a professional dancer and it has been years since she did the show but she doesn't have to constantly do the whole "Duh, not that I know anything about it.", "I'm probably not even saying it right", "I was rubbish at that" routine.


Spot on with all your comments, fridgesoup. I always think Claudia fulfils the same role on Strictly that Mel & Sue do on GBBO: a bit irreverent but with a genuine warmth and interest in people.

I do like Zoe more this series though, she seems to have settled into the show a bit more and found her own style rather than trying to emulate Claudia but she still really only seems at ease if she's talking to someone she knows well (Ian, Craig, Karen Hardy) and doesn't seem able to deviate from her cue cards too much when interviewing the celebrities.