Anyone would think he was a teenager who had never faced an audience before. Surely all contestants are going to be nervous to a certain extent. Personally, I would have thought someone twice his age who might barely have danced before had a good deal more to be worried about.

Could the real worry for him be about the pressure of trying to win? I can't remember anyone else going to the extreme of drastically changing a hairstyle just to garner a few more votes.

I think someone started a thread about Helen being a ringer, has there been a similar one about Jay as today's Mail states he was at a drama and dance school for several years?

On that basis it doesn't seem unfair to say that he had a bit of a head start on several of the contestants in both the acting and dancing stakes.

So far it is clear the judges have given him the kid glove treatment. You would almost have thought we were looking at a budding Fred Astaire instead of something that looks awkward, uncomfortable and very manufactured. Perhaps as someone said the judges just carry an agenda into the show and they want to big-up the likes of Jay just to appeal to the X-Factor audience. Hopefully, at some stage they will take a reality check but somehow I doubt it.

He was always the best singer/most talented out of The Wanted but also the ugliest. In other words he was there for his talent and nowt else. Maybe he is a shy geek and isn't playing any games.

I expect he appeals to the maternal instincts of viewers of a certain age.

Jay can't control how he is treated by the judges or Tess/Claudia (remember Austin Healey's "guns"? Shudder). Of course all the contestants are nervous but some are better at dealing with their nerves than others. To my mind, Jay and Kirsty have suffered the most with their nerves.

I really like Jay. I don't think there is anything false or show-offy about him. I've been following him on Twitter and he seems particularly self-effacing, has a dry sense of humour and, dare I say it, is quite intelligent!

Ugliest?? I always thought he was the best looking one! I guess it's a case of different strokes for different folks!!

What a bizarre thing to say. I don't think any of the members were even remotely unattractive.

Lots of them. It's been extensively discussed here since Jay was announced. It is in his BBC profile too.

Geez what a nasty thing to say

agree!! siva was convetionally the best looking, but I always thought Jay had an interesting look.

I don't really understand why some people have taken exception to Jay when he himself has done little to deserve it.

I did know him already from The Wanted and he has always been the slightly shy but quirky one of the lot and not a natural "Me, myself and I" and has always been pretty self depreciating.

So he's come from a band where he has people around him to an arena where for 2 mins at a time the spotlight is on him. For someone who is not used to that and indeed has been away from any kind of spotlight for over a year the. It can indeed take a bit of time to settle in.

That being said he has done little to create to or perpetuate the "poor jay he's so nervous" tag apart from actually being nervous (and he's not the only one but I don't see Kirsty getting the same flak for this). Tess is the one who can't stop banging on about it but then Tess has always banged the same drum to death for contestants ( e.g. "Show us your guns").

Regarding the hairstyle, he has changed it radically before from curly to long and then to shaving the sides completely and back to long so the fact that he's cut it again now is not unusual. Others have had haircuts before e.g Caroline last year went from long hair to a bob early on as well but didn't get berated for it as I recall

There have been several discussions about his dance experience and he has not hidden it (in fact he published a YouTube video himself with clips) and also his bio on the SCD site states as much, so again I don't see the need for castigating Jay for this (any more than Helen, Georgia, Kellie etc). The "so and so is a ringer" thing got very old, very fast last year.

I don't think the judges have given him the kid glove treatment at all. His marks have been in line with others relative to performance and indeed the judges said in week 1 he needs to work on performaning and showmanship more

You see "awkward, uncomfortable and very manufactured" and I see talented, accomplished and hard working. That's normal. If we all thought the same thete wouldn't be such shows as competitions

That's me!!!

He reminds me of a shy and slightly overwhelmed 6 year old at a birthday party.

"Thank you very much for inviting me Mrs Winkleman. Will there be jelly?"

I would be very happy to be as "ugly" as Jay.

I have warmed to Jay since he has been on strictly. Did not know him from the Wanted but from what I have seen on there he seems a genuine, talented lovely and shy guy. It does not help him that Tess keeps pointing out how nervous he is, I know it would make me more nervous if somebody kept pointing it out.

Incidentally OP, Why The Need To Capitalise The First Letter Of Every Word when posting a title for a thread? I've often wondered if there is a purpose to this that I'm somehow missing.

I had no idea who he was before strictly, all I see is a delightful young man, who has been open and honest about his past dance training and who wants to learn a new genre of dance. He comes across to me as shy and slightly awkward, reserved but genuine, I see no fakeness

He has no control over what Tess says (or the judges for the matter) I am sure he would rather she didnt mention his nerves every 5 seconds as he is doing his best to control them

There are brilliant theatre actors who still throw up every night before they go on stage - you can be great at something but still be incredibly nervous, it just depends what sort of person you are. As others have said, I'm sure Jay wishes everyone would stop mentioning his nerves rather than drawing attention to them and treating him like a child. The contestants who are twice his age and have never danced before have absolutely no expectations on them except that they will be terrible, so in some ways there is much less pressure on them than there is on someone young and fit who has admitted they have some dance experience.

I think his 'head start' is slightly irrelevant when there is at least Helen, Georgia, Kellie and arguably Peter who all have the same head start. I haven't noticed the judges treating him with kid gloves, but then I think he's very good rather than awkward and uncomfortable and I suppose if you don't like him then you will look for that sort of thing more.

Seems a top bloke to me. Very genuine, humble, self-deprecating… & also been very impressed with his dance skills. Don't think there is anything contrived about him whatsoever, something you can't say for Peter Andre whose entire profile is built around delivering populist soundbites and platitudes.

He was certainly not the ugliest.

Agreed. I never got the whole Max George either. Yes, he's attractive, but doesn't he know it! That's why I always liked Jay. I find his shyness very endearing and he's a very good-looking lad too. But the long hair does not suit him.

I always thought he was the best looking in The Wanted!

To this day i will never understand why Max was pushed as the best looking one with the talent. I always though he had such a smarmy lad look about him. Good looking enough to be one for the fangirls but really not my cup of tea.

Talk about a back-handed compliment. I hope Jay isn't on DS.

Yep I agree with this. I did know him from The Wanted and he seemed divfere7nt from the others in a nice sort of way.

He doesn't seem that shy when it comes to wrapping himself round Aliona - get off you cad, she's mine, I tell you!

I don't think that any of them were particularly talented. They were like an early version of One Direction


Having said that Jay is a really good dancer though.