Elvis Stojko (pretty sure thats not how you spell it though ) He was fabulous, and if I remember correctly he was one of the first men to do the quad jump, all the others were still just doing triples. Loved watching him, and also Steven Cousins, they always seemed to choose much better music, music you could really get into, unlikesome of the dreary classical stuff

You're a lot more tolerant that I - that's one of only many inconsistencies I have a problem with


Thanks. You're a lot more tolerant than I too - I must have had a bad day

I think the mismatches between size of partners are most probably an attempt by ITV to add more 'interest' to the show by adding extra difficulties for some of the contestants.

The judging is so messy there are probably many things going wrong with it. It's true that's in keeping with judging of 'real' skating competitions, I'd hoped we'd get away from that in DOI since the contestants don't have a history in ice skating politics (I was new to reality TV).

Coming to DOI for the ice dancing rather than a liking for reality TV in general it's the judging that irks me most (I'd stopped voting before this week's debacle). Having so many new viewers for ice dancing see such poor judging just adds to the irk factor

I find myself in the embarrasing position of preferring Jason to the other judges. His metaphors are inappropriate (IMO but I suspect ITV likes them) and extremely rude but the content of his criticisms seems to me to be mostly right, and he is consistent.

When I first read this I thought 'hang on a mo, John did complain', but since your statements have always been very careful as well as very polite I had another look at what he did say, and I was wrong.

When I came down to it John's actually said very little about the skate off - just the question to Robin on This Morning (6/2) about why Robin voted for Stefan. I thought Robin's reply was weak but then I prefer a cumulative scoring system and I don't like an arbitrary judge in any competition.

Other than that there was the 'exit interview' on the DOI web page, which suffered badly from tabloidese. Pretty much everything else that I've seen attributed to John about DOI has been a rehash of that material, or, as with the stuff in The Sun slagging the other contestants, a complete fake.

I owe John an apology, it's embarrasing to find myself still believing what I read in the tabloids.

You accepted your departure with dignity and grace Olga, but, although John the showman always brought a smile to my face, I honestly cannot say the same of him.

John did complain. I watched and heard him on This Morning. I heard him question Robins' decision to save Stefan. I heard him ask Robin if his own performance was so much worse than the original, and Stefans' so much better to warrant a passage into the next round. I heard him praise the 'loyalty' of the judges who voted for him, whilst questioning the consistency of those who didn't. Finally I noted Johns' own inconsistency. On the Saturday he claimed that he had 'a feeling' that he would be departing; on Monday he said he was devastated and didn't see it coming!

As I've said previously, neither John nor Stefan should have found themselves in that situation; but they did, and I feel that Seans' departure last Saturday was much more dignified than Johns' the previous week.

I'm not knocking John, he's an exciting performer, whether skating or giving it his all in live theatre and I certainly look forward to seeing the pair of you together again.

I live in the North West so hope to see you when you open in Swan Lake in Manchester.

He questioned -as many of us on here did also- a frankly inconsistant policy of the judges...I do not equate that to complaining.As I've said before I thought he was remarkably restrained in the circumstances...wouldn't you have wanted to get things straight in your mind rather than put up and shut up? As to consistancy would any of us be consistant if we are confused and or perplexed by something...I don't think so

"The only point John ever raised was the 'changing criteria' applied by the Judges in the skate off's , thats all."

that is indeed what he did, hardly complaining

This is so difficult! I've acknowledged more than once that neither he nor Stefan should have been in the skate off.

My only problem is that he compared his own performance to that of another competitor. Had the positions been reversed would he have appreciated Stefan questioning his right of passage into the next round.

Thats something we will never know

And I totally agree neither of them should have been in the skate off,just as Sean shouldn't have been in this week

The intepretation of this has been very varied, I suppose partly as a result of differences in individuals' own personalities: this is necessarily a very subjective assessment. Apart from the defrosted / this morning interviews everything else is heavily distorted by tabloidese.

John's asking Robin about why he voted the way he did seemed like an appropriate question rather than a complaint to me. John was polite about it, and I also wanted to know what Robin was thinking, particularly after his remarks at the end of the skate off between Andrea and Stefan. If John truly does intend to keep skating having Robin's feedback was certainly relevant.

The remark about the judges' loyalty on the other hand seemed entirely irrelevant - I want to see fairness not loyalty in a judge.

John's own inconsistency doesn't bother me - we're all inconsistent, especially under stress or when we're very involved with something. It looked to me as though John was concentrating on seeming cool on Saturday, rather than admitting being surprised. He seems to have changed his mind after reviewing the tapes on Sunday, hence the question to Robin on Monday. Apart from that question and the 'exclusive' exit interview on the DOI site I've not him comment otherwise (maybe I missed something?)

I've never meant to imply that being inconsistent makes the judges evil nor bent. The judges' inconsistency bothers me more than John's because they're supposed to be professional and unbiased, and I think they're doing a poor job of it.

I didn't read Johns' alleged remarks in the tabloids and even if I had I would never judge anyone from a gutter press article. I don't for one moment believe that John used disparaging language about his fellow contestants. My opinion was based on his appearances on Defrosted and This Morning - which I saw.

Shall we agree that everyone deals with disappointment differently, call a truce and consider the positive.

In learning another skill, the multi-talented Mr. Barrowman has added yet another string to his bow.

absolutely lets be positively positive!

I wasn't accusing you of believing the tabloids, but admitting to having done it myself .

Sorry for the misunderstanding.


Certainly, and thanks for an interesting and civilised discussion .