It's sad he lost his father but imo to mention it in the way he did is like exploiting it to get votes, it made me go off him completly.

I don't think he chose which background story was going to be shown - that would be the BBC editors! I'm sure all the celebs talk about wanting to do their families proud.

At the end of the day, he is a fantastic dancer, probably in the top 4 at the moment and deserves to stay in whatever clips get shown of him!

In a way I agree with OP, first using his daughter, then his brothers and family.

Maybe we are just being too similar about the whole thing.

you may call me heartless but none of that family stuff really effects who I vote for, mainly because I rarely vote but the ones that I like always win because they are good at dancing.

I don't blame him. Think it's the producers trying to stir up a story for him. Same happened with Carol and her kids in the VT. Both of them are hard working and get on with it without complaining so the Beeb can't find any controversial or woe is me clips to show from training and therefore they turn to the kids...

Same here ! Only, I can't vote as I live abroad.
I must say I like Ray & Camilla's dancing. They work really well together.

Get a grip, the editors look for a story and will find one. They will then edit it to the story they want.

The best example I've seen of this recently is Jeremy Clarkson interview on the 6 o'clock news followed then with it on Midlands today. It was talking about Richard Hammond, similar stuff said but you could see what had been cut on the 6 o'clock news and it put a different interpretation on what was said.

Big Brother does the same, this is jounalism which finds most people going on to write fiction.

lol they always play the family card......best to leave it til nearer the end

I know what you mean about the sympathy vote. I felt like i was watching X-factor at that point of the show.
Last edited by Christian Cage : 28-10-2006 at 22:24

Hear, Hear he would appear to be a really nice chap and not one that would want to exploit his family imo. Surely there is nothing wrong with being proud of your family.

I did, cynically, think that too but it quickly passed. It's typical broadcasting stuff these days to 'get a human angle' on everything.

His dancing stood on it's own merits and he did not need sympathy votes.

If Mark can get the female 'swoon'-votes then a sympathy vote is OK!

Ray has had a hard time according to reports. He has lost his best mate, dad, and two girlfriends in his life....I read all that and really felt for him, as losing people you love is hard and at 39, he has had alot of grief.

After watching umpteen reality shows I know he may not have asked to have that info put out, and I will judge him on his dancing as many others will. I don't think he is going for a sympathy vote at all.

He is in the top 4 imo, and that has nothing to do with his personal history.

I am happy to say I don't do sympathy or swoon votes.

The fact that Ray mentioned his father is not different to the other celebs mentioning their families or the fact that they are ill or are busy and haven't had enough time to train etc etc.

It was just the production team choosing to use that as his lead in this week.

Ray is good enough not to need any spin to help his voting.

Right Ray had nothing to do with this story been used on the VT, the BBC engineered it all!

If he didn’t want it to used, he and his family wouldn’t have talked about it in the interviews! If they want to do that then it’s fine - IMO I find it a bit tacky to try to use some traumatic event to try and get votes on a reality show, but it’s his trauma so he can do what he wants. But to suggest he had nothing to do with it is naive.

If Ray was a bad dancer, then I would sort of see sense in some of the posts on this thread!

What on earth was Ray doing with his face during his dance on Saturday night!! He looked like he had wind, not sexy at all!! It quite put me off the whole dance. He pulled this ridiculous face thru the whole dance. Did anyone else notice??

I can understand why some are upset and probably if I didn't like Ray and think he is pretty good I would probably agree.

BUT I doubt he will win and therefore I reckon it won't affect it too much, especially as he is so good it is a bit early for him to be using the sympathy vote. Surely he is good enough to not need it....... YET.

The "face" was part of the act! I thought it was fitting for the performance.

I don't think Ray is going for sympathy at all. I'd say Jan is doing that more by constantly bursting into tears in training and going on about how "hard" everything is as though the world will end if she can't do a heel turn.

If you read back my post carefully, I said he didn't choose what story was going to be shown, not that he didn't participate. I imagine the BBC editors were struggling to find something to show, so they asked him if they could interview his family. Why should he say no? I seriously doubt he went and engineered it by pestering the BBC folk to interview his family.

what a silly thread. Ray doesn't need a sympathy vote - he can dance. He gets his votes on merit.

I agree - some common sense at last. The editors show what they like - everyone is likely to receive a 'sympathy' clip at least once.

If anything, it's Louisa who is gaining from a 'sympathy' vote - every week they mention how sweet & young she is. Yes, we all know she's the youngest contestant yet, so what ? The number of times Tess Daly 'ahhhhs' over her

I think Ray only suffers in that he does not have the ready-made fanbase that most of the other contestants have. And as it showed when Spoony was voted out, a lot of people vote purely for their favourite celeb, rather than on ability.

A serious, low-profile actor like Ray isn't going to have the same fanbase as an ex-Spice girl, Eastenders actress etc, & therefore he is going to stay in the contest by ability/talent rather than simply being a 'celebrity' or 'personality'.

Well said, dancing gal.

Wasn't he on Coronation Street?? That's a pretty wide fanbase, surely...