Jason Gardiner says Chris has an unfair advantage

What's wrong with him telling the truth?

:yawn:

Why didn't he tell 'the truth' weeks ago at the start of this competition, instead of bringing this up almost on the eve of the final? If he thinks it is unfair, he should be criticising the producers of the show in private, instead of the contestant in a very public arena. To me, it sounds like he is trying to influence the public vote, & that is not on unless he also mentions the advantage Suzanne has had with previous dance/wire experience & Zaraah with dance etc.

I don't understand why there is all this fuss about Chris when there was no similar outrage over David Seaman who had not only been an excellent ice hockey player but had also won a previous celebrity ice dancing competition.

I have just read a piece in the Daily Mail by Nicky Slater who is giving his opinions on each finalist - he mentions that Suzanne is a gymnast and has studied ballet - no mention of that before.

I've seen Jason say this earlier in the competition. I don't agree with him but he's not just started saying this week.

I think we all knew that Susanne has danced since age 3, she was saying so herself right from the start.
And Zhaara is a qualified dance teacher which was also known as Chris having skated semi-professionaly before.

It's because Chris has overcome it, and because he has been at a MUCH higher standard than a lot of his fellow contestants throughout the competition people instantly put it down to the fact that he must have had a head start because he's comfortable with the ice. David Seaman... was reasonable.. but when you compare him to Chris it's then you realise what talent Chris has.

His comfortableness (i know thats not really a word) with the ice is the only head start he has had... and he's progessed so much more on his own merit.

I know some of the celebs start training earlier.. like go and get comfortable with the ice for a few months of solo training before the set of training with Jayne & Chris... isn't that an unfair advantage... and what about the sports people... they know how to hold themselves and recover from injuries. Oh and the dancers... don't they have a head start when it comes to the whole rhythm thing. Ah and then there's the actors that can pull of all the acting requirements of skating. Face it, your not working with 5 year olds so it is inevitable that people will have gained different areas of knowledge over the years that will help them in many things.

At the end of the day.. if it was such a big deal and such an unfair advantage then ITV wouldn't have had him on the show. As for Jason... actually I love him, but I take him with a pinch of salt.. of course he's going to say something like this.. that's what he does. He's a great big pot stirrer and I love him for it.

I doubt if ITV take fair/unfair into account when inviting the celebs onto the show - but enough has been said about Chris I think.

Dunno about Jason being a pot stirrer - attention seeker seems nearer to the mark

It's been common knowledge since the show started that Suzanne studied dance from the age of 3 - but I would be interested to hear where Nicky gets his gymnastic allegations from. If this was true it would have been dug up by the Suzanne haters long ago.

He's no doubt confusing this with previous wirework - or it's the usual Daily Mail rubbish to create controversy.

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Chris has hit back now, he said they auditioned him and if he was too good he shouldn't have been allowed to do it.
So they obviously wanted someone really good so everyone would kick up a fuss..

OK so Chris is not denieing he had a bit of a up start. IMO he should have said this at the start of the show that way people cant really have ago at him coz he was upfrount about it.

And I agree I think ITV played this out as the fuss would bring in the ratings

I still think people are down playing what he has actually achieved so far, he can spin, dance, lift and actually dance with a partner, and even attempt an axle - all things he couldn't do before the show - he pushes and pushes himself - they have all had a head start over someone else one way or another - DOI have never seen anything like him and are unlikely to in the future - I am hoping for an exciting final.

I didn't know that.

What ice dancing competition? Surely DOI is the first and only one to date

Chris has IMO an unfair advantage, he was competent on the ice even before the others had started training. He will win because he does the tricks, not because he is an ice dancer. Do they do axles in ice dancing, I thought that was pair skating?

If Jason is trying to influence the public vote it will backfire on him spectacularly, given Chris's Hollyoaks fan base.

Just as he kept Greg in - but Jason never learns. He must actually think that the GBP are swayed by his egotistical opinions; they are - but not in the way he thinks

He did say it at the start of the show. He said it in his first VT and he also said it in his first ever interview after his first ever performance. It's /other/ people who have played it down for it in case it hurt his popularity. Chris has always been really honest. He works so hard, films for hours a day and then goes to the rink at 10 at night to work with Frankie. He pushes himself all the time to be better and he takes all this criticism on the chin.

People are always going to have a go at him anyway because apparantly the only way /some/ people can big up their act is to say awful things about an other act.

What's with the anger here? He's only telling the truth. He's skated most of his life and had speed, confidence and ability on the ice before he came on the show. The gap he had to bridge (notice how I admit that he did still have to improve to win!) was far, far less than that of the other skaters.

Some of us, at least, didn't know that about David Seaman, or weren't following that series of DOI, or weren't using this forum then.


Yes, he's learned new things, but one important reason why he's been able to learn figure skating moves such as his spin and his jump is that he could spend time on that rather than on developing a basic ability to skate well.

The reason he can do much more impressive skating moves than anyone else in the competition is that he's a better skater than anyone else in the competition; and a big part of why he's a better skater than anyone else in the competition is that he started DOI as a much better skater than anyone else in the competition.

Of course, there are other factors as well. No one's saying talent had no role, or that he's rested on what he could already do. I don't think many are saying he should be disqualified, or anything like that. (I wouldn't even have a problem if he won.)

Now, in shows like this and Strictly Come Dancing, we have to put up with the celebs having various advantages; and the shows would be much less interesting (imo) if everyone had to start from a low level. It's not completely fair, but maybe that's ok. At any rate, viewers accept it.

Also, if there were a rule that said no dance experience, it would rule out too many female celebs and would create bitter controversy over borderline cases, such as when someone had no formal training but still in a sense danced professionally by being a member of a boy-band or similar.

But a line is drawn. In the SCD forum, the current line seems to be that it's ok to have dancing experience, just so long as it's not ballroom dance experience.

Here, people have tried to draw a similar line. It's ok to have skating experience, just so long as it's not ice dance experience. (Probably people would rule out figure skating experience as well, if they thought about it, but it's not always phrased that way.)

But imo skating experience -- of the sort Chris had, to a fairly high level -- is a different sort of advantage (than, say, dance experience is to SCD).

For one thing, there could be a rule that said no skating experience, without changing the show very much, because most of the celebs don't have appreciable skating experience.

For another, it's a huge advantage. Just look how hard most of the celebs found it to be able to jump at all. The two hockey skaters -- Chris and Greg -- found it much easier.

Many of the celebs will have started just barely able to stand up on the ice. No one starts SCD just barely abel to stand up on the dance floor. It's simply not possible to have the same kind of advantage in SCD!

Well I didnt see him say it at the start of the shows but I did see Frankie playing it down with Chris right next to her and he agreed with Frankie.
So by the looks of it one min he admits it the next he plays it down, no wonder people are getting confused and debating over it.

As for him working so hard, he is not the only one they all are.

you know I never thought of it like that, but now you have pointed it out its does seam that they did have the uphand.

Well, the other side of that argument is that Chris has only told the truth throughout the programme.

He's admitted to his hockey skating experience, said he was auditioned before he did the show so producers were aware of his skills, and has never tried to play down the fact he's the favourite with any sort of false modesty. I don't remember Zaraah ever discussing her dance instructor status...

You will also notice that the criticism of Chris having this 'unfair advantage' has come principally from non-skaters (Jason leading the pack, and Gareth also mentioning it, albeit in his trademark nice way).

Professional skaters, including Frankie Poultney and T+D themselves, have said that it doesn't give Chris an advantage, because he's still got to learn all about figure-skating technique.

Added to that, T+D have made Chris work at a level far beyond that of most of the other competitors, which surely gives him as much chance of coming unstuck as any of the others on the night. They've never tried to pretend the playing field is level, and have done the right thing by making Chris do harder stuff from his more solid foundations.

So it might be an advantage, but an 'unfair' one it isn't. Chris has taken everything T+D could throw at him and he's done it magnificently. Jason's criticism is s***-stirring of the highest order, but no more than that.

Jason is behaving like an idiot-he is supposed to be imaprtial and he's betraying that might not be with his comments