The Times writer obviously knows nothing about skating and probably didnt' even watch the show since he/she wrote this about Gareth

"poor Gareth Gates, once pop’s young hope, now reduced to glitter make-up and gingerly executed triple axels. " Writer would not know a triple axel if one landed on him - blades first!

I loved Stefan and John and voted for both each week til John got knocked out -just a shame they ended up in skate-off together as there were others who deserved to go much more than either of them but that's the way it works.

Stupid, stupid writer does not deserve to merit discussion. To bring race into it is purely to try and stir up something that is not there.

Zaraah was very graceful from the waist up but simply did not have the same skating ability as the others.

I think the skate offs are a neccessary part of the show but also think it should be up to public by the semi-final. By this time the voting public will know who they want to go through and no matter how prejudiced some are for their favorite if the opposition is good enough they should be able to pick up votes.