I can't see how Gary Rhodes only had 10 hours to learn his jive when he had potentially two weeks in order to learn the steps. 10 hours isn't even an hour a day - I'm not saying he isn't committed but 10 hours out a two weeks is quite poor

Article - http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/strictly...tly-judge.html

Rumour is that he is paid £30K for this. Don't know if that's true.

I haven't taken to Gary and now I like him even less...

They showed on IIT that during the day he did loads of stuff like book signings and radio interviews and then turned up to train late in the evening. I don't understand how he did it, he got up at like 4am and started the day in his gym- I certainly couldn't do that. It did certainly affect his dancing, and I think it was quite unfair to Karen that training was bottom of his list of priorities.

Hope Gary goes tonight. He's such a moan and certainly doesn't seem as committed as some of the other contestants.

"I only had ten hours of dancing time to learn last night's jive. He (Craig) should come into one of my kitchens, spend ten hours learning to cook and then see how well he does having to prepare the food and take charge of a function. I bet his results would be pretty vile and he'd be lucky to get one point out of me."

So what? If Austin was panned by the judges he could say "well, you try learning to play rugby in that space of time and see how you do.." or Mark could say "well Craig, I've never seen you compete in the Olympics.." All the contestants have other professions, most have current work commitments and none are natural dancers. You're not the only one Gary so stop whining! On 'It Takes Two' he was shown arriving for training after 7.30pm and leaving after less than an hour. I know he has other things to do, dealing with his restaurants etc but you have to be putting in the hours to see results!

WELL whose fault is that???
Craig's??? I think not.
The hour you spend in the gym EVERY morning could have been better spent doing all the other "important" stuff you need to do, thus leaving you an extra hour to spend with Karen later on.



Actually I believe Craig did Celebrity Masterchef and reached the final.... where the contestants were thrown in at the deep end (without training from a pro) and having to prepare high quantity of meals in a restaurant and to TA cadets ...

I don't recall him whinging about how the chefs couldn't do what he does for a living either...



And you say you've watched the show for years ???!!!

Poor Gary boo hoo. It's only his problem he couldn't spare more than 10 hours in 2 weeks, it was his decision, nobody else's. I wonder what he would say to somebody in the kitchen with a dedication like that. Probably something similar to what Craig said to him. Craig might be vicious/blunt in a way he says things, but you can't really fool him that easily when it comes to dance.

Gary really needs to go. Don't think he'll improve much and he's not at all interesting to watch - in fact, even listening to him talking and watching him in rehearsals is painful.

Something slightly unpleasant about him. Would not miss him in the least.

Something VERY unpleasant about him- especially his outburst at Karen followed by 'aw, poor Gary, he's trying so hard and just had to let off steam.' (Hello? He's not the only one!) Andrew Castle has to be up at some ungodly hour for GMTV but he's not constantly bleating on about it.
Craig and the other judges can tell when someone's been putting the work in. And the dancing just seems to have been bottom of Gary's priorities. Showing up for training LAST after his other commitments just proves that.
You won't get any better if you're not putting in the hours. If Gary had a trainee chef in his kitchen who's cooking was clearly not his biggest priority would he tell him "there, there- I can see you're under stress" or "get out of my kitchen and come back when you can show a bit of dedication!" Hmm...

These "celebs" do make me laugh sometimes.......why do SCD if you're going to moan about it ??

They all know now how much time and dedication it takes to get anywhere in the competition so if you're serious about it adjust your schedule accordingly.

I think Gary was one of those that thought it was easy and he would just pick it up no problem with an hour here and there and now he isn't he's come unstuck.

Plenty of people work very long days day in day out for years and don't get paid £30,000 or whatever for a few weeks work.

No sympathy........don't sign up if you're not committed to it.

It'll be doubly annoying if someone else goes tonight after this- the rest are all trying really hard and fitting in the training and all that Gary, and Andrew, have done this week is moan about how hard it is

Yes, agree, he thought it would come easy to him and now that he sees it's totally down to extremely hard work, he's gone all petulant and unpleasant, blaming others for his lack of ability. He just needs to go. Shame for Karen who I really like, she deserves better than this.

God, I hope Gary goes- at least poor Karen won't have to put up with him any more!

It's like Gary was expecting a 'Dirty Dancing' type scenario where he became a brilliant dancer and amazed everyone at the end. I think Craig gave him a '1' partly to bring him back down to earth!

He keeps saying he's not a natural dancer- nobody is! The professionals have to work damn hard from a young age to get to their level and the fact he seemed to think he could just pick it up in a few hours is pretty condescending.

I used to like Gary, a long time ago, but he's just really got on my nerves with the things he's said on Strictly. He isn't very good, and thats partly down to not putting in the hours, and that isn't anyone but his fault. He knew he was going to be on Strictly and if he'd ever saw the show would have known the time you have to put into it. Its not Craigs fault your not good Gary. To be fair at least Craig is telling him what he is doing wrong maybe if he listened and put some more hours into it he'd improve.

I agree that Gary has come over pretty poorly on SCD. He is a terrible dancer and has not been very likeable in the training footage shown.

I am surprised as I met him once years ago when we were dining in one of his restaurants (brilliant food!) and he was there. He was utterly charming and spent loads of time at each of tables talking to diners. He was really personable and my Mum especially loved him.

Gary should have made more time for training but I am sympathetic about having other commitments. I don't want SCD to only have otherwise out of work or retired celebs. For me it works best when there is a mix and if we want people who are at the top of their game then they will have other work during the SCD series. I guess it's all about finding the right balance. Sadly for Gary and Karen, he hasn't managed it very well.

For me Gary just hasn't seem committed to SCD as the others,and to be honest he's a big disappointment,the BBC should ask for a refund..I watched on ITT as he "managed" to fit in an hours training with Karen,he appears to be a very selfish individual,who's there merely to promote himself and his book.
Karen isn't one of my favourite pro dancers but the way he shouted at her was insulting,can you imagine anyone coming into his kitchen to be taught by him and then shouting at Gary like that..He'd have thrown them out,he IMO has a total lack of respect for dance, and the professional who is trying extremely hard to teach him.
His number of hours training is disgraceful and he's always making excuses,didn't hear Austin say one word about his back injury on Saturday and neither did Andrew regards his broken toes , and Ola her fractured foot.
The sooner he's out the better.

Ellie

But I thought Gary was a perfectionist.
No sympathy and all that from me. He only had less than half a day out of 14 days to learn a dance! That's it!? Whilst others, even though are bad, still put in the effort. I'm really not liking him this year. In fact I've always found him annoying in his shows for some reason, but him being on Strictly has annoyed me. As I said in the discussion thread last night:

Craig got through to the final and is a damn fine chef - Gary picked on the wrong one there.

I feel much better now. Don't post much on this board because bona fide criticisms often seem to be met with hostility from fans. Nice to be in the company of people that can just discuss someone's genuine shortcomings without being accused of unfairly hating on someone.

After reading this, Gary strikes me as someone who has joined SCD to raise his profile and nothing more. To some degree it can be argued that they all do this, but 10 hours is absolutely ridiculous and the sooner he's voted off the better.

Even poor Austin, who missed a lot of training with a bad back put in more hours. He DIDN'T complain and put the training in when he could.

surely he's self employed so he can decide to devote more time to dance pracrtise if he wants too - after all there are those who are on telly daily who manage to rehearse more ( I know in Fiona andreW and Kates case it didnt make much differnce but at least they tried/ are trying)

I think he's so arrogant he thinks if he wants to be good at something he will just do it - he also cant be a fan of the show - most of the celebs know theyre in for a tough time

and finally Gary -EVERYONE HAS TO LEARN A NEW DANCE EVERY WEEK THATS THE POINT!!!!

For the first series of Strictly, I had some sympathy with the celebs who hadn't realised what they were taking on, but this is the 6th series, surely there's no surprises - re: training etc - left? If a celeb is already over-taxed with work, then the simple answer is to say "No - but I'd like to be considered for next year" and make sure they clear up adequate time.....

As to the ITT film of Gary's day, a lot of people have to get up at 4.30-4.00 am - so what? It is his choice to go into his personal gym and work out - he should have saved the energy for the dancing. And I feel sure that is not necessarily a true picture of his 'average' day.

Whole thing smacked of a sob story!

Well said I've never seen Craig so nervous as in that programme....When Craig awarded 1 point to Gary I honestly thought that's all he was worth.

Ellie

At least we got that funny exchange about Craig praying out of Gary's dance, that must have counted for something

He (Craig) had so much sweat dripping off his face, I think he would have curdled the custard ..... but bet he cooks up some great dinners.

And yes, although I thought his 1 point for Gary was harsh, I didn't think he (Gary) really deserved more.

How did he have only 10 hours to learn this dance when ITT on Weds had his training time already at 13.5 hrs for the week?

I can't imagine Karen would have spent several hours learning future dances when he was struggling with the Jive.