Why ask a celebrity or contestant on a show if they are not prepared for them to win?

Completely agree with you. What a farce. They obviously did not expect JS to get very far, it was a case of "lets laugh at the old bloke". Unfortunately for them he was actually a popular contestant but not very good at dancing so it became "lets get him out now, he's making a mockery of the show". Why did they ask him to come on in the first place? To ridicule him?
Last edited by water_carrier : 19-11-2008 at 16:05

So why was John asked onto Strictly?

I can only assume it was to fill the programme's 'silly old duffer' role and we could all have a good laugh at him before eliminating him after the first dance.

But it didn't work like that. Krystina's skill and John's personality and their fun partnership made them such a great pleasure for me (and others) to watch. I genuinely enjoyed their dances so much and I spent my money on voting for them to be saved so I could have the pleasure of watching them the following week too.

John fulfilled his part, He trained, he performed, he did interviews, he remained charming and entertaining. Kystina was simply wonderful. I fulfilled my part by voting for my favourite contestents each week. But we got it wrong!

Apparently I was not supposed to enjoy them, not supposed to pick up the phone and vote, I was supposed to laugh at them.

He was not supposed to be popular. He was not supposed to be voted for. This broke the secret rules of the BBC's game!

Every trick in the book was used to try and stop me voting, but it didn't. Whatever the judges said I still continued to really enjoy John and Krystina's dances, still look forward to every Saturday and the pleasure their routines gave me. So the bullying started, the emotional blackmail started and John had to leave.

He wasn't 'the silly old duffer' role the BBC and judges had intended him to be, so he had to go.

I bet they regret asking him now.

I feel angry and actually quite ashamed to have fallen for believing that it was a free vote and anyone could win. I won't watch again - there's no point, it's not real.

Don;t watch again then- you are a new viewer anyway as you said yourself.

An honest question- do you over react to things like this every day?

Stop taking the whole thing so ludicrously seriously.

It's a frothy bit of lightweight, insubstantial Saturday night entertainment.

If you're feeling shame and anger then stick to embroidery and kittens ffs.

You've fallen for a bit of RTV manipulation...nothing more. It's how these shows work...and now you know not to be so gullible in future.

Are you kidding? The show's never had so much publicity.

Melissa has a point. This whole thing is just disgraceful. It's not about whoever go out but the way the unlikely winner was invited and then were expected to be humiliated and vote off. I can see another enquiry soon.

i agree with you melissa the show would be very very boring and pointless if the dancers got voted out in order of ability and then the best dancer technically won.
if they didn't want john to have a chance of winning, why ask him?
surely he shouldn't have felt "scared" of winning, thats what all the contestants should be aiming to do!!

Melissa I agree with you. You make some very good points.

FelineFantastic and Endemoniada - you really can't master the art of polite discussion can you? Have to resort to playground abuse against other FMs time after time.

I don't see there being another enquiry seeing as he chose to resign, he wasn't forced into anything. The way I read his speech was that he was afraid to make a mockery out of the show by staying and that's why he quit.

Excuse me! I may have been ironic in others and I asked an honest question in this thread but I do try to avoid being overtly rude and I have certainly never been rude to you.

So Arlene would have a dancing partner of her age at the christmas party.....lol

If someone feels strongly about something and expresses it in an eloquent and articulate manner, I feel to ridicule them for it is not very gracious. Disagree by all means but explain or argue why you disagree rather than just insulting someone.

I'm sorry your man has gone but that's no excuse for patronising me and exaggerating now is it?

See I can do it too.

Haven't John's detractors been overreacting to him remaining ever since Sunday night?

I wouldn't call demands for humility and apologies, together with name calling - awful little man, buffoon, smug, arrogant etc - rational behaviour.

John quit because he himself thought it was a mockery if he won; not the producers of the show.

The judges are judging from a dancing perspective; and from a dancing perspective, John winning would have a massive negative impact on the show - I mean should the other contestants simply not bother to train and simply goof around and play up to the clown role?

the fact is that he was the only character in the competition and now we must suffer the tedious platitudes of all the bland popsies left (except Jodie who won't win either)

as long as the bbc make sure they only choose young, fit, slim, pretty people from now on we won't have this problem again

Thank you.

We can't really blame them for responding like that though. They have clearly learnt the art of communication from Arlene Phillip's this week!

Perhaps I'd better resign too!

What a shame you are all such sensitive souls- what exactly in my post was so offensive to you- the Don't watch part- something I have been told by some John fans this week- or the question? Neither of which was intended to offend.

In fact you have been more blantently abusive in your response so please do not attempt to take the moral high ground.

I think the OP makes a very valid point. I think mocking the bad dancers and the judges getting all 'why are they still in?' has always been a factor on the show. This year they've lost control of it:
a) because it's too long this year, meaning like John's been treated like he's in the semi-final when there are still 7 in.
b) it's bash the BBC season and the papers couldn't resist making a meal of it.
c) John is very articulate and refused to quite play along with his role as poor old duffer, affecting how the comments felt.
d) Unlike previous mocked bad dancers, John is a man and older, again affecting how the comments felt. Kate and Fiona (I'd argue because they are women) got a more negative, less 'hero of the people' press reaction.
d) it's interesting to compare John with Julian Clary, who also refused to be humilated and was funny, and who got to the final. But Julian was younger and more handsome and so, while the judges objected to him, not with anything like as much bitterness (in my memory).

Yes, an excellent point.

Reminds me of as a child once making deliberate mistakes on a maths test so I didn't get teased for coming top again.

John and Krystina followed all the rules and shouldn't have been 'scared' or embarrassed or ashamed to have captured the public's heart in this way. Just as (contary to what other posters have told me today) I shouldn't be ashamed for having enjoyed their performances so much that I voted for them. I followed the rules too, or what I thought were the rules.

The Arlene Philips No Charm School

Don't you dare resign! We need a bit of common sense round here.

So now we'll get,
"I can't tell you how much this means everything to me,"
"I've wanted to do this since I was a little girl,"
"I'm doing it for my (insert kids, mum, dad, nan, etc)
"My (insert dog, cat, budgie, hamster etc) will be devastated.
"I don't want to let down my kids, mum, dad, nan, dog, cat, budgie, hamster etc."
Oh and insert partner anywhere in the above.

if they want a serious dancing competition dont ask celebs people already have an idea of their personality and will vote on that alone
and dont put it on between fluff tv like hole in the wall and merlin
having said that they know that if theres no celebs the show will soon be on a thursday night at 1am on bbc 2 bye bye viewers and bye bye phone vote cash

I'm working on my 'abusive' alliterations as we type!