Loved watching him skate tonight - he is full of enthusiasm and always looks as if he is really enjoying himself, whether skating or singing.

I have no real impression or opinion of ray, just that he might want to calm down a bit before he like drops Maria in training or something. Being a very full on person he may start to grate people a bit further on but who knows.

I thought he was brilliant and if he was this good on the first show he will be amazing after a few weeks, but what I don't understand was why he repeatedly said he had never iceskated before, only rollerbladed, when there is footage on youtube of him iceskating with the other finalists when he was on XFactor. Personally I don't think it matters but why fib?

He never said he'd /never/ skated. He only said it was a rare treat as the closest rink to him was in Wales. He's never had lessons as far as I am aware.

I think they consider skating to be like had lessons, cos you hear people on SCD saying they'd never danced lol! But if there is one thing i dont like its fibbing about previous experience or not talking about previous experince, if they come out and say it thats fair enough, then everyone knows and people can judge for themselves. I hate hearing things late on like with zaraah being a trained dance teacher. Rays been upfront about the dance experience, Fountain was about the hockey, as long as your not hiding something its fine.

The nearest rink would be Deeside; dependent upon where in Liverpool one is travelling from,the distance is around 20 miles - not a journey one would undertake regularly unless training in an ice skating discipline.

His dancing was excellent but he's so slight in build I think he'll struggle with the lifts.

His voice is grating on me already

Well the Yorkshire accent also grates on many - are accents sufficient reason not to vote for talent?

I dunno about the lifts. He performed a roll up into a crucifix in the open sequence of the show didn't he?

Firstly just because my log-in has the word Yorkshire in it doesn't necessarily mean I have a Yorkshire accent.

Are new-ish members always treated like this - having read the TOS on 'respect' I think you've just violated that rule and I've reported this post accordingly.


Respect
Don't insult or personally attack another member. Don't dismiss the views of other members; if you disagree with someone, please post a well thought out, considered response. Treat other users with respect at all times. You do not have the right to attack someone for having an opinion other than your own; if someone disagrees with you, they're entitled to provided they do it respectfully.

Are you being serious? You can't report someone for something you yourself have done. That's really hypocritical. It's hardly a personal attack to say you don't like a particular accent. I'm from Yorkshire and I wasn't offended. It just proves the point that on a skating show it would be nice if people could judge on the skating and the dancing rather then all this other crap.

I think I disagreed with you respectfully.


I suppose I must now await the judgement of the mods.

Ray lifted tonight's show- how could he not, his performance was superb.

But.

He is without doubt a very talented all round performer in the entertainment arts - singing, dancing, probably pretty good at acting if he tried that.
He's also incredibly full of himself (or as Jane & Chris politely put it - he needs to reign his enthusiasm in a little). It's for this reason that no matter how good he is, he will never win a mass audience following and therefore never achieve stardom and the accompanying financial rewards.

Youth doesn't excuse him for this pigheaded know-it-all-ness. He's been in 'showbizness' enough years now to realise that in this country at least, he has to demonstrate a bit of self deprecrating humour or try a spot of genuine humility or surprise at the praise he receives.

And lastly, his comment re the nearest ice rink referencing to him "being from Liverpool an all" really grated. Aside from not believing he's had little experience at skating on ice, I also question... How many towns/cities have an ice rink? Why should Liverpool have one particularly? I'm fed up of my fellow Liverpudlians playing on the Liverpool "specialness", it's an old, old tune they sing.

Chris and jayne were talking about his enthusiasm needing reigning in - the problem with Ray is people who dont know him taking his enthusiasm for arrogance or cockness something he isnt

Ray hasnt had any ice training or experience other than the odd expedition to Deeside as a kid, I like many Liverpudlians lament that the Silver Blades rink in Kensington was closed causing people to treck a long way with the kids to do any skating which was the point ray was making

as for lifts Ray is used to dancing with a partner in his Ballroom and latin and also in his Rock N Roll (gymnastic type) and freestyle disco which did involve lifting

He's annoyed me in the past and, as I'm another Manc, I don't think I'd automatically wish him well - however, I think he's better on the ice than he ever was on the stage. His personality could still b*lls it up for him (I love it all me, I really do - I don't ever want it to end it's magic) but right now it's okay.

I'm hoping he does what Chris Fountain didn't manage to do last year. Turn a lot of initial promise into something spectacular. If Ray can end the series delivering routines that make me shake my head (in a good way), I might even vote for him.

I loved his performance, and saw no arrogance or cockiness.
He has it, he flaunts it - good for him!
He has as much right to be there as poor ole Todd, who I think should have gone last night.
Last edited by cyfrin : 12-01-2009 at 02:34

He didn't fib. he said that he had only been ice-skating a few times.

Very, very enjoyable

A very good & confident performance.

Like Jason, Ray is the one I'll be looking forward to watching again.

I was, frankly, staggered by Ray, having expected him to be more Gareth Gates than Chris Fountain...and now it turns out he's practically Chris Dean!*I certainly didn't expect him to be able to lift at all, looking at the size of him, and when he came out with Maria in a roll-up lift, my jaw hit the coffee table.

If he can continue to improve and not hit an Austin Healey-style plateau, then he'll be the best male skater the show's ever seen - more graceful than Kyran and more controlled than Chris.




*Apologies for the heresy, obviously there is only one Dean and only ever will be

He said he hadn't skated much because the nearest ice rink to Liverpool is in Wales.

Presumably he was talking about Deeside. Depending whereabouts in Liverpool he lived we're talking about 20 miles or so, not really close enough for the casual skater to go regularly.

I have to agree 100% FantasticMrFox and after not really being a great fan of his (although I have never disliked him as some on here seem to have) myself and my daughter became great fans last night, purely from his talent and his dancing ability (my daughter is a dancer and skater too so she really appreciated what he brought to the ice).

Then of course our lovely Ellery ... we LOVE him to bits and more to the point he was really good last night! Without seeing the girls, Ray and Ellery are the ones to watch so far.

Hes fab...some very bitter people on DS today.shame.

The skating went up a notch when Ellery came on, and went into orbit when Ray came on. My goodness what a fantastic first round performance.