It doesn't have to equate to ice skating to be a big help.

Ray's performances have utterly discredited the arguments that prior experience doesn't matter.

How do you get from her not keeping up with him (if that's what happened) to "she couldn't keep up with him"?

Are you kidding? Of course Maria could keep up with him. They rehearse this routine all week, she has to slow down to match his speed and they have to work as a team to keep that consistant.... more likely the adrenaline of performing made him speed up, faster than they had planned in rehearsal.

He is good, VERY good. But suggesting that he's better than Maria?

Michael's 33 weeks of training certainly haven't dispelled the myth.

Ray is absolutely amazing. Im just mesmerized watching him skate. He is the best skater ever in the competition and its only week 3. I cant wait to see him improve over the weeks. Even T&D looked excited when they talked about where he can go. At last they have someone who can do the very difficult routines - theyll have to get their choregraphy thinking caps on. Hes a dead cert for the final.

And rollerblading and dancing are not the same as ice skating. And they can sometimes be a disadvantage - like with spotting while you spin. As Ray said if you do this while you skate then you will fall. Chris Fontaine had trouble adjusting from his hockey background last year to dancing with a partner also. He kept tripping on the toe-picks cause hockey skates dont have any.

Ray for the Win

Yes he is brilliant and it`s a foregone conclusion he will win but he seems so damn cocky and arrogant which I`m sure will get worse as the judges continue to give him top marks every week

I am looking forward to seeing how he improves more than any of the others at the moment. Last night showed he is certainly capable of different styles. Fabulous.

The kid from The Adams Family! Maria could dress up as Morticia and Ray as the kid and dance to the theme song!

As someone who had no opinion either way on Ray Quinn before the show started Id like to say that I think his performance was astounding last night.

Yes, his Latin/Ballroom background has helped him but Id rather he have a slight advantage (like Jessica -previous contest, Michael -previous series!) and see fabulous routines than look forward to the monotony ofthe competition without him.

At the very least the others will surely raise their game more than they would have had Ray not been involved.

Go Ray!!!! Fanatastic performance and a truly lovely charming young man, he did Liverpool proud last night!!! WINNER!

How does his prior experience even begin to compare to Ray's?

The unfortunate fact is that we now have someone (Ray) whose prior experience has helped make him so much better at the start of DOI that it's unlikely anyone else will be that good by the end.

It's already making a joke of the marking. If Ray gets 5.0, how can anyone else deserve 4.5?

The show is scrambling to point out such "disadvantages", but they are greatly outweighed by the advantages.

Rollerblading can be a huge help without being the same as ice skating. His dancing experience is obviously a big help too.


Nonetheless, Chris's skating background was a big help to him in DOI. Any troubles he had with toe picks were insignificant.

All of the arguments that prior experience doesn't help unless it's exactly ice dance experience, or that it doesn't matter when one of them has one kind of advantage because the others have other advantages -- arguments that almost made sense in Chris's case -- have been blown apart by Ray's performances.

Well, I like him. Also liked him on X-Factor too. An extremely talented and versatile young man.

He's a great dancer, and it's clear that Jason likes him.

I'd like to watch Ray's routine again. Is there anywhere online I can watch it? It doesn't seem to be on YT.

Ray doesn't do roller blading as a job though, its just a hobby and with his schedele he probably doesn't get much time to it anyway.

I don't think its fair to say its been blown apart by his performances, he may just be very naturally talented.

I don't Ray has more of an advantage than Jessica or Micheal

That says more about the voters than it does about Ray.

Can't seem to take to Ray, no matter how good he is.

They are essentially the same voters though...

Why do people keep going on about Chris Fountain all the time, he's NOT in the competition this year GET OVER IT. It amuses me to see that CF's confidence on the ice to some people came across as cockiness & boastful yet Rays confidence is called being young and enjoying himself, and they are the same age apart from a few months!!

Cos people always talk about the previous skaters and compare, its inevitable. I' m sure Chris would be quite annoyed if people ignored the fact he was ever in it and forgot about him... We're still bringing up the 1st series frequently let alone the last one... we're going on about Bonnie, Kyran, Claire, Gareth and Suzanne all the time too... Its only normal to compare, we cant just delete the last series from memory. Calm down.

Obviously people talk about previous skaters and about their skating ability, but not to make personal attacks on people

I agree that personal attacks are wrong and some are even disgusting but if you want to defend stuff you should be calm about, all sorts of people get things said about them on here, some of it is well out of order and awful but try to take it with a linch of salt and not used caps and shout at people... Ray and chris being compared is inevitable and some of the stuff being said about ray is far worse, it swings in roundabouts.

Opposite opinions have also been expressed: to some Chris was eager and enthusiastic - yet Ray displaying similar energy and eagerness is considered smug and arrogant. Not content with that, his appearance has come in for some pretty spiteful and sneering comment.

Chris's participation is last year's news - he had many fans and finished a very creditable runner up.

Ray is the butt of this year's shouts of 'unfair.'

Nothing will change - the venom will continue and no doubt we'll still be hearing about Ray's 'previous experience' next year: along with whoever becomes next year's target.

We dont just slate previous contestants though there are lots of postive things said, more on other forums though but still. I always consider it good when they are brought up and positive comparisons are made, i dont like the whole last years news thing that squite insulting to them, cos some have contributed an awful lot to the show and its a good thing that their talent is still recognised, and you can do that without being stuck in the past. i still like talking about kyran, claire and Suzannes performances in particular and feel they should be talked about along with this years, comparisons are inevitable and the best of the best will still be talked about I'd imagine it a few series time.