The show is called DANCING on Ice!

Ruthie and Jason are there to comment on the dancing and overall performance.

They are both doing a great job, far better than one of the other 'qualified' judges.

I think she's modelled herself on Arlene Phillips, but has done it badly. The show needs someone who is classy a good dancer and a skater... I think you are so right, Anita Harris whatever her age, would be a wonderful choice. Who ever replaces this awful woman would be an improvement though.

What neither Jason nor Ruthie seem to really appreciate is how difficult it is to stay upright and do even the simplest movements on ice.

Just because someone is a dancer on the ballroom or disco floor or on a stage does not automatically mean that they will be able to transfer that skill effectively to the rink.

Ray is actually quite exceptional in that he HAS been able to do it so well. Cast your mind s back to the only other professional dancer they have had on - Bonnie in Series 1.
Her actual skating (with both her feet on the ice) in that was actually pretty poor (when forced to let go of Matt she was as shaky as all the others and she looked like Bambi on ice) - that was hidden very cleverly by the routines she did which involved lots of lifts and tricks - and creating beautiful poses in the air. I can remember someone on here actually timing her through one routine and out of the 90 seconds she was in the air for 60 and holding hands with Matt the other 30!

Jason loved her because she looked like elegance and grace personified, and yes she did look good but she couldn't actually SKATE very well back then, but she did know how to perform which was a HUGE advantage.

I'd really like to see both of them attempt some of the routines the celebs have been asked to do (let's see Jason do Ray's week 1 routine with Maria and Ruthie do Jessica's with Pavel) and see just how hard it is to do what they seem to think should be done before they pass their snide comments.

Its very very hard to "perform" when you are concentrating very hard on not falling flat on your face - and even harder when the surface you are trying to perform on is slippery and unforgiving

Well, no, a stumble will still get you marked down: look at how the expert skaters marked it. Also, I'm not convinced the rest of Zoe's performance did make up for the stumble. Her transitions between lifts and various movements were really stiff and wooden. She seemed to be completing a list of movements rather than flowing through a whole dance. To follow on from your argument, just because Zoe attempted a "first-class" ice dance and failed does not mean she automatically deserves higher marks than someone who attempts a "2.2" ice dance and performs it well. Otherwise Todd could have a crack at Torvill and Dean's Bolero next week and expect 5s for it.

I don't think Ruthie is anything like Arlene. Arlene is a goddess and none can compare!

But Ruthie shows promise.

She marked Jeremy only .5 higher than Todd. Jeremy wasn't great but he was more than .5 better than Todd. So her credibility flys out the window.

And she chose to ignore Zoe's stumble, as she "didn't care". She's a fool.

Yes and Nicky and Karen both specialised in ice DANCING (which is a specific discipline in ice skating championships along with pairs and individual skating)).

So you're missing the point.

Dancing on ice and dancing on stage are completely different. Ruthie is only qualified in the latter. There are othe judges present who are qualified to assess dancing on ice.

OK, here's the deal; I am conflicted.

The marking in DOI *does* seem to be up and down like
( insert your analogy of choice here...............................)
BUT
having a panel of judges who can bring a cross section of views doesn't seem like a bad idea to me, indeed, it would be a bit like dishing out a score for technical merit and one for performance, all sort of rolled into one.
To have a couple of skating experts and a couple of more visual performance experts ( before I'm slaughtered, I use the term experts in a broad, general sense ) *should* give a balanced score.

So why doesn't it work? Or why doesn't it seem to work as consistantly as it should ?

ps Arlene could take Ruthie on a wet Tuesday, with flu and her hands tied behind her back imho!!