I think it should be accepted for what is was .. a gold tv moment. Yes it was planned, but didn't come off as expected because he simply isn't good enough to achieve it! Thank goodness!

However, it should be kept into context and should not be taken to wanting Todd in the final at the expense of the better skaters and the safety of himself and his partner.

I don't think this could be repeated every week on that scale and the audience will soon tire of choreographed 'funnies'

Good on him though for being able to poke fun at himself and his lack of skating talent.

agreed.

I dont remember actually laughing but more thinking is this supposed to be happening and saying 'oh dear'. I actually thought after that the whole thing was probably staged as he only really flung his arms around a bit, something im sure he has control of.

The end of Todd's routine has to be the most hilarious moment of DOI ever!!! It was laugh out loud funny.

I hope some of the judges don't do a hatchet job on Todd. John Sargent's treatment on SCD left a sour taste, so repeat it at their peril!!!.

The GBP are capable of enjoying performances, whether for comic value or pure skill, but as the weeks go on the weaker performers will be eliminated.

We pay our money, we make the choice

It wasn't staged as you can see the moment where he caught his toepick and you can see him desperately trying to keep his balance. I know exactly what that feels (and looks) like as I have done it myself.

The lucky thing was that the choreography took them to the tunnel which added to the hilarity. If he'd tripped elsewhere he could well have ended up going over the edge in to the audience's laps. (which would also have been quite funny!). It's a very difficult thing to fake and Todd definitly doesn't have control of his arms while skating - he wouldn't risk flinging them about like that on purpose while skating.

I find it quite annoying that people say that he shouldn't be there as there are skaters there who work hard and deserve to be there. Just because he hasn't picked it up as fast as the others, doesn't mean to say he works any less than they do, possibly more knowing that he is finding it harder?
We all know that he won't make the final, but can we not be entertained on the way there? Who else is there? None of the others have the personality to make it entertaining. keep Todd in for a while, there's no harm in it. The skaters that leave would obviously not be making it to the final anyway, otherwise they wouldn't be in the bottom 2.

I'm pretty confident that Todd won't make it to the final too, and see no harm in him staying in for a few weeks so long as he is working hard and improving.

I do feel a bit sorry for the ones who are a bit less rubbish and who have worked hard, but it is equally harsh for them to be competing against the skaters who could skate proficiently on their first day and to leave before they have the opportunity to catch up.

Todd's comedy skating presumably peaked last week. I'm sure he'll be in for another couple of weeks as a result of public good-will and them hoping for a repeat, but that will fade soon enough. If he doesn't look like he's trying to get better, he will lose the goodwill he has just now.

If he manages to improve a lot, then he might get votes just for that, and why not? I just hope he doesn't play up to his image too much.

Why are people looking only at the final?

There are weeks of skating I'd like to see that will be less interesting if better skaters go out while Todd stays.

Anyway, so far he has not improved, and there is no evidence that he's worked hard either. Didn't they start training well before the show started? It's hard to believe he's made a real effort.


That's not how it went in SCD. John Sergeant wasn't getting significantly better, but people were still keen to keep him in. Many would have voted for him to win as well.

I found it very interesting that people, such as Claudia on It Takes Two, kept talking about the public support John Sergeant had but they didn't talk about why people were voting for John.

There were some genuine supporters but most people seemed to be voting to spite the judges.

I think (hope!) that DOI's slightly protected from that, partly because not every judge comments after each performance so there's no appearance of them all ganging up on a particular contestant, and partly because of the different personalities of the DOI judges to those of the SCD judges.

Jason (though he's not like that in real life from what I understand) is the Mr Nasty on the panel, Karen is so much more involved with the contestants than the other judges that she can barely bring herself to cricitise the contestants on camera and the other judges all fall somewhere in between those two. In one of the ITV webvids, Robin said that while he usually agrees with the content of what Jason says, he'd never say it the way Jason does.

So as long as no one (media!) decides to create a Cartygate just for the sake of it, hopefully it won't happen on DOI.

My problem isn't whether or not Todd's on the show but the fact that the difference between the worst skater (Todd) and the best skater (Ray) is too extreme. There's arguably a place for both on the show but it might have been better if they weren't on the same series.

I think the Sergeant affair changed how a lot of people see shows like this (as well as bringing in more people who see the shows that way).

Many of them will see Todd/DOI as another instance of John/SCD regardless of any differences.

Viewers on both "sides" were seeing Todd as at least potentially another JS as soon as it was clear that Todd was a poor skater who was in some way "entertaining".

And the same sort of "is it an entertainment show or a skating/dance contest" debate sprang up, with the "entertainment" side stronger than in the past, just as it had become re SCD.

The "anti" vote isn't just to spite the judges. There are other elements, such as a dislike for people (viewers, judges, celebs) who take shows such as SCD and DOI "too seriously".

I didn't watch SCD closely, so I can't really comment on it. What I can say is that the goodwill that Todd, and the others get from me would be lost if I thought he was not putting in the effort, or trying to be deliberately bad. I'm sure quite a few others would feel the same, and from what I read, John was losing some of his earlier good will because of it.

A big difference between DOI and SCD is that on SCD there are often several stage school graduates who have already learnt the basics of dance and technique, and most of the remainder are people with some kind of musical background including dance. This makes the good ones a bit boring, while the rubbish ones stand out more on SCD.

On DOI, most of the contestants start wobbly, and while Todd might be worse than the others, starting off rubbish isn't so unusual. Todd's exit last week was much more dramatic than anything we've seen before, but he'll struggle to repeat it, let alone build on it. John had to build up to dragging his partner around the stage like a sack of spuds.

I also think there is real potential for Todd to get better. John didn't seem to improve, but there is less scope when you are on solid ground as you are used to. Todd will never be an amazing skater, but he can become a much better skater than he is now if he puts in the practice. He was working over Christmas, so had less time for practice than he has now, so there is a realistic possibility of him making substantial improvements, relatively speaking.

I also agree with the others that the attitude towards John seemed to be based on the judges apparent disgust that he dared to still be in the competition and not be brilliant. In contrast, even Jason seemed to enjoy Todd's performance and was laughing, whilst still giving low scores.

If the judges don't get mean, but stay honest, then there will be less likelihood of "protest" voting.

In one respect I hope Todd does win. Then finally producers of such shows will wake up and realise viewers cannot be manipulated into voting for the "pets" like Ray Quin, Suzanne Shaw and Kyran Bracken by showing them in a good light, and trying to get public opinion behind them in doing so.

But conversly It would also be a bad thing that Todd kept going through each week on the public vote as someone who might be steadily improving could be voted out if they had a bad routine in the skate off that didn't suit them. After al how many times was Clare Buckfield in the skate off in series two when she obviously wasn't the worst skater like Emily Symons of Lee Sharpe.