I don't care whether it's genuine mistakes or staged clowning around...the publicity good for the show, isn't it?

Linky:
Todds a rotten faker:

http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content...4/15214587.jpg

My Wife want to strangle Jason:
http://news.sky.com/sky-news/content...4/15214582.jpg

I think its a shame that there seems to be competition between them, i know it makes sense that there is, but i hope there friends too.
I hope people aren't against Ray because hes so good

Attacking Todd is a massive mistake, and will only end up in galvanizing more support for Todd.

The beast of The Great British Public, could well be beginning to stir this morning.

This is one sure fire way of keeping Todd in the comprtition, if competitors and judges continue to attack Todd in this way, he will be home and dry.

he's funny but he's got to go soon. it's not fair on the good ones if he keeps going through and they're going home.

I admit he was funny last week but he cant continue to get through by being useless. If he continues to get through the others will and I would think what is the point of training every week if They are going to be sacrificed for someone who has to get dragged across the ice.

I have seen the posts saying that its not about the skating its about entertainment well why bother learning complicated routines if falling about on the ice is what gets you through to the final which sees what some posters want.

I don't think you can believe all you read in the papers - especially the Daily Star! Of course the papers will play up any hint of rivalry as it sells papers and remarks can easily be taken out of context.

Todd knows he is not very good and is not taking the skating that seriously because he can't compete on that level, he just doesnt have the skills. In his routine last week he did pull funny faces all through and it was quite amusing as a result. However the trip on his toepicks that sent it into the realms of absolute hilarity was just that - an unplanned trip.

No real difference between pulling funny faces in an amusing routine and conveying deep emotion in an emotional peice as Ray did - both are playing the part demanded of them.

Unfortunatley for Todd his lack of skills probably mean he is limited to that sort of routine.

My opinion in a nutshell Icedragon. I like to consider myself to be fairly 'media savvy' nowadays and view all tv broadcasts and read newspapers with a healthy dose of scepticism and accept how much they try to sway public opinion with 'selective' editing and reporting. So I will continue on my own merry way, making up my own mind based on what I want to see and for my own reasons. If others view it differently and vote differently then I don't mind, that's life and this is only entertainment

Todd will go at the right time, it's just a shame everyone is being bitter about him, these shows normally achieve the right winner in the end and when the skaters get seriously good the public will know better, but for now I think it's just a bit of fun and the show will be too competitive and boring without him.

Thank heavens Chris Dean is coming back tonight.

Michael Underwood isn't doing himself any favours by dissing Todd. Todd is the reason why more people will be watching DOI tonight. Michael Underwood could end up being in the bottom two tonight because of his comments (even if they were taken out of context) because people will see it as jealousy. Michael would have been better saying that Todd was trying his best yadda yadda.

We can't believe what we read in the papers ???????


good grief, my life is over.....

This rubbish is likely to be as true as - well, it's Sunday - you pick the metaphor

It actually takes a huge amount of skill to be purposely bad at skating. Todd doesn't have that skill - he is just not good at skating and is therefore very likely to trip and fall - which if people are honest is probably a huge part of the reason they watch anyone ice skating at all

That's why he is fun to watch now but I seriously doubt he will get anywhere near the final. As it happens he appears to have the personality to capitalise on his lack of skill as he has turned out to come across as a genuinely likeable and funny guy.

Each contestant brings their skill (or lack of it) to the contest along with their personalities (which is why we are watching celebs and not just random members of the public plucked off the streets). They have to go with the styles that suit them and one of the things I find interesting is seeing how their different styles develop over the weeks.

People should take anything they read in the Daily Star with a huge pinch of salt though that article actually doesnt put Michael Underwood in a good light. He sounds very bitter. I expect the newspaper has twisted his words though. I was amused at an article about Donal on the same page throwing his support behind Todd. Donal isnt even out of the competition yet.

It is no part of why I watch ice skating.

And it does not take a huge amount of skill to play up your lack of it and to try to clown your way through rather than learn how to skate.

No, because publicity of this sort will bring in the "wrecker" vote.

The wreckers don't really care about the show and aren't really interested in ice dancing. They dislike the judges, or the show, or this whole type of show, or the people who are interested in the skating; and so they'll support the worst skaters in order to wind people up or, ultimately, make a joke out of the show.

This will drive away viewers who are interested in the skating, as well discouraging celebs who might do well at ice dancing from taking part, possibly sending the show into terminal decline.

(N.B. I am not trying to say or suggest that all of Todd's support is of the "wrecker" sort, and certainly in this forum people seem to find him genuinely entertaining.)

I would venture you might be in a minority then.

As someone who has skated and attempted to do some comedy routines in competition I would say it is very hard to play the clown well on ice. The best exponent of the art was former Olympic skater Kurt Browning.

I don't know what evidence you have that he is not trying very hard to learn how to skate. I spoke to him early on in his training and he was very keen to make the best go of it he could but was genuinely finding it very hard, as anyone of his age and lack of previous useful experience (dance, gymnastics, sportyness in general, rollerblading etc) is likely to.

I agree.

That's the thing that bothers me most about Todd. The others are genuinely making an attempt to improve their skills, and giving it their best shot.
It's not a case of him trying his best, but just not being very good at it. He has watched John Sargeant, and decided that it's easier to put in zero effort and pick up the clown / sympathy vote. After so many weeks training, nobody could be as useless as he is on the ice (if they really were trying to improve). What's funny about a ham actor clowning around on the ice and taking the pi$$ out of everyone else who is working their socks off? It's disrespectful to his fellow competitors
The British sense of humour has a lot to answer for at times.

It takes a lot of skill to be purposefully as bad as Todd.


Are you really so sure about that? I don't think it's fair to say Todd's not trying when we've only seen him twice.


That's not necessarily the case. Aggie tried very hard last year and didn't improve one bit. Greg and Steve Backley last year both reached a plateau beyond which they didn't manage to improve.

Any evidence for that? No one I know who is interested in skating watches it for the spills.


Sure, but it does not require a lot of skill to do what Todd is doing, and he is not just skating badly, he is playing up the badness.


The evidence is that he is still so poor after weeks of training. It would be interesting to know how many hours he's putting in. And how he spends them.

You're misunderstanding the point. No one is saying he is a good skater purposefully skating badly. He is a poor skater who may be deliberately skating a bit worse (which is not difficult) and is who is exaggerating and playing up the "comedy" in ways that do not require significant skating skills.

Nope which is why I ventured it as opinon rather than fact! Though I do know an awful lot of people who enjoy watching sports thst are dangerous because it's funny/exciting to see people fall/cars crash/ skiiers take a tumble etc. It adds a frission of added excitement.


IMHO he is obviously a hopeless skater so they are giving him easy light hearted routines which he can have fun with. Last weeks accident just made it all the funnier but he would not be able to repeat that sort of thing at will, as that would take skill to do.


Because it's bloomin difficult! He does have the least advantages of any of them and is more like most people his age when they take up skating after watching dancing on ice and then they realise it's not so easy as some of them make it look.

Anyway you confuse me. You don't like Todd because he can't skate but you don't like Ray either, even though he can both skate exceptionally well and dance too.

personally I would say it was more to do with the 'news'(sic)papers and some of the posts on DS than the judges

I agree. The DOI judges haven't had a go at Todd at all apart from Jason in week 1 and it's been widely reported that ITV made it clear they weren't pleased with that because of the complaints they received. Jason said as much himself when he was on This Morning the following day.

Chris and Jayne are reputed to be very hard taskmasters so I don't see them allowing Todd not to make an effort. And we saw in the VT on week 1 that Susie also got annoyed with him when his other commitments got in the way of his training, so I doubt she'd stand for it either.

Let's face it, Aggie tried very hard last year and didn't improve one bit. Greg and Steve Backley last year both also reached a plateau beyond which they didn't manage to improve, though they did try. Todd would seem to fall into that same category: that it doesn't matter how much of an effort he makes, his improvement (if any!) seems likely to be quite limited.