So, if someone has never heard of Mr. Potato Head, what should they infer from Jason's comments?

'JUDGES ARE ON THIN ICE WITH ELLERY'

Is the headline in an article by Mark Jefferies on page 3 of The Daily Mirror;

' Dancing on Ice star Ellery Hanley has blasted judge Jason Gardiner over,

" Personal Attacks " '

'Asked about his experiences, Hanley, 47, said:

" I do believe some of the judges comments are personal attacks. " '


Ellery has been on the recieving end of 'personal attacks' from one of the judges, and has exposed them for what they are.

Perhaps the judge responsible should now do the decent thing & fall upon his sword.

I'd rather he learnt his lesson and offered understandable, constructive criticism than fall on his sword.

If only he rein in his desire for attention he could be a valuable source of advice to the contestants.

Yes, you're right I do like to be polite, and I've found that it is totally unnecessary to be rude and offensive to people to get them to do what I want, in fact I've found that being polite gets the desired result much more quickly and easily than being rude, which just gets people's backs up, when they have a tendency to do the opposite and get very obstructive.

It's a lot less work to be polite to get much better results.

You only find that out if you're a leader and want to get the best out of people, rather than a loser venting your frustrations on them, though.

I doubt anyone has seen that but with that you would need to use your imagination - i do hope you have one of them.

I have to say, i think i did watch that particular show and didn't get that particular comment but i think the rest of the criticism was constructive and possibly led CRH to that image.


TBH, if you watch it again after the Mr Potato Head comment he does elaborate into what i said previously. Its hard to hear because the crowd started booing immeadiately after "Mr Potato Head".

Everyone seems to latch onto these images and ignore what he says after.

I think the whole critiscsm is:

"yes he does wonderful 3-turns and mohawks but you remind me of Mr Potato Head, that's the way you move
[crowd booing] its kind of clunkish and awkward still in the upper body" then something about shoulders that i couldn't hear because the crowd were so loud and he finished with "its still unsightly mate."

That summed up Ellery for me for the whole 5/6 weeks of DOI. How is that not constructive. You need to look at the whole comment and not latch onto any images and make them the whole comment.

The whole point is that the "Mr Potato Head" was totally unnecessary and a gratuitous insult, it just didn't need to be said and was designed to be hurtful, not constructive at all.

The rest of that paragraph gets the point across without the insult and would have been fine. Why didn't he just stick to that, there was no need to embellish it or make a lame attempt to humiliate the person in front of him.

I know being polite to some people does get better results but some people, for instance me, need the Jason Gardiner kind of straight talking approach to produce the results otherwise i maybe a bit like Ellery, who for me didn't make enough of an improvement in the movement aspect of the show, which is why i think he didn't get the public support.

I, also sometimes need the polite encouragement of say Karen Barber but the drawbacks of being taught in that manner is that you're comfort zone is never pushed, is never fully tested. I know, I would feel like that sometimes under her kind of guidance.

The trick to successful management of people is to know on which people you can use which technique and if they are like me, when to use each technique.

I'm prepared to consider of your comments - but take exception to your instruction of what I 'need' to do, which I find patronising.

You couldn't hear the whole comment because of the noise from the crowd - why upbraid me because I commented on what I did hear?

Jason is, or should be, more than capable of offering advice without resorting to insulting analogies - just because you think you are capable of reading between the lines, doesn't alter the fact that his criticism is clouded by his attempts to be clever.

On the contrary, there is never a need to behave the way Jason does to anyone, that isn't straight talking, it's just plain rudeness. Straight talking is fine, it commands respect, but stick to the facts and leave the more colourful comparisons unsaid.

In fact that's the sort of behaviour that makes people being managed start to sabotage their managers, even if they're not the ones on the receiving end.

it does add something though.

The rest of the paragraph as you say is fine but that image to me makes those comments stand out, make me visualise how it looked.

Had I been in Ellery's position, without that image, it would've been filed away at the back of my mind and next day it would be forgotten and I'd be like "What's the new choreography"(had he stayed).

With the image, i'd be "what's the new stuff and can we make sure i don't look like mr potato head, come next Sunday".

The image stays with you, the comment doesn't.

So what image should those who have never heard of Mr. Potato Head visualise?

I don't see it as rude, i see it as straight-talking, this is what you reminded me of.

If someone reminds me of something, i will say it, whether it is good or bad. I don't get reminded of things very often but am more "get something done" type thing.

I'm not as colourful as Jason, I don't think i could ever think up half the stuff he does but he is right.

Who hasn't heard of Mr Potato Head? That's why he said it. Its a universal image.

If you hadn't heard of the toy, then i'd hope you'd imagine a potato with some eyes, mouth, feet and arms trying to move. it's not the most difficult image to visualise, hence why its a pre-school toy.

Being called a Potato is not an insult. And how is it a bad example to children? Children love Mr. Potato Head.

I think this forum has come to expect silly comments from you. No its not bullying in any shape or form.

It is increasingly the way some people react. Almost anything and anything is claimed to be racist or bullying.

These people tend to be very biased though because some of these postsers that are coplying about Jason support Ross to the hild and in the case of Ross he was guilty of harrasement and obscene and lewd langage

Dear Bob22A,

Thank you for your kind messages.

It is not a silly comment to disagree with someone for introducing a fascist dictator into the conversation in one of their messages. Message number 12.

It is Ellery who has quite rightly introduced the word 'bullying' into the debate.

No one in their right mind would support the disgusting behaviour of Jonathan Ross towards Andrew Sach and his family.

Grow a back bone Ellery and take it like a man if thats all you have to put up with then you should be glad

They know what they are signing up for when they receive there big fat cheque

Then they go and whinge to the papers trying to get more money

He was terrible at ice skating calling him Mr Potato head is an insult to Mr Potato head.

Jason is the only one to add a bit of spice to the panel the rest are just dull

Their
There
They're

I despair

Karen can sometimes be a little too kind; Nicky and Robin are constructive and advise on the technique of skating. You will often hear Nicky talk about 'soft' knees, something which you will always notice in the better skaters. They also talk about lines and the fluidity of the performance.

What's dull about that.

Jason makes insulting analogies to attract attention. He loves being the pantomime villain - and the celebs aren't the only one's to go to the papers, Jason does it on a regular basis.

If it hurts that much stay away!

No one ever said an English qualification is a prerequisite before posting on DS.

I thought the cabbage patch doll comment was about the hair and clothing?

Why get defensive? Why not take the best from it or allow diyqueen to do so? I'd love it if people would correct my mistakes. I don't suffer from the kind of reverse snobbery that suggests I should wallow in my mistakes forever and nobody has the right to correct me.

Surely a basic command of the English language is not too much to ask for?

Maybe it is

Thank you