Lesley Bee Posted November 19, 2008 Report Share Posted November 19, 2008 John's gone, i must say i never expected that to happen. I am glad though, at least the competition will be fairer now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xGlowingAngelx Posted November 19, 2008 Report Share Posted November 19, 2008 It'll either be that the show finishes a week earlier than planned or that the final will instead have 2 couples as opposed to the originally planned 3. I don't mind TBH. It's sad that John has felt the need to pull out, but it's sadder that it's been his own decision instead of him being voted out by the public (As in, not voting for him) which is what it should have been to prevent him getting as far as he did. I don't think it's been too bad up until now, because all the other celebs that have left the competition so far weren't the strongest anyway, so it wasn't exactly like John was staying in at the expense of a better celeb. Even Cherie. Whilst I liked her and did think she was better, she wasn't exactly miles ahead. Those left in the competition now are IMO the strongest ones, so not losing John this weekend would have meant losing one of them (which we will now do anyway, but at least it wont be through someone with a lower dancing ability.) It was proved during the week Rachel was in the dance off, when she really shouldn't have been. I respect John completely for deciding to pull out. It can't have been an easy decision. But having seen the ITT clip from last weekend when Cherie and Lisa were in the dance off, John really did look regretful and I think he knew himself that perhaps he shouldn't have stayed in at their expense knowing he's not as capable as they are. For me though, as someone who's watched the show since it first began and adores it, it's also quite worrying. Because I'd hate to think this is how it will be every other series. We have a celeb that's "bad" but the public pull them through resulting in them receiving a backlash that eventually results in them pulling out. It would make such a joke of the show we know and love. I just hope this isn't the focal point now up until the final. I can see it taking over this weekends show, but I'd rather it not be what we end up coming back to every single week. John pulled out knowing it was fairer to the others and I think the show should just go on once we have the first weekend out of the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmelle Posted November 19, 2008 Report Share Posted November 19, 2008 I think it's such a shame that John has quit. He clearly had a lot of support from the public and it's sad that he felt he had to quit. If people had just voted for the better dancers in the first place none of this would have happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xGlowingAngelx Posted November 19, 2008 Report Share Posted November 19, 2008 I think it's such a shame that John has quit. He clearly had a lot of support from the public and it's sad that he felt he had to quit. If people had just voted for the better dancers in the first place none of this would have happened. Unfortunately, such plain sailing is unlikely to happen in any reality TV show, especially one like SCD with such contreversial potential. There's a John Sergeant in every series and they always stay in longer than perhaps they should, this is just the first time I've known a celeb step down because of it. This whole series is so...... contreversial, OTT and unpredictable that I think the hype surrounding this is clouding what people should be focusing on, which now is those remaining. We have a strong line up remaining and if people allow the John hype to die down, we could be in for a spectacular show on Saturday. I can't wait to watch it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lesley Bee Posted November 19, 2008 Report Share Posted November 19, 2008 Yeah i agree, it is a shame the way in which he had to leave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eduardo Bearo Posted November 19, 2008 Report Share Posted November 19, 2008 The BBC forums can be pretty poisonous, and some of the venom posted there in the past few weeks has been frightening but this was quite a thoughtful post on the subject by someone called spinning hen . Let’s consider what has happened, who might be to blame? Why might John feel he has to resign? Was he hounded? Is he a coward or a hero? Are the judges culpable? Here are my thoughts. Today the judges are all expressing their profound regret at John’s decision. These are the same judges who have been interviewed in newspapers and described him as a dancing pig. The same judges who have been complaining that this is a dancing competition, the same judges who have expressed their outrage at the publics voting for him, and who have said they would be desolate if he won. Today Kate Garroway said that John would have gone in the natural course of things, but would he? I would argue that John has actually been an unprecedented phenomenon. He was expected to last no longer than week 5 at the most but momentum has gathered and the judge’s reaction has caused the press and the public to react in an atypical way. Research has shown that unlike in other SCD series the public voted by over 40% to annoy the judges as they are outraged at their attempts at manipulations, and those who understand these things feared it would snowball even more as the judges anger and frustration grew. It was like a juggernaut which had got out of control. We all know that Arlene has an acid tongue, has she contributed to this, intentional or not? I would rue that yes she has. Having taken up the baton the press were like a dog with a bone and would not let go. John was hounded. This in turn cranked up an already irate set of frustrated judges who gave them some more fodder for their headlines with increasingly bitter and more and more unpleasant sound bites. John’s family began to get phone calls from the public saying he should be ashamed of himself and should apologise to Heather. This is when things beginning to get unpleasant. The fans on the strictly forum then begin to react like hounds baying for blood. They do this every year when some one they like goes out a week earlier than they might otherwise have done, but the comments are vitriolic. We have had several weeks of fans demanding that John resign. He is accused of spoiling it and the forum members calling themselves the true SCD fans say he is spoiling it for the real fans. As each week progressed John expects to leave, his surprise at being there is evident for all to see. However he is accused of somehow manipulating the media and having some huge Machiavellian plot to take over SCD for his own evil ends (yes there were posts claiming this). The Press and the radio, start to see the snowball becoming so huge that they wonder if John is now unstoppable. He is even news in the USA. Kate Garroway never got more than a few comical quips on Breakfast TV and a few lines in the red tops. This was serious. The burden on John and upon his family must have been enormous. Kate was naïve to say it would blow over and he would be gone in a week or so, this was like nothing we had seen on SCD before. Not even Christopher Parker, because everyone knew he could not win. Bets were even being placed on John to win now; people were openly saying they wanted him to win to beat the pundits. I think had he continued and won, I personally would have accepted it with good grace, accepted it as something unlikely to happen next year, said well done, and looked forward to next year. It was becoming evident form the forum and from the comments from some of the pro dancers that the prospect of John winning was not something that they were prepared to accept, even though the rules were clear and even if the public voted for John to win. Some of the competitors have not helped matters as they have fuelled this monster, and served to speed things along. In Johns position, a 64 year old hounded by the press, vilified by a section of the forums, and quite clearly, whatever they say resented by some of the professional(James) was left with little alternative. I felt throughout that had the judges kept their comments between the shows to themselves and that had Arlene not been shouting her mouth off to the press about the dancing pig etc… that the issue would have died down. However, the public do not like being told what to do and resent this. John knew this and was tongue in cheek about it in the early days. However I think that he was dismayed and amazed by the extent to which this whole thing took off and was overshadowing both SCD and his life. He may now feel that a great weight has lifted now that he has resigned. It was obvious that he did not make this decision lightly. One obviously feels for Kristina, but she will still be there, and she will not be forgotten and one sincerely hopes that the BBC has enough sense to bring her back next year. I do hope however that they have enough sense to ditch Arlene who has now shown herself to have no media savvy and has been a major contributor to this whole sorry mess. So what do others think? Complain about a message I actually felt sad John had gone, but agree with a lot that was said in this post. I feel the whole thing grew beyond what we have normally expected, far more than Christopher Parker etc.. we all knew he wasn't going to win. The risk was that John would win, I would have loved to have seen Arlene's face if he had . I suspect john was protecting his family and they were his first priority, and one can hardly blame him given the mass hysteria which has been generated. A friend of mine in the US says it even made their news, which I don't think Kate G or Chris P ever did. James did not do himself any favours on ITT today, not so much by what he said, but how he said. He came across as very bitter and the cynic in me got the impression he would be singing a different tune if he and Cherie had not been kicked off last week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Bishop Posted November 20, 2008 Report Share Posted November 20, 2008 John Sergarnt was interviewed on ITN news yesterday and was asked why he had quit Johns answer was he didnt go on Strickly to win he never expewcted to get into the next round but was very suprised htat he did but felt it was for the best if he stepped down as it wasnt doing him or his family any good he al so went on to say he had enjoyed the experance but it was not for him . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xGlowingAngelx Posted November 20, 2008 Report Share Posted November 20, 2008 I don't think anybody expected John to win it when the series first began. And personally the only reason I may have had even a slight feeling he could win is because we've seen how easy it is for him to get through a round and perhaps at the expense of a better dancer (Imagine if Rachel had left the week she was in the dance off?). I get completely why people wanted him to stay in. They're the people that look at it purely as an entertainment competition. And why not? It's a Saturday night and people want to enjoy themselves. However, I've always seen it as both a dance competition AND an entertainment show, which I wont feel guilty about. Of course I enjoy the John Sergeants, Chris Parker's etc from each series. But it's not exactly funny when we get to the final and it's a Chris Parker vs. John Sergeant type thing. The fun people find from that is the fact they managed to stay in so long as opposed to them finding them entertaining. I don't think Kate Garraway would have stayed in so long last year had it not been for the media coverage constantly taking the mick and the judges going ott. People thrive from watching something escalate and this John Sergeant gate has achieved exactly that. Now he's gone I think those backing him should respect his decision. If they want to stop watching, let them. If they want to spout nastiness at each other, let them. But it's not fair on those still in the competition when the hard work they're also putting in is being ignored and nobody wants to watch because of all this. I love the show and I for one don't plan to stop watching just because John has stepped down. I'll respect his decision, let him have his moment on Saturday and then focus on the rest of the show and those that are still in the competition. There's still a few weeks left and it'd be very boring if this was all the show was about. I actually cannot wait for Saturday and I cannot wait to see the rest of them. The ones that are still in the competition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miranda Posted November 22, 2008 Report Share Posted November 22, 2008 The BBC forums can be pretty poisonous, As a BBC veteran, I could not agree more. However, I think the BBC attract who they deserve. So that is why most of us left and started our own forums However, back to a nice subject. I have just seen Tom's tango and almost swooned He was definitely leading Camilla, which is exactly what the man is supposed to do. Brilliant. And Craig saying he wanted to go to Holby and be slapped around by him afterwards was Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deborah Posted November 22, 2008 Report Share Posted November 22, 2008 Craig made me laugh with his comments to Tom too! He is just so "camp"! Last week, we had the rugbylicious to Austin now this to Tom I really enjoyed Tom's dance too I feel that Christine did better than the judges gave her credit for this week. Who do you think will go out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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