Are "Dancing on Ice" Bosses Attempting to Sway the Public Vote?

With Steven Arnold being voted out of ITV1's "Dancing On Ice" during the first full week of the competition, murmurs have arisen about the fairness of the pre-skate video footage shown. Steven Arnold's former "Coronation Street" co-star Craig Gazey took to Twitter to express his feelings that Arnold's chances were harmed by the VT showing him missing the first day of the week's training because he overslept.

Craig Gazey was quick to defend Steven Arnold when the video footage of rehearsals was shown. While most of the other celebrities were shown practising and discussing their struggles, the first half of Arnold's footage was of Jane Torvill, Christopher Dean and Arnold's skating partner Nina Ulanova waiting around for him to show up. What followed was Ulanova learning the routine with Dean, and Arnold later explaining that he had slept through his alarm thus missing his training time. Very little emphasis was put on the fact that he went on to train for up to six hours a day to catch up.

After seeing what had been shown, Craig Gazey tweeted, "Funny how they didn't show Denise Welch's late start on her VT! Funny that!" Actress and Loose Women panellist Denise Welch who is also competing in "Dancing On Ice" has a reputation for being a bit of a party animal, however there have been no accusations of her turning up late for her training in the press. In spite of this though, Craig Gazey was not the only person to think Steven Arnold was shown in a particularly unfair light and he also retweeted another Twitter user who said that the video clip may have influenced the public vote.

2011's "Dancing On Ice" has only been on the air for three weeks, and this is the second time questions have been raised about the video clips swaying public opinion. On January 17^th, contestant Elen Rivas also stated that she believed her training footage ruined her chances in the competition. Rivas was shown complaining to Christopher Dean about her choreography, and although she claimed she was joking, she said viewers may have misunderstood her.

While it could be said that Arnold, and particularly Rivas who was quite forthcoming with her thoughts, may be suffering a case of sour grapes, it is no secret that the general public don't warm to "Dancing On Ice" contestants who show any kind of disrespect to Torvill and Dean. In 2010, swimmer Sharron Davies was swiftly voted out of the show after constant complaining about how ice skating was aggravating her injuries, and then re-choreographed the routine she was given with her partner. However, in the case of Davies, she showed very little gratitude or respect to those who were teaching her. Steven Arnold was profusely apologetic for his poor time keeping.

Steven Arnold was by no means the best skater on the show, but the unfavourable video clips gave the feeling that there was an attempt at public manipulation coming from behind the scenes. With Wagner's success during the "X Factor" and Ann Widdecombe's long run on "Strictly Come Dancing" over the last few months, are the people behind "Dancing On Ice" trying to nudge the audience to vote only for the best, but not necessarily the most entertaining?

Only time will tell how the rest of the series will pan out, but in the interest of fairness, perhaps future video footage will be selected with a little more care.

Sources:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/soaps/s101/dancing-on-ice/news/a299736/craig-gazey-questions-arnold-doi-vt.html

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s101/dancing-on-ice/news/a298373/elen-rivas-blames-vt-for-doi-exit.html