Here's what I remember though. In 2009 on Scott's birthday, Jessica posted on Scott's wall: "Happy birthday babe. Wish I could be there to spend the day with you."
Then a day or so later Jessica went to Muskoka (without Scott). Had such a great time she apparently changed her flight home (per Sandy Lee). It's a holiday weekend this weekend in Canada too, and one thing I know about Jessica is she never misses a vacation.
When she got home she posted something like "Back home after a great weekend in Muskoka (or up north, or something close to that.) "Thanks to the Lee family for that."
Sandy Lee is a diligent sham enabler and a member of the Ilderton/London/Ontario "skating community". Knows the Davisons and Moirs.
Scott has touted Muskoka as a favorite vacation spot, and obviously, Jessica has a place to stay when SHE's there - in fact, she's been there without Scott and was in 2009. Bryce's folks have a cottage, there have been many skating weekends up there.
So what do I think. Do I think this is a set up? "Jess" is going to put Muskoka photos on her private facebook? Are those who can't SEE her facebook going to know she was in Muskoka with Scott on his birthday weekend thanks to an upcoming profile pic Jess Dube puts up and thanks to Scott casting a wider net on his fan page?
Are they doing this because they're a little bit leery of shamming it up at Skate Canada this year?
Would Scott actually take his fan page, a semi-refuge from the sham, and send up a sham flare so fans who do not have the privilege of being accidentally on his "personal" facebook get baited into thinking his birthday thanks were genuine (the first birthday thanks he's bothered with in three years in response to facebook well wishes) his Muskoka shout out was genuine, and none of it had an agenda?
I hope not.
I think it's a shame because he flushed fans out of his personal page so nobody would take a second look and other outsiders wouldn't look at it with new eyes, but he still wants the sham benefits of a wide net.
On his fan page, he offers barely more than he originally did hosting thousands on his "personal" page. Nothing not already in the public domain. "Going to Korea/Russia/Taipei" "In Korea/Russia/Taipei" "Home from Korea/Russia/Taipei". From time to time he'll upload photos already in the public domain or link to an interview in the public domain. But something as personal as, hypothetically - "Happy Canada day - celebrated beating Charlie White in golf!" is too revealing. A candid from a competition or HPC is never offered. That's his privilege, if he's that private. So fans get happy when he actually acknowledges birthday wishes and mentions he was in Muskoka. And what does it turn out to be? Bait. So when Jessica's public profile pic goes up, even fans shut out of the facebooks will know it's from his b'day weekend in Muskoka and he can sucker them into buying a lie. That's an asshole.
Or maybe Scott actually had a nice, relaxing weekend in Muskoka with or without Jessica and posted his message without any hidden agendas. Maybe the reason why he's leery about posting anything like he did today is because every fucking thing he says is screencapped and saved for eternity to be used against him.
ReplyDeletePerhaps in 2009, with their different training schedules, it didn't work out for Jessica and Scott to be in Muskoka together.
I'm no fan of the Jessica/Scott relationship and would much prefer to see Tessa and Scott together but this is getting ridiculous.
Yeah, okay, you keep saying that but the only time that anything posted here has been the least bit incriminating re: "the sham" is the footage from the Olympics with Jessica being escorted to see Scott and Tessa nowhere in sight.
ReplyDeleteI think that yes, at one point, maybe before the first surgery, Tessa and Scott were together. Then something happened and Scott ended up with Jessica. Maybe he's not happy with her because he certainly looks miserable in all the photos but he's stuck with her.
I don't see how they would work out - Jessica won't leave Quebec and Scott has already shown a remarkable disdain for the French language and I can't see him moving there to be with her. His life, after skating, is in Ontario.
So, no, I don't think it's a sham, I think it's Scott being stuck in an unhappy and unhealthy relationship and unable to get out. They try to portray it has as all happy!happy! and that's why everything seems so fake and forced.
Except there is no maybe about it. He did NOT have a nice relaxing weekend with or without Jessica even if she was there this weekend, he is not with Jessica and he is not leery because every fucking thing he or Jessica do on public walls in front of thousands of fans is screen capped (leery? Why perform your facebook in front of an audience of strangers then?). He might only be leery (except clearly not) - when it's not a one-way street of bullshit-to-bullshit-recipient. How fair is that? That's not how it's supposed to work. They're the bullshit artists, we're the patsies. We're speaking out of turn if we push back. We're being rude.
ReplyDeleteIt's a fact that there are people and I'm one of them, who inconveniently KNOW that what he and Jessica have posted or the warning shot across the bow they fire is bullshit. Or a precursor to bullshit. Aimed straight at the fans they're leery of.
There is no Jessica/Scott relationship. He is with Tessa.
If he and everyone else in connection with this thing don't like being scrutinized in this way he should quit playing his fans for fools. There's no extra ethics in making fools of people just because they don't realize it, or believe in your good intentions. It's just as bad when people don't KNOW you're screwing with them as when they do. There's no ethical high ground in "well, they don't know I'm jerking their chain so their feelings aren't hurt!"
They are not together, they are not a couple. He is with Tessa and has been. It is indeed ridiculous but definitely not for the reasons you are putting out, and I'm not going to feel bad for somebody who is perpetuating a scam just because they or their fans feel sorry they're being called out, or mistakenly believe they are innocent of what's being said about them.
The fans are the ones being taken for a ride, they're the targets here. Not Scott, Tessa, poor Moirs, poor Debbi or poor Jessica.
I'm sure there are people who react emotionally and don't think and are just - OMG these poor people.
Really? They're lying, they are creating a false life to sell to fans and I think there's only one spot on the web that even calls them out while they have multiple venues for their sham -- and it's poor them? Really.
Since when is knowing for a fact that somebody is lying to you, and saying so, a rude thing to do? What is the proper etiquette for stooges and patsies? What is the proper etiquette if you're NOT a stooge or a patsy? Do you pretend to believe the liar so as not to hurt their feelings? What about YOUR feelings - does the liar have to consider those or is the courtesy all on the side of the liar?
How are they being victimized? They're being called liars when they're lying. Fakers when they're faking, hoaxers when they're hoaxing. That's awful and mean. We should all just shut up and politely let them make asses of the public, because it's just rude to not roll over and pretend.
I hope his comment that he had a "great weekend in Muskoka" is just that and not an attempt to use his fans, who think he's genuine, to sucker them into more sham when Jessica sticks up her photos and profile pic. I really do. But I'm not holding my breath. The thanking for b'day wishes is typical, the tremendous effort spent linking something that is already on the web and everybody has already seen is already typical, so I'm thinking the real communication is going to come via profile pic for the public at large and some extra photos displayed for those lucky fans accidentally left on their friends list.
P.S. - here is another sticky problem. You know somebody is lying to you (Yes, I KNOW Scott is with Tessa and I know there is no Jessica/Scott). You see all the ways they lie. The times it appeared as if they'd relaxed and actually been genuine (not "private" genuine, just genuine genuine in the manner of a public person towards the public) and it turns out to be another scam. So what do you do? Play Charlie Brown and let Lucy pull the football out every single time? Or say, they're going to pull the football out, and then sure enough, they do? Who is the mean person there - Charlie Brown or Lucy?
ReplyDeleteP.S. - Scott Moir is a very tough guy, in his own way. He is NEVER going to be "stuck" in a REAL relationship he doesn't want to be in and he's not. He wants and has always wanted to be exactly where he is and has been - with Tessa.
ReplyDeleteStuck a FAKE relationship he doesn't want to be in - that's a different story.
"So what do you do? Play Charlie Brown and let Lucy pull the football out every single time? Or say, they're going to pull the football out, and then sure enough, they do? Who is the mean person there - Charlie Brown or Lucy?"
ReplyDeleteGreat analogy.
Since they've "pulled the football" many other times already, I think it makes perfect sense to expect it to happen again. I'll be very happy if it doesn't, but like this blogger, I'm not holding my breath. And this time, it would be nice if there are less "Charlie Brown" fans (in other words, less fans who get taken in by their fakery).
And I agree, the fans are not the rude ones here.
I think about it. Suppose I'm flat-out lying to people, not embellishing, shading, omitting - but absolute, whole-cloth falsehood and I play on their neediness to put my lies across. Yet, there are people who know I'm lying. I don't like those people, I guess. Am I their victim, though? Are they harassing or persecuting me by saying out loud they know I'm lying?
ReplyDeleteAND, there are people who believe me. I like them. I like them because they are very aggressive at extolling my wonderful qualities to those who doubt me, telling everyone how wrong it is to think I'm the sort of person who'd ever do what others say I'm doing, even personally pm-ing me to tell me not to listen to those critics and they're in my corner and I thank them.
So what IS that? Icky, weird, cool, WHAT? If and when I EVER make a clean breast of things, do I say a special thank you to those people? Gee guys, thanks for being stupid and gullible enough to take everything I said on face value. Thanks for defending every lie I told you.
A reason I hope the "great weekend in Muskoka!" remark isn't a sham precursor is Scott already dealt with facebook by flushing out a lot of people and restricting it. The fan facebook a lot of people took as sort of a pacifier, a consolation prize for those not gullible or aggressive enough to be accidentally left on his personal facebook roster. If he's now EXPLOITING that read on it - realizing people think the fan page is sham free, so for that reason he's USING it for sham - once again using genuine to sell scam - well, I'm sad.
Oh and the reason I'm lying to people is I want something from them. I feel entitled to get it. There's a great and good cause (let's say, the economic health of figure skating in Canada) and there's just me being acutely sensitive and controlling - so what do I do. These people are not precisely going after me. I'm going after THEM. Solution - I lead with the lie as a sort of shield, my hand out for their money on one side, the big fat lie on the other. Nobody has surprised me in my bunker, caught me red-handed, and I'm playing defense. Oh no, I've been unmolested in my lair, determined my path, chosen my weapons and also my target. If I didn't want something from these people I'd tell them to fuck off, as believe me, wait til after Sochi and you'll see how fast that happens.
ReplyDeleteAnd finally, it's especially sad since he didn't share any "public and professional" photos from Korea - other skaters have, not him, never him. What he does with his platonic, smarter, younger sister, his professional partner - fans never see, not from him, not even photos from practice or a dinner or the bus. Nothing. He'll only link what others have seen a thousand times because it's already up on the web. But to say - hey, guess who was in Muskoka - and then voila, along comes "Jess" with happy Muskoka weekend shots from his private life - THAT he'll set up on his so-called fan page. I suspect. Again, I hope not, but the hope is slim and more pro forma than anything else. I'd like to be surprised.
ReplyDeleteP.S. By "Jess Dube" I include Sandy Lee and any other connections who will conveniently pop up with a wall or profile pic showing Scott and Jessica in Muskoka. However, I think the odds of it not being a Jess profile pic pretty soon (around HPC maybe?) are around 0. Scott's very personal fb profile pic might be due for a change though.
"Yeah, okay, you keep saying that but the only time that anything posted here has been the least bit incriminating re: "the sham" is the footage from the Olympics with Jessica being escorted to see Scott and Tessa nowhere in sight."
ReplyDeleteYou really think that footage was just "the least bit incriminating"? Are you kidding? That footage was a WHOLE LOT incriminating. They are either shamming or they're not. There's no in-between place of "sort of" or "the least bit."
Therefore, if they are shamming and some photos appear of "Jess" with Scott they are most definitely fake.
Wow, yeah. Looking back through old press and facebook stuff illuminates a certain pattern (the internet is definitely forever). When Scott or Jessica *publicly* point out that they've been to, or are heading to, a certain place or location not related to skating (a competition, for instance), that's a tip-off for fans to expect something eventually coming their way photo-wise.
ReplyDelete"Oh, the competitive season is over and now I'm heading to this place on vacation (but Tessa is heading elsewhere, we're not vacationing together - WE MUST ALWAYS POINT THIS OUT, WHICH ISN'T AT ALL OVER THE TOP AND MEANT TO CONVINCE FANS THAT WE'RE NOT TOGETHER," or "can't wait to see you at...," or "had a great time at [insert location here]."
Maybe that's not the case this time, but I wouldn't bet the house on it.
"'Oh, the competitive season is over and now I'm heading to this place on vacation (but Tessa is heading elsewhere, we're not vacationing together - WE MUST ALWAYS POINT THIS OUT, WHICH ISN'T AT ALL OVER THE TOP AND MEANT TO CONVINCE FANS THAT WE'RE NOT TOGETHER," or "can't wait to see you at...," or "had a great time at [insert location here].'"
ReplyDeleteHahaha.
I also love these implications (like Scott right now with the Muskokas announcement) that they would NEVER think of including each other in their Birthday celebrations. Good heavens, she's only my BFF and skating partner since we were children. Why ever would she attend my Birthday bash?
Just a question - if Jessica and Sebastien are going to be at Skate Canada, does that mean they will also be attending the High Performance Camp this week?
ReplyDeleteI have to say, that while I definitely do sympathize to an extent with the possible fact that Scott is not an internet person (fanwise), and he is only ON the internet because he can conduct a virtual relationship there, I believe that if you commit to that, you have to follow through and not be an asshole. Because otherwise you are just showing off that you're using people.
ReplyDeleteI mean it's a fact that in the past three year, he got the endless ticker-tape of birthday wishes from fans on his birthday. In addition to that, he got endless ticker tapes of birthday wishes people wished him to pass onto Tessa on HER birthday. What did he do? NOTHING. He ignored them. Nobody put a gun to his head and said Scott, accept and sweep hundreds and thousands onto your facebook! But he did, they acted like fans, he's like "You are useless to me right now, so fuck you and your birthday wishes, I don't have the time. You're only here for sham shit - gee, get a fucking CLUE! I'm ignoring you!"
This is a guy - it took him like five times to realize that if he status updates with an enthusiastic "check this out!" he should add a link. God, his attention to fans and the care he shows and the courtesy, it brings tears. Now he adds the link - but it's to stuff everybody's already seen and discussed to death. But what a gift of his time and attention.
So, if you pretend you have put up a fan page for fans, communicating with fans should be more than fits and starts, and more than fits of linking to stuff you KNOW everybody already saw a week ago. "Here's the Gemini awards!" "Here's E-Talk!" "Here's PJ's Interview"! OMG, we already saw it Scott, downloaded it, wrote fan fic about it, but OMG - you ACKNOWLEDGED US - thank you, thank you, thank you! (Or, you know, your mom did, or someone else with access to your fan page). Thank you!
From Scott - here are photos you saw like three weeks ago - wire service photos! I'm sharing - see? It's me and Tessa!
Yes, not so much.
If that were a consistent theme, then fine.
But, in contrast to him "me-tooing" or co-signing (i.e., he acknowledged us! Swoon!) shit everyone's already seen, he also particpates in original, specific, not-found-anywhere else SHAM material that he's pretending is PERSONAL material only because it's not.
All of his professional stuff is pre-screened, sanitized, second hand. Dear God, a candid shot (taken by him or Tessa, not already uploaded by somebody else and published) of him or Tessa at a dress rehearsal with half of Korea on the sidelines taking video is too intrusive for him. But a "personal" vacation, and pouncing cheefully onto his fan page to drop an ad for upcoming fake weekend photos - because his "personal" weekend is fake? He'll do that in a flash.
It's really, really gross, because it really shows that fans merit no consideration at all, and don't even merit the courtesy of a cover up.
To Scott, Tessa and Co., fans really are trolls, wallets, a lower caste, they are nothing.
No, Sebastian and Jessica are not at HCP but I expect for that reason, the plan is for Jessica's Muskoka profile pic (or Scott's, if they think that "mixes things up" enough to seem real) will appear just as HCP begins. Or certainly her album of wonderful Muskoka weekend shots will be published so accidental fan friends can see it as HCP weekend begins. I do think the Skate Canada link to the sham is problematic, so they have to "work around it" and Scott's "Muskoka" share on his so-called 'fan page' stuck out like a sore thumb.
ReplyDeleteAnother added comment - most public figures - okay, all public figures - want the perks and not the problems. For example, if you're a movie star, you want free clothing, to be expressed to the head of the line at restaurants or you want restaurants to agree to stay open late when you're coming after hours, you want entertainment outlets to cooperate with whatever your publicist shovels at them and you want the paparazzi to show up on time. You don't want unflattering photos published in the Star, you don't want internet gossip pages catching you drunk, you don't want anything private chased down by the media. IOW, you want everything on your terms. Who doesn't. The perks of fan interest but not the other stuff.
ReplyDeleteSo, Tessa and Scott. They want to go to Korea. Good money, lots of fun, ideal fans (fanatics, but they know their place). Part of the package is everything is videotaped. What does Tessa do? She is on camera as boarding the bus to the venue, but when the camera goes INTO the bus - where the hell is Tessa? Did she strap herself to the undercarriage, hide in the luggage compartment, only pretend to board the bus but creep back out when the camera turned off? You know what that is? Immature. That's what it is. That's how she operates, though. OMG, what if someone catches her off ice talking to Scott, eating next to Scott, sitting next to Scott or anything vis a vis Scott when it's not about performance.Grow the hell up already and stop acting spoiled (which, IMO, I don't think you actually are, but sometimes there's a good imitation).
You do make a good point about Tessa NEVER being photographed with Scott outside of official events. (And even then, the photos from banquets and such come from other skaters, never Scott.) Other teams - just for example, Weaver and Poje - vacation together and fully admit to it and no one even so much as bats an eyelash.
ReplyDeleteTessa has been part of the Moirs lives for years. I doubt that Tessa even remembers a time before Scott and his family were in her life.
However, the image of poor Tessa strapped to the undercarriage of a bus is making me giggle like crazy right now, so thank you for that.
Yeah, it's only opinion paired with what I'd call extrapolation from what I've been told, but a) I think we're dealing with a personality in Tessa that is extremely stubborn and will never be dislodged as long as she feels she's right, but b) what makes her feel she's right is enabled by her ability (not shared by most people) to live in a bubble that eliminates context.
ReplyDeleteNeither she nor Scott shrink from the freebies, perks and non-skating opportunities they receive thanks to the fact that they have standing with the public - which they've earned with skating, but they're not getting the freebies and perks in a bubble or vacuum, divorced from their position as public entities.
They feel fairly entitled to treat the public like crap while maintaining a disingenuous persona. Taken as a whole, the calculation and manipulation is unseemly.
Has Tessa displayed courage, will, a stunning work ethic - yes she has. Is she a good person at heart, sure.
But it doesn't matter how averse one is to public scrutiny, how much more sensitive than other mortals, how more special her circumstances are from regular people. The methodology is wrong. In the forward to their book, Tracy Wilson said Scott and Tessa do things for the right reasons. That's pretty close to saying the ends justifies the means. They don't.
I think this crowd has a tremendous lot of self-righteousness and entitlement about what they do because they believe in their reasons. This conveniently disregards the fact that their means are and were from the start unnecessary, unethical and stupid. The concept was imbecilic, but even if there were some sense in it, the specific choices made and the execution of the game plan were flat out indecent.
Tessa has mentioned that there's a "barrier" between what the public knows and what's really going on. Yeah, welcome to most people's lives.
They reject the professional management that would eliminate the shoddy treatment of fans. Ergo the egregiously shoddy treatment is also a choice, not at all necessary to accomplish their aims.
And might I add Tessa is a girl so seemingly paranoid and controlling that she figures out a way to avoid being seen on a BUS even though we saw her get on and know she's skating in the show that's about to rehearse, yet somehow she had no problem getting twit-pic'd by Fedor Andreev at a Dave Matthews concert or outside the Inn at St. John's, or twit-pic'd in NYC by Jeff Buttle. In her - we're led to believe - private time. But in her public time, on the job, en route to a rehearsal -she what? Hides in the john? What's the distinction? Those other guys aren't Scott. So she'll hide on a bus. She'll pretend she does not attend Scott's birthday party - nor go to his brother's wedding due to it being May and in Mexico - because it's just so so so very personal and would suggest - what? Maybe if she relaxed a little bit the whole thing would be more believeable but it's so rigid it sends up warning flags all by itself.
First of all,let me say that while I might not be totally convinced that the Jessica/Scott relationship is a sham (I'm on the fence, honestly), I definitely think something's not quite right about it. However, I feel the way that I believe most people feel. You are one of several people say that Scott and Jessica's relationship is a sham, but no one can give any proof. It's always "I know for a fact that Jessica and Scott are a sham, and Scott and Tessa are actually together" but no one can ever give proof. You just have to take their word for it. I still can't understand what everyone gets out of the whole charade if it does exist. The only plus I can see is a little bit of privacy, but it would seem almost not worth it for all the trouble you would have to go to in order to coordinate photo shoots or public outings or whatever.
ReplyDeleteLast anon, I hear ya. There are people on both sides claiming that they KNOW with out a shadow of a doubt. What has convinced me of the sham (for now lol) is that the people on the sham side seem more mature and more knowledgeable. More mature because they are not advertising every moment about how they're special enough to be on Scott's private fb etc. More knowledgeable because they make sense on other topics, for example Oy Canada's posts re: the tough campaign. Then you have the "evidence" itself: Jessica in the stands at the Olympics and subsequent barrier jumping, the Dominican photos. Something is obviously wrong, and the sham theory appears to give the best explanation. But I agree it's hard to know when us in the middle have no way of knowing for sure, short of hiring a private detective lol
ReplyDeleteWhat does the blogger here have to say about the fact that Canadian "star" teams in the past have had to go out of their way to deny romantic relationships even when they actually were NOT together? Key example: the last major star team in Canada that were not actually (nor ever were in their time as a team) a romantic couple were Bourne & Kraatz. (Sale & Pelletier were obviously the other most recent actual STAR team in Canada, but we all got to know more than enough about their relationship off-ice, both what they told the public and what everyone knew through gossip, i.e. the truth about how their affair started when David was still married to another woman, etc.) I would argue that in their time, B&K were even more well-known in Canada than V&M, because despite having no Olympic medals, let alone a gold medal in a home-country Olympics, they were around for a LONG time in the heyday of the figure skating boom, and got a lot of media coverage.
ReplyDeleteShae-Lynn and Victor were never a romantic item and didn't even make a career of doing overtly romantic programs, as V&M do, but in almost every single interview they gave in the early years (about the first half or 2/3rds, I'd say) of their career, they either had to address direct questioning about whether they were an off-ice couple, or interviewers would point out they weren't apropos of nothing. Shae's relationship with Steven Cousins was paraded in many fluff pieces and press interviews, and she and Victor made a distinct point of continuously mentioning their "best friends" or "brother and sister" relationship. There was even a segment in one of Steve Milton's books in which Shae-Lynn explicitly talked for about three full pages about how she had the "best of both worlds" because she was able to have Victor as a close friend and skating partner and Steven as a romantic partner (and that was just the way it was! much like Jess and "Menage a Trois").
If a team like B&K, who were NOT an off-ice item and therefore had nothing to hide, and did not often skate overtly lovey-dovey programs (in "character", as V&M might say) had to go to those lengths to ensure the public that they weren't a couple, then wouldn't it make sense that a team like V&M would have to do the same?
I think the point this blog is making (and that I agree with) is that NO ONE has to go to any great lengths to deny anything. Shae-Lynn and Victor didn't have to answer questions about their relationship if they didn't want to. By and large (and any person in the media will tell you this), interviewers don't really control the questions they ask. They have informational sheets put in front of them with talking points OKed by the athletes ahead of time, and they stick to those talking points.
ReplyDeleteSo the idea that Shae-Lynn and Victor had to "go to those lengths" to put down any rumors about them being together is, IMO, the wrong way to look at the situation. Try turning it around. They *chose* to say those things because they probably felt it was in their best PR interest to do so. I doubt fans were knocking down the doors of their training center or following them all over Canada to see if they were telling the truth. Hence, "hey, we're not a couple. We'll bring it up in several interviews because it's an interesting part of our story," and so on. That's how it works with the media (even in generally smaller-market sports like figure skating).
What Tessa and Scott have been doing for years now, is trying to have it both ways and taking fans for fools. They talk incessantly in the press about how they're not a couple but everyone keeps asking them if they are, and how they either don't mind the questions or they're getting tired of them, etc. What they're not telling fans is that they have control over whether those questions are asked by interviewers in the first place. If they didn't want to answer them, they wouldn't. They'd say "here's what we'd like to talk about in this interview, and here's what we want left off the table" beforehand. They allow those questions to be asked because they know that's what sells - they're marketed as "the couple everyone wants to be together but isn't." Then they turn around and blame it on the fans - well it's the fans who keep asking. Oh really? Two years after the Olympics, dozens of denials in every form of media, and we're supposed to believe the fans are still constantly badgering them with questions about whether they're together? No. By and large, that's probably not happening.
A guess a very bad analogy would be, if Brad Pitt was still answering questions about his break-up with Jennifer Aniston after all this time. Because hey, the public never knew what exactly happened there, but it looked sketchy, and we want to know! Are interviewers who sit down with Brad always saying "so Brad, what DID happen with Jennifer?" And is Brad saying "wow, how many times do I have to say I'm not answering this?" No, that doesn't happen. Because I'm sure, long ago, Brad Pitt said "I will not give an interview if this subject is brought up. I've said what I want to say about that. Let's move on." And everyone has.
Tessa and Scott have made darn sure that their relationship denial was shoved in everyone's faces, talked about how private they are and how they don't discuss their personal lives or share them with fans, and then turned around, invited five thousand fans onto Scott's facebook, and spammed them with Jessica. That was intentional. Taking fans for a ride like that, then turning around and talking about how sincere they are despite lying to their faces, is just sad. When you add in the financial component - that they're infusing this fake reality into their story and marketing it to fans in exchange for their money (through their book, for instance) than it becomes even more objectionable. And it's just not needed. It is possible for celebrities/athletes to be truthful and still maintain privacy. There are people, professionals, who can make that happen.
I don't know about the history of Skate Canada and their couples denying romantic involvement even though they are. It makes sense to an extent while competing because there has to be pressure skating a romantic program while fans watch and interpreting your interaction in light of what they imagine goes on in your home. But alright already. Jamie Sale and David Pelletier apparently had a ton of counseling with sports shrinks in 2002, to help them deal with the pressures. I think protection from "pressure" and coddling their athletes is something SC bought into big time for the 2006-2010 Olympic cycle, and I don't think it helps skaters one bit. Jamie and David were mature skaters with a rocky professional history and Olympic pressure was new. For most of their careers, with other partners, they weren't stars. I believe working hard with Jamie on her jumps would have accomplished more in terms of pressure than going to a sports shrink - which, as SC directs it, seems to lead to self-obsession. Patrick Chan talked the sports psychiatric game up to the Olympics - it appears to me the whole mental game is hardly an issue now that he has Kristy Krall and a training regimen he can completely trust, now that he knows jumps aren't a matter of "I think I can -I've done it in training!" but about executing specific mechanics that he has deconstructed, understands and is prepared to do consistently. SC has this whole thing by the wrong end - it's all personality, mentality, etc. and I think on top of that very immature, from top to bottom. It's all who is special and who isn't.
ReplyDeleteThey should not be getting into the aspects of the skaters' lives in which they involve themselves. It seems to me that the USFSA keeps clear of certain aspects not just of their figure skaters' personal lives, but their professional lives as well, letting the skaters sort it out and not mucking with it themselves. If you're treated like an adult by your Fed you might act like one, if you're treated like a coddled child (if you're a star) you might act like one and become over-conscious of your own sensitivities and think protecting them is essential to functioning. It's not.
Anabel Langlois and Cody Hay actually denied being a couple fairly recently (within the last couple of years) while she admitted he was pretty cute. She's retired; they're engaged. At the time Kaitlyn Weaver became a Canadian citizen, according to her mother she was saying she and Andrew were simply best friends.
What VM do goes beyond denial. They have a pattern of playing extremely contemptuous games with the fans. They have suckered fans into things like facebook, only so fans could be an easier target for their lies, deceived that VM were sharing things when what the fans were getting was manufactured to be seen - a complete and total hoax. And still is. This could have been understated and underplayed, instead it included a billion coy conspicuous "meant to be overheard" conversations and references, reinforced by the same group of friends, and they continue to gaslight fans in interviews. It's truly indecent. And obviously they lack any grasp of appropriate boundaries, context and coherence, or maybe they've been convinced these things don't apply to fans.
ReplyDeleteStill, they do want not just to promote figure skating in Canada and help Skate Canada, but want the perks from being successful skaters, and that means $$ from the public, and they pro-actively search this stuff out. They're not Yuna Kim beseiged by a gazillion fans outside their hotel. They WANT stuff.
To me, the Jessica piece of it is interesting because try as I might I can't find when she and Bryce confirmed being a couple until after they were saying they were officially over as a couple. Perhaps someone else has that. The story of Jessica and Scott surfaced first in spring 2007 and in July 2007 Jessica changed her fb status to "in a relationship". (Prior to that she was "single" despite, I believe, actually living with Bryce (not positive)) at the time. Yet, she continued to have no problems vacationing with Bryce and traveling with him (and others) and showing the photos in albums on her wall (Varennes, Florida, etc.) and Bryce's sister continued to post to her as if she and Bryce were one unit. When the Olympics came along, she was happy to show many many photos of her hanging with Bryce very affectionately in the Olympic village, while concurrently posting only pro forma "sham" photos, but also photos that included Scott sitting with Tessa at the PNE or during the closing ceremonies. All of this went on without disrupting the sham or raising too many suspicions, as long as sham stuff occurred rhythmically and conspicuously.
Tessa and Scott go beyond and it leads to being ridiculous. Skaters who denied being romantically involved (while claiming to be best friends and "hanging out" with each other) didn't also fling themselves into the nearest volcano lest someone catch them in their platonic partner's vicinity at something resembling a "romantic" local (what appears to make Tessa paranoid are beaches. She couldn't go to Danny's wedding! She's not going to be seen in Muskoka! That would mean Scott probably saw her in a swimsuit!)
ReplyDeleteHell, I remember an interview about the Goose, when Tessa says Scott doesn't wear padding for it and then says to Scott "You don't - right - you don't wear padding?" That's right Tessa, you need to confirm it with him because otherwise people might think you KNOW WHAT HE HAS ON UNDER HIS PANTS!!!!! OMG! And we all know all the platonic partners out there never EVER know if their partners are wearing padding unless they confirm first, even if they're stepping on him! Knowing if he is or isn't is a dead giveaway that you guys are a couple!! Stay vigilent Tessa.
That would be fine but more than any other S C skater they're getting the perks. Yes, winning the gold is an honor to Canada and they deserve recognition for that alone. But they also look for $$$ and it's the public that in the end is supposed to pay. Any sponsors would be using VM to appeal to the public.
They are two strong individuals with a perfect training environment and all the privacy any skaters could EVER ask for in their real lives. Scott cannot emphasize Ilderton enough so if any fan goes off the reservation and looks for him, they look there. Tessa apparently has the ability to dematerialize when she chooses. So this is a choice. The lack of respect comes naturally to them - they don't get it and think it falls under some large umbrella of public relations, which is does not.
None of this addresses the question above. Langlois/Hay and Weaver/Poje denying their relationships barely counts, because a) neither team were/are "stars" of the B&K, Sale/Pelletier, V&M variety and b) everyone who knew anything knew both teams were together despite denials. The fact that L&H were a couple was widely rumoured on message boards that don't actually know ANYTHING and was outright known by those with even a tiny bit of insider information from the time she dumped Patrice to skate with Cody. The fact that Kaitlyn and Andrew were a couple or fast on their road to coupledom was clear when even Kaitlyn's mother hinted (in a nudge-nudge, wink-wink manner) that she wasn't SURE, but her daughter and her partner certainly were getting to be VERY close friends lately!
ReplyDeleteThe question above was that if even SC "star" teams who were NOT together had to consistently deny being together (and I do know to a certain extent that people in the public eye can control their press, but in the case of B&K, consistent mention of their non-coupledom completely out of context by commentators in the middle of competitions, "journalists" like Rosie DiManno, who listens to nobody and writes whatever the hell she wants dropping hints about their almost-but-not coupledom in pretty much every piece she wrote throughout their career, etc., were not all "selling a story"), would it not seem realistic that IF V&M were actually, FOR REAL not together, that they would have to do the same? And does it not seem natural that in an age of social networking (which wasn't around in the B&K, S&P, etc. days), the denials might seem more forced just because they were more omnipresent? (Isn't EVERYTHING, ALL information more omnipresent in today's world?)
To the anon above - how do you know SC wasn't involved in B&K's marketing and encouraged announcers to mention their non-coupledom. Those announcers also have talking points placed in front of them.
ReplyDeleteI think Rosie DiManno (as you pointed out) is barely a journalist, and likes to write really melodramatic pieces. She also wants to get access to the skaters. If she blows anyone's cover (as in the case of V/M, for instance), she would probably lose access.
I forgot to add (in the 4:50 PM post) - the media work hand in hand with the skaters and their federations. Skaters don't have to hide from the media. If the media blows someone's cover (let's say they out a gay skater or something) they lose access to that skater (and probably to all the others). That's why I have no doubt that the media close to the skaters, the ones who have been around them for years, knows the score. If this story was going to be blown open in the press, it wouldn't be by one of them. They know which side their bread is buttered on and they've got paychecks they earn from having access.
ReplyDelete"the denials might seem more forced just because they were more omnipresent? (Isn't EVERYTHING, ALL information more omnipresent in today's world?)"
No doubt. Doesn't change the fact that a new round of denials comes out every few months or so (with the end of the season and the beginning of the CSOI tour being the biggest denial-time of the year. As soon as Tessa and Scott prepare to tour Canada, suddenly every interview they do has to bring up separate vacations or how they'd like to remind everyone they aren't together).
"So, no, I don't think it's a sham, I think it's Scott being stuck in an unhappy and unhealthy relationship and unable to get out. They try to portray it has as all happy!happy! and that's why everything seems so fake and forced."
ReplyDeleteI don't get this logic. Why would he be "stuck" in anything? He seems like a pretty smart guy (participation in this charade notwithstanding) who knows what he wants and goes for it (as his career on the ice would prove). Yet when it comes to Jessica, the fact that his facial expressions look extremely forced in photos (and they DO look forced, he's usually drunk or appears to be trying really hard to look happy) has fans rationalizing it by saying "well he must be trapped and can't get out." Trapped? How? Think about the "relationship" he and Jessica have shoved in fan's faces. It really only exists on facebook, and consists mostly of posed photos from vacations (attended by several other skaters and family members who all vacation together year after year), competitions (where the skaters are in the same place to compete - though Jessica and Scott get around this by using their "but we don't act like we're a couple at competitions because we have a job to do" - I can't believe fans buy that one), and a few holiday parties or weddings (again, usually attended by several other skaters or family members).
People look at this situation with too much emotion. Too many attempts to rationalize what they're seeing with what they're hearing in the press about this "relationship" (which is the opposite of what they're seeing in photos) and having to bend reality for it all to make sense. So people try to come up with multiple explanations for what they're seeing - in POSED photos that are almost always released to fans via a specific pattern. Explanations that go WAY OUT there and sound like they were pulled from a soap opera script (well I love someone but I can't tell them, that might ruin us, or everyone else in the world can see my skating partner and I are in love but WE OURSELVES can't see it (because we're blind or stupid or hopelessly naive or something?), or I'm miserable with my girlfriend - not wife, but simply a girlfriend - but I'm trapped so I can't get out of it. I will, however, look very depressed in our photos so I can subliminally convey to fans how much I don't want to be in this relationship with Jessica anymore" and so on). This is stuff people will come up with to explain what they see.
Yet the idea that the photos are being faked (which THEY ARE and always have been) - people struggle to believe. Because they think photos are proof of reality. "Pictures or it didn't happen."
The problem is, photos have been used as a means to lie for years. It's very easy to take a set of photos of two people posing together in some specific locales, put them online, and lie about where they were taken or what they're about. The people online won't know the difference. They weren't there. They'll believe what they're shown in the photos because they don't understand why they'd be lied to in the first place, especially if these skaters accepted their facebook friend invites. But they are being lied to. Blatantly.
B&K did not HAVE to deny anything - as pointed out many times the questions can be tied to access. The subjects have control over the questions ahead of time. They were not spontaneously pelted with this question as a reflection of consuming public interest.
ReplyDelete"The question above was that if even SC "star" teams who were NOT together had to consistently deny being together (and I do know to a certain extent that people in the public eye can control their press, but in the case of B&K, consistent mention of their non-coupledom completely out of context by commentators in the middle of competitions, "journalists" like Rosie DiManno, who listens to nobody and writes whatever the hell she wants dropping hints about their almost-but-not coupledom in pretty much every piece she wrote throughout their career, etc., were not all "selling a story"""
ReplyDeleteYour expression "had to" is wrong. They don't have to and they can let people know they don't want the question raised. Then Rosie can go off and snark on it on her own time. Rosie is tabloid mentality. And they are ALL selling a story. That's what figure skating reporting is. People like Rosie don't know shit all about skating so when she has a team in front of her are you involved is going to be a favorite question, same with a lot of media.
You people really know nothing about journalism in today's world if you honestly think all/the majority of journalists do their work based on pre-written talking points.
ReplyDelete"the denials might seem more forced just because they were more omnipresent? (Isn't EVERYTHING, ALL information more omnipresent in today's world?)"
ReplyDeleteNo. Photos taken by Scott (or Tessa) of the Olympics or Worlds or training or another event are not omnipresent - only photos that have already been uploaded by others, often a wire service. Alma did not see fit to share any photos from Worlds or Olympics but she set up and stung with Monaco.
Photos of Jessica were photo-bombed on fans the entire Olympic year until fans cried for mercy. Jessica was smack in amongst the Moirs at Canadian competitions because there the camera would swing to record her presence to the audience at home and the Canadian audience would know she was there but at overseas competitions she was spared from being bored out of her gourd, sitting with Alma et al., having to watch, and why - there was nobody to show the TV she was there and most of the audience wasn't Canadian.
They have a nice little pattern going. In Canada Jessica makes official appearances (stands, etc.) then VM can do what they want and so can she. Overseas, Jessica doesn't make official appearances so she and Scott (and families) have to carve out time to "see the sights" and then spam the facebooks - it's the negative of the tactics in Canada. All of it is aimed smack at the Canadian fans they claim to appreciate.
No. They don't do all of their work based on pre-written talking points, but in on-camera interviews they do get them ahead of time. That doesn't mean they do no research, and no one has said that here.
ReplyDeleteMost of journalism today is about access, which was pointed out above. And access can be taken away as frequently (or infrequently, I suppose) as it's given. Why do you think the press never broke the news about Johnny Weir being gay until he broke it himself this year? It was figure skating's most well-known secret. No journalist who regularly follows figure skating, and was around Johnny at competitions, shows, and other events, broke that open. Was it because they didn't know for sure? I doubt it. Everyone knew. But you don't out a gay skater if you're a member of the press, and hope to keep access given by the IOC and the federations. All skaters have parts of their personal lives I imagine are off-limits, even if they're well known. For Tessa and Scott, it's their real relationship. That doesn't get discussed because they don't allow it to be, nor does their fed.
I'm the anon who wrote that journalists don't have control over the questions they ask, and I apologize, I should have been more clear about what I meant. I wasn't trying to imply that journalists do no other work when preparing for interviews or writing pieces on the skaters. I was trying to imply that the skaters don't have to answer a question over and over again that they don't want to answer. They can take it off the table at some point (and Tessa and Scott are well past that point. They keep it on the table because it's part of their image).
ReplyDeleteThanks to budget, a shrunken news cycle and what is perceived to be competition from too many competing outlets everywhere (web and cable) - journalism in today's World mirrors pr and pr is journalism - reporting is a public relations arm of the subjects. Everything is sound-bite, quote banks and public relations driven and has NOTHING to do with whatever you think journalism is. I'd like an example of figure skating journalism though. Point one out. The Olympics are just past - there's got to be something.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, not to pile on, but I'm still a little bit stunned that anybody would imply "today's journalism" is more rigorous, more researched, more verified than in the past. Like there's some accountability wizard due to the internet that holds outlets accountable. It's the opposite. It's all product - it's all CONTENT. The word "journalism" doesn't even apply and hardly exists.
ReplyDeleteAgain, selective reading. You read two words and ignored the most important part of that point, which is that anyone who thinks ALL/even the majority of people creating media (and not even all of them are journalists, with the proliferation of bloggers, etc.) today are churning out content based solely on talking points.
ReplyDelete"Again, selective reading. You read two words and ignored the most important part of that point, which is that anyone who thinks ALL/even the majority of people creating media (and not even all of them are journalists, with the proliferation of bloggers, etc.) today are churning out content based solely on talking points. "
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry - somebody failed to enlighten me that this had become a broad discussion about journalism across all topics and not about how the media specifically deals with sports/entertainment figures like Scott and Tessa.
That said, you are still wrong.
MOST of the people creating CONTENT on any topic (politics, the disaster of the week, whatever) are churning out media based on quote banks and google and stuff they've cribbed from what has already been reported. That includes, sadly, politics. "Opinion" is a whole lot more prevalent than journalism, across all subjects. The pattern of research, verification, for example - of finding 2 reliable (non pr, non-spinning, non-press relating) sources to verify what is going on, then verifying THEIR take on things - is about non-existent across all 'content' today. Journalism is extremely rare. It has not become more rigorous, it's become less, and entertainment media is the model, not the exception.
This discussion on the "role of journalism" is interesting. With the advent of social media, the journalism world has become much more skeezy. For example, the recent suicide of NHLer Wade Belak. His wife heard about his death on Twitter, with photos attached. Completely disgusting. Major media outlets are not immune to this tabloid mentality, as they all have Facebook and Twitter feeds. Today it's all about "the story" and facts are a complete afterthought.
ReplyDeleteTherefore, I find it interesting no "pap" photos of VM have surfaced. There HAS to be photos out there and in this media age, it's unfathomable to me that nothing has come out. The figure skating world must be hugely insular, as VM are never even tagged in photos from other skater's Facebook pages.
I don't even want to see any sort of creepy "pap" photos of the two of them, but anything to end this charade would be welcome.
Do you know where they live? Do you think there are "paps" out there who would stalk VM? What paps? A fan who figures out where they live (they purposefully focus on Ilderton and they don't live in Ilderton). Even in LA if stars don't want to be papped they know where to go. There are specific pap heavy spots and if stars are papped, they WANT to be papped. The idea that paps lie in wait and surprise people is erroneous. What pap collection (in Canada) is going to be all "Okay, I heard they're together. I'll go to where they live - hey guys - anybody know where that is? - stake it out - and catch them!"
ReplyDeleteMost paps are VM who?
I do know of one instance where a freelance "pap" (actually a stringer) totally busted a couple of lower level, adulterous actors but it was a conflation of circumstances unlikely to be repeated. He lived in the building of one of the parties, had no clue who they were or their supposed marital status (and therefore, their adulterous behavior) until tipped off by the doorman who didn't like them.
If you break this down to the daily working life or your average pap or so-called "reporter" - even in NYC and LA they don't go far afield. They want the payday - they don't want to "break news!" unless the payday is going to be huge. A lot of the time the payday is just plenty taking the photo of somebody who is doing a pap walk in the usual pap place.
A pap - and most paps have a mental list of saleable photos - puts in a lot of grunt work in LA and NYC. Only if they get a "tip" and if they work for a tabloid who will underwrite them do they leave the usual stomping grounds. For VM, first of all, there isn't a whole lot of pap/tabloid stuff stalking figure skaters in Canada. If a US outlet thought it was worthwhile, some pap would have to get his ass up to Canada, or, during training, to the Windsor/Detroit vicinity, memorize who these two are and what they look like. He has no idea where they live, btw - he knows where the rink is, but that's it. He has figured out where Alma lives (as that's no secret) but VM don't live there. So what does he do? He's paid by the photo sale. He spends some money up in Windsor/Detroit/Ann Arbor, he spends some money haunting London, he doesn't really know where the hell to look, as many skaters and press don't exactly have their address either, and meanwhile every day he's losing money he could be making photographing a reality star or a Kardashian or LeAnn Rimes/Eddie - while living at HOME.
ReplyDelete^^^ Wow, his wife found out about it on twitter? That is awful.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine Tessa and Scott are that interesting to any potential paparazzi, plus I don't think the type of paparazzi such as exists in the United States is prevalent (if exists, at all) in Canada. More than anything, I'm guessing Tessa and Scott are mostly in Michigan as it is, where they (admittedly) lead a relatively anonymous life.
I don't care to see fans, or photographers, or anyone else hide somewhere and try to intrude on Tessa and Scott's private life. They have a right to keep that private. I just wish they'd get real professional representation and do things the right way, rather than throwing a bunch of lies at fans, who they feel free to draw in with the intention of duping them (and that they'd realize they can maintain privacy without lying).
Currently there is a very well known pap-subject relationship and a huge game played between celebrities and tabloids where everybody knows the rules. Here's a well-paying example. Friends of Dean McDermott's ex-wife (he's the current husband of Tori Spelling) get a nice payday by blabbing (with their name attached, yet) that Dean McDermott is repulsed by Tori Spelling, gagged at having sex with her, but pretty much thought that hooking up with/marrying her = having a Brinks truck pull up to his yard and unload the contents into his garage. It's pretty gross but a cool story for the tabs - the friends provide photos of Dean's seemingly previously happy marriage (as well as evidence of a longstanding friendship that lends credibility to their version of events) - the tabs stretch this story into two issues that sell well.
ReplyDeleteDean and Tori react by going to public places and pawing each other. They call the paps who check their texts, look at all the texts they are getting from OTHER celebs, and figure heck, I've got time to head to the hotel pool/outdoor seating at "x" restaurant/shopping stroll with my camera and I'll get the shots. Sure enough there are Tori and Dean with the mega-pda, Dean (unfortunately, he is not a pro) side-eyeing the paps like crazy. In due course comes a tabloid (In Touch or Life and Style) article with the photos talking about how unperturbed Dean and Tori are by their treachorous friends and how they are happier than ever. To me, it looks painful. Friends rat Dean out, Dean and Tori have to go to some public place and mug down on each other in a way forty year olds generally refrain from doing, and it looks pretty sad, obvious and defensive. But you know, the story runs, everybody pretends it's just another chapter in a celebrity story that the magazines "just happened" to run across, and everybody makes money. This is how paps get their money. VM is not a payday. They're Canadian, and catching them out means traveling to Michigan and Canada. If they were Kate Middleton, yeah. Canadian ice-dancers, not so much.
"VM is not a payday. They're Canadian, and catching them out means traveling to Michigan and Canada. If they were Kate Middleton, yeah. Canadian ice-dancers, not so much."
ReplyDeleteThis is the reason why I don't understand the thinking behind their decisions. Ice dancers don't achieve mega stardom, so why the obsessive need to create a false persona, complete with a storybook of photo-ops and facebook updates and wall posts? It's so OTT. And for what. So they can pretend to the public they are not a couple when they are? I don't know - there's some faulty logic here. It's not like they're carrying on illicit affairs or anything. So they're together. So what?
A few comments ago someone mentioned TS never getting tagged, but last year pictures of Tessa's birthday surfaced, I don't remember if they were actually tagged or not. Was that a breach or an intentional leak?
ReplyDeleteI am surprised that other pictures do not leak, of her pregnant or her at Danny's wedding or whatever. Is everyone within 100 yards of TS with a camera briefed about facebook sham protocol? I can believe people like Alma and Barb know how to set privacy settings, but a lot of people I know still struggle with the basics!!
Oycanada, you're clearly an intelligent person. Have you ever stopped to think about how much of your time you spend obsessing over something that makes you really angry? What's the point?
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing most of your early posts in this comment section were directed towards me. I wasn't defending Tessa and Scott. The way they've been acting, they don't really deserve to have fans at all. And yet I'm still here, and so are you and many others and we all want this charade to end. But you seem to care more about agressively pushing back and keeping your pride intact than you do about seeing this thing stop. You can't let the V/M camp get away with this stuff without publicly calling them out. It would be a sign of weakness, submission, you'd be letting them win. We can't have that!The problem is that V/M have the same attitude and won't back down either. So you're stuck in this ridiculous battle that brings out the worst in each side.
You've convinced yourself that the charade will continue forever anyway, so might as well continue posting. That's rather self-serving. You've been a big part of this game since you first posted about this on Fanforum quite a while back. Sure, if V/M were more mature, they would simply have ignored you, but maturity clearly isn't their strong point. And yes,this charade went off the deep end long before you ever said anything, but do you really believe you haven't made it harder for them to come clean?
Whatever. I'm going to take my own advice, leave this place, and only follow V/M at competitions. The stress and frustration isn't worth it. I think everyone involved (including you) is basically a good person, but the stupidity of it all is just too much. It's a sad situation all around.
I don't see this as any kind of attempt to simply push-back or pull for them to come clean. It's clear the fake relationship charade may continue on ad nauseum, which would be incredibly unfortunate, but it is what it is. I see this place as more of an attempt by the blogger to provide a running commentary on what is happening so fans can see how much of a patterned, planned, blatant, and ridiculous charade it really is. If it keeps up, but fewer fans buy into it and stop being used as dupes, that would be nothing but a good thing.
ReplyDeleteI guess I don't understand the thought behind the notion that all of this is sad and won't get better so the blogger should back down. Continuing to break down what is happening is not a bad thing. I think if someone is egregiously lying, taking advantage of people who believe what they're saying, and trying to make money off of it, they deserve to be called out as long as its happening, even if they react and dig themselves in deeper. Why? Because they shouldn't be able to get away with it (or at least not get away with it scot-free), especially when its on the backs of their own fans who support them.
If Tessa and Scott really wanted to come clean, they could find a way to do it, probably with little muss and fuss or overall damage to their image. They could simply craft a new image and move forward. Good PR firms do that kind of stuff more than people realize, and they do it well.
Anon above the one above - you are "guessing" a number of things, then in the same comment assuming your guess is on the mark, then you go forward based on these assumptions and arrive at a conclusion, all on your own, using only yourself as a reference. My comments and posts are aimed at the topic, not at "you" as I don't know who "you" are or what you've said here other than the above, and it's a little strange that you'd believe they are "aimed" your way.
ReplyDeleteLast anon - we agree Scott and Tessa are going to do what they are going to do, and to believe this blog is backing them into some type of corner is circular. They weren't going to come clean without this blog, they aren't going to come clean with this blog. Prior to the blog there were no limits to what they appeared to feel they were entitled to do, including "telling our story" that contains some significant, central lies, publishing it and marketing that it reveals never before told real stuff.
ReplyDeleteNo blog existed when they began to run this hoax which included a contemptuous pattern of baiting fans then hitting them with a sting. In fact, that was the central game plan. It wasn't defense, it wasn't a privacy screen, it was an aggressive scheme to get $$ from the public while making absolute fools of them.
Shams go on plenty, inside and outside figure skating. Relationship denials the same. That's not the problem with Scott and Tessa. It's how they've treated fans. Same with Skate Canada. Built into their particular brand of hoaxing and shamming is overt gaslighting. It's extremely ugly to see the public made fools of when they don't know they're being made fools of, when Scott and Tessa capitalize on the "lucky kids" image they attempted to peddle in order to deceive people into believing they're incapable of manipulation.
While it may be true that this blog is making V/M and Co. dig in deeper, that attitude only highlights their immaturity and arrogance.
ReplyDeleteGoing into a new skating season, I for one am happy to see a place that debunks their attempts to continue hoaxing the public. As another Anon. has said, "If it keeps up, but fewer fans buy into it and stop being used as dupes, that would be nothing but a good thing."
The other anon who commented on the lack of photos of Tessa/Scott together brought up one of my biggest mental hurdles in regards to them actually being together. I know that it's easy to control what the Moirs post but ALL the other people, how do they do it?
ReplyDeleteWhen the pictures surfaced last year of Tessa dancing with Scott (even though I'm still not entirely convinced that it is him, we can barely see his face) on her birthday, those were interesting. If it was Scott, by all other accounts, he should have been in Mexico with Jessica when those were taken. Maybe those were evidence of their real lives, who knows.
1. If it wasn't Scott, then Tessa's acquainted with two very similarly-built, colored and featured men who are very fond of that particular shirt.
ReplyDelete2. Those pictures were taken at a post-Stars On Ice gathering in Vancouver (the photo album is largely composed of shots of other cast members and locally-based skaters); the timeline doesn't preclude Scott's statements of subsequently being in Mexico (and he was in Mexico). Tessa, of course, went to a beach.
"doesn't preclude Scott's statements of subsequently being in Mexico (and he was in Mexico). Tessa, of course, went to a beach."
ReplyDeleteYou forgot to add - she went to a beach in a DIFFERENT CONTINENT.
That is definitely Scott in those photos.
get some balls and stop posting as anonymous!!!!! geeze!!!! many of you post over and over again and its just getting bonkers trying to keep all the opinions straight! make an account, use a fake name, dont use the name you use on ff or fb or anywhere else...just get over it and do it already...you're all as bad a VM...gotta hide...gotta hide...
ReplyDeleteOk, I've been reading this blog for a while now and I really don't know what to believe! Though I really want T&S together off the ice, it just seems all a bit too far-fetched with the whole cover up and the fake pictures in deferent locations... Idk, I guess I need more proof and only time will truly tell if Virtue and Moir finally become (or admit to already being) an item...
ReplyDeleteIn the mean time, may I ask if anyone knows where I can see those photos of Tessa's birthday? Thank you :)
Bella Donna - I am not sure how to set up an account on here. Is it the "name/URL" option? Sorry, clearly I am inept. But I agree the billion "Anonymous" postings is making me bonkers too.
ReplyDeleteBella Donna, I see your point but I know I prefer to post as "Anon" and I hate to see a good discussion derailed because people feel they can't post as "Anon."
ReplyDeleteThis blog is always going to remain anon-based with the comment area.People are free to read the content from anons any way they want to read it and draw their own conclusions, and who said what is not important, the content is what's important- or not - it's up to anyone reading to decide for themselves. That's the way it's staying. People are free to register if they really want to, but my own preference is for anon comments and if the comment section ever becomes a screen-name/personality-centric area it will be changed or the blog moved to somewhere where anon-only can be set as the preference.
ReplyDeleteThank you Oy Canada for keeping it anon-based.
ReplyDeleteAll other places where V/M are discussed have become bland and dare I say, a little boring, because of the bullying of anyone who dares bring up controversial issues. It's as if V/M can only be mentioned in the context of hearts and flowers and anything else is "rude" and must be silenced.
On topic - this is the first time in the last couple years that Jess-Scott haven't photo-spammed to coincide with HPC. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
lol i understand why its anon based and it does make perfect sense...just had to have a little rant cuz my brain makes all these anons all different people, you know? and the reality is, some people, like me, post multiple times but i cant distinguish between them all :P i just like knowing where everyone stands on stuff...and who feels what...you know?
ReplyDeletedidn't mean to cause any distress or angst of any sort and am sorry if i did...
That's okay - I understand it can be confusing but I'd rather have a free-for-all and let people sort out what's said for themselves. Forums that use screen names always end up personality-driven with candid conversation happening in pms and email and a lot of crap in public.
ReplyDelete^this is so true, fanforum is but a shell of its former self
ReplyDeletealso I find it funny that Scott's "official" fan page is only for him and not for TS, all the other facebook pages are for both skaters
I agree with previous Anon that fanforum is a shell of its former self. Both the facebook page for Tessa and Scott (the "Addicted" group) and fanforum used to have lively discussions. On facebook whoever runs that group outright banned anything controversial and all the posts now are just cookie-cutter "Oh how cute." Anything else is "mean."
ReplyDeleteAt fanforum there's no ban per se, but it got so tiresome to have the same ones continually attempt to shut down anything interesting (again, the "rude" and "mean" accusations) that it's not worth the bother anymore to try and make it past the same "oh how cute."
I appreciate that this blogger has attempted to make this a place where we can vent some frustration. Which incidentally, I agree with him/her about Scott's Muskoka post. It's an attempt to use his official fan page to screw with the fans. Jess' new profile picture is proof of that and I believe it's also the precursor to some Scott-Jess Muskoka photos. They have been extremely predictable about when and how they release photos and this follows the same patterns. Thanks to the blogger for pointing this out.
Is Jessica's new profile pic of her kissing a deer (???) from Muskoka?
ReplyDeleteAlso, does anyone know why Bryce was at the High Performance Camp?