Sunday, December 11, 2011

Say My Name, Say My Name



This video has little audio-visual merit, but was the most efficient way to look at some of Tessa and Scott's social media/legit media output concurrently, with a particular focus on their "now the truth can be told" book tour.

Ben Mulroney interview

And a piece of this interview:

Book interview

And this:

ETalk Canada

The video below obviously uses facebook photos. It also features cut-up audio segments of Ben Mulroney's interview with Tessa and Scott on E-Talk in December 2010:



(ETA - That's a lot of Jessica.

When Scott and Tessa did their book promotion blitz, the media made out like there was an internet fan frenzy wanting Scott and Tessa to be a couple. The clamor forced media outlets to ask Scott and Tessa about it at every stop.

Yet they somehow missed that, also on the internet, Scott was presenting himself as in a relationship with teammate and fellow Olympian Jessica Dube in an aggressive social media campaign discussed by these same frenzied fans on the same message boards. Shit, some fans wanted Scott and Tessa to be a couple so badly, they were claiming his relationship with Jessica was a big fake, and wars broke out. You'd think maybe this would be part of the discussion on how badly fans wanted them together. There are actually fans that refuse to accept reality from Scott and Jessica’s own facebooks! Ha ha – how do you handle that, Scott?* Is it crazy?

Scott was never asked about Jessica. The media heard all about wanting VM to be a couple, but ignored his longterm relationship with a very well known Canadian figure skater that he was parading all over facebook, inciting fan battles.
Where is a single question asking him about his pairs skater girlfriend?)

When I was putting this together and going over interviews, I was struck by how emphatic Scott and Tessa were when talking out of the many different sides of their mouths. And how they smile like cheese-eating monkeys. BOTH bat their eyes.

They really give sociopaths a run for their money.

For me, the most nauseating facet of their pr machine is the faux sincerity, the affect that they're a couple of kids who aren't wordly, are ga ga over everything that's happened, and who bow and scrape at the feet of Canadian fans.

They wrote this book as a treat for the fans. To give fans an opportunity.

Don't you know that normally - this is how the sport is - there is always that barrier between the fans and what's really going on, says Tessa. But they love the fans so much that they did this book as appreciation, and also to help fans understand the real them and their unique bond. For only $29.99, or whatever they were charging, they let down that barrier and showed us what's really going on, including, and most specifically, their relationship. Their platonic relationship. They did it for us.

What at last revealed, and that would cost only $29.99 to keep, was of course: 
  • They're platonic
  • Tessa and Scott did not so much as text message between the time of her first surgery and her return to Canton, and were estranged nearly a year afterwards. 
  • Steve Milton, the author, has captured their relationship between the covers of that book "very accurately" per Scott. 
Except for the parts about them being estranged for a year over shins, and being platonic, and the part where "being genuine" means "lying our heads off", every word in these interviews is true.

Plenty of public people have lied their asses off about everything - career intentions, their histories, their relationships, their romantic status, their marital status, their parental status and their financial status. Very few have done so while making a public relations policy of bragging on their incredible sincerity and their humility in front of the folks they were scamming. Generally, even big fat liars have the decency to low ball the big fat lies, or dodge around, instead of running up to their target, prying open their mouths, lifting a funnel and force-feeding.

If Skate Canada is talking they're lying. If Scott and Tessa are talking while smiling - they're lying. When the smiles fade and the "be a clown" Scott disappears, we might be getting at more reality, if not in content, than in tone and attitude.

As a p.s., and something that I didn't use for this video - I know some people felt that on the book tour, Tessa was really kind of generally describing her shin pain during the Olympic year, and it was the media that got all histrionic about it.

Well, I was listening to one interview and while the "count the steps to the cafeteria" story got a lot of play, Tessa also mentions how she had to "count the steps to the refrigerator" and decide if it were worth taking those steps.

Tessa did have residual shin pain that was especially intense after the Farrucas OD but her emphasis on the shin pain is also very helpful to her in a one respect:

That being - gosh, what Tessa is describing is certainly not the body of a woman able to carry any extra - and completely unavoidable were certain life choices made  - weight for any period of time - is it? Impossible! Her shins would commit hari kari!

Yeah, she could do worlds, and tour, and fly around doing shows, and jump off Scott's thigh doing the goose, and wear high heels, all prior to when she said her surgery took place, but walking to that fridge - MAN. That smarts.

I also re-realized how many print and television and radio interviews scapegoated fans. How did they learn about the internet fan frenzy over Virtue Moir anyway? Especially since they only got the parts where fans insisted VM get together, and missed the talk about Jessica and Scott and facebook that was everywhere.  Nobody said to Scott "Now, you're dating Jessica Dube - another figure skater - does she ever get jealous?" Or - something right up entertainment media's alley - do fans ever get angry with Jessica or say things to her because they want you with Tessa? How does Jessica handle it?

What's a Jessica?

Of course, some of the media didn't independently learn about the fan frenzy over Virtue Moir on the internet at all. A lot of them got it straight from the interview talking points sheet they received from Virtue and Moir in advance of the book and tour plug.
_____________________________
*And knowing how fans operate, it's a safe bet that more than a few of Scott's most ardent fans urgently pm'd him letting him know that a few trolls were insisting his relationship with Jessica is fake, and asking him to directly aver once and for all that Jessica was his girlfriend - to clear it up on the record or directly address fans from his facebook.

16 comments:

  1. so JD was also in Quebec at the GPF..there's a pic w/ her & V/M's moms

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  2. Yeah, I think they're very conscious of their personal family life this year, and are reacting by including Mama Virtue around Jessica too. That will put Jessica's actual status in Scott's life in more accurate (visual) perspective in years to come.

    I still believe that as the various babies Moir grow up, the online record of Jessica is going to be traumatic.

    I also suspect the Virtues have more tolerance for Jessica than the Moirs.

    oc, not signed in

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  3. It's an endless question for me - Why does Jessica allow herself to be put in this situation? Traveling and making plans in order to be seen with Scott and the Moirs (and now also the Virtues)? It's an easy thing to see all the benefits to Scott and Tessa. They get to be at a public event and fly under the radar as a couple, but they're still together, and they also get to have family around. But Jessica? What does SHE profit from all this?

    I realize this blog has addressed this in other posts. However, her particular incentives continue to baffle me. I cannot imagine any girl I know of that age who would be at the beck and call of others in this way, and smile for the camera and hijack her own facebook account, just so some OTHER couple can benefit. She's all kinds of weird for doing this.

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  4. Jessica's weird but don't you think she's self-evidently gotten a lot of consideration from Skate Canada for her contributions? Not to mention the travel paid for by who knows who but very unlikely paid for by Jessica? We can count it up - her parents in Paris - that's a red flag considering it's very expensive to take two extra people to TEB, and her parents also pitched in posing for Alma's "Paris" album. She was cited in "Hello"'s Most Beautiful issue in exchange for a sham shout-out - IMO Jessica would enjoy that recognition better than a gold medal. She got a Zoueva program this season for the D/W short. Zoueva is expensive. She got tremendous positive promotion this season - ended up with her ideal assignments at Skate Canada and in Paris while MTM were shunted elsewhere and Laurence & Sweigers, who are attempting more difficult content and arguably have more of a real future - got one GP. Jessica was touted as an Olympic prospect in singles with a huge photo to go with.

    Skate Canada has concertedly worked to spin her split with Bryce. Jessica's original explanation for the split was spine-chillingly cold and callous, and Bryce allowed as he felt shocked.

    Since then, SC has worked overboard claiming Bryce's injury is why he's - permanently, don't you know - coaching now. Nothing to do with Jessica's refusal to step up her game.

    Isn't she getting an awful lot of attention and promotion for a skater in a new partnership that's not exactly making waves? Isn't she getting quite the boost from SC considering as ever she's making the same mistakes and not growing from one competition to the next?

    Jessica's not a "girl of that age" - she's a figure skater. She's not a student, or somebody in a regular job. She's a figure skater in a very competitive sport who has a pretty relaxed attitude about her work ethic and she's enabled every step by Skate Canada and why is that? Every other skater in the sport is paranoid. Not her. She feels secure. Nice, huh? I think there are plenty of girls of that age, who, if they happened to be 24-year old figure skaters, would take on the sham for half of the consideration Jessica receives.

    That's a damn good trade-off. Skaters have to travel for promotion, choreo, training (D&D traveled all over the place for training in summer 2010), photo shoots, training camps, competitions, shows, personal appearances, etc., all the time. Jessica knows plenty of people in London other than the Moirs. This is business. And oh, the torment of having to travel to a resort in Mexico or the Dominican for business on someone else's dime, with a buddy or sibling to keep you entertained, also on someone else's dime.

    What's the difference between doing sham stuff and any other promotional stuff? She's getting a lot out of it, and she's not at all camera shy, so that has to be a value-add too. There's no mystery here.

    And there's this:
    Sure she went to the Dominican and posed for tons of photos with Scott but she had both her siblings with her - who paid for them? I think her brother went on his own personal vacation that year - could he afford two Carribean vacations, one at a three star resort where he had his own room - didn't bunk in with friends to save $$$?

    We were shown she was in Mexico - what are the chances a sibling or buddy to keep her company also went to Mexico for Danny Moir's wedding?

    She's incentived like few are ever incentived. The "need" for the sham helps protect her career. Plus.

    oc, not logged in

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  5. agreed with all you said. But, you're assuming that Tessa and Fedor was a fake relationship too, right? So my question is, we know that Jessica gets a lot of benefits doing this "job", but why Fedor got into this mess too, did he get any advantage from that fake relationship?! I mean, something for his figure skating carreer? Money? Or just because he is Zueva's son? (and Zueva knowed what was happening)

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  6. Fedor is reported to be a sweetheart and I think he's a genuine friend to Tessa, Tanith, etc. I don't think he's ever dated Tessa or Merly.

    As far as Fedor and Tessa, what stands out to me and confirms it was a sham, is Tessa's willingness to allow public speculation about her and Fedor. For someone who is so private and insists on barriers between her and the public, it's a red flag that she poses with Fedor in front a freacking inn, for everyone and his brother to "know" she'd spent the night there with Fedor (supposedly had spent the night). The photographer who took the pictures of Tessa and Fedor at Skate Detroit (I think in '09?) reported on FSU that Fedor said, "Tessa and I are very happy..." Really? private Tessa letting that comment slide? Then there's that Semple tweet from bed, in Canton. Yeah right, Tessa would want her private life on display like that. Not if it's real. Just like Scott. Allow all kinds of speculation about your intimate life when it's with a fake partner. The "methods" between these public shout-outs of Tessa/fake bf's and Scott/Jessica are eerily similar. IMO, they're fake.

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  7. Yep. They exemplify "I don't care what people say as long as it's not true." They create fake-private stuff and throw it out there for the hungry needy hordes to chomp on.

    And for God's sake, how do self-respecting fans take that Ryan Semple display at Skate Canada as on the level. For God's sake fans, have some self-respect! The damn thing was more staged than a half-time formation.

    Fedor is, by every account, a sweetheart. He's actual friends with these people, unlike Jessica. Think of Jessica as more like "that relative." Familiar, but - gawd.

    Fedor was right there in Canton. He's Marina Zoueva's kid. He's good company. He's not just friends with them, he's friends with their friends, like Buttle.

    He needed no incentive. I don't believe for a single second Fedor cared much to sham for his own sake. To help out Tanith? Yes. Tessa and Scott - absolutely. He's already great friends with them all.

    Jessica needs incentive because she's clannish, clique-ish, a pain in the ass, was a friend-by-association (Bryce) and not a real friend, and doesn't live in either Michigan or Ontario. And she's a space case, and needy and self-absorbed.

    Fedor is good-natured, generous-hearted, and has wonderful manners.

    oc, not logged in

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  8. I like this blog. This may be a bit off topic so forgive me. Retired skater Sean Sawyer (sp), who trained in the same environment as little miss Dube played right along with the Dube/Moir sham. That being said, his clearly implied facebook "relationship" with another retired skater Maximin Coa (sp) is clearly just as fake as Dube and Moirs. Clearly he has something to hide with his own sham relationship. I wonder what that is? Your thoughts?

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  9. http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurmarshall/6500373859/in/set-72157628390443925

    one of JD's perks

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  10. What other non-participant Skate Canada skaters were in the stands accompanied by volunteers and signing autographs? A GPF in Quebec City means it's likely other familiar skater faces watched.

    oc, not logged in.

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  11. [What other non-participant Skate Canada skaters were in the stands accompanied by volunteers and signing autographs? A GPF in Quebec City means it's likely other familiar skater faces watched.]

    Haven't you heard?

    Jessica Dube is speeeciiiaaalll.

    She's the girlfriend of a reigning Olympic gold medalist ice dancer. Doesn't that position bring these kinds of perks to all girlfriends and boyfriends of elite skaters?

    Isn't it bizarre that other skaters and their SO's and/or families aren't pitching a fit over this? Jessica's "position" in SC is completely separate from her accomplishments.

    It's corruption.

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  12. Well, she's the fake girlfriend of the reigning Olympic gold medalist ice dancer, and the Jessica Dube image rehabilitation project is in full swing.

    I wonder if Scott is going to look extra grim in the Xmas 2011!photos this year (they'll leak, sooner or later) - you know they got that one done this weekend.

    We don't know who's pitching a fit - they probably wouldn't talk to the media. I can imagine a parents being unhappy - skating parents are notoriously intense. That happens when a huge chunk of family financial resources and time goes into an enterprise only to see someone like Jessica skate junior level programs while receiving champion-level treatment and assignments for off-ice contributions she's making that have nothing to do with her accomplishments and are flat-out unethical for Skate Canada to have anything to do with whatsoever. Skate Canada has no business promoting Jessica for the reasons they're currently promoting her - a sham agenda. A hoax. Which means, a deception they are running on the public.

    They want to rehab her image so her reputation doesn't hurt Scott. Absolutely nothing to do with what she does on the ice.

    Just amazing that SC hosts a GPF and can carve out personnel and time to boost Jessica - a nonparticipant.
    SC's stake in Jessica isn't because because of her future in singles or Dube/Wolfe's prospects on the international scene.

    Other Canadian pairs must wonder why they put in the hours and take the risks and basically bust their ass.

    For why? They won't get treated like champions even if they are, they'll get only one GP despite pushing themselves past their capabilities, and they'll be expected to continue to push themselves while Jessica coasts and gets greater rewards - and SC-connected commentators excusing her.

    You have to wonder if the other pair figure skaters find it a piss off.

    oc, not logged in

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  13. Another thing - practices are not exciting. Why would a significant other attend a mid-season practice? Especially another figure skater. It's not for "support" - the skaters on ice are working with each other and their coaches. Why not meet up after practice?

    Oh - because a) she's not going to be spending actual personal time with Scott and b) more fans will see if she turns up at practice.

    Even real couples would be bored rigid at each other's pre-comp skating practices after all this time plus, it's a distraction (although with Jessica that's not an issue - but Jessica isn't real). The SO doesn't get to actually spend time with the love interest either, so it's stupid.

    This was all about Skate Canada knowing the dance practice would have Tessa/Scott fans there, so they brought Jessica in, then rolled her around looking for autographs to sign. So Skate Canada is still hands-on with this, still pro-actively using personnel and resources to hoax the paying public. They should have kept the volunteers OUT of it and let Jessica walk about on her own. Putting volunteers on her as escorts is unethical when the agenda is selling a fraud.

    oc, not logged in

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  14. Well if volunteers did surround Jessica at the practice or when she was signing autographs well this is really a joke...i mean Quebec City is really her backyard, she was not a competitor at this competition...hell if Joannie Rochette was a competitor at this competition she would not be surrounded by volunteers in Quebec City....but then again JR has nothing to hide and is very gracious with her fans...

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  15. There's a fan photo of Jessica during dance practice, in a mostly empty (relatively speaking) arena where those present were mostly Tessa/Scott fans - of course with cameras. There are volunteers on either side of Jessica as she signs a single autograph in front of seated fans. (Link is above, I believe, left by another poster). And of course, another photo of her between Alma and Kate walking the corridor above the seats. Her being in their company signals she's not just there to check out practice - she's still the Girlfriend.

    Why is she there? Everybody's known each other over ten years - a dance practice? That's work for the skaters. A gf has no role there not to mention it would be deadly boring for a fellow figure skater.

    She's there to be seen. They're presenting Jessica to Scott and Tessa fans where those fans would be - at a dance practice in a Canadian venue. And then let's just casually walk around with her seeking autographs.

    Skate Canada is running this, but it's a scam. A hoax is an intentional deception. SC is playing this on the paying public.

    oc, not logged in

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  16. ^P.S. - I rechecked the autograph photo and on one side of Jessica is a woman in a blue jacket the same color as the SC volunteer jacket, but there are no visible credentials from the angle of the photo. She could be a civilian in the same blue color outerwear. On the other side of Jessica is an arm/hand resting on the railing.

    So, it's not certain these are volunteers and I hope to heavens they're not. At the same time, she is there only to be seen. There's no reason for a SO to attend dance practice flanked by Alma and Kate except so the VM fans present can not just see her, but report online she was there. Going on the autograph stroll calls more attention to her presence as well.

    oc, not logged in

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