They could learn from Tessa and Scott

While participating in the network broadcast for Vancouver 2010, Sale and Pelletier kept up their profile as happily married Canadian sweethearts.

That June came this announcement:

"We've had an incredible partnership for the past 12 years and we look forward to that mutual respect and commitment continuing both on the ice and as we parent our son," Sale said in a statement.
"While [divorce] is always a difficult decision, we still share two of the most important parts of our lives in common, and for that reason we wanted it to be amicable and by mutual agreement."

This release cued the in-the-know on figure skating message boards to re-affirm that Tessa Virtue and David Pelletier were doing it. Virtue/Pelletier had been spotted in the same confirming circumstances fans always "spot" rumored skating duos: to wit: in the vicinity of a major competition holding hands, gazing at each other, and kissing.*
 
(I must circle back and see if a poster who, with amazing quickness, managed to acquire the inside scoop on Igor's dismissal from Canton** was among the fortunate who "spotted" David/Tessa and/or other rumored skating couples. The same posters always get lucky in the same way on repeated occasions- or they always have a friend or friends who are both fortunately placed and blessed with wonderful timing.)

As promised, Sale & Pelletier carried on with their skating partnership; David tweeting his appreciation when Sale chipped in on Battle of the Blades (and David and his partner won).

And today Jamie makes this announcement:

Never mind that for a second I thought she and David
 had both married Craig.That WOULD be magical.

That's how you do it. Omit the part about your dating life. Skip explaining why you waited almost two years before mentioning you were separated. With the Olympic obligation out of the way, report a divorce is decided upon, carry on as usual with no further comment, until you announce wedding bells to someone else on the actual day you actually married him.

Throughout David and Jamie continued to be accessible in the media and on twitter; they referenced each other in the warmest tones, undaunted by the fact that they had not shared why they had divorced, nor let us know who they were currently dating.

In keeping with fan convention, no fan got lucky and reported seeing Sale/Simpson schmoopying their way across Paris or Vancouver, and that's because that duo, unlike Virtue/Pelletier, actually exists (although I expect some posters to now say they saw them and just neglected to mention it at the time).

(It's just amazing. Tessa Virtue, that attention whore, parades right out there so everybody knows the rumors are true, while that shy and retiring Jamie Sale manages to keep her actual wedding secret until she blindsides everyone on twitter. Thank heavens Jamie had already met her own new best friend, BOTB co-star Craig, prior to Tessa shamelessly stealing Jamie's man. I'm sure he was a comfort.)

So there you have it. Sale and Pelletier presented as your basic married skating sweethearts during Vancouver, then afterwards transitioning into the solid tradition of divorced skating partners who remain the warmest friends.While it was clear in hindsight that they'd actually been separated while broadcasting from Vancouver, their popularity as a team remained more or less what it had been. Go figure.

Consider if they had followed the Tessa and Scott blueprint:

•  David Pelletier and Jamie Sale marry. What a love story.
• They get divorced, but don't say anything publicly, so the media has to make like they're still married and as far as fans go, fans think they're still married. Sometimes fans hint one or the other is cheating, but other fans claim recent sightings of them holding hands, gazing at each other and kissing*. Things are just fine.
• Jamie up and marries Craig Simpson but in interviews and for fan interaction purposes makes like she's still married to David Pelletier, so even though she is now Mrs. Craig Simpson, she and David, the media, and other figure skaters have to pretend she's still married to David. Maybe they'll come clean when they're totally, completely retired, but the longer they can put it off and avoid dealing with it, the better. The kid is little- it doesn't affect their child. And fans get pissed at anyone who insinuates there is ever trouble in paradise between David and Jamie. If Jamie has kids with Craig, she doesn't acknowledge it and the media plays along.

Wouldn't that have been smarter? Beats me why they didn't go in that direction. It's got to be better than having the public actually know who you're actually married to.

(Scott's going to be 25 years old in September. I wonder if he'd ever dreamed he'd be lying about Tessa at age 25 and still pretending to have been in a five-year relationship with Jessica Dube.)

It's so confusing what a whole lot of nothing Sale and Pelletier have said to the public while remaining accessible, outspoken public personalities and performers and while the public knows the gist of everything one might say the public should know. How do they do it? They remain familiar faces and media personalities, like virtual family members, yet I don't know the details of how Jamie's childbirth went so it's difficult to feel like I know her***, and I don't know either when she and David fell out of love and she and Craig in, so how can I relate? .

I wouldn't fuck with these people. They don't want to tell us the inside story of their marriage and divorce, complete with scrapbook photos in book form or albums dedicated to facebook spam - I'm okay with that. They don't want to explain who they're currently dating and how it impacts their continued professional partnership nor do they give us the scoop on future private sector plans? Hey it's their business - they seem to be managing okay! Jamie didn't waste energy - she just announced her new status as soon as the ceremony concluded -  I can do the math. She was probably dating the guy after they were paired on BOTB and, unbeknownst to us, she and David were already separated. I don't need it spoon fed. And despite not spamming us with photos and stories and other details, they still feel entitled to be in the public eye. Why, those .... oh right. That's okay.
 ______________________________
*on the lips. 

**The scoop per this poster: the "kids" (skaters) had no idea. They were shocked! There's a lot of stuff this poster has managed to learn and could share, particularly about Marina, but for now consider one eyebrow raised. There are agendas at work. Stay tuned.*

**I don't want to know her! I don't like her, but that's beside the point!

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*I always ALWAYS wonder how this shit is taken with a straight face. Especially as the second another poster has a question, the response is hostile and testy.