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| Just more of her to love. |
These facebook photos (there are several) feature Jessica bundled up and torqued a slimming (but not enough) 3/4ths, Sebastien matching her. Reminiscent of Tessa's stylings in summer and early-season 2010-2011.
Prior to affecting the pseudo country-boho* style she's currently trying on, Jessica tried to follow Tessa's playbook as best she could. Music, hair, accessories, clothes.
So, what's up? Is she following Tessa to an extreme, as it were?
If she's just let herself go, it would explain why her fit'spiration board on pinterest is so full of toning and weight loss tips and inspirational photos, and "you go girl" stuff like "skinny girls look good in clothes, fit girls look good naked".
I was a bit confused by her pinterest focus because your body type is your body type. Jessica might not have been a sylph but she's muscular. Whatever she might have wanted to trim off didn't run to the sort of thing that required weeks of Biggest Loser-esque weight obsession. She'd never seemed especially bothered by being a bit bigger than optimum for a pairs skater. She obviously could still compete. So all I thought was - maybe the jokes Bryce supposedly made about weight really got to her even after all this time.
It's almost always a mistake to take anything put out on social media by any of these people as being anywhere on the level.
Then I saw the new profile picture and other shots that looked like camoflage and hiding and thought oh, we're talking a brand new category of body change for Jessica.
She didn't skip HPC because of ankle issues. Skipped it because she "wasn't ready" for everyone to see the shape she's in? Sure.
But why would she end up in this shape?
Tessa went to HPC and skated, even though the photo and video we got were limited. She skated shows when the season began, skating powerfully and smoothly, the only caution happening in the lifts. Tessa was in great shape, fine form, skating-wise. She was just developing a different shape.
To walk right up to the line of taste here and step right over it, it would be the ultimate irony if Jessica has imitated Tessa to the nth degree here. Did Team Virtue/Moir get that "former gf" memo out there soon enough if that's what Jessica's up to?
The only reason I play around with her following in Tessa's footsteps, as unlikely as I believe it is, is she likes drama, needs attention, is a copycat, and has always found an excuse when she really needed one. Misdirection has been a social media ploy she learned while shamming, and used big time when Bryce was injured, so it just can't be 100% dismissed til after she's competed in her first assigned GP of the new season.
I doubt it, but. It's weird for her to presumably be training all summer and still be in this not-ready-for competition condition. Unless of course, she busted her ankle early, told nobody, and it's the being off her feet that led to this shape-shifting. That must have been some ankle injury to last all summer and facilitate that type of body change. OTOH, Jessica has never been a bear for hard work and Sebastien isn't Bryce. She runs the show in her partnership with Sebastien because he only has fire fighter school to go to if he doesn't like it. Throughout most of their career, Bryce could have changed partners if it got too awful, not that he ever wanted to, but Jessica was aware of it and there was only so much rebellion she could permit herself.
P.S. Curious to see how blimped out Cynthia Phaneuf is since she's been sidelined herself. Bet she cuts a very different figure than J3ssica.
P.S. - the past two seasons just makes Bryce look even better. I think he gets all the credit for keeping the team with Jessica together through two Olympics. The exhausting job of keeping Jessica motivated, keeping her training at the level she needed to be to at least retain their title, keeping her happy, basically, while she vacillated and brooded then swung the other way. It took a village, for sure, his whole family, all of their friends. I was really startled that she didn't get in better condition during the Olympic season, rather stayed pretty much in the same shape with which she began - but maybe it was a miracle she didn't get more out of shape as the season went on, and maybe that's thanks to Bryce. It's not Annie motivating Jessica and keeping her on track. Last season, Jessica had to show for her summer competitions to get the assignments she wanted for the coming season. This season she has the assignments going in, so cue the ache-y ankle and the lazy.
These photos are amazing. If this is what Bryce struggled with, half of his time was spent cajoling her to do her job, then he'd do his own. There was never a time where they got on the same page, committed, and Jessica followed through all the way without starting passive resistance, moodiness and flagging all over again. What a long, long haul. Imagine his career with a different partner. Imagine the frustration of having a partner with the athletic talent that's in Jessica and the possibilities that created for not just their careers, but their lives, but the girl never lost her chronic unwillingness to apply herself.
I'd have thought vanity - of which Jessica has plenty - would have prevented her getting this out of shape but maybe she thinks she can pull it off and looks great anyway. She looks fine, but as a pairs skater, she doesn't, and in comparison to her competition-ready self, she really doesn't. Bryce was a freaking miracle-worker/saint in that pairing and I don't think anyone will ever know how much.
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| Jessica must be feeling cold. |
P.S. - as ridiculous as it may be to even 10% wonder what's up with Jessica's torso, there's no getting around the reality that these are a bunch of unoriginal, lowest common denominator operators who apply the same ridiculous lies and strategies to the same scenarios and so it's unrealistic not to have 10% degree of wondering if something other than the apparently most likely scenario is up.
P.P.S. If Dube/Wolfe compete in their GP assignment think what that means. They're a new team. The message everybody was given last season was let them find their groove. So what happens over the summer now that Dube/Wole are on the national team and have GPS assignments in the bag? Jessica slacks off and piles on the pounds to where the program isn't even ready to be seen at a training camp - or SHE's not. The already unlikely idea that Jessica and Sebastien spent the summer upping their game can be dismissed. A rudimentary pairs program was fine for their first season together, even though last season featured a number of new pairs who not only went for more challenging material but skated a lot better as a new team than Dube/Wolfe. But once their first season was under their belt it was time to develop greater difficulty as well as drill the elements, especially lifts, since Jessica never looked comfortable with them last year. What happens instead? Dube sits back and relaxes. It's a huge signal as to her intentions for the coming season and sends a signal about what she's actually in this game for.
That's if they compete.
Unless Jessica has multiple fractures in her ankle, and the Contre Coeur Familia photos say she doesn't, facebook photos of her in wedge heels say she doesn't, and a facebook cover photo of her freshly manicured tootsies say she doesn't, what would account for her not being ready for her first GP? When did this ankle oopsie happen?
This is the heroic Jessica Dube we're talking about here. The girl who was back on the ice ten days after her face was slashed. The girl who pluckily posed in the lobby of her Tokyo hotel after her wayward elbow blacked out her partner and she went crashing to the ice, owy-ing her cheekbone. The girl who put on some braces and splints following a variety of darn-the-luck mishaps like two car crashes (she was driving in both incidents), and went back on the ice and competed. This woman competed even when a skate blade got cought in the boards (carried off the ice in a Stokes, I think), who pushed through a long program as a singles skater despite having unexpectedly come down with a nasty flu virus that same morning, valiently concealing the symptoms (no unsteadiness, bleary eyes, swollen nose, scratchy throat, coughing, fatigue, etc.). A woman who skated a long pairs program despite sudden onset tendonitis in her split twist toe pick leg.
So now it's an ankle. She missed July's competition. She missed August's competition. She missed HPC yet she's going around on high heeled wedges. What exactly is Slipchuk & Co. going to be monitoring going forward? Her mood?
Jessica hasn't changed her skating or elements or layout since 2006. Is she really not ready to skate? Is whatever program she and Sebastien are going to unveil so athletically challenging there's no way it will be ready until Canadians? And Skate Canada will just jolly this along?
Let's see if it's a Tessa/Scott 2010-2011 pattern of - oops, sorry to miss this one, we can't wait til the next. Oh dear, much as we wanted to be at this next one, it's better to be 100% tip top. See you at the one after this. Oh, we would have, except our coaches said no, even though we begged. Well, here we are, 100% ready, fully trained, all set to compete, except for the first time in our entire lives we need to withdraw cause Tessa has a rogue quad cramp.
Then 2 months later they go and skate a delayed Worlds, later talking about how it was a roll of the dice and they weren't fully trained, because they keep their stories straight like that.
This smells like that, with Canadians being Jessica's Worlds. Let's see how it plays out. If the story is fleshed out, with amendments, corrections and embellishments.
The dividends from past services rendered certainly don't quit.
P.S. - I inexplicably spelled Scott's cousin's name as "Kara" in one of the lengthy comments underneath this post. It's "Cara".
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*"pseudo" country boho is redundant, I realize.
Really? Are you really going there with Jessica? Oy.
ReplyDeleteOh no, I'm not. I just don't expect anyone else to go there either, seeing as how it's impossible for a figure skater to hide a pregnancy. That's all I'm saying. Whatever fan comments or speculation happens better just consider it a weight gain due to overeating, rebellion and letting herself go.
DeleteI'm not insinuating she's pregnant, and I don't think she is either, I can't emphasize that more, although I have no inside information. I'm just saying nobody else better start speculating she is, either, considering unannounced and concealed skater pregnancies can only be imaginary. It would be a double standard if people speculated about Jessica what was considered impossible with Tessa.
Hi!May I ask you a question?! When do you think the baby was born? Because ALMOST every month since the olympics, photos of Virtue and Moir circulated around the internet. Be it in shows, competition or other events and I cannot imagine they paid all the people in an arena or at an event to play along, one of them would go after the big story. Maybe some women do not develop such a huge belly during pregnancy and the gained weight is more evenly spread out on the body. But at one point it would have been noticable, at least from the 7th or 8th month onwards, especially in the dresses Virtue wears.Additionally, every reasonable doctor would forbid the lifts they are doing during pregnancy; it is simply to dangerous for the unborn child.
ReplyDeleteIt is just an honest question and no offence against you. Kind regards! (P.S. Sorry for mistakes, I am not English)
I believe a short while prior to 4CCs in Taipei. The lifts are not dangerous - they are much safer than they appear, especially as Tessa only skated the short-dance until worlds. When it comes to athletes and pregnancy, I don't think it's safe to say a doctor would forbid this or forbid that, or this or that would be too dangerous, unless we thoroughly understand the technique in what's being attempted and thoroughly understand the athlete, especially an elite athlete. What looks like danger to us isn't always dangerous. Pregnant women do a whole lot more than we realize.
DeleteIn 2009, she and Scott competed at Canadians, 4CCs and Worlds with minimal run-throughs due to her legs. I believe this experience inspired them to attempt Worlds 2011 with only minimal run-throughs of their long program, since Tessa's legs were fine and she could skate through most of her pregnancy, placeholding the more challenging elements.
As for seeing Tessa later in her pregnancy, remember they totally skipped Canadians. They attended Skate Canada, she pretended to appear in public at Mississauga but didn't. I don't think we actually did see her much in her last trimester. And as for fans - do you really think fans who think or see her are going to run to the internet with what they saw, putting their name to it? There are many fans who know Scott and Tessa are together and don't say anything.
As for fans staying quiet, why is it that when they skated Winter Dreams on Ice our only video is blurry, from a great distance and washed out by the spotlight? Fans are more cooperative than you think, and keep more to themselves than you'd believe. If you look around the web, the active posters on skating boards are a small number, the "ubers" even smaller, and many many more lurk.
I should also say that the timeline is fuzzy because I believe she was pregnant earlier than many people imagine and the two of them are good at playing with before and after imagery.
DeleteMe again! First of all, thank you for the kind and quick reply! But I still have an hard time believing the pregnancy. Let's start with October of 2010. There was Shall we Dance on Ice, Skate Canada and serveral book signing stuff. In none of those pictures Virtue looks pregnant and they did some lifts from their olympic routine in the "Instrument of Peace" programme which are considered very difficult. In November (November 13) they were at the Gemini Awards. I admit the black dress is hiding but the grey top from the Tastmakers Lounge is not. In December there was the E Talk interview (the one with the snowman baking) and Winter Dreams on Ice. From the latter, we have pictures: http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/27100000/Winter-Dreams-on-ice-tessa-virtue-and-scott-moir-27197001-800-533.jpg (Sorry for the long link). One can argue, they are photoshopped but as I said, I can hardly imagine it. And even if we go before October, they participate in the Japan Stars on Ice tour, All That Skate LA, the Ilderton parade, Canadian Stars on Ice and many more events. I do believe they are in a relationship of some sort and are trying to pretend they are not. Further I agree with you on the poor management of Skate Canada (although I am not in a position to judge here). I had a friend who was pregnant but everyone thought she was just gaining weight. It took six month until someone realised she is actually pregnant. I agree with you on the fans as well sine I am one of the lurkers. Just my perspective on the topic.
DeleteYou have to understand that Tessa and Scott play games with photos. They did throughout the sham unless you believe Scott turned up next to Jessica on the family sofa two Xmas mornings in row. IOW, those photos were not from Xmas. One of the book signings they supposedly held did not actually occur. Debbi just popped on camera and faked it, and so did Scott and Tessa, pretending it was in the middle of the competition. Why is that?
DeleteI'd like to see the other video from Winter Dreams on Ice (not photos from an angled distance from professionals). Photos showing Jessica and Bryce, Gao, Shawn Sawyer and other skaters skating, mostly because I'm curious what the photo policy was for that performance at the John Labatt Center, and why the only one of Tessa and Scott is taken with zoom, still from a distance, and still somewhat out of focus.
As for lifts, difficult is all relative. lifts are different than actual skating. Actual skating, you have to show the correct edge. You can't finesse it or fake it. OTOH with lifts, you can work around whatever part of your body you would like to spare, and there isn't a figure skater on this planet with better ability to use "this" muscle group to compensate for "that" muscle group than Tessa. She did it with her legs, she did it with her glutes, she does it with her core.
If by 'danger' you mean danger from falling, Scott and Tessa are the best in the world. What looks dangerous to us isn't dangerous for them. They understand the mechanics of everything they do, the mutual mechanics and the individual. You'd better believe they ran through everything before performing it.
The elements that are very difficult (versus "dangerous") are the elements you don't see often in show programs. If a figure skater is doing something time after time in a show program, than it's reached the point where however difficult it might be for another figure skater, it's not difficult for these skaters. Footwork sequences and multiple twizzle sequences are extremely hard on the legs and exhausting, and tend not to be in show programs. Lifts, spirals and tricks tend to stay in. And are much safer as done in a show program than within a competitive program, because otherwise why do it? Why do a "dangerous" lift in a show at all? Why be in "danger"? Answer - it's not dangerous. And nobody can manage her own body under complex on ice variables better than Tessa Virtue. She can work around like nobody's business, and she's also capable of more than most, period.
As for photos, I think anybody who relies on photos for evidence is setting themselves up, particularly photos released from any official outlet, and that goes for video as well.
It can't be emphasized enough that Scott and Tessa - particularly Tessa as far as this topic goes - are not your ordinary figure skaters. The goose is actually a fairly simple trick - simple if you have Tessa Virtue's ability to hold herself. It's a step up, stay a few seconds, spin off onto the ice or spin off into your partner's arms. Madison Chock is doing a training wheels version with Evan Bates this year - except the "step up" has more assistance, she balances on his back on both feet, one on each thigh, does the twist/drop into Evan's arms but less smoothly, and is set down. The entire "difficulty" of the goose is holding youself in space in that position. If you can do it, then it's "not" difficult. It doesn't mean that you get less credit for it simply because it's "easy" for you and fiendish for other people. There's no penalty in figure skating for having a lot of talent. You don't get fewer points because a move considered difficult is something you have learned to accomplish comfortably.
ReplyDeleteDifferent example. The lutz is considered the most difficult triple jump (the triple axel is actually three and a half rotations). Who can do it? Jessica Dube. Who can't do the easiest triple, the toe loop? Jessica Dube. She can't do the "easier" flip, either. She always goes to her outside edge right before take-off (the lutz edge). If she hit a lutz when she was supposed to hit it should she get less credit because she can't hit the easier jump? The scoring isn't relative. Tessa can do a lot of "difficult" things easily, and so can Scott. By "easy", I mean the mechanics and execution.
"As for lifts, difficult is all relative."
ReplyDeleteExactly.
It seems some fans have decided that since the lifts are considered "dangerous" it therefore absolutely means Scott and Tessa (and other skilled ice-dancers) are doing things that are putting them at risk and so then, therefore again, it absolutely means ice-dancers would never ever do lifts during a pregnancy.
Even the most cursory investigation shows skilled athletes can do many, many physically demanding things all the way through pregnancy. It might certainly be dangerous for the normal person, but not for the experienced athlete. As you rightly point out, Tessa and Scott are never doing anything that is dangerous *for them* during a show.
I also don't agree with Anon 10:49 that the photos from any of the events s/he listed can be used as "proof" that Tessa was or not pregnant. Just the fact that she is an elite athlete with killer-abs will entirely alter the normal expectations of what a pregnancy would look like. In fact, many other fans think the photos from these same events are actually highly suspicious-looking, so this argument based on photos goes nowhere.
And not to mention, Tessa and Scott have an extensive support team, only a few of whom have been publicized. We better believe everything Scott and Tessa did on the ice got the green light from doctors, coaches and physical therapists and that Scott and Tessa deconstructed and worked through every move they made before taking it onto the ice. It's the sort of challenge upon which they thrive.
DeleteWhat we think is difficult and tricky may not be for them, and in fact if we deconstruct the mechanics of the moves they executed when she was pregnant, we can see for ourselves, particularly as to when she began pasting her mid-torso against Scott's torso as support in moves when she'd arch, this time opening her chest and arching her neck to achieve the silhouette.
(BTW, one of the easiest tricks ever is any variation of the head banger, whether the woman's legs are hooked around the guy's neck or whether he's got her legs gripped in his hand. Skaters who never got near a podium can do both types of head bangers. It's one of the most exciting looking, and least difficult, tricks around.)
Scott is much more stereotypically emotional on the ice in some ways, in facial expression, so Tessa is underrated. In my life I have never seen a figure skater with her ability to manage her body in space, not Gordeeva, not Volosozhar, not any other ice dancer either. She is extraordinary. The control and refinement she has in transitions, especially, are beyond any other ice dancer before her or skating today.
If a fall meant a miscarriage, then abortion rights wouldn't be needed in this country. It's not that easy to dislodge a baby without a precondition of an at-risk pregnancy. Pregnant elite skiers have competed. Pregnant tennis players (historically, Margaret Court) have played into their eighth month. OMG, what if Margaret Court had been slammed in the gut by an 80 mph serve? It's not as risky as people make out, not to mention that any civilian who is interested in the topic would be advised to deconstruct the technique of a particular situation before deciding it's too dangerous.
And as far as technique, and different from actual skating steps, in lifts there are many ways to skin a cat. If you read Gelsey Kirkland's "Dancing On My Grave", Ballanchine didn't much care how something was accomplished. He was results-oriented, and thus many a ballerina's body was ruined. There are many ways to hit a silhouette. There are many ways to accomplish a shape. Work arounds exist for lifts that don't for edge-work.
Nancy Kerrigan skated into the fifth month of one of her pregnancies, and she was doing Axels. So yes, what seems dangerous to an audience is as easy as walking to an elite skater. Nancy did look extremely pregnant though, while Tessa doesn't. If Tessa was 3rd month then it's possible that's why you can't see it.
Deleteguessing you've seen this...
ReplyDeletehttp://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/27100000/Winter-Dreams-on-ice-tessa-virtue-and-scott-moir-27197011-800-533.jpg
Yep. But I'm really interested in fan video for the other skaters from that show as well. Photos too, of course.
DeleteEvery show VM are in gets lots of publicity. Pre-event, during the event, post-event. This particular Christmas show took place in London!! Their home-town, where they were the most popular celebrity citizens in 2010, the Olympic year!
DeleteYet what do we have here--no photos, videos (except a couple blurry/shaky fan-videos), no big write-up, no de-rigeur mention (and photos) of the place filled with Moir and Virtue family members. And so not fair to the other skaters--if VM wanted to hide, not be mentioned, have no photos of them anywhere at that time, all the other skaters (who presumably need the PR) shouldn't have had to pay in also being left out of the PR loop.
Yep. Where's the video of all of the other skaters who participated at Winter Dreams on Ice, apart from, I believe, the finale? Where are their routines on youtube? We only have the video of VM taken from a great distance, using a zoom lens that still doesn't get very close and is not well focused. This is London, Ontario, the JLC, chock full of skating fans who normally video the figure skaters from many different angles and post it on youtube. Only one person video'd Tessa/Scott and the finale, nobody video'd Shawn, D&D, etc.?
DeleteSo - what was the video camera policy at this one night only event and for that matter where are the fan reports from it? Where was all the pr that usually goes along with this stuff?
This is the same thing that made me go back and look at Debbi Wilkes' infamous "I'm in line" at Scott and Tessa's "book signing" at the Hershey Center during the Western Challenge in Mississauga 2010. Of all the fans who actually attended in person, the ones who came back with reports only reported seeing Scott. The fans who went all missed the book signing which was supposedly held in the thick of the competition. Where were the Tessa eyewitness reports from Western Challenge?
Further, if you look at Debbi's video, where the fuck is the line she's pretending to be standing in? We've got a virtually deserted area and a couple of stooges/Skate Canada personnel "in line" pretending to be autograph-seeking fans. There are no onlookers, no line, no traffic.
One of the many objectionable aspects of the sham is that Skate Canada, a publicly supported organization looking to engage the public, worked concertedly to hoax the public in the matter of Tessa and Scott. It wasn't see no evil, hear no evil. They actually STAGED lies and then sold them to us. They worked closely with the figure skaters to scam the public and create scenarios that made the scam plausible.
D/D did not skate in Winter Dreams on Ice.
DeleteRemember, it's Dec. 2010. Bryce was recuperating from surgery. Jessica wasn't there even as a singles skater.
But it's true, there were no photos or videos like is normal for this kind of show.
Thanks for the correction and sorry about that. Here's the cast list for Winter Dreams on Ice 2010 per this link:
Deletehttp://www.premierlife.ca/events/scott-moir-tessa-virtue-return-to-the-jlc-in-winter-dreams-on-ice/
"The show’s star-studded cast includes Gold Medalists Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue, along with skaters Shawn Sawyer, Jennifer Robinson, Christina Gao, and Kayla Freeborn. They will also be joined by Synchro teams NEXXICE, London Synchronicity and the Ilderton Precisionaires."
That's a lot of skating fans that forgot their video cameras, except for the one person waaaaay in the back with a head blocking some of it, only able to produce shaky, zoom-lensed, in-and-out-focused product, and forgot to video anyone else.
For people who think there is no way Tessa was in the condition she was in for the 2010-2011 season, which was pregnant for the first half of it - why the hell would Debbi Wilkes and VM fake a book signing. Go back to the video of Debbi smarming to us "I'm in line" and observe what kind of "line" she's in, who else is in it, and the dead space around Scott and Tessa's festive-looking autograph table. Why did they haul out a Skate Canada board, a table, books, dress Scott and Tessa up, set up a video operation and have some stooge pretend to get an autograph, then Debbi gets in there, leans over the table and plies them with questions about Tessa's progress, what they've been up to, especially leaning on how they are sure to be at Canadians (typical Debbi p.r., they of course couldn't and never were going to be at Canadians, so lets overstate how confidently she is expecting them).
DeleteBasically, why do it? Why fake it? Why didn't Tessa just show up for the actual competition and have the autograph signing there, as she'd done earlier, with real fans?
Skate Canada, seriously. I'm curious if Benoit knew all of these shenanigans or if he maintained a "don't tell me, don't want to know" position.
"there's no getting around the reality that these are a bunch of unoriginal, lowest common denominator operators"
ReplyDeleteSad. And very true.
Yes. I'd actually feel ridiculous for not 100% ruling out a pregnancy from Jessica, but as unlikely as it appears it would be (no SO that she's publicized, going in the opposite direction on her pinterest, stated goals of continuing pairs skating with Sebastien, implied through Sochi) - when you're a liar, and when your circumstances start mimicking a situation where someone else you've frequently imitated definitely lied, it's best not to rule anything out. Whatever has caused her weight gain, she's managing it in terms of p.r. up to and including skipping HPC with the tale of a bum ankle. That's a lot of bullshit for a weight gain. Is she vain enough to want to drop the weight before people check out her programs? Sure. Still, that's a considerable difference in body type. It would sure say a lot about Jessica, only 24, if she let herself get out of shape to this extent over the summer, simply because her partner has no other options and her GP assignments are already guaranteed. Apart from her vanity, that scenario seems a whole lot more likely than a pregnancy.
Delete"Frequently imitated" - that's definitely true! Maybe Jessica gained "sympathy weight" like husbands do when their wives are pregnant. Except after the fact.
DeleteHah. I just think Tessa represents everything about how Jessica would like to be seen. Jessica's a natural copycat - Jessica's not a risk taker in the conventional sense. She hides behind what others do. Tessa is not just the female star of Canadian figure skating; it's also about how Tessa's viewed by others and within the sport. Physically beautiful. Feminine. Strong. Romantic. A style icon of a sort - constantly cited for her uncluttered originality in costumes. She makes her own decisions. She produces the reactions in crowds that Jessica would like for herself. Oh so romantic, oh how beautiful and charming, how feminine; she's amazing, her skating with Scott sweeps me away. That sort of thing.
DeleteIt's not just the success, it's how the success is characterized that I think Jessica would like to imitate, and Tessa's image that she'd like to imitate - as if Tessa's success rests in any way on cosmetics or music. It doesn't. Anything Tessa does is going to work because she has extraordinary talent, a keen understanding of her own talent and who she is as a skater and performer, and she puts in the work necessary to maximize her talent and no amount of imitation is going to get it for Jessica. Only putting in the same work. I don't think Jessica has done that amount of work in her entire skating career.
When Jessica was part of D&D, very often she'd use Bryce as her excuse for something. When she chose to skate to UoC as a singles skater when VM did, she said "Bryce said it would be good for me." When she skated singles during his injury, she said it was his idea. She doesn't even own her decision to move on from Bryce - continued to insist he felt the same even after he said it didn't play out that way. She likes to be hidden, basically.
So who knows. I do know Mike Slipchuk - who does apparently make a real contribution to Skate Canada - lied when Tessa and Scott were about to skate at 4CC in Taipei. He was right in the middle of it. Now he's all "oh it's her ankle" with Jessica - but only in a French language outlet. I saw the topic discussed on twitter with P.J. Why didn't Skate Canada address Dube/Wolfe's absence in English, to a wider audience?
It feels sneaky. To me, the most likely scenario remains that Jessica took a load off during the summer and used a lot of excuses while she packed on the pounds. She claimed her ankle hurt. She is, as usual being enabled and possibly not asked to provide medical verification of her supposed injury. Slipchuk claims the situation is being monitored in view of their GPS assignments. Give me a break. Over the course of three months Jessica has skipped three competitions/major events and she's blimped out. She's on her friend's facebook posing in high heeled wedges. She's wriggling her freshly painted, unwrapped and unswollen tootsies on her facebook cover photo. How bad an ankle injury can it be when pairs figure skaters - every figure skater - skates with sprains, strains, stress fractures, etc. of every kind. But she's still not a definite go for her first GP? They're going to "monitor" her until the pounds come off and she gets around to getting the lead out in time for Canadians? Is that the plan they're monitoring?
Scott hasn't been on his official facebook to say thanks for the birthday wishes, for the fans who went to CNE, for the fans wishing him well with the new season, or anything. Wasn't he staying more updated with their events last season? It seems kind of rude.
ReplyDeleteHe was much better last season and that's saying something, when it was pretty sporadic to begin with. I guess he doesn't see it as rude or just doesn't care. After all, the new website with the little blurb is taking care of everything now.
DeleteThese two, Scott and Tessa, are just too precious for ordinary engagement.
DeleteContrast them with MTM's SLC stint in the Tweet Seat. MTM were candid, relaxed, copped to being aware of specific twitter accounts and tumblrs and actually answered questions instead of deflecting questions.
I appreciated Kirsten's note that she and Dylan haven't competed in Canada internationally for 2 years. I still hold it against Skate Canada that the defending champions didn't get assigned Skate Canada, but Skate Canada certainly strapped on the kneepads for Dube/Wolfe.
How ridiculously complicated and unnecessarily fake did Skate Canada make its p.r. and WHY did they choose that approach? What does that say about their opinion of the great unwashed out there, all the people who aren't them? Closer to the point, how ludicrously unfit for their jobs were they? Their entire marketing scheme was nothing but a huge work around their essential incompetence at the basics, and it was completely ineffectual. More than that, it backfired incredibly and still is.
I will give Scott this much credit - in the "scrum" at HPC 2012, he was asked if having Worlds in London would help promote/improve figure skating's popularity in Canada (paraphrasing). He crawled away from the question and just said London Worlds is good for him and Tessa; he couldn't speak to it making figure skating more popular. He didn't have the hubris to say more about creating public support for figure skating in Canada.
Seriously, I can just imagine some fans wanting to slap their computer monitor every time he or Tessa come out with fans, fans, fans and all that crap for public consumption while he acts like his shit doesn't stink on facebook and the only time he's ever shown up is a) to link to old news (more isn't worth his time or attention) - IOW, pretending to participate while avoiding participation; b) to set up a sting or spit out something inane about an upcoming event: "Who's going?!" c) the one time he posted a candid from Finlandia after being caught red-handed being an asshole with the "any suggestions for a new profile picture" query from 2011.
By "Scott" I of course mean Tessa, Scott, Barb, and everyone else who gets their mitts on his facebook page. Even if he personally is so disaffected and conflicted/ambivalent about facebook that he leaves it to other people, it is still HIS reputation and presentation that is affected by how that page isn't managed.
It's all been so unnecessary. But at least a whole bunch of completely incompetent people raised their profile and got paid. So there's that.
Jessica has regularly managed to have poor showings during the beginning of the season but still do well enough at Nationals. She does have great natural talent and she's maybe depended on it overmuch. It will be very interesting to see if she can pull it off again at Nationals, or will this be the season her training habits finally catch up with her for good.
ReplyDeleteI'm still surprised Dube-Wolf skipped HPC. They couldn't show up for the Thomas Sabo goodies and the team photos? Jessica loves that kind of stuff. It's really not like her to skip a high-profile event like this and for that reason alone your theories about this are fascinating.
Well my theories are basically that Jessica let herself go all summer, and as usual has reached for a pity me excuse just like the tendonitis and the flu. What that says about Jessica is unflattering but not surprising. She really is a piece of work.
DeleteUntil the first Grand Prix, we can't rule out that Jessica, the Tessa mimicker when it comes to hair cuts, hair styles, exhibition music, and program music (in singles) is pregnant, thus mimicking Tessa right off the cliff. Only because it's Jessica and she always contrives SOMEthing. Always.
Tessa didn't go off the cliff - her life is set up and planned for that. Jessica's isn't. There are only two reasons it can't be ruled out. One, it's Jessica. Two, it's these people. The photos are coy, the excuse is predictable but upon examination, full of holes. We've been here before.
Maybe Team Virtue Moir saw her piling it on and declared her "former" only because speculation along those lines would be too much even for them. It's their own fault, sticking babies in Jessica's arms, including the newborn Quinn, making it her profile shot, all but bellowing "she's next with Scott's baby!" even as Scott had his own child with Tessa. They really got the sham girlfriend they deserved.
Ironically, Jessica's habits may work in the end to deprive her of the good life as she dreams of having it - romantic, adventurous, pretty, fun, tough in a cosmetic way (look and be rewarded for being "tough" when what's really going on is drama) - a little of everything - lots of travel and adventure while sustaining a secure and picturesque domestic life, creating a persona unconventional enough to be special and admired, but also relatable. If you've got the props, you've got the life. Image is the same as being it. That seems to be her view.
DeleteIt's a weird perspective for an athlete but that's what she projects - if she does country boho hair and clothes she's a country style girl looking for a country boy. If she wraps her head in a bandanna and wears puffy bling, she's hip hop loving gangsta girly. If you pin 8,000 motivational sayings about how you get what you want with blood, sweat and tears, that's as good as actually going out there and sweating.
Lots of figure skaters pissed away their potential but Jessica really stands out. She had an extremely motivated partner who was also her bf, willing to do anything it took to not just motivate her, but compensate for her. But the key thing she missed was when Bryce said, re the Vancouver Olympics: "It could change our lives."
Even without an Olympic podium finish, they had opportunities that could have changed their lives. The saying that success is opportunity meeting preparation applies strongly to figure skating. Plenty of unlikely figure skaters have found themselves on top of the podium and it changed their lives. You don't even need to be on top, just close enough (see Sasha Cohen). A changed life in figure skating basically means figure skating gets to be your lifelong career. You're in show business now. You make more money than you could have made in any regular job you could qualify doing. You travel. Get free stuff (Tessa wasn't "shopping" for that jewelry in those instagrams, she was being given that jewelry, just as she was given the thigh-high stilleto boots she posed in a couple of years ago). IOW, simply by pushing herself to her potential with Bryce, Jessica could have gotten all the stuff she sits on her laptop pinning and dreaming about. But she pissed it away, and the clock ran out. He got injured, she's with Sebastien Wolfe, and she'll go out as 'meh' Dube/Wolfe instead of beloved D&D. She's making sure she and Wolfe are never more than "meh" because she's a short term thinker unable to push through immediate frustration or moodiness. Bryce is going to get more of the post-career rewards than she.
I like Bryce so much. A great athlete and a great person.
DeleteI hope his post D/D career is hugely rewarding.
He's on the right track, for sure. He's based at a popular skating club in Hamilton with the title of Director of Skating Development. It doesn't matter he's yet another skater with a Director title - this is regional, and nobody is a better student of what he needs to learn to do the best possible job than Bryce. Just having him there is a value add for the club that will help it thrive.
DeleteWhen his knee his finally rehabbed I certainly hope and expect to see him, if not return to eligible figure skating, to be asked to join Battle of the Blades if that show is still going. There's no jumping required for that gig and he'd be an incredibly popular addition.
Bryce is fair, funny, articulate, analytical, a student of his sport as well as connected and popular. He is bilingual, telegenic and possesses a good speaking voice. He should be a skater on track to transition into commentating jobs at national and ultimately international skating events, a la Tanith for the USA. Lord knows Skate Canada could use someone like him behind the microphone.
Bryce was a full participant in the sham shenanigans but I also feel he's a decent human being who gave his all to his partner and his sport and didn't get back what either his talent or his efforts deserved.
"It's their own fault, sticking babies in Jessica's arms, including the newborn Quinn, making it her profile shot, all but bellowing "she's next with Scott's baby!" "
ReplyDeleteHonestly, this was the first thing I thought when I saw that profile of Jessica holding the newborn baby Moir. I can't make up my mind if they all knew and wanted to broadcast that particular message or if they were really that clueless about the take-away.
From what I read here, it sounds like you think Scott and the Moirs don't like Jessica. I don't understand how they have her in their family's business for so long without liking her. At least it appears she's good friends with all the Moirs and Virtues?
It's Bryce who was/is good friends with the Moirs and Virtues. It was one of the reasons Jessica ended up with the job and by the time Bryce was history they were stuck with her, but notice they only continued the sham barely one more season, enough to, I suppose, cover their ass about any link between Bryce no longer being part of the package and firing Jessica from her job.
DeleteAlso notice in many many photos how often Scott's cousin Kara was Scott's wingperson when he shammed with Jessica. At an SOI tour meet and greet intended for Scott to appear in front of a small group of fans with Jessia, Shawn Sawyer and not Tessa, Kara shows up. Kara is the Jessica wrangler in the stands. Kara sits on the other side of Jessica for many sham photos. They are all buffers and Scott surrogates so Scott doesn't have to interact much with Jessica and neither Kara nor Alma nor the other Moirs seem especially thrilled to be in her company. The facebook interaction with Jessica was always mocking, imitating Jessica's facebook habits, while communicating with each other much differently. So no, Scott doesn't like her. It seems clear to me that the others don't either, or have learned not to.
They've all known each other since they were little kids. Don't underestimate two things that happened prior to the sham - that Jessica - who already had a history of morale, motivation and vacillation issues prior to the face slash - seemed to prove herself by sticking with Bryce after that. She was a Skate Canada heroine, all the more because Bryce was so popular. The second element is Bryce. What could go wrong with Bryce there? Well, even with Bryce there Jessica couldn't be trusted. As gross as everthing was; it's clear Scott, Tessa & Co. had specific ideas about what was facebook appropriate versus real life and legit media appropriate, and absolutely didn't trust Jessica to respect that difference. For what other reason would Scott never go anywhere with Jessica without a posse of at least Kara and often more? Jessica has no judgment and she thinks stuff is funny that isn't funny.
The Moirs are a huge, extended family. Do I know what the Paron in-laws, the Moir cousins and second cousins, and others who have interacted with Jessica actually think of her? Do you share with every single cousin you have your opinion of people you deal with? So who knows. The immediate family likes Bryce, not Jessica. Don't forget, it's also difficult to get a read on someone when you don't speak their language and they're hesitant speaking yours. This was how things stood when the cute little couple was brainstormed. I also think that Skate Canada considered Bryce/Tessa and then decided Jessica couldn't cope, so it became Scott/Jessica, and what could go wrong. At the time she wasn't a clear English speaker, the Moirs/Virtues spoke no French, she was a national heroine and super close to Bryce. What a perfect choice!
Later her English got better, things got strained with Bryce, Virtue-Moir got to know her better but by then the dye was cast.
Kara being the wingperson doesn't answer why she had to be seen as the wingperson, if I'm being clear. Fans saw her in many photos, and that was intentional. If she was simply a wingperson, why did she need to be on camera? On facebook, reality exists within the camera frame - Kara could have been just outside it, wrangling away. But she was in the picture. It seems to me she was in it to counter any smack or bullshit Jessica thought it would be funny to spread. The evidence is that Kara was there - that limits Jessica's spin opportunities. That's also, I think, why her brother and sister showed up in one of the Punta Cana albums.
Deletewelcome back Jess.
ReplyDeleteHello, for the record: while the topic of Jessica's weight gain and skipping HPC are speculative based on past actions of Skate Canada, Tessa and Scott being together is a fact, not theory. I know it for a fact. Jessica was a fake girlfriend, the entire relationship was a bunch of lies, Scott and Tessa's denials and stories were a bunch of lies, and the facebook photos were b.s. That is also a fact.
ReplyDeleteSkate Canada helped hoax the public about Scott and Tessa's relationship, and about his relationship with Jessica, particularly its directors - William Thompson, Debbi Wilkes and Barb MacDonald.
IMO any and all SC Directors or personnel who helped hoax the public should be fired.
ReplyDeleteThat's why they'll be gone before Tessa/Scott admit to anything on the record. Like Thompson, they'll be gold-watched and out of there, not sitting ducks. I doubt it will be before Sochi.
ReplyDeleteDebbi's face is right there for posterity, running two obvious hoaxes - the Hershey Center book signing and the post-ice dance medal ceremony hug in Vancouver.
I wonder if Debbi was all - damn it, I've been slogging in this business for x years and it's me time. She gets this "job" which wasn't really a job but the highest profile platform for promoting and "branding" (she hoped) Debbi that exists in figure skating, and proceeded to spend her every waking moment getting her face on camera as well as demonstrating that she thinks marketing is synonymous with promoting scams and outright lying.
Now it appears she has to lie low. And even when lying low she couldn't prep Scott and Tessa decently for the London Worlds promotional event held earlier this year. That was a joke.
It seems that Scott's page will be shut down..
ReplyDeleteIt sometimes just gets to the point when one things that Scott is gay and they all try their best to hide it.
ReplyDeleteI'm done with them!In fact,I'm done for quite a while now. When you yourself as a skater invite the others into your personal life,you don't request admiration for your skating abilities and results but want to become somekind of celebrity.They should remember their athletes first and foremost.And in this way they drove the skating fans away as fast as they could.
Some of us aren't interested in people that make " lovey dovey" the epitome of skating in order to get endorsements and the female demographic.And when they get that,they try to convince them that they're crazy.
Scott Moir wasn't married,Tessa Virtue wasn't married,so there was no need to hide anything,or to imply anything in that extent.There was no need of fake girlfriend in order to protect the real one of being considered a home-wrecker.
I'm sorry but skating fans are people of high intelligence and you can't just feed them b**t
Scott and Tessa were/are both married - to each other. That's what they're hiding. They hid their relationship before that too.
ReplyDeleteYes, they did gaslight fans. That was how they marketed themselves. Fans were like little rats in a lab.
I want to say something else about the pregnancy (Tessa's). While I certainly disagree with those who believe many of the photos and videos don't show pregnancy - I think many of them certainly do, but also remember how Debbi Wilkes and Tessa/Scott pervert the regular use of media conventions and how unoriginal they are. Here's what I mean: the pre-Olympic HPC was a big media event. Skatebuzz was introduced. Debbi was in a video clip explaining why this HPC was so huge for the media. The idea was for the media to bank a lot of quotes from the figure skaters, now, in September. This was explained directly from Debbi.
ReplyDeleteIt was helpful because, when the figure skaters became intensely focused as the Olympics neared later in the year, the media could simply go to the HPC quote bank for material instead of disturbing the figure skaters for new quotes.
You can also bank photos and video when you're earlier in your pregnancy to spew out there when you're later in your pregnancy while pretending it's happening now or recently. If you think that takes too many enablers or is too outrageous, please see the Jessica sham.
Two questions:
ReplyDelete1) Where did you get the info that Scott/Jessica have "broken up"? (I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just curious.)
2) I was looking at the list of GP entries on the ISU website, and Dube/Wolfe aren't listed as entered in any of the GP events. Do you know anything about this? Have they pulled out due to Jessica's "ankle injury" or something?
About the break-up: Tessa and Scott did an interview months ago, and when it ran (the usual about how platonically intimate Tessa and Scott's relationship is), it slid in a mention that Scott was wearing a designer jacket given to him by a "former girlfriend". He'd been officially with only Jessica Dube for five years, she was the "former girlfriend".
DeleteAnd Jessica has been on pinterest presenting herself as single.
The guy did the interview tweeted like: "I'm walking with Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue in [can't remember location] and we have a bet if he'll be recognized." After the article ran the reporter tweeted a billion times with the link.
Despite the fact that his and Tessa's location is being tweeted by the reporter, Scott walks with his hands jammed into his pockets so "I don't bump into anybody" because if he does actually collide with somebody, it increases the chances he'll be recognized, says Scott.
Scott IS recognized, but instead of tackling him, those that recognize him just side eye him discreetly and continue about their business. But still Scott keeps hands in pockets to avoid being recognized.
Scott was busy sharing this shit with the reporter. As usual, everything he says about fans is weird and has odd contexts. You don't hide from fans when a reporter is live tweeting your location.
Jessica and Sebastien. Officially, Jessica and Sebastien are "being monitored" by Slipchuk for readiness for the GP and until a replacement for their assignments is named they'll probably be considered uncertain.
DeleteUpdate: they're officially out of the Grand Prix and their replacements named. I was monitoring Skate Canada for this information and, shocker, they didn't follow up on Slipchuk's "monitoring". The monitoring must not have lasted very long as their replacements were named last week, even though Skate Canada failed to mention it.
The episode is bizarre. Even Skate Canada manages to be reasonably upfront when the situation actually is as it seems, such as when they report the injuries of other figure skaters.
There's always drama with Jessica and it's often just an expedient lie, IMO, as I don't believe her ankle is why she's out, I don't believe she had tendonitis that took her out of the singles lp last year but left her able to skate pairs on that leg, and I don't believe she was affected by flu when she couldn't hit her jumps at Canadians the season prior.
Skate Canada said nothing about Jessica/Sebastien not being at HPC until it was underway and P.J. was asked, on twitter yet (not by any media at the HPC) if they were at HPC and P.J. said she hadn't seen them. Why wouldn't she know? She's covering the HPC event and D/W are the silver medalists from Canadians. Later she tweets that she's learned that "officially" they weren't ready for HPC, that programs are supposed to be in a state of readiness and D/W weren't.
So everyone's like - not ready? What've they been doing all summer?
Then it's unearthed on the web, in remarks Slipchuk makes to a French language outlet, and only a French language outlet, that Jessica has or had some type of ankle situation and he is monitoring it with regard to their GP assignments.
Then they're replaced in the GP with no further follow up.
Meantime on facebook there are photos of Jessica surfacing that look like she's both heavier and hiding it.
Then the portraits of Annie Barabe's training center skaters are released and we can see that Jessica is considerably plumper, nowhere near her fighting weight, and she's bundled up while everyone else has bare arms and shoulders.
Then there's a photo of her on facebook wearing wedge heels, the recommended footwear for injured ankles keeping you from preparing for your competitions - competitions you've been training for in part with the assistance of a performance grant from your Federation.
If the girl isn't pregnant, and I, personally, think she'd have to have lost her mind and even she's not that short-term of a thinker, I think she's just created a lot of histrionics and drama and bullshit and is waving around a made up ankle issue as cover. She was put out by the way last season ended, even though Worlds was a bonus to begin with. I think there was drama with Sebastien or drama with Jessica acting out about whether she wanted to return and of course she ultimately did and now there's a lot of garbage being spewed to cover for her. She tends to be fb aggressive when there's something else going on under the surface (like her ostentatiously sharing her Paris adventure with the girls! and others from Drummond, immediately prior to the announcement she'd dropped Bryce). She's a little out there in her tone on social media at the moment so it will be interesting when the other shoe drops. Maybe she sat back and pigged out, maybe she cooked up some drama that kept her off the ice, or there's other issues that Skate Canada doesn't feel comfortable being upfront about because they've enabled her so long.