These theories arise out of fan attempts to reconcile the way Scott and Tessa present themselves in mainstream media and the weirdness there, with the way Scott and Tessa present themselves on social media, and the inappropriate and gross there. This preponderance of theories is not down to fans, it stems from Scott and Tessa manipulating fans and behaving like assholes.
I just want to look at some of the theories some fans have rattling around in their brains, as opposed to reality, which is that Scott and Tessa are married and have a child.
In no hierarchy:
1) Tessa is with David Pelletier. She's been with him awhile and broke up Jamie and David. Scott and Tessa are concealing this because it would not do for their image for Tessa to have busted up "Canada's sweethearts." Tessa also got pregnant with David's child at an inconvenient time (very careless of her) and this created tensions in the partnership with Scott.
Comments/observations. Not much to say. It's not true, but that's the only problem with it. There are no logical inconsistencies, just two minor subsidiary issues:
a) Sale & Pelletier are/were Canada's sweethearts? I think that's pretty debatable even going back to 2002.
"b" is now discounted because it turns out to be the work of a piggybacker. The original Pelletier/Tessa peddler did not, as far as I recall, claim she had his baby.
2) Scott and Tessa are business partners. They have little to do with each other off the ice. They enjoy fucking with fans, leading them on with stuff like the bridal shoot layout, with interviews extolling their platonic intimacy, with occasional hints of romantic attraction off the ice, and, of course, creating programs like Mahler and Carmen. It's all coldly calculated to lead their fans on and promote their skating partnership, blurring those lines for politics, money and fame. This is why, at the apex of the pre-season, right when a new program has been skated, right when their biggest rivals have revealed their program music, right before Skate Canada's High Performance Camp, Scott will drop a photo like this:
 |
| It's Daddy! |
It's part of the ingenious scheme to promote Scott and Tessa romantically, sell the illusion created by their skating, and lead fans on to hope that Scott and Tessa might some day be romantically involved, while Scott and Tessa count their money and laugh at us. And we suckers fall for it.
Comments/Observations: Pretty airtight. What better way to lead fans on about how close Scott and Tessa are than to spam fans with a photo of Scott grabbing Cassandra's ass right before HPC? Nothing says "Maybe they'll get married some day!" like Scott pushing up Cassandra's dress on a public sidewalk while puckering up for a liplock. Fangurls. They're so easy.
4) I'm not going to repeat the theories that rip down Tessa and do Cassandra's p.r. for her.
5) Vintage Theory - Jessica Dube Division. Jessica Dube is insecure. Tessa gets all the attention both as Scott's partner and as a skater. People want Scott with Tessa, not Jessica. This makes Jessica feel bad. Scott indulges Jessica by posing for romantic photo shoots with her, and green-lighting Jessica publicizing these photo shoots on facebook at the height of Scott and Tessa's skating season, in direct counterpoint to mainstream media and fan discussion of Scott and Tessa's skating and relationship.
Comments/observations:
a) His indulgence of Jessica is limited to social media. In mainstream media video interviews, his romantic life is treated as a hypothetical, even as he and Tessa purport to be exhausted by pesky inquiries about their relationship - inquiries that could be cut off at the knees by simply naming or describing his famous, real girlfriend. Some fans maintain this is because, in mainstream media, he and Tessa are trying to keep the fans guessing, keep that mystery alive. Even though the central topic of all mainstream media interviews is that they're platonic. This idea that Scott and Tessa are coy in mainstream media (if declaring they are platonic is coy) is, contradicted when
b) Jessica is featured front and center in all shots of the Moir family at the Olympic free skate in prime time national broadcast media, but this Canadian pairs champion/fellow Olympian (who'd skated on the broadcast herself days before) is apparently not important enough for either her name or relationship to Scott to be mentioned by a broadcast media busy identifying everybody else by name and telling us their connection to Scott.
c) Jessica's insecurity and desire to establish her claim on Scott publicly coincides with the fact that, having weathered heavy drama during a period when Scott and Bryce were punching each other out over her, Jessica, and Bryce (who, per fan consensus, was a real pill about Jessica's new relationship) decide to skate to The Way We Were to commemorate their messy break-up that happened when she dumped him for Scott Moir and created a crisis in the ranks of Skate Canada's sports psychologists. They love the program so much they keep it two years running.
6) Scott is cheating/Scott is living a double life. He's married to Tessa but he's also cheating on her - if having a woman on the side with your wife's permission/awareness constitutes cheating. He loves to promote his side action on facebook and instagram, especially when he and Tessa are about to begin an Olympic season, have just unveiled a new program, and fans are vehemently arguing that they are much much better ice dancers than their nearest competition.
Comments/observations: none
7) Scott and Tessa are platonic and Scott is a douchebag. Let's call this the Jekyl and Hyde theory.
"Good" Scott pretends not to be on social media, demurs naming his then "girlfriend'" out of "respect" for her partner when talking to conventional media, repeatedly asserts neither he nor Tessa are on the internet, and waxes equal parts pious and philosophical about fan interest in himself and his partner.
On social media, which mainstream media pretends doesn't exist or refuses to acknowledge, "douche" Scott goes to town. This is a guy obviously concerned that other people think he's gay or a reject, so he makes sure we know that even if Tessa Virtue isn't interested, there's always a girl who is - BOY is she. He achieves douchebag status because that merit badge is earned by any guy, famous or not, whose entire social media output, seven years running, is devoted exclusively to letting strangers know he's getting laid.
Comments/observations: none.
Piggybacking on comments made under the previous entry -- As noted, the skating season is getting under way, Tessa and Scott have unveiled their SD, so of course it's time to begin the serious dumping of slimy Scott&GF photos on social media. So what's new.
ReplyDeleteEven though the fans know these patterns by now, I can't help noticing these photos have sucked the air out of the fandom. There were many wonderful discussions going on, here and elsewhere, about VM's skating. Now they've come to a halt.
I guess this is what VM and Co. want more than anything, isn't it. To get the fandom to lose interest (even if only for a few days) in the skating. They prefer the satisfaction of gloating over the fandom's reactions to disgusting inappropriate photos and seeing them (again) dredge up the list of theories (posted above) about their personal status.
All of it comes off as people with an outsize helping of self-importance and self-absorption. *That* is the most repulsive thing of all.
The photos themselves are not disgusting but the pattern of photos becoming available is. Guess Scott and company will enjoy reading the reactions while singing happy birthday to him over the weekend....And I expect the pictures will keep on coming....This is just as bad as when the Leafs lost to the Bruins this year...you know when the kept Phaneuf on the ice goal after goal after goal...this is how badly run VMs PR is...and I am not even a big NHL fan...
Delete"There were many wonderful discussions going on, here and elsewhere, about VM's skating. Now they've come to a halt."
DeleteI wonder what Moirville thinks about that. They clearly monitor the net, so they must be at least tangentially aware of all the posts going on here, at FF, and FSU about VM's superior skating. VM fans are some of the most educated posters I've seen, going in depth about music theory, the physics and mechanics behind what they do, the way they integrated modern dance into Carmen, appreciation of the edgework, etc.
So do they just scroll past that, or what? Do they appreciate at all that at least someone gets it, even if the judges don't? Why would they want to cut that off at the knees?
Considering VM have made a conscious effort to skate that way by never going the easy route, carefully selecting and cutting the music, working with specialized ballroom and contemporary experts (and *really* incorporating it, not just tweeting a photo of themselves with said expert), I imagine they would their fans talking about that. They want to be skating legends right, that's why they stayed in? So why do what they do?
10:51 - Can't argue with that - re sucked the air out of the fandom. I could see if what was deflated was some big discussion about their relationship, but it was completely about DW and VM, passionately making the case for VM. That was the discussion derailed.
DeleteAnd it's NOT about omg - he's messing with another woman, even though it's pretend! I think the fan discussion deflated because once again VM demonstrated their absolute, conscious, purposeful contempt for the people who were so vigorously defending their skating. They went out of their way. It's not just here - everywhere on the VM boards the fans were engaged in discussion about the programs.
A lot of people in high profile occupations care only about the opinion of their peers. For them, the fact that their occupation is public is almost incidental. They're performing for their own world, for their peers in that world.
That might be what's up here. Scott and Tessa care about what's on the record, their reputation in the sports world, how they rate themselves, etc. There are many people in that world who get it.
I have said they rate themselves highly as skaters, and they do. It appears as if they rate themselves highly across the board to the point where everything about them is so precious, so top drawer, it's much too good for the rabble and they deliberately cut the rabble out of even skating discussion. We're supposed to be a bunch of drooling fangurls who don't know that stuff.
5:59 - I actually find the above photo pretty bad. I can definitely see how it could have been inadvertant (where Scott's hand is) - because it appears they are en route to a pose, not posing like that, but it's fortuitous because of what it looks like, and it looks bad. It looks like a married guy grabbing Cassandra's ass enough that it's hiking her skirt, and it looks like his left hand is somewhat tangled in her hair. And they know it, that's why they published it.
DeleteScott looks as stiff necked as ever - I think that's part of his MO. If he's not having a good time then hey, he's entitled, huh? Cassandra, though, is practically frolicking. If you're going to dump on somebody's fans and supporters, may as well have fun, especially if you are seeking attention from these same people.
Is that supposed to be Scott in the picture? It doesn't look like him.
ReplyDeletehttps://fbcdn-profile-a.akamaihd.net/hprofile-ak-frc3/c60.60.752.752/1236133_10151873794466318_1712558083_n.jpg
Deletewho's page did that come from please? it isnt "public" - cant do the hack one can normally do with "public" pictures.
DeleteIt's Cassandra's. I did a magic trick with the link of the pic's size which was posted here before, that is all
DeleteHow do you do that?
DeleteThere is another discussion on twitter between pj and anxiousclown...Can someone please sum it up ? I'm curious...
ReplyDeleteI'd like that too, please, if someone could. PJ is a moron for getting this involved. And from what I can see of the convo, she's also flat out lying - she knows the score, so she also knows that these pictures are meant for the public only.
DeleteWhere does Scott find these Tessa wannabes?
ReplyDeleteCassandra Hilborn is part of the group of Scott's "buddies" from Medway High, Fanshawe, etc., all from the London area. I haven't checked if Cassandra used to skate but her sister did synchro with Alma. Some of CH's closest friends were all over the Jessica sham, commenting on the Scott and Tessa photos, how adorable and cute they are as a couple. Heather Rapasso is a good friend of Cassandra's and she was facebooked embracing Jessica at the Gold Medal Celebration. I believe the families, as well as the "kids" (Scott's peer group) are also connected.
DeleteThere's a striking difference between the London crowd and Tessa's crowd. I don't know if it's that Tessa's girlfriends, all of whom (based on instagram) are conventionally beautiful, may be slightly older than she is. Or if it's that they've ataken responsibility for their lives and gotten some traction on adulthood and have something to offer in their own right. But there's a big difference.
The old Medway/Fanshawe, London crowd appears to feature a disproportionate number of individuals whose lives stopped progressing after high school. Cassandra is supposedly a dental hygienist but she wants to be a model or some kind of star, and so does her brother.
P.S. - the above should be amended to say difference between Tessa's buddies and "Scott's" buddies. Many of Tessa's buddies are also based in London.
DeleteP.S. These particular cases of arrested development (which includes more than Cassandra) are enabled because some of the parents of these twentysomethings who are getting their jollies from the sham are very successful in their own right, and this success supports their offspring's prolonged adolescence.
I've made some remarks about some of Scott's male buddies, but I think fewer of them are in the position of having their lifestyle underwritten by their parents. Some aren't in the position to have a "lifestyle".
I don't begrudge these guys the opportunity to take a road trip to Detroit and go behind the scenes with the Red Wings. I do note that this was completely a fan outing, with Scott serving as their connection, and yet Scott has no problem turning around and trashing the fans of his own sport.
One more remark re the fan thing.
DeleteIt's not even a "fan" thing as an us and them thing. That may be why it's okay for Scott's buddies to be ga ga behind the scenes with the Red Wings while Scott acts like fans of his and Tessa are so much dirty ice shavings beneath his toe picks, polluting the purity of his skating, his relationship, etc. etc. The guys are "us". We're "them."
After all, there's many in Moirville & Extended Moirville who conduct themselves like the worst type of groupie, hanger-on, busybody - no filter, no boundary, no appropriate. That goes for neighbors, some family, former skating parents, UWO girls, and more. Cassandra is doing this because Scott is famous and she wants to be famous and who knows what opportunities/openings could present themselves if this continues for awhile? But she's one of "us", so if she has an agenda, it's okay.
In a prior post's comment section, one participant mentioned how the tone on twitter after the 4CC's had a hostile streak, even from some in the public eye. It was immediately and mostly unsympathetic (save for Jeff Buttle) - curiously so. The blog put this down to politics - skating politics.
However, if Moirville - and therefore Scott and Tessa, are really "us and them" it's possible this attitude extends to the skating world, and possibly some inside it feel as if they've been treated as a "them" and they resent it. Scott and Tessa are mostly faultlessly polite and sweet in person, but they're wonderfully polite to fans in person too, and we know what that's worth.
Maybe some of the resentment in the skating world isn't really about how "easy" Scott and Tessa seem to have had it while others kill themselves to be one third as good. Maybe it's about the us and them thing, what they suspect about Scott and Tessa's real attitudes. Some of it may leak out at events such as WTT where it seems to escape Scott that among his teammates are skaters who appreciate the opportunity and, unlike him, aren't in a position to spit on it.
There could be some tensions with the "us and them" stuff too. For Scott and Tessa, Davis White, the Shibs, and others in Detroit are "us". For Moirville, that group is "them".
OC @ 8:55
DeleteI think you mean CH's friends were all over the Jessica sham commenting on the Scott and Jessica photos, not Scott and Tessa.
As far as this group of friends is concerned, Tessa is a nobody. Scott is the star. Who's Tessa. It must be such a thrill for them to have CH, one of their very own, playing up the part that belongs to Tessa and only to Tessa.
Yes, I did mean that (Scott and Jessica).
DeleteI don't know if Tessa is a nobody to them but their perspective is Scott and Tessa, not Tessa and Scott.
As I said and will say again, we are talking about an extremely large community. Many of them have big mouths.
I'm sure many of us are experienced in family gossip. An extended family may be a wonderful resource, loving and supportive, but when something "interesting" happens to a member - say an event in a relationship, or some sort of drama or crisis - everybody talks. It's everybody's business. In my observation, this is seldom appreciated by the people most concerned. This is most definitely, to say the least, how Moirville and the community and connections beyond relate to Scott and Tessa, and it's been that way for years and years. Scott and Tessa are famous. Inside that community, they are superstars. Every single thing is grist.
Again, they have chosen a girl who wants to be a star. She is part of the Scott-centric crowd. She has no boyfriend of her own. She's got nothing but time. This is the biggest thing in her life. Scott has fame and is already a star. Of course nobody is going to honor or respect Tessa in this situation.
OC - I think your last paragraph is on the money. I truly think that Scott and Tessa do respect their fellow skaters, coaches etc in Canton. If I had to guess, Moirville has set up some boundaries that kind of screams exclusive rights to V/M, even within Skate Canada. Add that extra layer of Moirville to get to V/M - then yeah - people do feel like outsiders - even within the skating community which perhaps may explain the hostility towards VM or the lack of defence of the skating skills by Skate Canada. I wouldn't be surprised if the backlash is more intended towards the Moirs rather than Scott and Tessa themselves. And perhaps last year was especially bad since Skate Canada, Nationals and Worlds were all in Ontario and Moirville was deeply involved in all three events...
ReplyDeleteYep - re last year's Canadian events, Moirville making its presence felt, and exclusive rights to VM. There's also the fact that Skate Canada used to be very involved in facilitating sham stuff for Scott and Tessa and now they're not. Did Moirville ditch SC when it was pointed out that people like Debbi were using VM to promote themselves, and did SC retaliate with the scores VM have experienced at Canadians the past two years, and did SC further retaliate by sitting on its hands as the Davis White express steamrolled through the media and had its way with the ISU?
DeleteI happen to know Scott and Tessa are indeed married so this kind of picture most definitely looks like Scott is enjoying some perks on the side. Oh, I realize it's all part of the posing for social media--they do, after all, make sure someone with a camera is around and that these photos get hosted on public sites-- but how can this not be uncomfortable to see and attempt to process? My brain does not wrap itself around any explanation that excuses this.
ReplyDeleteObviously they want the public story to be that Scott is getting laid with this girl but what a sad social-media legacy to leave both for themselves as celebrity athletes and their children.
It's easy to imagine there is resentment in the skating world. VM have it all but they choose to spit in the face of the fans that most skaters need and wish they had.
It's an absolutely awful photo. Excuse some of us for knowing you're married, buddy - I know the photo is supposed to flaunt your position that you're single and dating Cassandra, but you aren't, you're married to Tessa, you have a small child, and the photo is bad. It's bad because his hand is hiking her skirt, it's bad because it absolutely drips with lowest common denominator one-upmanship which says nothing but gross things about you and your community, and I'm sure it just enhances the respect with which you're regarded not just among the fans, but in much of the skating community and the media that follows this.
DeleteFurthermore, it occurs to me that conducting this inside Moirville may be all kinds of fun for Moirville but it's bad news long term.
One, much of "Moirville" (which generally encompasses Scott's hometown, hometown buddies, the local skating community, etc.) is loyal to Scott, not Tessa. He might not look at it that way - he and Tessa are one. Cassandra is part of the "loyal to Scott" group. Tessa has a different social life. Hell, SCOTT has a different social life, too, but he maintains bonds with this group more than Tessa ever has.
Let's select for the sham girlfriend a woman loyal to "Scott", no reason to consider Tessa, rich, self-described as spoiled, fame-hungry, no boyfriend, a model wannabe, and let's sham with this girl at the tail end of Scott's career with Tessa.
Sham with a person for whom this is the most exciting thing in her life - a life she'd love to trade for some type of celebrity of her own.
Contrast that with Jessica, who knew Scott and Tessa about equally well (or not well), had no particular reason to be loyal to one over the other, whose life was centered not just in Quebec, but in her own, separate social circle and family circle in Quebec, who for much of the sham was joined at the hip to Bryce Davison on and off the ice, and who was pursuing a high level skating career of her own, who was a celebrity in her small town, traveled internationally in her own right as part of her skating career. She may have enjoyed the attention and the perks and the fan chatter but she more or less had a life. She wasn't marking time waiting for a more glamorous life to start.
Moirville has big mouths. I'll state that as fact, because it's a fact. And much of it operates from a Scott-centric perspective. What are they going to be saying down the line about the Cassandra sham? How is that going to be spun? Some of the rumors that fans might create out of the sham could very well be rumors that Moirville itself creates out of this sham.
OC, it's interesting that you've timelined the "next level" of sham posing to about a year into these "relationships." This photo is already more than a month old, from that July concert in Chicago. So yeah, about a year. It looks like that other recent lip-lock photo was already a been-there done-that....
DeleteAll the ways this will be spun down the line will not be pretty. That's inescapable.
Spun from "inside" too, not just among fans.
DeleteIf you have to debase yourself, your relationship, and your family in order to "protect" it, you're doing it wrong. There's no such thing. But that's what we have here. They seem to believe the audience (fans) and the platform (social media) determines whether it's debasing yourself or simply pitching it to their level. But no. Your actions reflect on you, on nobody else, not your audience. They're using it as an excuse to do something they want to do.
Needless to say, it's not Scott's family that's being protected by the active participants in the sham. It's Moirville perogatives - and some of what they consider their perogatives are grotesque - and Scott has apparently done a cost/benefit and decided to prioritize the same things.
I think even an idiot could see the above photo isn't necessary, that the motives behind it are petty and malicious at the absolute best, and pretty gross at worse. Furthermore, Scott's a married guy showing off what he can get away with under the veil of sham. The man isn't stupid.
One also begins to see that some of the veneer of propriety around the sham when it was Jessica was not about propriety at all. It was because Jessica wasn't one of "us". Bryce was, she wasn't. Therefore, Jessica can't so much as walk under her own steam towards Scott after the Olympic free dance in order to enact the photo op hug - she's firmly under the grip of Debbie Mac and there are Moirs standing by left and right. She was not worthy to access him on her own. A lot of it reflected dubiously on Jessica at the time, but when we look back, it seems to tell us more about Moirville. She was an outsider.
Jessica also was not permitted so much as a double entendre in support of breast cancer:
http://dubemoir.blogspot.com/2011/12/scott-didnt-like-it-anywhere.html
without Scott rushing in to set things straight. As we were meant to believe the two were intimate, what was wrong with her participating in that facebook initiative? It was tasteless, yes, but so was the sham overall.
Cassandra, on the other hand, can narrate her "fantasy" romance with Scott in terms that pit her directly against Tessa.
"Tour 1 - Cass 0".
"Tour" = Toddler Moir, and Toddler Moir's mommy, versus "Cass".
It's interesting, the lines along which Cassandra's brain seems to run - and Moirville's too.
That got right through the vetting. Go ahead and sob over him, too, Cass, sleep skype, let people know he surprised you mid-week - you're one of "us".
No doubt Toddler Moir will grow up very sophisticated and be unfazed by all of this. Not to mention, Toddler Moir isn't disrespected unless Toddler Moir can read and see all of this. There's no such thing as disrespect if someone doesn't know about it - right? That seems to be VM all over so why wouldn't it extend to their child?
And then this. Even while rolling in the sand more or less on top of Jessica (but Scott used his forearms to leverage every muscle of his body off her) and all of the other photos that rolled out of Dube Moir shamming, including napping sbs on the Moir sofa, we never had what we see so merrily portrayed up there.
Furthermore, the motive behind the sham is supposed to be somewhat serious. It's about maintaining respect for Scott and Tessa. Meantime the conduct of the sham makes a mockery of Scott and Tessa and everybody is having a blast with it.
"Contrast that with Jessica"
DeleteTo think in retrospect Jessica actually looks a little better than Cassandra. LOL.
Jessica may have had a few more positives, mentioned in your comment @ 10:49, but really, the sham with Jessica was not a whole lot better than what's going on right now. Jessica also loved this type of attention and she adores the camera. She was completely willing to be seen as the girl Scott was banging and willing to lip kiss and pose in other pseudo-intimate ways. She was also more than happy to crown Scott her adorable star and act as if he wasn't part of a team, as if there were no Tessa in the picture at all. Who's Tessa... the same as with Cassandra's group.
I don't think it's possible to find a girl who would do this without the tone of the sham reeking of malice and narcissism and all the loathsome traits that go with that. Both Cassandra and Jessica have fit the bill to a T. And that's what Moirville wants.
"I think even an idiot could see the above photo isn't necessary, that the motives behind it are petty and malicious at the absolute best, and pretty gross at worse. Furthermore, Scott's a married guy showing off what he can get away with under the veil of sham. The man isn't stupid."
DeleteDo you think alcohol is a factor? Drinking does normally loosen inhibitions, one's sense of propriety.
It's been noted the Moirville friends are Scott's drinking buddies. Maybe Scott and his buddies think it's hilarious to kick things up a notch in shamming because they've had one too many.
No, I don't think alcohol is a factor. Scott poses for this stuff sober as well as a few drinks in. If anything, a few drinks in makes him moody, not handsy or careless.
DeleteI am not referring here to the "tone" of the sham or really making tone the primary point of comparison.
I am saying that in the selection of Cassandra Hilborn, Scott appears to be playing fast and loose due to her personal ambition for stardom, his star status in this community, the fact that he's the one connected to this group far more than his wife, and the fact that she's one of "us" and so nobody is going to disrespect her (Cass) by policing her the way they policed Jessica, even if they only policed Jessica because as an outsider, she didn't rate interaction with either Scott or Tessa sans gatekeepers.
Jessica enjoyed the attention, it's true. But she didn't put a gun to Scott's head to enact some of the sham photos, and if anyone can look practically disgruntled/bored while dolphin-kissing their supposed amoureux, check out Jessica in the post below.
Due to her personality, Jessica was no walk in the park. It's true. But, she was not exactly treated well by Moirville. She was overseen every step of the way and treated like a prop - like a literal prop. Furthermore, the (non-travel) perks she enjoyed while shamming are the perks she enjoyed anywhere. She loved attention and being photographed and admiration anywhere it occurred.
However, her circumstances were different. Her real life position was different. I'm referring here not just to how the sham girlfriend comes across on camera - both came across pretty badly - but to agendas and circumstances behind the scenes.
"I'm referring here not just to how the sham girlfriend comes across on camera - both came across pretty badly - but to agendas and circumstances behind the scenes."
DeleteI see what you mean.
It looks like choosing a local and a "good friend" will end up backfiring in a big way. More fool him.
Perhaps the person this group seeks to make a fool of is Tessa. So princessy, so complacent, so sure of Scott. Right?
DeleteScott appears to be taking advantage of both the extra freedom around this sham, and of Cass's enthusiasm and agenda. Why not keep himself entertained by playing chicken with his fidelity. The sham is the perfect fig leaf.
And of course, since the photo was put on facebook for all to see, nothing can possibly be going on, or they wouldn't have published it. It feels a little on the protest-too-much side - i.e., it's all sham here! Really.
As someone observed in another comments section, there isn't a second that Scott is observed that he doesn't know he's observed. Whether he's being filmed or side-eyed, this is one thing he's tuned into at all times, and, in fact, prides himself on.
DeleteWith Tessa, and how he interacts with her, and for years, he's known exactly how to build in deniability, on ice or off (speaking here of professional, public, skating situations). On ice, there was last season's short dance. Reporters asked him if he and Tessa had kissed, or referred to the kiss. Scott immediately challenged them. Were they sure it was a kiss? Really sure?
It wasn't - he knew precisely where the milimeter between "we kissed" and "We nearly kissed" lived, and they never crossed the divide.
Off ice, but in public, there have been countless interactions with Tessa where he self-consciously expresses himself, declares himself, relieves his feelings, marks his territory, or otherwise makes a show of something,while observing that millimeter of deniability.
The reason I dismiss the drunk/frat theory is that, as in skating, and as addressed in the post below, it either takes agency away from Scott or nails him to a cross, as I believe that "Toddler Moir" post did - over did, in fact. Besides, how often can the same juvenile scenario repeat? Not to mention, it makes no sense given the fact that these photos are then published. None of these photos are "oops".
IOW, the "Toddler Moir" post absolves him of responsibility, or takes away too much of the responsibility. The photo above breaks new ground. I can see the deniability - where's the thumb? Is it a "squeeze" if the thumb isn't engaged? Is sliding the dress up with the fingertips on purpose or an accident? Is the breeze blowing her hair onto his hand or was his hand just in her hair a moment ago?
I know that's not his girlfriend. I know Tessa's his wife. So I can only look at this photo in that context.
The thing is, I don't think this is a game he's playing with US, if it's a game. He's experimenting with boundaries - at the least. It's sleazy, and we get to watch.
"Scott appears to be taking advantage of both the extra freedom around this sham, and of Cass's enthusiasm and agenda. Why not keep himself entertained by playing chicken with his fidelity. The sham is the perfect fig leaf."
DeleteExactly. The perfect fig leaf there. The guy fell in love young, married young, and had a child young. Why not take advantage of the situation to sew a few wild oats? We've all thought he wouldn't in a million years cheat on Tessa, but who knows. This all certainly looks bad.
"Perhaps the person this group seeks to make a fool of is Tessa. So princessy, so complacent, so sure of Scott. Right?"
Maybe so. On some level, the us vs. them thing extends to Tessa. She may be married to Scott and the mother of his child, but she's not Moirville. There has been some speculation that she may not have been what Moirville had in mind for Scott. Nothing better than splitting them up and replacing her with a Moirville girl who can give him a beautiful daughter (instead of that one Tessa gave him), right?
Any chance that Miss Hilborn, ambitious to become a star, fantasizes about stealing Scott away from Tessa? There are a lot of young, ambitious women out there who don't care that a man is married and the father of young child. The heart wants what the heart wants, right?
Well of course. Cassandra Hilborn wants to be a star. She's accustomed to a privileged lifestyle but that lifestyle is subsidized by mommy and daddy and she's 24 years old. Dental hygiene isn't going to take her where she wants to go, and we all know Model Mayhem isn't going to take her there either. There are opportunities in being the SO of somebody in the public eye. The "sell by" date for Tessa's utility to Moirville expires in Sochi (or Worlds, if they carry on there).
DeleteFor Cassandra, what's going to take her out of London 9-5? She's going to meet a guy with Daddy's wherewithal, who also happens to be cute, fun, available, make Cassandra the apple of his eye and support her in the style to which the parents have made her accustomed? Good luck Cass, hope he comes along. She certainly has done nothing to get herself out of there except to put a few silly photos on Model Mayhem, including a selfie.
What this is, is opportunity. It's also extremely creepy. Jessica had built in checks and balances. This has none. Maybe after all the years of shamming Scott felt it was time he was in a sham situation where he got something out of the deal, and as for Cassandra, you never know.
"The thing is, I don't think this is a game he's playing with US, if it's a game. He's experimenting with boundaries - at the least. It's sleazy, and we get to watch."
ReplyDeleteI think I'm going to puke. Ugh.
I guess if you're disrespecting your child, you might as well disrespect your wife and your marriage too.
It goes from macro to micro. Disrespect people in general. Disrespect someone specifically (what the hell does a kid know? We've got a lot on our plate!).
DeleteWhere's the line? It becomes a habit.
As to specifically disrespecting their child, let's look at their idea of respect. Respect is respect - it's not a situational quality or something you only confer on people who rate, or observe when it's convenient or expedient.
And then there's Scott and Tessa.
Their idea of respect - their idea of a lot of behavior - seems to be: if nobody can pin it on you, it doesn't count. I think I remember Jesus saying something like that.
IOW, respect as respect means nothing. It's about being caught. Are people aware you're disrespecting them? No? Go ahead and disrespect them! Do people know they're being exploited? They don't? Go ahead and exploit them! And actually, no need to be that refined. People can know they're both disrespected and exploited, but if they can't pin it on you, keep it up.
Does Toddler Moir KNOW about the photo output daddy is pumping out there to live forever on the web, with Mommy's okay? Does Toddler Moir know that some lady was on twitter pitting herself against "the tour" and hinting about her intimate life with Daddy? Does Toddler Moir know daddy talked to P.J. Kwong about how much he loved his niece, while it's "What's a Toddler Moir"? Does Toddler Moir know daddy told SOI that he'd trade places with his brother because then he'd have a beautiful daughter? No? Then it's not disrespecting Toddler Moir.
Then there's the wife. She's on board with the sham as the apparent lesser of a number of evils in their (and her) current circumstances. You're doing what you're doing right under everybody's noses, including hers, and it's only subtly different from the poses with Jessica.
Plus, if you were getting away with anything, would you publish this stuff?
Just push that hand up a little higher next time Scott, get the thumb engaged, and loosen up the tongue. As long as you publish it on social media, it's just sham. No disrespect in the case and nobody should wonder why you're so experimental and so comfortable all of a sudden. You used to be a whole lot less engaged.
I've heard Marina (and others) mention that Scott is actually kind of religious. I'd really love to know what religion taught him these principles.
For those who know that Scott and Tessa did get married, do you know if they are still married or even together? Perhaps what started as a sham relationship has turned into the real thing and Scott has left Tessa. The thought that he'd still be with her and acting like this with another woman is vile.
ReplyDeleteWhat else is new.
DeleteIf Scott and Cassandra were for really real (i.e., basically official as you outline) they wouldn't be on social media.
That doesn't take away from the fact that the situation has obviously decided sleazy is the way to go. Of course, we have no business KNOWING it's sleazy, and that means they get to be sleazy, to prove they're not sleazy. Round and round we go. It's our fault! It's getting hilarious, the shit we're saddled with. Look what we made them do!
Scott is someone who knew perfectly well that the public could tell the original version of last season's short dance wasn't comfortable for him and Tessa. How did he know? Did he take a poll? No. He lost his mind and for half a second forgot he's not supposed to give the public credit for anything; he forgot the public is always, always wrong. He admitted they could pick up on him and Tessa being somewhat ill at ease in the original storyline.
I am sure there will be comments disputing this, but, in reference to the "air being sucked out of the fandom" - I am going to give the public credit and say that they knew this photo was dumping on them. They knew these photos were spitting in their face and spitting on their earnest effort to engage in a real discussion about skating. And THAT is why the air was sucked out of the discussion. Not OMG - the sham photos have gone up a notch!
Nope. Fans knew they'd been talking about skating for weeks, and Moirville turned around and spat in their face, with total deliberation. That's what sucked the air out of the fandom. The intention, not the photo itself.
The photo content is a piece of work, and obviously I'm talking about that in the comments section too, but that's not what sucked the air out of the fandom.
I've referred to Malcom Gladwell's "Blink" in the past - how the unconscious mind picks up on things and processes things before the conscious mind. Sometimes we "know" something without being able to say how we know. The premise behind "Blink" is that there's empirical evidence supporting that "feeling" - our unconscious just takes it in faster than our consciousness. But it's there. It's like the Jessica sham. A lot of people felt there was something wrong, but they never looked past their "feelings". They just felt uncomfortable. But as it turns out, and without anyone needing insider info about Scott and Tessa's true status, there was plenty out there in the public domain, if anyone cared to look at it and put it together, that pointed to this thing being a fraud. People picked up on a lot of it unconsciously. It was real stuff, not intuition.
To me what is sleazy about this is Scott playing with boundaries, flirtation wise and sexually. That's what it looks like. It would be almost better if he manned up and crossed the line, and the situation is certainly set up for that to happen (Cassandra looking for the main chance, Scott's Olympic career with Tessa almost over). However, he is in love with Tessa and I don't think he's looking to trade her in. IOW, it simply looks like he's playing cheating chicken here, and the sham allows him to do it, and since he's showing it off in the public domain, it's got to all be aboveboard, right?
I think your comments about this GF being an insider and therefore not policed like Jessica was - the idea that there are no built-in checks and balances - is right on the money.
DeleteThis photo is not terribly recent. It's a good guess this one and many others in the same vein have been seen on Cassandra's and other friends' private facebook or instagram accounts. Clearly, no one has protested or told these guys the were crossing lines. The fact that Cassandra felt free to make this one public is a good indication of Moirville's mindset.
I'm thinking they had all seen this photo weeks ago. I'm thinking it was applauded. I'm thinking Cassandra and VM and Co. thought it was a great picture to release so as to spit in the face of all these fans who dare call them out on their bs. I'm thinking there are more of the same degree of sleaze that are already on the private accounts, just waiting to be shared. With Moirville's blessing.
"To me what is sleazy about this is Scott playing with boundaries, flirtation wise and sexually. That's what it looks like. It would be almost better if he manned up and crossed the line, and the situation is certainly set up for that to happen (Cassandra looking for the main chance, Scott's Olympic career with Tessa almost over). However, he is in love with Tessa and I don't think he's looking to trade her in. IOW, it simply looks like he's playing cheating chicken here, and the sham allows him to do it, and since he's showing it off in the public domain, it's got to all be aboveboard, right?"
DeleteDo you think they would go that far and actually cross a line? :/
Would Scott sacrifice his marriage to make a point in some pissing match?
Scott is in love with Tessa?
DeleteNot!
Scott is in love with ....only themselves.
I don't think this experimental little fidelity game Scott is playing (where's the line when it's cheating? Is it here? What if I were higher on her thigh?) has anything to do with the pissing match. It's a game he's playing with himself INSIDE the pissing match. IOW, it's a perk. He's taking advantage of the set up.
DeleteThere's also the matter of publishing the photos. If they're published, they must be above board, right? As I said, the sham is a perfect fig leaf, as is the supposed agenda of the sham - well he HAS to do this to get fans talking about their personal lives. The guy practically has no choice here people!
"It's a game he's playing with himself INSIDE the pissing match. IOW, it's a perk. He's taking advantage of the set up."
DeleteIt sure looks like that.
I also find myself in agreement with the person who said if Scott is married to Tessa, this kind of behavior with another woman is vile. It's difficult to believe a guy who is in love with his wife and committed to fidelity would ever frolick like this and push all these boundaries having fun with what he (and the other willing participant) can get away with.
I also agree with the sentiment of wanting to puke.
For those below who propose it all be ignored I say this. It doesn't sit well with me to let them get away with this. They spit on the fans and play dirty games that profane the beauty of marriage and, like blogger said, we should politely step aside? I understand wanting to ignore it for our own sanity as fans and in the hopes they would then stop this behavior. It does seem to have become a circular thing. So I don't know what the answer is (for myself - the blogger will do what h/she wants) but I can see both sides.
"It's difficult to believe a guy who is in love with his wife and committed to fidelity would ever frolick like this and push all these boundaries having fun with what he (and the other willing participant) can get away with."
DeleteIt unfortunately is hard to believe that he would be doing this if he were really as much in love with his wife as everyone thinks.
The thing that I find most disgusting about this game that Scott is playing is that the person who stands to be hurt the most is Tessa. Nothing wrecks a marriage like infidelity. Even if the couple makes it through, nothing is ever the same again. There's no going back to the way things were before. After infidelity, there is something that is lost that can't ever be gotten back. I'd think Scott would even want to go there.
There's something off about the last two photos and I think what it is, is that with Jessica, and in earlier sham photos with Cassandra, he was stiff trying to feign relaxed, intimate, and here he comes off like someone into it - and I guess I could deconstruct body language (head, neck, face, eyes (looking into her face), angle of the entire body) - he's into it trying to feign a bit of the previous stiffness.
DeleteThere is nobody worse at "feigning" cool or relaxation than Scott. Nobody.
A lot of the sham is boring. You could see how this would be the most exciting part. See what you can get away with, then of course if it's published, that means he's aboveboard.
"he's into it trying to feign a bit of the previous stiffness."
DeleteThis is just sad.
I wonder did Scott think he was different from any other man on the planet? He was going to get touchy-feely with a woman not his wife and be unaffected? If Moirville thought that they're all a bigger bunch of idiots than I had already thought them to be.
Playing with fire usually leads to disaster. They are not exempt.
Tessa posed at a couple of events with Ryan Semple, who was on twitter, used instagram, and had facebook. Why didn't they take it outside so they could pucker up and Ryan's hand could wander to her ass? Totally innocent - just bracing himself, or meant to get her waist, or the breeze did it - like that.
DeleteScott's boundaries for Tessa and Tessa's for Scott appear to be different. It seems to me that if you have integrity, you observe the boundaries you'd like the other person to observe, even if one party "Doesn't mind." Unless they're a baby, and Tessa isn't a baby, they're not going to say "But you should have known I'd mind even when I said I didn't!"
Let me preface by saying I totally respect the blogger. The blogger created this site for the purpose of exposing their bullshit and has every right to continue.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I'm thinking that if they're at the point where they are actually respond to stuff on the blog with direct sham output, maybe it really would be better to just ignore them. I wish that people would stop following Cassandra and Connor Hillborn. I shouldn't even know their names. If all this crap is being put out on facebook, twitter, and instagram to bait us, how about we just don't take the bait?
We were having great conversations about skating and they derailed us. Why do we let them do that? (I know we can discuss those things elsewhere but I like the freedom here).
Again, no disrespect intended. I know it's presumptuous of me. I am just thinking that blogs can drift and move on to different topics. If this blog was originally out there to categorize the shamming, it's definitely done that. I think a whole lot more people believe now. The idea of this blog was not to let them get away with anything and calling them out on it. But now it's almost like they want to get called out on it. I think the Jessica pics were more innocent, somehow - make it look like he's dating this other girl to give him cover. Make the pics look convincing, so kiss her. The blog called out that shit. Now the purpose of the sham isn't to convince, it's to instigate. Kiss her, and grab her ass, even though 90% of the fandom believes you and the rest aren't going to budge. Just to piss people off.
What if we just let it roll off our backs, and didn't even comment? That would be powerful and it's what these juvenile stunts deserve. It gives me the creeps that these people get any attention at all.
JMHO.
Anon at 9:09 pm - great post. For me - we know where Moirville stands on this issue and will continue to be reactive - so I'm more than willing to just let it be. It's time for the high performance camp - so let's get back to the skating - which I think the majority of fans want to concentrate on.
DeleteMe again at 4:04 am. Another analogy would be for me is that over a year ago I use to post on Goldenskate and I think I was fairly objective and polite with regards to ice dancing. I knew there were the usual D/W ubers. Then the tone against VM just got outright nasty. Never been back. Did they drive me away? Yes but I was able to post on other outlets that were productive and my stress level was better for it. The blogger will continue to do what they want to do and that is their choice of course but yeah I've seen enough from Moirville and it's time to hit the ignore button...
DeleteHi 4:04... this is 9:09. Yeah... Moirville is reactive and also somewhat proactive. Seem like every time something important is happening with the skating, they know people will be reading VM sites, so they make sure to put out some new stuff. It is so tiresome and juvenile. I would love it if everyone just unfollowed Cassandra Hillborn and never mentioned that name again. She wants "fame" so let's starve the beast. Of course, once it is posted, I find it very hard not to comment on all the awfulness.
DeleteI just think it would send a powerful message to Virtue Moir - "Come to us when you're ready to tell the truth. Until then, we're completely ignoring anything to do with your personal life (non-skating content articles and reality show included). We're more than happy to talk about just your career, there is a wealth of knowledge and expertise among us."
Of course it's just a pipe dream. The entire fandom can't be controlled.
I am in sympathy with the point of view expressed in these comments. Davis White debut their new programs very soon, and there will be a post - and I hope the blog will be able to get "feet only" versions too - about their programs. And of course the new short dance will be compared to VM's short dance. After that there's Finlandia and the season is underway. At times what other skaters are doing will probably be part of things - for example, we still don't know how the Gilles/Poirier situation is going to play out.
DeleteI'm not, though, going to shut down observing the sham. Yes, blogs evolved, and this one certainly has. The fact that the latest sham photos have been discussed in three straight posts wasn't the plan. The way this often works - and the way it happened here is, if I have something I want to express, and it feels as if it's post-worthy, I'll go ahead and do a post, expressing along the way that the thoughts contained therein are a process. As it happened, something struck me as horrible in these photos, both the intent and the content. The intent was terribly mean and a slap in the face to Virtue and Moir supporters, intending to shut down their attempt to talk about Scott and Tessa's skating and get the fandom talking about the relationship.
The content was unsettling, not because of what they're doing, as they still haven't matched the Dominican - but the demeanor. I sort of worked my way through it til in the third post I realized that Scott's demeanor was creating my reaction.
As to letting VM "get away with disrespecting a marriage" that is their business and the purpose of the blog isn't to police their private lives.
However, as the blog has stated many times, I know they're married, I know they have a small child, and so I know what they do on social media is aimed at us and that the content is staged to perpetuate a hoax on the public, and so therefore, what is on social media is the business of anybody who cares to make it their business, including the blog's, just as it is with anything in the public domain. It's not surprising that this is looking more and more like a shit show.
I think they do react to the blog. In that respect, the blog provides a service to the sham. If the blog didn't exist, they'd "react" to something else, and react the same way.
Nothing would be different except that the facebooks would still be hosting a lot of albums with many more photos and Moirville would be having a blast for themselves in the comments. And perhaps Skate Canada would still be involved.
Otherwise, nothing's changed. Back when the 2010 Olympic cycle started, Virtue Moir gave a wonderful interview to the late, great Barry Mittan, describing Mahler. They shared that the characters in Mahler "were in love (I think they may have said engaged as well), and it definitely came naturally." Scott shared that they were doing TEB, and they were excited because "just being in Paris makes us happy (or excited - don't have the interview at hand)." When HPC began Scott talked in a press conference about his and Tessa's special relationship. Almost concurrently, Jessica's public facebook profile picture, which all summer had featured her with an unseen guy's hand around her waist (not Scott's), or her with her dog, switched to her and Scott lying in the sand in the Dominican. It's the same MO as now. Right on time for HPC. The photo shoot was published, and the "candid" Dominican photos were leaked via other facebooks.
"now married nearly seven years"
Delete??
Scott also described what he did in his down time, and there was no mention of a girlfriend who happened to be a high profile skater Mittan has also written about. He and Tessa apparently spent their off hours golfing (it was a time when they both made a big deal of the golfing thing) and getting back to London as often as they could. It was, in fact, a perfectly judged piece, as was typical of most of Mittan's writing. It gave us a nice sense of the program process and their thinking as athletes and partners, it gave us a sense of their personalities and their lives and plans, without oversharing or getting too specific/personal.
DeleteIt was the same thing - Jekyl on old media, Hyde on social media.
Yes, the sham is instigating now, but it aggressively instigated then as well. After Torino, Scott told a press conference he and Tessa were going to Monaco, which was bait. Shortly thereafter Alma hosted the "sting" on her facebook wall. Since then I've read a bit about destination marriages, and how the marriage documents from many "foreign" destinations can take months to process before they're filed there, and before they're translated for the couple to present to their country of citizenship. I don't know how much Scott and Tessa's connections can or did expedite that sort of housekeeping, but one of Alma's "Monaco" photos showed Tessa at a table with her mom, and Scott at a table with his parents, and both were signing similar looking things. With Jessica looking on. If this was what I speculate it is, Jessica's presence says a freaking lot about how this ridiculous enterprise ranks in importance for Moirville. It's Scott and Tessa's wedding business, and the sham girlfriend has to be in the photo, and then shown to us.
After the blog was created, Scott and Tessa repeated "Monaco" with the Paris skype. It was the exact same thing, only the sting part was postponed because you could see it coming from space and the blog said so before the other shoe could drop.
It feels worse now because of the amount of time it's gone on and how apparently it is still very important that Scott, now married nearly four years, 26 years old, shamming for seven, kiss and get handsy with another woman - all because of US, of course.
You could kind of excuse it back then, the overblown sense of their circumstances, the self-importance, lack of perspective - VM were going to be stars of a home Olympics, possible gold medalists, were telegenic, and were also getting married. This was bigger than Jesus to Moirville, they had no perspective (no perspective because free lancing out your hind end, consulting other skaters, and relying on Skate Canada, instead of working with people WHO KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING will tend to throw things out of whack).
Now they're doing it to be doing it. What's changed is the environment in which they're doing it. They are keeping it going even though all the motivating factors are gone.
11:48 - sorry, I corrected (and before reading your question). I conflated seven years of sham (actually, if I re-count on my fingers and use only social media as a point of reference - six years) with their four years of marriage. They've been married nearly four years. They've been shamming on social media since the summer of 2007.
Delete"Fans knew they'd been talking about skating for weeks, and Moirville turned around and spat in their face, with total deliberation. That's what sucked the air out of the fandom. The intention, not the photo itself."
ReplyDeleteI'm the one who said the air had been sucked out of the fandom. You are absolutely correct, I was referring to the intention and not the photo itself.
The fandom knows when they've been disrespected and treated badly.
But why would Virtue/Moir intentionally want to turn off their supporters just before the Olympics? Do they figure the incoming new ones will replace the old ones who caught onto their games?
DeleteOMG, everything they do proactively seeks to turn off their supporters. They don't need "fans", they have an audience, an international audience, based on their skating, an audience that their skating certainly deserves.
DeleteI think it goes back to some of the earlier topics - they don't need fans. Many skaters need fans because fans can become a credential they cash in for other opportunities - shows, broadcast gigs, etc. - and even, some think (because the figure skating world encourages paranoia) it becomes something that can influence assignments and scoring.
Scott and Tessa's skating alone gets them where they want to be. There are many skaters who don't want to cross the public or alienate the public because that becomes a financial risk. Scott and Tessa are free of that concern and they certainly flaunt their freedom from it, not just because their skating makes personality and popularity almost irrelevant (although I believe their personalities are attractive to the the public), but also because they have a financial safety net many other skaters don't enjoy.
The blog mentioned checks and balances inside the sham that seem to be missing with the conduct of the Cassandra sham. There's checks and balances missing with the entirety of Scott and Tessa's "professional" (always in quotes with them) pursuits off ice. They have no need to cultivate good will, and again, that is something they certainly flaunt. The need to cultivate good will does drive a lot of skaters.
Of course, in the case of many skaters, more than I can name, their courtesy vis a vis the public is a reflection of core values, character, fairness, and just their basic personality. It's not a calculation; it's who they are.
There are also skaters who don't come from much, who are completely self-made (scraped for every penny until they got sponsors, family made real sacrifices (splitting up with one parent relocating with the skater), whose families each carried two or more jobs, who make it their business to cultivate a relationship with the public simply because that's good business and they want to build on what they've created.
Scott and Tessa certainly are "unique". Moirville is, to cite an overused cliche, a first class first world problem. All of their self-interest, self-aggrandizement, us-versus-YOU, control freak, over-investment - all of it would be so much noise if any of the people most concerned had real world problems. This is the stuff that surfaces to fill the void. The immaturity run amok is something to see.
6:52 that is the million-dollar question.
DeleteWe can't know what's in their minds but like the blog has said, we can see actions and come to some conclusions. Look at the brief timeline oc gives in 9:14 and 9:27. Since before Vancouver V/M done the same thing -- every single year -- it's not specific to these upcoming Olympics.
They can't not know all their social media crap takes the focus away from the skating but they insist on doing this. And without fail around and during the times of their competitions or other public appearances.
This has gone on so long now and the tone has remained so malicious that at some point it didn't just stop taking away the focus from skating. It's come to the point that it alienates the fans because we're not stupid and we know when we're being played with lies. It would be different if V/M were releasing innocuous off-ice pictures of themselves, their families. But this--to have them so aggressively push grotesque lies in our face is alienating.
As to motive. Blog has speculated on some but I don't think we know for sure.
lool https://fbcdn-profile-a.akamaihd.net/hprofile-ak-ash3/936294_10151703253616318_1620433323_n.jpg
ReplyDelete3:15
ReplyDeleteWhat's going on, is CH putting up these pictures as profiles just long enough for someone to download at full size and then removing them again?
Oh yeah, this relationship is so real. The GF has to assert herself with her own and her friends' social media pages to parade the relationship to the public.
Wee see you dear. We understand. You two are so very special this must not be kept under wraps. As many strangers as possible need to be made aware of you and your #fabulousstar and #cutestboyfriend. After all, who ever heard of keeping things private?
Oh right - that only applies when something is real and sacred (like Scott and Tessa).
Just a note - Scott used to log into Jessica's facebook account and there's every possibility that he or someone else is changing up the profile pictures.
DeleteThat's right! I'd forgotten about Scott logging in to Jessica's account. Lol
DeleteWhatever the case, I'm absolutely positive Moirville is running this. Cassandra does not act on her own.
Nope - Cassandra isn't on her own. This isn't a soap opera with innocent Scott and Tessa falling prey to a schemer. Scott is tuned in. What he does, he does because he wants to do it. It's a choice.
DeleteDo I believe CH would jump at the chance to make the sham real? Possibly. Only because she and her brother really really REALLY want to be famous, believe their faces entitle them to fame (no comment there - well, here's a comment - small towns can distort self-image), and, barring actually making it happen for herself, Scott represents an opportunity.
With Tessa, Scott has become an Olympic champion, and a multiple national champion, and a two time World Champion. That's how he became #fabulous star - with Tessa. She was no foil - anyone who watches him skate on his own and then watches him skate with her knows that. She's the foundation of that team. Scott has gorgeous bladework and strength, but his timing, his frame, his ability to phrase, his focus - it all pivots off her. Tessa has formal ballet training and it shows. Scott doesn't (he's been at the barre but he doesn't have her background). Therefore what he does looks "natural" and what she does looks "trained" because we can see the ballerina in her, but her actual skating talent is as natural as his. We can see his enormous energy, how dynamic he is, and maybe not notice how often she's the merest flash ahead of him, how well she anticipates - because she's so composed and finished. I think we can also see a difference when he skates alone or in a group, and when she does. The difference isn't in skating, it's in performance, discipline, ability to adjust, etc. He can adjust to her like a genius. She can adjust to almost anything.
This season is (presumably) their last. With her, barring the unforeseen, he'll be a two time Olympian. And then her contribution to his resume/career/star status might, in some quarters, be considered complete. If lines are crossed, there's a decreased risk in terms of the skating career, and God KNOWS the star factor and the skating career is what's important to Moirville.
The "sham" is very very sad. There is a tremendous amount of exhibitionism going on, that, I think, is undisputed by anyone seeing clearly.
How much of that exhibitionism belongs to Scott, we can only speculate, but we all know the output of the sham to date is overkill, far exceeding the supposed purpose of sustaining it. Some of the new elements with this new sham girlfriend include the feeling that the London group has turned things inside out. Rather than the sham serving Scott and Tessa's relationship, the sham is a very welcome platform for self promotion (Cassandra's) and it eggs on what appears to be Scott's exhibitionism and boundary-breaching, deniability brinkmanship.
IOW, isn't it lucky that Scott and Tessa's self-imposed situation has created opportunity for Cassandra, on a number of fronts. From that angle, Scott and Tessa's situation is serving her interests, instead of her serving Scott and Tessa's.
Also sad - in seeking to establish its superiority, Moirville has exposed how small it really is, in every meaning of the word.
what you say makes sense and reality.
Delete"The "sham" is very very sad. There is a tremendous amount of exhibitionism going on, that, I think, is undisputed by anyone seeing clearly."
DeleteI agree OC that the sham is very sad and clearly, there is exhibitionism.
However, after considering what differences there might be between the two sham-girlfriends I decided I'm not seeing any.
There were more than plenty sleazy photos with Jessica. It's true that toward the end they seemed to do less of those. But Scott still did lip-kiss Jessica, in swimsuits/half-naked, *after* becoming a father. They were clearly not suddenly developing any class just because Tessa and Scott were now parents nor because some time had gone by without being gross.
The photos with Cassandra - to me - come across the same. Exhibitionism, no class, but Scott looking as stiff and "this is a performance" as he ever did.
I know some think they're seeing something different. I would submit it's just Moirville being as classless and blind and stupid as they ever were. It just happens to be a different girl and this time she's accessible enough to create frequent gross poses.
I don't expect Moirville to have had any change of heart since the days of Jessica. Which means they will continue with the output of OTT sham material until the day they are forced to stop.
One of the advantages of Jessica was she WASN'T always accessible, so there was an excuse/reason she wasn't constantly around.
DeleteI did find her trips to Ilderton for no particular reason to be peculiar. Obviously she's going to Ilderton (where neither Scott nor Tessa live), and not Scott's actual home. And now that I type this, that certainly gives me a different view on how Cara corrected Jessica's facebook status when it said "To London for the weekend!' And Cara said "Don't you mean Ilderton?" and I'M thinking - same freaking difference, sort of - but Jessica immediately and obediently corrected "Ilderton!" It suddenly occurs to me that because Scott and Tessa have a place in London, Cara didn't want anybody thinking Jessica was going THERE - she was going, instead, straight into the embrace of sham management. At times these trips didn't coincide with any event or holiday so one wonders if they just periodically tossed Jessica at Moirville so they could have something Virtue Moir-related to chew on.
I still say Scott is hididng his sexuality...look at the sweat stains on the shirt... Every pic with Cass is staged. I mean who kisses and poses for a kiss??? I think his family put him in a tough spot with the whole gay figure skaters fiasco. He's trying to be something he's not...
ReplyDeletehttp://web.icenetwork.com/news/2013/08/05/55152602/world-skater-rankings-dissecting-the-dancers
ReplyDeleteice network is soo misleading isu ranks tessa and scott as first in the world
http://www.isuresults.com/ws/ws/wsdance.htm
Goldenshit, er, Goldenskate posters think that V/M don't have a chance against D/W, as D/W had "convincing" wins last season...please!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?41350-Virtue-and-Moir-News/page8
Why isn't Scott & tessa's FD abailiable fromt the 2011 worlds???
ReplyDeleteIt is. Here's one of at least two on youtube.
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq_lreK5vb4
What dreadful commentary. They make a sexy, vibrant program the background to their bitchy monotone droning.
DeleteAlong those lines, I also raised my eyebrows when during the SA commentary last year, the other commentator asked, in interest of full disclosure to the listeners, for Tanith to explain her relationship to Charlie. She said they were just good friends. Since Charlie and Tanith are public and have been for a number of years, it's not about privacy, and I'm of the opinion that the general viewing public did need to hear that piece of information to filter her comments through.
DeleteOops, 9:58 - I deleted my comment because I wanted to add something. Tanith honestly said just good friends? Of COURSE the general public needs to know she's his girlfriend. That's intentionally misleading - no matter how she tries to reign herself in, this influences what she doesn't say as much as what she does say and the public has the right to know. And again, this bullshit wouldn't happen with another sport.
DeleteI just linked it and didn't watch it, so have no opinion on the commentary, but one thing that was extremely striking when Tanith commented (and don't know if she's commenting here) on Carmen was how almost the only time she opened her mouth was during the lyrical part when she said that "comforting intimacy" is the best of Virtue Moir. When a dance team is obviously pushing boundaries, I think a commentator is obligated to at least acknowledge what is being attempted, no matter how it's pulled off. Tanith ignored it. That's one way to bury something great that is also threatening. Pretend nothing's happening. Don't react. Some DW fans went the same route last season - the program was obviously ambitious and even if you're not a fan of VM, if you know anything about figure skating, let alone ice dance, that is the first thing that stood out about Carmen. But the way to diminish Carmen is not admit it and focus on something trival - a remark about the hair or something random - anything to make the program itself seem not worth much attention.