The kindest construction I can put on what Tessa did yesterday is solidarity. Scott is bashed for rudeness on his past birthdays (but only on the blog, which is a joke, right). Rather than "show him how it's done" on her twitter, thus showing him up, Tessa is also rude. She deliberately joins him in the Coliseum and cues up
So, in the most charitable possible hypothesis, Tessa did what she did yesterday because of criticism of Scott on one blog, The rest of the fans who are "innocent" - all the fans everywhere else who fall over themselves being nice - can just suck it up. She has a point to make and a cross to climb, and a middle finger to throw up.
Make no mistake, Tessa knew she was going to do this from the day she joined twitter. #bekind
Under most circumstances, it might be egocentric to wonder if what Tessa and Scott do is in any way driven by what the blog says. Why would they direct their behavior towards one blog instead of keeping in mind the legion of fans NOT on the blog, who are incredibly nice to them.
In this case, I don't think it's egocentric to wonder if the blog gives them their cover story to be really meanspirited. They were meanspirited before the blog. The blog shows up and criticizes them, the blog becomes a reverse engineered excuse. They WANT to pretend the blog stands for all fans. It gives them a pretext to be dicks to very nice people, to tell themselves fans deserve what Scott and Tessa dish out. Scott and Tessa are in the continual offensive position, pretending they're playing defense.
Who wouldn't treat legions of really nice people like crap just to flip the bird at one?
That's the most charitable way to look at yesterday, because yesterday had nothing to do with shipper fans wanting a front row seat to, you know, the incredibly intrusive, personal experience of a figure skater wishing happy birthday to her skating partner on her public twitter account. Yes, fans would have been excited/happy if she'd done it, like the time Alex Paul shouted out Mitch Islam's birthday on HER twitter, even though they share a house and she could say it straight to his face in the kitchen.
In other words, yesterday had nothing to do with shipper shit that fans wanted from Tessa.
It wasn't about HER. Neither she nor Scott ever EVER understand when it's not about them. It's always about them.
But it was about this:
Tessa joins twitter. Her account is public. She reached out, she's brought Scott into the conversation. (#partnerincrime). Fans respond. She interacts. She set it up, she made the first moves, she requested people's attention.
Then she purposefully shows up on his birthday where all of these people are eagerly asking her to pass on their best wishes, and she pretends she can't hear them. She makes a point of being there in order to demonstrate: "I'm ignoring you."
She didn't have to shout him out in a unique tweet. Her rudeness had nothing to do with not wanting to wish her husband happy birthday on twitter. It's about showing up to let people know she's ignoring them on purpose. Some fans said "Would you say happy birthday 'when you see him'" - careful not to assume she'd see him on Sept.2. She could have said "will do."
It really isn't about fans wanting to see her publicly engage with him on his birthday. It's not about fans thinking she doesn't care about Scott enough to say happy birthday. No matter what fans tell themselves, they know damn well she acknowledged his birthday. They'd rather pretend it's about Scott and Tessa than talk about the truth: it's about how Scott and Tessa treat them.
It's about how Tessa made a point of being on twitter on September 2 in order to make a show of ignoring all the people who had the effrontery to think it was okay to wish Scott a happy birthday on her twitter.
I hope we're all ashamed of ourselves, forcing the woman to get a twitter account, demanding that she reach out to fans, insisting she keep it public. Same with Scott. Sorry Scott!
This is about how they treat other people, not about what other people want from them. They have never understood the difference. The two concepts are NOT always connected.
Prior to Worlds 2013, Scott and Tessa were in London with a few Skate Canada officials/staff who were speaking to a group of London business people about the opportunities built into hosting the Figure Skating World Championships in their city. As London natives, Scott and Tessa were there to promote the glories of London to those planning to attend the event. Recall that they've been doing interviews, promotions, public relations for about sixteen years at this point. They sit down. The journalist gives them lead ins to start talking about London. They react as if he's fishing for personal information.
It wasn't about them. When he kept circling back, trying to find another way to get through their thick skulls, they shifted, deflected and parried.
Debbi Wilkes, Skate Canada's then Director of Business Development (previously Director of Marketing and Public Relations) is an idiot. What kind of idiot, though? Did she completely fail to prep Scott and Tessa - that kind of idiot? Or was she idiot enough to believe that a pair of married twentysomething adults who have been doing this for sixteen years would have the brains to know that when they're in London to promote London, the job is to promote London?
There's something about Scott and Tessa where they like to think of themselves as beset and besieged, misunderstood, always up against it. In skating, I get it. It's easier to get motivated when everyone's against you. It also seems that they create programs that give them these kinds of challenges - will we be able to get on top of these extraordinarily difficult programs in time to crush it at Worlds? As Scott once said, he likes things to be hard. They like to feel "we have each other, who cares about the rest."
What's the deal in their p.r./off-ice life though? Why do they do the same thing? On ice, it gives them fuel. Off ice, in order to put themselves in that underdog position, they have to treat their supporters like garbage until the supporters start to protest, and then they use that protest as fuel to get defensive and defiant. They deliberately hurt other people - the supporters of their skating - to get a psychological fix for themselves. (#likeitornot!)
They have odd concepts of strength, odd concepts of adversity.
Thank you for this post. I'm feeling very frustrated.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen the tweet from T in response to a very pushy fan calling it "not very classy" to have ignored S's birthday? I can imagine VM reading fan tweets about his birthday thinking to themselves, "this is why we have to do this, because of these fans - they're all the same." I don't disagree that that fan shouldn't have assumed T ignored his birthday, and I really don't think that fan should have tweeted about it, but as you've said, if you put yourself out on social media, expect what's to come. Fans are part of your profession, you have to deal with them professionally.
It's interesting that I can't think of one other figure skater or celebrity I follow on twitter behaving as VM do so regularly. You put it much more eloquently than I'm about to, but they are totally feeding this cycle. Instead of using social media as a pr platform and just focusing on their brand (which is messed up anyway, but you get what I'm getting at), as most in a public position would, they are using it to mess with their fans who they are convinced are trying to ruin their private lives. Do they realize that the messing is just encouraging fans to react in the exact way they have deluded themselves that all fans are only capable of reacting? (if that makes any sense).
I'm a fan - a big fan - and I have no interest in tweeting at T or S, or being involved in their private lives (except for the fact that I read this blog... but it's so addictive!). For the most part I'm very quiet about how I feel about them (I rarely comment on any post or other blog). I watch and read, but I didn't care enough about their private lives to desperately reach out to them. Up till now I didn't care that much what they did outside of skating. Now, I am starting to really care about all this social media shit, and it's because of their actions. I was happy being happy with them as skaters and knowing that they were a happy family. But stop messing with me VM! It makes me want to comment, intrude, whatever it is you think I'm already doing...
Other celebrities don't function like this. Yes, there's your public life and your personal life. We are not part of your personal life and we don't need to be, but if you want everyone to stop fawning over your personal life stop shoving it down our throats in the manner you do.
For a blog ridiculed as crazy and dismissed by VM when they specifically say they don't have any kind of secret life (Scott in a pre-Sochi interview), VM and Moirville sure do spend time and energy reacting against this place. Why, if it's just delusional fans?
ReplyDeleteThey know this is the only public place that tells the truth about them. Including the parts that call them out on their mean behaviour. So what do they do? Dig in. Keep Scott in a series of fake relationships. Be even meaner and more OTT in lies and social media.
VM are such a class act. (sarcasm)
10:33 AM - if anything, the blog is a godsend. An actual enemy! Of course to the degree Tessa and Scott react to the blog, it is an excuse to treat ALL fans like garbage.
DeleteWe are circle jerking a bit though. They treated fans like garbage before the blog. The blog came along and pointed it out. The blog then became their reason for treating fans like garbage.
^Strictly speaking, they don't have a secret life. Everybody in their actual lives, and that includes the international skating community, knows they're married and have a daughter. It includes the media that covers them regularly.
DeleteThey do play with semantics. Except when they throw that out the window and flat out lie.
While I applaud the people calling Tessa out on her bullshit, I think involving her directly may have been a mistake. She's just going to be able use that as some sort of proof of how maligned and attacked she is. Never mind that what she did was completely dickish and inappropriate.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the camp that likes that they called her out directly (I even like her response, because she's not pretending she didn't acknowledge Scott's birthday).
DeleteVM fans are between a rock and a hard place. Either take the abuse with a smile and just discuss her bullshit in private channels, or call her out and risk that she'll faint from horror and *gasp* quit social media! #benice!
Celebs get called out on twitter all the time and this was a mild one. If everyone pushed back at her all the time, they wouldn't have all this power. In other words, IMO the responses should all say "of course you acknowledge your husband's birthday! how silly!"
And if she quits social media.... ohhh. I don't care, since the twitter account is there just to fuck with us anyway, so it's not like we're losing anything. Why do we have to tiptoe to make sure she keeps an account that was CREATED to wreak havoc ON US. The rationale always seems to be, we can't call them out on anything or make them uncomfortable in any way, because then they would use that as an excuse to become more entretched in secrecy and shamming. But they use us an excuse anyway, even when we're always so careful to show them respect.
^She already did that 10:45 AM. I don't think people should second-guess their responses because she'll manipulate or mischaracterize. Screw that. That's on her.
DeleteWhat about when Scott ignored all the happy birthdays on his facebook?
Tessa read the tweets. The vast majority asked her to pass on their own happy birthdays and best wishes.
You don't get on twitter, engage fans, then act maligned and attacked because fans tweet you on your partner's birthday, asking to send him their best. That's pathetic. She looks ridiculous all over twitter, and every single twitter doing a "you go girl!" knows it and is just currying favor.
I'm not worried about her leaving Twitter because it's been obvious from day one that she set it up mainly to manipulate and string fans along but because the media is also up her ass, she may choose to bring this mainstream and point out the horrors that she has had to endure.
DeleteThere's no way that the fans can win. Too many still believe that Tessa is some sort of Goddess and Queen and worship everything she touches and even if she took a dump on half the audience at Stars on Ice, they'd still defend her.
I agree it's no win, it's set up that way. So why not call it as you see it? The rebukes to Tessa have been extremely mild, and even then other fans are throwing themselves between the critic and Tessa.
DeleteI don't know what the mainstream can get from her September 2 twitter experience that will support Tessa enduring any horrors. It's a billion fans asking her to pass along their best happy birthday wishes to Scott while she shows up to ignore them and bleat about Taylor Swift. Then shows up again, just so we know she's there and she IS ignoring them on purpose. Twitter is "at a glance". Anyone who sees the threads from yesterday will see nothing but good will and someone who pretends it's not happening. No way to spin it.
They can, however, make up what happened on twitter, and ignore what's actually there. That happens all the time with everything else about Scott and Tessa.
Tessa reacted very selectively, and mischaracterized the criticism. As I've said, fans know she acknowledged Scott's birthday. They knew it yesterday.The people she failed to acknowledge, the people she hurt, was THEM. I read the tweets yesterday. They weren't telling Tessa to say happy birthday to him - maybe one did. They were asking her to pass on THEIR happy birthdays. She ignored them. Why? Tessa made a point of ignoring fans yesterday. She went on twitter to ignore them. She read the tweets - they were saying - tell Scott we wish him happy birthday! They weren't saying "Tweet Scott Happy Birthday you bitch!"
ReplyDeleteI don't believe Scott and Tessa think fans want to consume their private lives. If they felt that way, they wouldn't use their relationship as bait time and time again.
I remember that over the years, Scott has said over and over that he and Tessa thrive on adversity, that they PREFER it that way. I'm sure when they get the real thing - her legs threatening their Olympic hopes - they'd rather take a pass, but they get a charge from overcoming. They deliberately set the bar so high in their programs, it's nail biting if they'll master them by worlds. They want it that way. In 2009 Scott and Tessa had plane issues getting to the GPF, and did the competition on no sleep. Scott mentioned how he enjoyed that sort of challenge. He's said many times he wants things to be hard. He's a guy with a ton of energy/adrenalin and even Olympic level training and competition doesn't completely satisfy that appetite. She keeps it lower key but has a similar appetite.
If they want to make their programs harder than they have to be in order to challenge/test themselves during the season, feel free. If they want to almost sniff out criticism where it doesn't exist (What? People didn't like Carmen?) to fire themselves up or whatever, because they need it, then whatever floats your boat.
However, when you get off ice, and you still want that "fix", that thrill of feeling like you're defying critics, it's not cool to manipulate other people into playing that role in your self-created drama. It's self-indulgent. It's like one more luxury they think they should have. Hey, this life of off-ice privilege is missing something. We've got worship, admiration, attention, protection! Yawn. Gets old.
For freaking sport, to keep their adrenalin up and themselves entertained, they manipulate fans into the role of adversaries that Scott and Tessa can defeat. It's so freaking low class and revolting because they are the privileged ones and they're using less privileged people as fodder for their self-indulgent whim.
^And hurt their feelings in the process, and make them think they're crazy. But Scott and Tessa get their fix, and that's all that matters, since the world is about them.
DeleteThe comment at 10:48 made it all click in for me. I've been trying to wrap my brain around why two people would get such fulfillment out of messing with people. But the idea of cultivating adversity so they can feel the rush of overcoming it... that makes sense to me. It's terrible, of course, but at least makes some bit of sense.
DeleteI was going to comment in the other post, but it sounds like a lot of what I was getting at fits here too.
ReplyDeleteHere's the thing. They (yes, I say they, because there's no way Scott didn't have any input in this whole thing) knew people were waiting and anticipating exactly what and how she was going to wish him happy birthday. Almost all believing that they weren't together and she would of curse have to call or text him, but also give him a shout out on Twitter. Why did they think this? Because of how *she* (they) have set up her Twitter account. The picture is them. Her bio talks about them. She tweets pictures of them. She talks about him. She gives heads up when he's gonna appear somewhere with her. She has made it to be about him, whenever it involves him, and sometimes even when it doesn't have to. She practically set up him having an account... promising it was coming and gonna be
even better than hers (warm-up act), and establishing it as something she could use to tweet at him, and implying they were going to use it to talk to EACH OTHER and cutely banter back and forth, (#partnerincrime).
And THEN, when the fans ask her about it, because it was so glaringly blatant after all her other stuff, she acts like she is the victim, being attacked for no reason. Which results in other fans getting mad that she's being "picked on", and standing up to defend her... even though they are the ones upset about the fact she ignored it.
She is on multiple times, throughout the day on his birthday and says nothing... but then the very first thing she gets up and does today is to talk about it?
EXACTLY. The first thing she does is get up and act put upon, like she's been accused of something when her accusers don't know anything. "Who says I ignored his birthday?"
DeleteYou ignored the FANS who wished him happy birthday on the twitter YOU set up, incorporating him, talking about him, sharing about the two of you. Fans stupidly thought this meant they could tweet her to pass on their best wishes to him on his birthday and she acts like they're clueless and making assumptions.
She had to really not only cherry pick that one tweet to respond to, but misunderstand it on purpose, in order to set up how superior she is ("I know what's going on and you don't."). Meantime all the people she ignored/hurt can just go sit down.
^Yes. The greater point that I was trying to make was that even if this was too much to ask, common courtesy required that Tessa not ignore the well wishes her twitter followers asked her to pass onto Scott. She had set it up that it was completely okay. He's her cover photo. He was pretty much her first shout out in her first tweets and instagrams. He caddied for her and she broadcast that on twitter. She told people it was okay to acknowledge his existence to her when they tweeted her.
ReplyDeleteSo even if she wants to pretend that her OWN "Happy birthday" to Scott is a private matter, unlike all the other skating partners who exchange private good wishes AND celebrate the person on their twitter account, there is absolutely no excuse for her ignoring everybody who said to her "Please pass on my best wishes for his happy birthday."
She comes in this morning and pretends those tweets - tons of them - didn't happen. She pretends fans were intrusively waiting to see HER happy birthday to him, and wrongly assumed she didn't deliver one, since it wasn't in public. If she doesn't want to acknowledge his birthday on her own behalf on twitter, unlike every other skater with a partner on the planet, her choice. There's no excuse for ignoring all the fans asking her to give him THEIR best. She can say "I'll do that - I'm sure he'll appreciate it!" So so hard.
Why did she bother tweeting her thanks to #Claudine, the sweet and attentive flight attendant who made Tessa's night? Did Tessa fail to thank her in person?
DeleteSo the flight attendant could get recognition from her employer.
DeleteNo, because she didn't use the last name. The airline had to tweet and request it.
DeleteWhat the big hell!!!... Tessa did the first move and basically confirm Ryan and her are a thing... she looks stunning tho. What a unusual thing coming from her, but I suppose she does this cause she's a retired skater, nothing to fear anymore ;)
ReplyDeleteTessa and Ryan aren't a thing. But come on Tessa. You're upping the ante. Start kissy facing and hand holding. Scott can handle it. Go ahead.
DeleteFwiw, it appears the wedding she attended this past weekend (most likely Saturday), was a fellow skier that is of course FB friends with Ryan. That makes two summer weddings they're "on record" attending together now, just like Scott and Jessica. Oh, the recycled sham patterns.
DeleteThis also means, she was most likely home Sun or Mon.
Tessa's own little version of a reality show. She's *publicly* giving the fans the finger.
DeleteI'm certain this has been planned for a long time. Beginning with the tweet from Monaco. Joining twitter and all the sly references to Semple (pastries and wine for a whole month in France, the ski jacket, etc, etc).
Oh yeah. Tessa's big night, the unveiling of her own sham. I wonder if she and Semple practiced in front of a mirror how they would stand together for the cameras.
Incredible that they feel entitled to play out this hoax to this degree.
Welp, she's almost up to the same number of "actually touching her (fake) s.o. pictures" as Scott now. By the end of the night, I expect she'll have more. Although, when his make-out pictures appear later this week from his romantic birthday getaway (most likely at a beach), he'll have the upper hand again in the shamming count.
DeleteOh, and speak of the devil, guess who's back all the sudden as of a few minutes ago??? Well isn't that just a convenient coincidence.
Seriously, how much did that kill KL to have to be silent on Twitter and not retweet pictures of herself or promote chocolate milk for that long!?
I, too, am sure this was planned. It's obviously been hinted at for months. And now, she (most likely) attended an event with him the days/weekend before Scott's birthday, and another event the day after Scott's birthday. Bookends. Just in case anyone wasn't paying attention.
DeleteOf course she had to step it up after yesterday (and today). Add another layer!
ReplyDeleteI am sorry, I guess I am sexist, but it is so much more disgusting to me for the pregnant female spouse to be shamming while carrying her husband's child than for her husband to sham while she's pregnant. And his shamming was pretty fucking disgusting already. #slutshamingpregnantmarriedwomenwhodateotherguys
ReplyDeleteThey gotta shake up this blog somehow, right? It was getting old rehashing Tessa being a meanie and bringing attention the Twitter/birthday debacle. Give us something else to discuss, lol. Of course now we'll be the big bad guys once again... always picking on them and talking about that darn marriage and kids things. Oh when will the fans ever leave them alone and not try to analyze their personal life?
DeleteActually, I think the most uncomfortable part of all of this is what it exposes about Tessa. Maybe it's easy to think, okay, Moirville. Parochial. Homophobic. Chip on Shoulder. So, Scott, to appease Moirville, caters to all of that while shamming. And it's sort of a "Better me, than Tessa", vibe. Because Scott is the guy that held up the sign that said "Nothing" when he was asked about his best asset. It's easy for a guy like that to sham, and present as if he KNOWS the fake gfs are mortified having to pretend to be close with him.
DeleteWith Tessa, I think Scott can't pretend the guys aren't enjoying it, and that's the issue. That's why HE shams and crosses lines. Do the girls enjoy it? In his mind - NO. But some guy with Tessa? Hell yeah.
But Tessa is all about winning. Look at Miss #BeKind on twitter. Ignores a ton of fans who mistakenly believed she was genuine when she launched her account. First time she responds to Scott's birthday, it's "What do you know? You know shit about me? It's not on twitter and you think I ignored his birthday?"
Fuck you, sweetheart. And we all noticed how you twittered a flight attendant and probably thanked her in person as well. We can SEE your twitter, and how you ignored the people who merely presumed to ask you to pass along their best to Scott. What would it have cost to acknowledge that? Seven syllables?
I don't think people want to see this Tessa. Scott, with his peripatetic personality, is easier to rationalize. What Tessa does is far more conscious, and I think people don't want to have to look at it. For one thing, many fans are about the fix. To really look at Tessa is a sort of cold turkey exercise, and many people don't have the stomach.#goodjobKate
I was actually thinking about this earlier, OC, and about how Scott didn't bother to respond to any of the happy birthday wishes either on Twitter. I know perfectly well that this is about Tessa because she put herself out there, to do exactly this type of thing (tweet @him and serve as his proxy since he's obviously not going to do it himself), and then blatantly ignored it. However, I was just thinking, why is it that she was called out as being rude and he was not? I think there are a couple reasons... one is he has history. This is not the first time for him to over-promise and under-deliver on social media. And it's also not the first time for him to choose to be an ass and ignore fans and their (birthday) well wishes. It was expected of him. Therefore, it was not considered odd that he wasn't on and didn't say anything. Everyone already knew he wouldn't. That's why they were treating Tessa as the go between. Also, he hasn't been on, wasn't on, didn't pretend to be on to do something else, etc., so he was automatically excused. If Tessa had just disappeared for a few days like KL, I don't think the fan backlash would have been what it was. The excuse would have been given that of course if she had been on, she would have said something, so she must be busy doing other things right now or not be able to get on for some reason. I don't think her response would have happened this morning, because I don't think the fans would have had the visceral reaction they had after yesterday's flagrant behavior.
DeleteI think this all extends into this evening as well. Yes, Scott gets slammed (on here at least) for the gross shamming and publicity stunts, but now when it's Tessa's thing it's perceived as being worse. Why is this? I think part of it is that she's already not exactly everyone's favorite atm, but I think also a big part is the same reasons as the Twitter. It's expected of him. He does it all the time. We're used to seeing him out and about with his gf's. She usually flies under the radar for her "relationships". Cryptic stuff like the jacket and his picture from Canton. It's nothing that can pin her down and state facts. This is fairly new for her. Like her public display on Twitter. All the sudden he's the "good" one (for the time being), and she's being unabashedly mean to fans and posing publicly with her "bf".
I joked about them trying to flip their reputations/image with him dating the "wholesome, sugary-sweet, down-home Canadian treasure", while she's shackin' up with Mr. "girlzzz, boobs, asses, cars and more girlzzz, defunct skier dude". But this, now paired with her social media attitude, maybe is indeed what they're trying to accomplish.
Even if (when) we get gross sham birthday pictures, the perception of KLawes has already been set-up as genuine #goodpeople, so that narrative now becomes more accepted as being true.
Don't forget that he is even mister vagina sailor...always remember !
DeleteI would love for OC to do an entry on how he's been adding more hot girlz accounts to his instagram while "dating" Ms. Virtue. I guess she really is as pathetic as the reality show said. Got to do whatever she can to hang on to any man.
DeleteI would second this notion, oc.
DeleteAnd Semple stopped following most, if not all, those hotgurlzzz sites the morning of Tiff Gala.
Delete*Rolleyes* This is not calculated and carefully coordinated? #fakefromspace.
Not that we didn't know it already, but guess who's reading the blog?
Delete*waves*
Good morning, shamming crew!
Anon at 6:41 am - interesting. Well I am pretty sure that he will create another anonymous account to get back to following those accounts, lol...the one thing that I remember back when from Semple's twitter a couple of years ago when he dissed a women's alpine ski race and indicated it was about time that the real race began - meaning the men. That to me spoke volumes...so yeah I don't think that highly of him...
DeleteThey don't care what image Semple has. Jessica was a hot mess and they didn't care. The Moirs would make fun of Jessica while shamming, straight to her face on her own facebook. They treated her like she was four. Look at how she was managed and handled around the sham, from the Olympics to the GPF to weddings and trips to Ilderton. Scott never bothered to disguise his antipathy, yet it went on for years. They don't care if the sham person is appropriate or not.
DeleteAnd yet he, an olympian himself, isn't named. I'm feeling deja vu....
ReplyDelete5:21. Yes, unfortunately it is more disgusting.
ReplyDeleteIt's all nauseatingly revolting. But right up Tessa and Scott's alley. They get off on this.
Now we know Tessa's main motivation in joining twitter. Yep. Cut from the same cloth as all the rest of Moirville's malice in the way they deliver sham to the public. Alma probably gave her special tips. Tessa learned from the master.
ReplyDeleteHow long did it take her to alienate fans? Six weeks?
DeleteWell, I will give them this... I was prepared to be completely and utterly pissed off with Scott on/for his birthday this year, and instead here we are. Not that he's innocent in any of this (out of sight, out of mind), Nor that I still won't be extremely displeased with him the very near future, once we get "settled back" from the great birthday escape. But they did change things up a little this time.
DeleteYes they did. Now everyone gets to hate Tessa, who went out of her way and then some to earn it.
DeleteThe problem with all of this is they are using people to set themselves up in this situation. Yes, they are being hateful. They're being huge douchebags. But to do that, they have to treat people poorly, and they don't hesitate. Tessa doesn't appear to grasp the concept of treating people poorly. It's all gotcha games with her. She's the one who joyously joined twitter with massive enthusiasm. Twitter is public. Then she commences assholery a few weeks in and she's all why do you have these expectations? What's it to you what I do? and all that shit, by implication.
We knew it when she joined.
DeleteI know it's harping, but every time these two pull something, people come out of the woodwork saying "I know they've been shady in the past, but I think they deserve the benefit of the doubt here."
No, they don't. They have never ever done anything on social media that isn't shady, and so anytime they show up, not just on social media, but in any capacity on the non-corporate areas of the web, they are shady.
It's pointless to give them the the benefit of the doubt, and they don't want the benefit of the doubt. They want us reacting and talking. Then they pretend they need to defend against it. They provoke, we react, they defend.
It does seem they're covering their bases.
ReplyDeleteScott and KLawes are "everywhere" together, inseparable it seems, and then both disappear for 5 days before-through his birthday.
Tessa is traveling somewhere, far, far away (from him) before-through his birthday (which she pretends to glaringly ignore, messes with fans, and then blames them for it), ends up at another skier's wedding, which we're not 100% sure is actually with Ryan (even though we're supposed to assume), until she returns with him unprecedentedly on her arm for TIFF... ever so conveniently the day AFTER Scott's birthday.
Meanwhile, speaking, of convenient... guess who's back from her social media hiatus within a half an hour (24 mins, to be exact) of Tessa and Ryan popping up on social media themselves?
I'm actually surprised we haven't had a Scott sighting yet this evening, or have I just missed it?
It feels kind of classic S&T/Moirville in that the execution is over the top (Tessa's really givin' 'er with the mean-girling and shamming) but the content is so stupid. their fall sham plans together (and this is the thing that continues to stagger me, I mean...some combination of people actually PLAN this bullshit) what was their process? "Oh shit, it might be hard to find a dude willing to swan around on the arm of another dude's pregnant wife, so...let's pull Semple out of the recycling bin and put him in a suit. Great! Done."
ReplyDeleteCouldn't be arsed to find a new guy, because...meh, too much work. Or maybe there's some reason Scott's okay with Semple and wouldn't be okay with another guy. Whatever the case...it's another instance of see-the-fake-from-space-but--who-cares? It's all so unspeakably dumb. They have a child, and probably another one on the way - however little of their time this idiotic circus takes to run, it's too much.
And Semple is clearly kind of washed up, so maybe this is somehow good for his profile, or something...but I have to agree with some of the posters above: of course he unavoidably looks gross because we know it's a sham...but when she's clearly pregnant it's got an especially pukey vibe.
Ack, the second sentence was supposed to read: "When they were putting their fall sham plans together..."
Delete"...let's pull Semple out of the recycling bin and put him in a suit. Great! Done."
Delete@10:13, His getup alone makes it obvious Tessa was nowhere near him when he got dressed or even knew what he was going to wear... Ms. Matchy-matchy, have to figure out our color scheme first thing in the morning, (while lying in bed/over morning coffee/getting dressed together/however that went down), for an outdoor golfing event, where her mere (and apparently, as we've learned, not really that good of a) friend was just stepping in as her caddy, and mostly covered up anyways... but for her long-time, on-again "bf", she's spent all summer with anytime she wasn't working, (especially the past week at another dress up event), going to a fancy, upscale, highly publicized red carpet shindig, practically their "coming out" as an official couple party... matching, or even somewhat coordinating, is not so much important.
Except I do wonder if he initially showed up without a tie... doesn't Scott have one like that?
Honestly, we know Tessa has that Stepford Wife, clenched jaw lying style, but how much of the mean is calculated and how much of it is just willful sticking to script, who knows. Yesterday on twitter was something else, though. Her actually addressing somebody who questioned her about ignoring Scott's birthday, as if it had to do with HER. She played it like a "gotcha", clearly making the point that the fan who questioned her had no idea what she does when she's not on twitter. She face planted with that, because that fan was obviously asking why she ignored everybody ELSE on twitter ABOUT Scott's birthday. Not to mention, her "Who says" which is really a "How do you know" came after a period of time when she was practically filing hourly twitter reports on her activity. "reading this book". "Pampered by flight attendant" "watching this movie" "Up on this here mountain" "dancing to this song" "just watched your videos - gave me chills" and Scott's birthday just didn't make the log.
DeleteSemple looks so comfortable!
DeleteTo be honest I’m surprised that everyone is “surprised” by Tessa attending this event with someone else. Last year during that “reality” show she went to an event with Patrick Chan, while Scott took the time to decompress and spend time with his “SO”… Repeat 2014. Since Patrick wasn’t a fish caught in the HP camp, another male friend to the rescue. "Who says he's my boyfriend. NOT me"... Fans... Sigh.. So silly.
DeleteExactly. "Who says he's my boyfriend."
DeleteTessa looks ridiculous in those photos. Clearly pregnant (or fat in the exact areas a pregnant woman would be) and smirking away. What a troll she is. I hope they retire so I don't have to look at them anymore.
ReplyDeleteTroll is a good word for her recent behavior, on twitter, and then last night.
Delete^^???^^
ReplyDeleteWow. Tessa at TIFF in that stunning pink dress! So beautiful and slender. Not even looking one bit like she is going to deliver a baby by christmas! Lol. Way too funny. I guess she miscarried, right???........
Interesting ... What will happen in some people say now? They will flood Tessa dirt. A love story Tessa and Scott officially end.
DeleteNo wedding. No baby. Now what?
How does last night's publicity stunt all the sudden change the fact that VM are married and have a little girl, again?
Delete11:27 continues to believe that they can tell us what Tessa looks like even though we can see for ourselves.
DeleteDo you honestly think she still looks pregnant ?
Delete7:04 - do you think she got a massive boob job and has been stuffing her face the past month leading to stomach bloat?
DeleteAnd again, here's people thinking all pregnant women have to look pregnant in the way they think pregnant looks. Any evidence that doesn't fit is ignored.
7:44 You made me laugh. It is elementary.
DeleteIt's not about how pregnant women are supposed to look but how Tessa looks.
DeleteBoth her boobs and belly look smaller than they did a month ago.
She already had bigger breasts when she sat on Strombo's couch. When was that, in March ? If this was an indicator for a pregnancy she'd be at least 6-7 months pregnant. And no matter how slim a pregnant woman is, after 7 months even Tessa wouldn't look like this anymore.
Last time she was pregnant it was clearly visible. Now, not so much.
She looks pretty damn pregnant to me and I never used to think she did.
DeleteHer BOOBS look smaller than a month ago? For real?
DeleteIf you don't believe she's pregnant, what's the rationale for the massive increase in her breast size? I've never been pregnant myself but enough of my friends and family have and those are pregnancy boobies.
DeleteThere are pictures and video of her last time, farther into her pregnancy than has been speculated she is now, where she looked very similar, or only slightly more expanded? I guess is the word. Tessa is a very tiny person, both normally and in pregnancy, even up until the very end.
DeleteBlogger will have u believe until the very last minutebshe is expecting. When it becomes more apparent she is not...tessa will have miscarried...always an out for the insane lol.
DeleteI found last night so distasteful that now I feel like there's nothing they won't do.
ReplyDeleteNext, I expect Scott and Lawes to be pictured with one of "his nieces" and it will be the little girl from the Santa photo. We'll all be left to speculate whether he would *really* bring his daughter along on a "date" with another woman.
That really is the next level, although with Tessa's sanctimony on blast, and her self-image as someone who is "really protective", it's hard to imagine. However, they're a bit like addicts with the sham. It's almost ocd. They like to push it a bit, and when they get away with it, it's like, but can we get away with THIS? It's a joke, because it's built-in that they'll get away with it. It's fixed, just like the outcome of Davis White's skating was fixed.
DeleteIf they can do this while talking about integrity, sincerity, strength, though, and Tessa liking things about raising strong daughters, I can see them rationalizing something like that at some point.
4:45. For me, after last season I knew there was nothing they wouldn't do. Starting with Scott grabbing Cassandra's ass all the way through the publicity for their show--the really really sincere garbage--and the show itself.
ReplyDeleteThese clowns see themselves as actors putting on a show for our benefit. Except for the parts where it's their real selves and their real names and real giant-ass lies. It's "acting", therefore there are no boundaries.
*They* are the ones self-deluded, not the fans. This is real life and they are real liars. It's on them and all those surrounding them who don't slap some sense into them.
There's clearly a hugely competitive aspect to it at well. It's one upmanship and has nothing to do with who believes what, or even if anyone does. Every time they do something like this, it's WE control the narrative, not anyone else, even if the narrative runs counter to reality.
DeleteAnd they're right. They do. But none of this is necessary to control the narrative because they control it until they acknowledge their actual status and the media will play along. It has nothing to do with all of their upping the ante.
P.S. - actually, after last year they're not the issue. They're giant assholes, they are making a point of it, and Tessa, in particular, is working the sanctimony like she invented it.
DeleteThe issue is the entertainment media, entertainment management, marketing, sponsorship, etc. Where are the lines? Scott and Tessa are going to be Scott and Tessa. Every celebrity curates what's out there. Every celebrity shades the truth about how they FEEL about certain things. "Thrilled with second place." "Just happy I did my best." "Loved everybody working on the movie - we were like family."
However, presenting actual facts as exactly opposite of what they are and shoving them down people's throats isn't common. There are some instances, but not actively, aggressively marketed as this has been. Just take note of all the people who cooperated with this. I don't believe that, when it began, everybody who pitched in saw it reaching this point, and I don't believe everybody who was involved back then remains involved.
^The only parallel to the above is Davis White's skating. However, the entertainment media, management companies, etc., don't know skating enough to be aware that Davis White are fraudulent ice dance champions. The ISU promotes their skating as exactly the opposite of the truth, but everybody else who promotes Davis White assumes it IS the truth.
DeleteThat's not the case with Tessa and Scott. Everyone around them, their entire support structure professionally and personally, know they're tricking and hoaxing the public, and they are actively marketing this. Was this not vetted? Is this how it is now?
"Just take note of all the people who cooperated with this. I don't believe that, when it began, everybody who pitched in saw it reaching this point, and I don't believe everybody who was involved back then remains involved."
Delete^THIS. The blog has done a good job of looking at how figure skating culture intersects with entertainment media in ways that facilitate Scott and Tessa's crap, but I do wonder if, at some point, they'll cross a line and find they can't count on the same media cooperation on the other side. Because it's true: the way Scott and Tessa push utter lies is not common, and it creates a whole swirl of Weird around them, and the whole thing gets ever more embarrassing as they get older and older. They haven't hit that line yet, though...
I actually didn't mean media cooperation, but cooperation from individuals, connections, community, etc. I don't think everybody who helped out at the start is pitching in now. Not many people foresaw it getting to this point. Furthermore, prior to Vancouver, many people who knew about the sham believed Tessa and Scott were doing it for privacy reasons due to their "unique" circumstances and to create a barrier around them while they 1) got married 2) went for gold in Vancouver shortly after having married.
DeleteIt's since grown into this monster. I don't believe the media is set up to expose them. Entertainment media is formulaic and sound bite-ish. It's all product-driven, with celebrities as the product. It's not news-driven.
I think the best that can be expected is journalists who previously were happy to help Scott and Tessa put their stuff across might be more cautious now. I always point to Ryan Pyette. I have no idea if his article on the reality show was intentionally written to cover his ass, but he reported nothing in his own voice. He was careful to attribute absolutely everything to Scott and Tessa, so that the article was only "This is what Scott and Tessa say about the reality show" and not "this is what the reality show is about."
If you read about the media, even mainstream journalism, there is no follow through, very little perspective/big picture, very little digging into background. Scott and Tessa's "story" dovetails neatly into cliches - celebrity keeping private for privacy. No cross-checking. People have pointed out that there's reality show recaps for Tessa and Scott that mention Cassandra. Yes, and Amanda Page ignored those when she wrote about Tessa and Scott, didn't she, if she even looked at it. She used Tessa and Scott's own word for it and Barb McDonald, the end.
As we continue to follow this, it's not just Scott and Tessa that show their asses, but the media. Most entertainment media are personalities and celebrities themselves and covering celebrities is just mutual fame-whoring and ass kissing.
DeleteBack up @4:58 said this, "These clowns see themselves as actors putting on a show for our benefit. Except for the parts where it's their real selves and their real names and real giant-ass lies. It's "acting", therefore there are no boundaries."
DeleteI was thinking earlier about how they always harp on how they are just "acting" out there on the ice and portraying these "characters". (Nevermind that they are most convincing in their chemistry and behaviors around each other *off* the ice, but I digress).
Ironically, it appears they are not in fact lying about "acting" or portraying "characters"... it's just in all the other stuff (i.e. shamming, "completely separate lives", not really that close).
They DO act and portray characters... but it has nothing to do with their skating. Their skating and personal interaction-the touches, the looks, the giggles, the joking banter, the finishing each other's sentences, the being on exactly the same page about absolutely everything in their lives, even down to their clothes/color scheme... That's the real Tessa and Scott we see. Except they're apparently done with appearing anywhere near each other in public anymore.
Part of me wants them to stay in, just for the reason that a lot of this crap is mitigated. They have way to much free time on their hands when they're not. If they stop skating and continue all this, there's no reason for anyone to pay attention to them anymore. Can you imagine what happens when they think about that? I'm not saying no one will, but I wonder if that's the fear. What happens when/if no one cares?
Maybe they could actually live a "normal" life with their family.
I don't think they know how to do normal. Hey! There's a novel idea. That can be their new challenge to conquer and overcome. Learn how to tell the truth, not sham and just be like other normal skaters that have significant others and children.
"Part of me wants them to stay in, just for the reason that a lot of this crap is mitigated. They have way to much free time on their hands when they're not. If they stop skating and continue all this, there's no reason for anyone to pay attention to them anymore. Can you imagine what happens when they think about that? I'm not saying no one will, but I wonder if that's the fear. What happens when/if no one cares? "
DeleteI'd hoped they'd stay in, but I think they're done. http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/2014/09/04/canadas-national-skating-program-begins-life-without-chan-virtue-moir Scott wouldn't be mentoring, especially wp, if they weren't.
I think any vagueness over the summer was to string people along so they could pair it up with this other sting going on with the fans. All we have to look forward to now are these stings.
7:25 i was thinking the same but then i remember neither dw have announced retirement and like scott helping w/p, charlie is also helping the shibs, one of their direct competitors.
DeleteI'm pretty sure DW are taking the gold medal and running. There was a sliver of hope that VM would want to avenge their results in Sochi, but no. The sham is much more important.
Deletehow are they going to avenge their results in sochi when the TPTB are such asses towards them? they;re going to be held back just like they were held back the past two seasons. TPTB wont allow them to win bc they want to validate d/w's win.
DeleteVM's international scores were fine. DW's were the ones out of line.
Delete8:31 - eh, DW's were out of line, true, but VM's were often too conservative, and only they ever ran into a "strict panel." Odd that DW never did.
DeleteSkate Canada is trying to promote their skaters for the front half of the season, absent their stars (Chan hasn't announced retirement either). So the article is going to be organized around that. What I noticed was highlighting Scott at HPC without Tessa. I expect him to be "sighted" in Mississauga a whole lot, as he's so famous now, he can't buy cough drops without running into a #bigfan #staycool, me and @scottmoir. Odd he arrived at HPC with nobody sighting him at check-in, in a parking lot, getting coffee or anything. Maybe he wore a disguise.
Delete" If they stop skating and continue all this, there's no reason for anyone to pay attention to them anymore. Can you imagine what happens when they think about that? I'm not saying no one will, but I wonder if that's the fear. What happens when/if no one cares?
DeleteMaybe they could actually live a "normal" life with their family.
I don't think they know how to do normal."
And if they happen to have some plan to cash in with the truth, and if they do retire from competition, the longer they wait, the less likely people will care. It seems like a lot of shippers might be finally ready to move on.
"VM's were often too conservative, and only they ever ran into a "strict panel." Odd that DW never did."
Yes, sometimes V/M made mistakes that a strict panel caught, it WAS D/W who never got that strict panel. But I think scoring should be conservative, if everyone is scored correctly relative to that, so ymmv. I think it was pretty rare for V/M to get an unjustified score - versus the criteria, not other skaters. Versus other skaters, it wasn't just D/W that got too close to them.
Their behaviour is really disrespectful, childish and totally out-there. I would be surprised if people in their community (media, other skaters, coaches, Skate Canada, judges, etc) aren't starting to get a little squimish - or do they all just see it as VM do - an us and them (the fans) scenario. Is it really possible that the elite figure skating world is so insular and "special" that no one is getting tired of VM or disgusted by them and won't crack at some point? Does everyone in their world really respect them so much after all this shamming shit that they will all keep mum in the mainstream? I just can't believe that the people they work with aren't totally sick of them (I'm so bored by their narcissism) or don't think they are completely ridiculous, or have any respect left for them.
ReplyDeleteWe don't hear from the people who don't like it, only from those who do.
DeleteHowever, if by "crack at some point" you mean "out them", that is doubtful. Logically, people who have ethical qualms aren't the sort to act out. They talk among themselves, not on the internet. It would be pretty hard to out them without exposing their own identities or betraying in some way where the info came from and who wants that hassle?
OC, you're totally right, and I was just about to retract (some of) my comment (I'm 8:43). No one wants to be the person who outs them, whether they think the whole thing is ridiculous or not. Also, likely none of their peers are spending much time following VM mentions on twitter, reading tumblr or this blog. Lots of them probably have no idea how intense the sham is. Well, I'm about done with VM. I don't care if they retire, I don't care if I never see them skate again, all this shit has totally overshadowed what their skating used to mean to me. So, mission accomplished, I guess, VM. Well done!
ReplyDeleteI think the reality is that anyone who has enough sensitivity, maturity and empathy to dislike what Virtue and Moir do are unlikely to be the sort of people to proactively "take them down" as it were. Remember those guys who tweeted how the reality show pissed them off? One told the other "your mistake was watching in the first place." I think the most common reaction among these people is to disengage and wash their hands, not wade in and correct the situation. It's not their business, in the end.
DeletePart of me does wonder if the lack of support for VM this season from commentators and the like, and the support for DW WAS part of the disengaging. Sure, DW can't skate but they paid their dues and are respectable people. VM are assholes, so I'm not going out of my way to tell the truth about their skating even though it really needs to be said. That sort of thing.
DeleteI know that VM like to keep their skating compartmentalized and they try to be honest in what they present on the ice, totally separate from all the lying they do normally, but that doesn't mean that everyone else in the skating world is processing it the same way. It could just be, meh, those two.
I wonder how much "giving back" they do as opposed to taking. Going back to Jessica, it did seem as if the idea was VM win the Olympics, and everybody wins; everybody has a stake in their win, especially Skate Canada skaters. Wonder if it played out as expected. The skating world is very selfish, self-obsessed, with a ton of skewed perceptions, so it's up in the air what sort of moral/ethical yardstick those inside it use to evaluate VM.
DeleteI believe the fact that they're the best in the world helps them. You know how when someone considered an "artist" transgresses or appears to transgress, it creates so much consternation and defensiveness. People seem to feel the transgression has to be disbelieved or dismissed, that if the transgression is acknowledged or validated, they no longer have permission to enjoy the "art". I don't get that but we've seen that happen - the artist has to be a worthy person and I don't want to give up enjoying their art, therefore I'll believe they're a worthy person. OR the more queasy one - they're a great artist and what relevance does their behavior have to their art?
DeleteThe real question is - what relevance does their art have to their behavior? None. So stop dragging their damn art into it as if it has any relevance.
Skating is skating. Behavior is behavior. How they behave has nothing to do with their skating, but a lot of people don't parse that stuff out.
10:21 here. I agree that being the best in the world helps a lot. Figure skating tends to turn on those who are believed to be great natural talents who wasted it, like Chris Bowman, Emanuel Sandhu, Johnny Weir, Sasha Cohen, and I&K.
DeleteVM at least did not do that. They certainly worked every inch of their talent despite seemingly impossible circumstances with her legs, so I think that gives them a ton of respect. I also imagine they must be charming people IRL. They seem to have a blast on tour, and I bet it's great fun for others like VT who see them a few times a year.
Sometimes I do wonder about the people who see them more often but aren't friends, other Canadians like Megan Duhamel for example. You can see that passive aggressiveness behavior in some of the tweets she's mentioned. Whenever you're in a celebrity circle of sorts, I think some light shamming is expected. Pretending to date you coach's son, or being seen out and about with your gay friend. Initially wanting to hide your marriage from the public while you went for an Olympic gold medal was still within the bounds of normal. You wanted people to focus on your skating and not your relationship, ok. But then when she got pregnant? I feel like even in the fucked up world of skating, enough people had to think that's weird. Maybe people could buy it for the privacy reasons, but once they did a reality show with him portraying himself as dating someone else? Surely some in the skating world did watch the series.
I would think it starts to become, what makes them so damn SPECIAL? How come the name and photo of D&L or Shae-Lynn's baby can be shown to the world, but not V&M's? How come most couples come out, when they're, you know, MARRIED, but V&M are so special that they can't? Isn't that basically them telling the rest of the world "we're better than you, our love is too unique to be witnessed by the unwashed masses?" Maybe "we're better than you" is true on the ice but I just can't see how people aren't sick to death of their personal issues, especially the skaters who are older, settled down, and not so into the personal hijinx. Take Buttle... he went through a lot being gay during the "Tough" campaign, so he understood why people would want to hide their personal lives and used to be quite the enabler. But now he's married. I don't remember his wedding being announced, but it wasn't hidden either. I saw instagram photos of the first ceremony when it happened, and then we heard about the recent reception. I don't know, doesn't someone like him, older and married now, get sick of VM's BS? Doesn't he think to himself, as a gay man, I had to fight so hard for the privilege/right to marry the person I love, why would I want to hide that I committed myself to the love of my life, and how can they hide that for so many years? I wonder if that's why he doesn't participate anymore. It seems to be all about Chan and Joannie now.
"I would think it starts to become, what makes them so damn SPECIAL? How come the name and photo of D&L or Shae-Lynn's baby can be shown to the world, but not V&M's? How come most couples come out, when they're, you know, MARRIED, but V&M are so special that they can't? Isn't that basically them telling the rest of the world "we're better than you, our love is too unique to be witnessed by the unwashed masses?"
DeleteI don't think it helps that VM spend their time absolutely trolling the fans they have while other skaters work hard to treat their fans with consideration, because they had to work super hard to get to where they HAD fans. VM worked hard but it's different - they had supernatural talent and the pay off from working that talent came instantly. They were instantly the best. Others had to spend years before their skating got them to where things clicked and they got some results.
I see how other skaters treat fans and VM trolling them CONSTANTLY, and I think that alone would be resented. The "we're special" meme is old. Some of it was bolstered by their young ages when they got together and first went for gold, but they are both now closer to thirty than twenty and "we're extra special" is tired. Yes, I believe other skaters don't respect it. But as the blog has said, in a way, Tessa and Scott like being outsiders. They don't like being one of the crowd.
I would hesitate to attribute the sometimes edgy, resentful tone in Duhamel's social media presence to VM specifically. Oftentimes it seems figure skating turns everybody into a bitch. Everybody's hyper-sensitive, and if circumstances alter even a tad, resentment comes out. Look at what surfaced when MTM split. His mom laments the "premature" ending of the relationship and instantly here come the claws from Kirsten's "side", bashing Dylan's mother! for calling it premature, and implying lack of support from Dylan's side led to the premature end, and Kirsten comes along and "likes it." Underneath those big smiles and good-natured, can do sportsmanship, that shit was there all along. It's across the board.
DeleteThis is what happens, I think, when the parents/skaters perceive the stakes as high (all the time, money, years put into it, to the exclusion of other routes) and the rewards doled out to only a few, and there's some people who believe no matter how good their "kids" get, they won't get what they deserve because the sport is political, and there are others who are resentful and believe their "kids" deserve recognition and results for having put in the hours/time/showed up whether or not they really have the goods on ice, and these parents are resentful/worried it won't happen, and think it's unfair.
The sport is entirely political and a hornet's nest. So it's difficult to see if VM inspire any particular resentment. I can see them being a lightning rod for different resentments that are already built into the sport, because in terms of off ice assets, they piss on stuff that others would kill to have. They do have a way of positioning themselves as "too good" for a lot of ordinary stuff, but overeager to wring as much money and attention from all the stuff they're too good to be a real part of.
I respect Buttle a lot, but he's a long term part of the community of skaters that include Virtue and Moir, he loves them personally, and is likely to filter everything they do through a prism of enormous empathy and history, as well as huge respect for their skating. I think he's a skater first, above almost everything. To survive in skating, Canadian skating, he had to rationalize and accept a lot, take a broad, philosophical view.
DeleteWhether he should be a supporter or not, he is. He's one of their best and oldest friends... I feel like he's one that would stay in their corner no matter what they did.
DeleteI see they appear to have made some new friends last night (couple?), who were, oh so kind to wish the two a very happy rest of their time at TIFF...
ReplyDeleteLove how all the sudden, she's being sighted and meeting everyone. Thought I had mistakenly clicked on KLawes Twitter for a minute there.
Suddenly she's famous. Before we know it, people will just happen to run into Tessa and Ryan in convenience stores and pubs. #greatpeople #he'shot
Delete"Love how all the sudden, she's being sighted and meeting everyone. Thought I had mistakenly clicked on KLawes Twitter for a minute there."
DeleteI love how KLawes is back to tweeting and retweeting all over the place. I wonder if Moirville paid her to make sure she stayed off during the weekend representing Scott's birthday? Boy, she had her finger right on twitter, ready to go the moment that enforced period of silence was over and Tessa had taken a turn on twitter first. (*Rolleyes*)
Yes, 7:28.
Delete24 minutes was it, last night?
And today we have a selfie, a retweet of her and OGM, and a pb chocolate milk tweet. I wonder if she felt any relief for getting a break for 5 days, or if it really freaked her out. For some reason it feels like she didn't care for it so much. I'm sure she got some compensation in some way though.
Well, she has to tweet the pbchocolate milk thing - they are a sponsor. She retweeted - they gave her a helping hand so she didn't have to spam her twitter. It's a bit more straightforward.
DeleteA lot of these "here we are with Kaitlyn Lawes and her gold medal!" at events are just mutual social media profile enabling. The point of the picture is to put it on social media.
If you can look at the pictures of her from TIFF and say that you believe she's now about 28-30 weeks pregnant, you're absolutely crazy! I've seen many pictures of her lately in tight or revealing clothes, and not only is there not a baby bump, she's actually list weight since we've last seen her on the ice. I've also seen her around TO this week, and she's very tiny and it looks as if she's back in the gym or training hard again. She is not pregnant in the least bit. I don't know a lot about her, but I know that for sure.
ReplyDeleteRight, you've seen her around TO this week.
DeleteWhy don't you stay happy with how you see it and stop trying to get people to see her the way you claim to see her. If you think people are crazy, I, for one, can live with it.
But while you're at it, why don't you share where in Toronto you saw her, what she wore, etc.
DeleteAmbiguous.
DeleteAnd then, exactly 1 hour later, (to the minute) from that post...
https://twitter.com/sar_chin/status/507644481840365568
(and a few more from others to immediately follow for good measure)
All the sudden, she's out and about and being recognized everywhere! She's just so famous.
OMG - #fangirlmoment
DeleteHow did this happen? All summer never random sightings, now here they come. Funny how Tessa and Scott say they're mostly recognized only when they're together, and funny how it's never by someone who is active on twitter and eager to share.
It's always someone on twitter who sees them with SO or on their own. Just right there at The Bay or on King Street. They stand out. But together - nobody bothers to mention it.
But you know something, it actually didn't occur to me - and it's stupid that it didn't - that people who come to the blog will b.s. on their social media to back up their b.s. here. King Street! Boy, that's like saying I saw Tessa on Fifth Avenue. Or Sunset Blvd.
DeleteTo be fair, it's TIFF-time in Toronto so people are on the lookout for celebrity sightings. Not that these about Tessa aren't plants/made-up, whatever. But if she were to be sighted, this is the right time. Celebrities do get sighted sometimes. Big deal.
DeletePlease. It's fake. The person up above is all - I saw her in TO, tiny as ever! An hour later is a tweet. Tessa wasn't spotted on the street in previous fashion weeks, previous TIFFs, not even in London when promoting worlds. All the time she's been to the Bag Lady - never a tweet.
DeleteThat first one linked may have been a fake (especially given the timing with the the above post), but the other two tweeted/instagrammed almost directly afterwards were "real" pics from there.
DeleteMy point was more that whether that post here was from their camp (knowing what was coming) and then she suddenly "appeared" to make it seem legit, or if it was read by them on here (posted by someone making shit up) and so then she made it a point to make herself known in public to get it on social media... there was some sort of symbiotic relationship going on.
Yes, the ones with the pictures and the convenient hashtags are symbiotic, that's obvious.
DeleteAre these posts about "Tessa sightings" and saying there's no way she is pregnant all part of the sham? I believe it is entirely possible she is pregnant and her boobs and stomach are bigger than in Sochi. Anyone with eyes can see that much.
ReplyDeleteIt's very old school, which suggests these are a new batch of fans. Fans behave like fans. Back in 2011, fans "fought back" by claiming sightings left and right - even pming people, making up easily disproven stories (there was a doozy on fan forum chronicling this one poster's adventures at the Skate Canada summer meeting). Then it sort of faded away. They got tired of it, or whatever.
DeleteThis summer, as new people claim to "discover" the blog, here they come, pushing back in the same way. This new group isn't as prone to the LOL! as in the past. Because we all know if you LOL! it's a perfect substitute for a rational response. "No need for a rational response - I LOL!"
Doesn't it work that way?
Yeah, it definitely looks like it after the comment above is all - besides, I saw her out and about in TO - and then an hour later comes a twitter that they just saw her - Right here in St. Louis!*
DeleteI mean - right here on King Street!
*The "Right here" made me think of Judy Garland's line from Meet Me In St. Louis.
I love when people sell experiences.
ReplyDeleteDon't all get in line at once.
I hope Meryl Davis fans have deep pockets. If this isn't a hit, IMG will paper the house, as they say.
They must really not be rolling in offers after DWTs.
The photo thing is a money grab. They're going to sell the photos to the people who have their picture taken. It's like going to see Santa at Macys (Read David Sedaris's "Santaland Diaries").
ReplyDeleteThis kind of promotion is such a turn-off.
ReplyDeleteAre they donating any of the money to charity? It's just for them/their agent? Ewww.
The whole thing sounds like a parody.
ReplyDeleteI can't help thinking about something I read re: the whole starlet nude photo scandal----apparently, the person who takes the photo, owns the copyright for it. Davis and White don't even want the people who are ponying up hundreds of dollars to "own" a photo with them in it, because this way, yes, I agree OC, they can "sell them." Don't they have enough money already? (Oh wait, I forgot---just like Detroit, they're broke, but plucky!)
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it also has to do with having a degree of control over people and their phones. It will limit the chances of someone recording the whole event (as many fans do for meet & greets, but not this one cause it's KLASSAY!) just in case one of them says something stupid. Security might even warn everyone on the onset that they'll confiscate phones that are pointed at them. Considering Meryl and Charlie both suffer from foot in mouth disease, it's probably a good idea.
ReplyDeleteif the event ends up being a dissapointment i hope someone reports about it just like the whole arianna grande fiasco
ReplyDeleteSo one has to ask...why when you feel so personally screwed by vm, dont you just move on? Why assasinate them day after day? Why is it so personal to you? Are you an ex girlfriend? Coach? Trainer? Manager? PR? It is so obvious that it is personal. Otherwise you would have moved on. Good luck with your demons.
ReplyDeleteHere we go again with the assertion that the consumers being targeted by V/M's marketing crap have no right to call it out. If they do, and keep up the criticism, they're labeled off their rockers, out for some kind of personal revenge, or plagued by some larger issues.
DeleteHere's why V/M can and will continue to be criticized: they're not only selling lies to the public, they're baiting them into paying attention to them so they can throw the lies out at them, and then acting like victims when the people who know that they're lying call them out on it. That deserves criticism just as a company or organization who does or would do the same thing deserves to be criticized.
Also, it seems to me that much of this blog's criticism is being thrown at the organizations, media personalities and corporations, and any other professionals who are participating in or facilitating V/M's hoaxing of the public for money. Nothing I read here from OC comes across as personal. It comes across as someone who is pissed as fuck that professional/business ethics (which DO exist in the PR and marketing world) are stopping at the water's edge in V/M's case.
DeleteFor all that some blog visitors have ten conniptions over the blog, even unto thinking it must be illegal somehow, if this blog was about, say, Brangelina, or JLaw and whomever, it would be handwaved. That would be like talking about heads of state.
DeleteWhy do fans foam at the mouth? They think they KNOW VM. They really do. They've made up what they know, they ignore evidence that VM lie through their teeth, but somehow they seem to think that VM aren't actually public figures, are more private than public, and the blog is doing the equivalent of some stalker chasing them down a private sidewalk.
Nope. The blog is observing their public behavior and their p.r. Both are targeted, calculated, and agenda'd. Fans rationalize themselves into a stupor so they can have their own public analysis of VM and pretend VM aren't aware, fans rationalize that VM are just regular people who sort of dabble in the shallow end of marketing and don't really grasp the big picture, and therefore fan are getting a real window into who they are whenever they're tagged on social media or appear in public. It's just as much image mongering as film stars doing a junket.
I am also pissed, in terms of this story, about how meanspirited, pseudo-elitist and nasty VM are towards those who lack their status. That would be skating fans. The contempt drips off them. The contempt for skating fans drips off everyone in the sport - well, the institutional everyone. VM have partnered up with that. It's actually chilling, what they do.
DeleteYour cintempt for VM is the inky honest thing about this blog. Question is, why? I dislike how a lot of celebs or athletes conduct themselves. I do not make it my lifes mission to stalk them though. I just pay them no attention. Thats reasonable behavior. This blog, you, your endless spewing of fabricated nonsense is not reasonable. Do you not see that? Are you that ill? Answer is, yes you are. Indeed.
Delete*contempt not cintempt
Delete*only not inky
I always remember one episode...Tessa and Scott almost crying (and me with them) while remembering their supposed 2 months with no phone, messages etc...in 2008. For me, if someone is capable of this...well he can easily lie about everything
ReplyDeleteSince it seems that their competitive skating career is over, I wanted to wish VM the best for their new endeavours. And being successful doesn't necessarily mean how popular you are or how much $$$ you earn. Folks - have a great weekend...
ReplyDeleteLook at that... KLawes just wished her mom a happy birthday, without tagging her... or did she just hope she would happen to see it on her Twitter and not say it to her face?
ReplyDeleteStill think his whole birthday thing on Twitter was odd... not just Tessa, but KLawes (who clearly wishes people allegedly close to her, whether they have social media or not), and no other friends at all. Even though close friends like Joannie and WP have been sending out those wishes frequently lately... neither the accessory like Samuel or Jesse, etc. that I saw. Not even the ISC, lol.
But when fans are confused by all of this, it's their fault and misunderstanding.
http://31.media.tumblr.com/171db72ba3dfc3756516865da2ea14d3/tumblr_nbczewYItb1shj376o1_400.jpg
ReplyDeleteIf anything, I'd say Tessa lost weight. Her face and arms are much slimmer than they were before and it's not just the camera angle.
Athletes often put on weight quickly once they are out of the gym.
Just look at Sasha Cohen. Like Tessa she was very slim and now She's twice the size than she was in 2010. Or has she been pregnant for four years without telling anybody ?
Maybe she's starving herself so she doesn't get as huge as she did in 2010. Nothing would surprise me. The sham takes precedence always.
DeleteTessa may be crazy but I can't imagine she'd deliberately harm an unborn baby.
DeleteIn 2010 she would have had a reason to belueve she'd have to go to these lengths but what apart from shamming is in for her now ? Nobody outside of this blog would think she's pregnant anyway just by gaining a few pounds. As I said, it's normal for retired athletes to gain weight, nobody would bat an eyelash.
Thanks 9:25 for the pic. That's the biggest I've seen her this summer yet.
DeleteNo shit, 2:10 - I looked at that link and thought - wait, that's the she's NOT pregnant link?
DeleteNobody who comes here and comments about "look - no bump!" has paid any attention to the blog discussion about how many women don't have a bump, many women don't show, many women carry differently, and Tessa is one of them. I've said many times - pay attention to and follow the conversation here. But people don't. It's inconvenient to them to recognize that the "plane" of many women's pregnancies remain aligned with their hip bone (although curbed up from their pelvis, which these fans ignore) and a long line from under their boobs to their pelvis.
The fans who post links are going to have to account for that reality, or not post here. I'm not going to humor them and pretend, along with them, that all pregnant women project. They don't. Figure out another angle.
I don't know what's up with that event - it's open to only 12 couples, at $899 per, which is not a ton of money in the Davis White universe.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad someone brought this up, because I'm curious to see how the sham supporters explain how thin she is. And yes I did read your posts about people not showing they're pregnant and some not even knowing they're pregnant until giving birth. But then does it not raise the question that if she's not visibly pregnant and no one is confirming this, where are you getting your sources from? How can you be SO certain that she's pregnant when everything points to the opposite? And another big flaw that has been too jarring to let me believe the sham theory is that NO ONE other than this blog and fans who read it, have said anything akin to the sham. Are you telling me that the volunteers at all the events they attend, who see behind the scenes moments - ranging from skating to other sports and in this case entertainment - who have absolutely nothing to do with Tessa and Scott or 'Moireville' have failed to leak the sham? That no one has EVER spotted the two of them and their kid and said something about it? Not every news outlet, not every person in the town of Ilderton, not every person who ever sees Tessa and Scott are bought out by Moirville - so I'm utterly confused as to how this sham has not yet gained traction anywhere else other than this blog, and amongst readers of this blog.
ReplyDeleteYes there are inconsistencies in some of the stories, yes they have poor media presence, and sure some flags are raised, but the sham theory raises so many more than it explains away.
And before I am attacked or called a troll, these are just genuine questions I have and I wish for everyone else to raise to get to the bottom of this. Because I have seen Tessa being attacked on Twitter for not wishing Scott happy birthday (and it was pretty much verbatim of what OC posted) and unless I, and all you other readers have absolute proof about this sham, then such attacks are completely unwarranted.
Not every single action that a person does is premeditated - god forbid someone decides to analyze every tweet of mine or every picture I post online. Ask yourselves as readers, what makes more sense? Tessa being a normal human being and not everything she does has an underlying plan, thus explaining any inconsistencies, or that she's deliberately hiding her life, her child! from everyone just for... - actually yeah. What is she doing it for? What's the motive again? Other than making themselves think they're better than anyone else, what is the motive for this sham existing?
So OC, or whoever else supports this, break down my questions (about her pregnancy, about everyday people not noticing and about the motives), give me answers that are concrete and lets have a proper discussion about this.
And don't tell me to read through the blog, b/c 1) I do follow it because I appreciate the skating analysis and am quite interested to read OC's theories and 2) I'm not sifting through all those posts to find answers hidden amongst OC's rants
A+ comment
Delete"2) I'm not sifting through all those posts to find answers hidden amongst OC's rants "
DeleteIf you won't take the time to do that, why on earth do you think we should spend our time repeating it all to you?
That ^^^
Delete@2:13, Seriously, out of the entire post, that's all you took away?
DeleteFine let me reiterate, the blog has been around since what? 2012? Each post has over 100+ comments. Do you have any idea how long it would take to go through each and every one of them? A lot longer than it would take for all of you to respond to my post. In addition, the evidence would take up maybe 1% while the rest would be attacks on their character, and I'd be guaranteed to miss out on the evidence I'm looking for.
And, like I said before, I DO read this blog, and so far, everything that OC had posted has not convinced me, because it is not actual proof! How hard would it be to scrounge up a picture of this kid with Tessa and Scott and post it on here? That would shut everyone up. Or a picture of the two of them together? Or, like I said before, am I to believe that they are hidden away in their house and only come out for photo opportunities?
Look, I'm not here to attack you guys, I'm just asking you to engage in some critical thinking. It should not be that hard to explain to me why everyone has jumped ship to the married with child narrative without being offended.
11:55, I can understand why you don't want to read through the entire blog. I tried to do it when I first became interested in the topic, and it was impossible, and that was a year ago so there was less to slog through. The comments sections often take on a life of their own, and people will start posting about the latest occurrences in a totally unrelated post.
DeleteI don't blame anyone for not wanting to indulge your questions, since it has all been discussed before, but neither do I blame you for asking, since people on here love to talk about this and write long posts and you might find someone willing to patiently go through everything. Doesn't hurt to ask.
Since you have been reading the blog already, you know that no one is going to provide you with the photos, first hand accounts, and other evidence that you seek. You therefore consider it a theory and I understand that. The best people can do is explain how it's POSSIBLE that people have enabled and hidden the secret from the general public (which is different than hiding it from the world) and how she could carry a baby and still look so slim. That's obviously not proving that it happened, rather explaining *how* it could. I'm not going to tell you that it's logical that it happens the way it does, so you're right that it's illogical. I thought exactly as you did, until I spoke to a very trustworthy person who confirmed that it's true. And even THEN, I had the same questions as you do.... "what? how? seriously? but what about...? and ??? are we sure it's true? but how!" But then looking at the evidence and photos again, it seems so obvious now. Now I look at photos from four years ago and I can't believe I ever failed to realize she was pregnant. And everything just makes so much more sense. And I've since encountered others who also know it's true. So I can't explain to you "how I believe" because I don't believe, I know. And it doesn't mean I agree with everything OC writes. I just know independently they are married with a daughter. No amount of critical thinking and breaking down the logic and how plausible it all is will help, because I already KNOW this happened (the first pregnancy, anyway). I do think that is a crazy circumstance and I disagree with the sham proponents on here who act like someone is crazy for asking the questions you have, which are legitimate.
Engaging in critical thinking does not equal explaining to you why everyone has jumped ship to a married with child narrative.
DeleteThe reason so many people know V/M are married with a child is because they KNOW it, not because that came to that conclusion based on analysis of V/M's public actions or really want to believe it because it would make them feel better. It doesn't have anything to do with what V/M say or do in public at all. They are married with a child. People know that information through their own personal contacts/relationships with people who know/work with V/M closely or through contact with V/M themselves (and no, the people who know V/M are married with a child are not being misled about it). You think none of those people post here? It's anonymous, why wouldn't they join in the conversation if they want to?
Whether you are convinced or not by what OC has said does not have any bearing on the truth of the matter. That's not an attack. They're married with a kid. No need for analysis of how that's possible, though knock yourself out if you want to do it. But it's possible because it's reality.
Fine then, is it too much to ask of these people who KNOW to provide us with some evidence? A discreet picture perhaps during one of the sessions. It's anonymous as you mentioned, so how hard is it to snap a picture and shut everyone else up? Yet I've seen numerous MORE pictures that say otherwise.
DeleteSo this goes out to all those people who KNOW. Post a picture as proof please. Or detail your story, I'm sure you can conceal pertinent information to protect your identity. Or better yet, since you're so concerned with people knowing the truth (and apparently the BEST place to reveal the truth is on this blog?), why not take it to the media? Find some inside person who isn't afraid to reveal this information - I'm sure the scandal it would cause plastered around Canadian news channels would be a lot more worthwhile than on a skating blog that only the hardcore fans read.
@4:01, explain why these people who KNOW have not done more to reveal the truth, but are rather content to infiltrate the internet whenever they please to claim that they know? And if these people KNOW, what makes them any different from fans who see V/M around and KNOW that they're not dating or KNOW that Scott's with his girlfriend?
Look at it from my point of view- and from others who are questioning. How are we supposed to pick a side when both sides KNOW that what they're claiming is correct?
4:15 PM, you're not. If absent people providing first hand proof to you that you can see with your own eyes, you don't believe Tessa and Scott are lying, then I can live with it.
DeleteThe blog would be here if nobody believed the blog. When it started, it was my own chronicle, that's it. I do sympathize, because I'd probably be frustrated myself if I were that keen to know in my own right, but you're not going to get it from me. Again, seriously, I am okay if you can't "pick a side." If it's that important to you, I'd look at everything they do, and one particularly big thing they lie about where the proof is in the public realm (the rift), and extrapolate from there.
4:15: Knowing doesn't necessarily mean having photos or seeing Scott and Tessa with their kid and being able to snap a photo anytime. Maybe to you, it is not real if you don't see the child and marriage certificate and that's fine, but I trust my sources.
DeleteI agree with the person that said try on the ground sources, not online. That's how I found out. Having some connection to someone in skating/journalism/PR/media helps. Unfortunately, not everyone does, and I'm sure if one is from outside North America, it's very difficult.
There's not much detail necessary to the story. I knew someone in one of those categories, I asked them, and they confirmed that they're married and have a daughter. Then I asked other people, and they confirmed it too. I've told that story before and had it handwaved and that's fine. It's not the story that's the interesting part - if you want me to say I was at CSOI and I saw Tessa and Scott sneak out the back way with their little girl and the chauffeur called them "Mr. and Mrs. Moir," that's not it. It's simply down to people that I know that know. It's about trust. People can handwave because first of all, they don't know me so they don't have to believe I was told that it was true. Even if they do, they can say the person made it up. Since I knew my sources through a personal network and personal connections, I know who's telling the truth. You can't know that, because you can't stand in my shoes and have the relationship with that source that I have to know if the person is BSing me. But you don't have to take my word for it and I'm not trying to convince you. It's just an explanation as to why people won't be able to give you a logical and rational account of how this happened, because it is not logical, it's just life.
IMO, this isn't a priori knowledge (that which can be deduced from logic alone). Some people claim to have figured it out on their own, and I respect that a lot because it turned out they were right, but that would have been impossible for me. Only once I know was I able to look back at all the evidence and it clicked.
Nobody is telling you to pick a side, that's your choice. You are free to continue to question things and continue to ponder and weigh the limited evidence. There are some public domain things out there. Public congratulations from other skaters on Scott's FB around the time of their wedding. Photos of Tessa looking very pregnant. Two ladies giving them a rubber ducky and congratulating them at one of their competitions during 2011-12. The interview with the baby crying in the background. Look back at old Fanforum posts from fall 2010. There were posters there who already knew she was pregnant (and this when she wasn't showing as much as she did later)... how could they have made up that theory, knowing that Tessa, *as she got closer to the competitive season and ramped up training* would gain even more weight, legitimizing the "theory" (especially bearing in mind how thin she got after the first surgery)?
Those things are not proof, and they probably wouldn't be enough to convince people, but those were the things that made me say "duh, why hadn't I seen this all along?"
What Tessa did on twitter with Scott's birthday has nothing to do with her being with Scott. It was rude and mean. Even if she and Scott were actually single and not married (and they're married with a child) it was rude. She was a flat out bitch with it the next day.
Deleteor she is pregnant or she has rebuilt her boobs!!!!!!! choose
ReplyDeleteThat's the best you can come up with? She's pregnant because her breasts look better? Yet you don't validate the argument that she's not pregnant because she's flat? It's a lot rarer for a woman to be 7 months into her pregnancy and not show that it is for a woman's breasts to look bigger. I can choose multiple reasons for bigger breasts than the options you provided - make up, the cut of a dress, being on your period, a dress with push up cups, lighting. All more plausible reasons than surgery or pregnancy.
DeletePeople would rather believe Tessa is hiding a pregnancy than that she had a boob job.
DeleteThere are still people who can't believe she got her nose done.
Tessa is no stranger to plastic surgery so why is it so hard to believe that she could have had a boob job ?
Also, chest, chin and cheeks are usually the first things to grow bigger when one gains some weight. It's really not that unusual.
tessa and scott spend their days watching sunsets? I have been in canada and all girls to 25 years have a second child
Deleteyou see that she is not pregnant because you do not see the belly .... her big tits, the swollen cheek, hair regrowth, the bulge under the breasts, in the folds of the dress under the belly, the fact that the pictures behind at all, his face always tired, the hideous clothes worn in china two sizes too big, the goose that does not jump, the choreography a year old ... I forget something? it is clear that he can not have it all together is spread over 9 months
Delete@12:56 None of what you mentioned equals being pregnant.
Delete1) multiple reasons for breasts appearing bigger
2) I'm not entirely sure where her cheeks appear swollen
3) the 'bulges' in the dress are merely the dress folds, and even if a bulge is hiding something, it definitely isn't a child - because children don't grow in bulges, rather in bumps. Which is very different and not apparent through that dress
4) she does not look tired at all! Are we talking about the same pictures from TIFF? And maybe she is tired, but the make up is doing a great job at concealing it, so you can't really draw that conclusion
5) There is SUCH a flaw in the big clothing argument. Who do I believe? OC that she IS pregnant, but isn't showing, thus would NOT need big clothes? Or you that she is pregnant, and IS showing so she needs oversized clothes in China, but can wear tight fitting dresses now? Months later? See why I'm confused?
6) What does new choreography have anything to do with being pregnant? I think a better explanation to old choreo is that they're no longer competing, and aren't spending their time skating. Just a more rational thought perhaps? As for the goose not jumping, no explanation from my end, but according to OC, women are doing acrobatic stunts high in the air, so really, Tessa has no reason to NOT jump if she's pregnant, because other women do more dangerous things no?
7) Wait so you're saying she's 9 months pregnant now? That means she was pregnant during Sochi? I'm confused, what's the pregnancy timeline?
@11:55, I do not have all the exact answers to your questions, but I can say that I have seen them answered (in detail, concisely and kindly), many times before on this blog. I'm sorry if you have not seen the answers before, and if you don't have the patience to go back and read everything to find what you're searching for, that's your choice. However, I have seen it demonstrated that VM are married and have a child, both by my observations of them, and also confirmed by oc, as well as from others who know that do not care for oc. This to me is enough, because I cannot imagine why different people who do not agree would choose to make up exactly the same complicated story about them. If you dig deep and look around, you can also find many things that support these facts.
DeleteRegarding her current possible pregnancy, I don't believe anyone has ever stated they knew for a fact that she was. It has all been speculation. From what I've seen and others have mentioned, there have been a variety of reasons why people have been/are suspecting of it. I don't know if she is for sure, but I will say that she often "looked not pregnant" in 2010 when she definitely was, around the same time in her pregnancy as it is speculated she is now. Therefore, her physical appearance/her abdomen is not always a good indicator of if she is, nor how far along.
I'm sorry that this probably won't satisfy you, but I thought you deserved and answer that didn't just blow you off, or may have been rude (not saying anyone was, as I have not read the other comments yet, I just know how these comment second can get on occasion).
@1:54 Thanks for the reply. It's not really that I don't have the patience, but more so the time, to sort through years of posts and comments under each post going over 100+/ post. If you know of certain locations where the answers are and could direct me to those particular posts, that would be appreciated. Having said that, I have read most of OC's posts and the reason I decided to message on here, was just how whatever OC had said, has convinced you, the same information has not convinced me. As I mentioned, there are flaws in the Tessa and Scott narrative, and while OC's reasoning has filled some of the gaps, it isn't enough to fully justify it. If you were looking at this from a purely factual and theoretical pov, everything is a theory until facts and evidence disprove it.
DeleteSo the Tessa and Scott theory that they are what they say they are holds until it has been disproven. In my eyes, the information OC has stated as well as you - that they are married and have a child - is not enough to disprove the 'friends' narrative until the proof is tangible. I have asked for this proof before on fanform and here as well, and nothing has been provided. Instead I get the comment that 'look at their behaviour and you'll understand. But you've made up your mind so there's no point talking to you.'
But that's not it. I haven't made up my mind - I'm just asking you all to defend your position with something more concrete so if I do jump over to your side, I can do so with confidence. But the responses I've gotten and the evidence shown has not been substantial enough.
Link me to the person who says they've seen them in real life pregnant and with a child, or show me a picture of this kid, of Tessa and Scott together. But expecting me to draw that conclusion based on the analysis of videos or pictures which can be ambiguously interpreted is flawed and in most cases would not fly.
Similarly, your theory that they are married with family holds true until I guess they marry someone else, or they publicly announce that the blog has been correct all along. Either way, I'm not questioning you or the blog or people who believe it just so I can be proven right and are hoping for the day to say, 'ha!'
I'm questioning because I think this is a place for intellectual discussion and want everyone who believes everything OC says, and takes it as the be all end all - I want them to question aspects of the post and to think for themselves. To see that just as the Tessa and Scott narrative is flawed, so is OC's.
For example, you say she 'definitely' was pregnant in 2010. Alright, what makes you so SURE, so confident in this belief? What are you basing this certainty on? I, as an avid fan, who does read blogs like this and follows their moves online, have not seen enough evidence to conclude that she was pregnant and cannot believe that with as much conviction as you do, unless I have this proof. I admit she gained weight (more weight than she has now, but that could have been her clothing), but then she came out again months later skinnier than ever.
Another one - people hating that whoever posts pictures of Tessa out now are part of the group saying she's not pregnant and are doing it to prove this blog wrong. I ask you, OC and everyone else, are you honestly telling me, that when Tessa attends TIFF the people of Toronto, one of the largest cities in the world, are NOT going to notice her? That they won't snap a picture or post a tweet? Honestly ask yourself what is more statistically possible - that a couple of randoms do see her and post about it on social media or that their post is part of some big conspiracy theory and then go on to bash the post?
3:14 - I'm not the person who responded to you before, nor do I have a problem with you questioning. In full disclosure, I have no direct proof of what others here have said they know for a fact. I only have the connections I have made in my own head, using my observations and what people have laid out here.
DeleteThe biggest problem I think you're going to run into is that there is no more information people are willing or able to share. From your comments it sounds like you're familiar with the facts/arguments laid out here. It's frustrating, but I doubt anyone is going to add any more information to that. There won't be a picture or marriage certificate forthcoming.
So now you have a choice - keep following the blog or not. That sounds snarky, but I don't mean it that way. The blog exists to chronicle what OC says is fact, along with surrounding theories. It isn't here to convince or persuade, it merely is.
"So the Tessa and Scott theory that they are what they say they are holds until it has been disproven."
The problem with that is that to OC and several others (not me), it has been disproven. To them, it's like arguing about what color grass is. You know it's green. You KNOW it. But other people say, "well, maybe it is and maybe it isn't. Let's talk about this." Frustrating on both ends, really.
In short, I doubt any new/more information is coming, so now you have to decide what you're going to do with it - take it or leave it. Or like me, passively believe and lurk, most of the time. Truly - i wish you luck with your search.
3:14 - as the poster above points out, a picture or marriage certificate or similar are most likely not going to appear. Like you, when I first started following VM (many years ago, now!) I was confused by the inconsistencies in what they said about themselves, but skeptical of the blog's premise as well. I found confirmation of the blog's two key assertions (VM are married and have a daughter who is nearly four years old,) by talking to people. Like OC, I am unwilling to say who those people are, but I can say that it isn't too difficult to find those who might be able to confirm the basic facts for you. As OC has also often pointed out, it is hardly a closely-guarded secret. A little on-the-ground, rather than online, research, might be worth pursuing if you are looking for proof beyond the connections you can make for yourself after reading the blog and looking at what VM put out there themselves.
DeleteI completely agree with 4:05/4:19.
DeleteAt 3:14, while I respect that you came in and asked questions in a grammatically correct and intelligently worded way, the fact of the matter is those questions have already been answered, or those things that you seek will not be found here. It's not really fair to those of us who were once in a similar position as you are at the moment, but have read through the entire blog and done our own research. It's out there, and this blog is open 24/7 to anyone. I understand how you are feeling because I was once there. However, I took the time to read this blog (yes, it's long), little bits at a time, as life permitted, and found enough that convinced me. As the posters above me have stated, the "proof" you are looking for or asking about most likely won't be available to you. At least not on here. You may be able to find it elsewhere. This doesn't mean that people are mean. This doesn't mean it isn't true. If that's what you require to believe, and you can't find it, then you won't believe. No one is asking you to. If you want badly enough to believe on your own, then you're going to have to do the work and research yourself, until you get to a point where you understand, or know. Your understanding/knowing threshold will be different than anyone else. No one here will be able to decide that for you. Some of us have decided or figured out it to be true with far less information than others of us, who have required more "proof" or convincing.
I will also say again (as I have said before) that not everyone that believes or knows that they are together subscribes to the same theories of why, or agrees 100% with oc on everything they say. It is possible to know and believe the facts (married with a child), but still speculate and discuss the why's, when's and how's for what they choose to do.
I will say the more I read and watch, oc does make some very valid points. However, there are still those that I sometimes agree with and sometimes don't. I think it's easy to get caught up in saying this blog is an all or nothing. If A is right, then B has to be, or if B is proven wrong then that means A must be wrong as well. It doesn't work that way. Some things are known to be true facts by many people (some on here and some in other places), while other things are mere speculation and assumption and projections. Some of the latter may be correct on occasion, and sometimes not. That doesn't null and void the facts of the situation.
Very important, if you do any on-the-ground research of your own, or have the opportunity for it, do not present yourself as a fan. Don't even hint, or you will not only be shut down, you'll get fake stories. I know of cases where people have come off as straight up fans, and gotten an earful of bullshit. Figure it out.
DeleteMany many times in the comments section, it comes up that unless the blog can demonstrate to other people that it knows what it knows, it's not true. That's a fallacy. It's me, my blog, and I'm the only one who needs to be satisfied that I have the facts and the proof. I certainly am not saying, and have never said, that this should be enough for everybody. I AM saying this is MY blog, and I certainly do not hesitate to write on my blog what I know for a fact, and then view Scott and Tessa's social media, public relations and public narrative through that reality.
For those who aren't too busy protecting their fan fic world, I'd suggest this. Look at your assumptions. Many fan assumptions proceed from the desire to protect their fan fic world. They belong to a community. They "like" tumblrs. The reality that Scott and Tessa are married makes the gazillion Jessica/Scott/Tessa, Cassandra/Scott/Tessa, Kaitlyn/Scott/Tessa fan fics looks ridiculous. It makes the blowing sunshine up everyone's asses look silly "That's a very insightful theory Jasmine, thank you."
What I'D do, is realize how this whole VM thing is a fix. And then I'd actually look at assumptions like "They couldn't do it." "Someone would expose them" "It's impossible."
Is that what you really believe? Because basic research would reveal that it's certainly possible. Or is that what you want to believe in order to protect your fan perogatives?
There are people in regional corporations who have more media training, more public relations sophistication and awareness, more calculated personas, than fans are willing to credit Tessa and Scott. Look at this stuff on your own. Stop making them the exception. Everybody with a freaking youtube account markets themselves. And you think marketing is tangential with Scott and Tessa? They're all about skating and living life, and the stuff the happens to make its way to social media is off gas? That stuff is THE stuff.
@5:44 "If that's what you require to believe, and you can't find it, then you won't believe. No one is asking you to ... Your understanding/knowing threshold will be different than anyone else. No one here will be able to decide that for you. Some of us have decided or figured out it to be true with far less information than others of us, who have required more "proof" or convincing."
DeleteUgh, this is the usual message thrown out that puts an end to the discussion. This is not a 'belief' or 'understanding.' We're not arguing religion or someones likes or dislikes where no actual proof exists. We're talking about a physical child that lives and breathes. In the past four years, this child has not surfaced ANYWHERE that we're STILL having this discussion of 'do you believe it or not?'
It's not a belief.
I just find it difficult to understand why OC was so quick to post a picture of someone's child on this blog, to emphasize her point, yet is so hesitant to post an image of Tessa and Scott's, BUT has no hesitation to analyze every little action or completely belittle them as people.
From all the responses to my posts and questions, no one has actually provided me with an answer of why this proof doesn't exist on this blog. It exists because so many of you are convinced without a shred of doubt (not you, as you pointed out), but still refuse to post it online! What is the hesitancy? Why?
And I honestly do not care if they're married or have a child. Or are single and never talk to each other. When the truth comes out, I'll spend a couple of hours exclaiming about whatever it is and move on. The only reason I am commenting today is this blog is like ... Buzzfeed to me. I come on for a couple of minutes in my down time, for entertainment and perhaps some news, and if I'm lucky analysis of skating. If something irks me - which is usually people bashing - I move on. But today, I had the day off, I saw the picture of Tessa at Tiff and I wanted to see what OC had to say about the images. And after reading the comments that quickly started making fun of people for claiming Tessa was thin and not pregnant because they saw her, I felt it'd be a good time to weigh in.
See how I'm explaining my train of thought? How I got from point A to point B? Why can't other people be just a little bit courteous to do the same. OC was great about it when explaining why V/M are the better skaters, yet cannot do that here. Why?
What is the obsession with proof, anyway? Are the people who know V/M personally or those close to them supposed to come over to this blog and start airing their personal details to give some strangers on the internet what they want? As though that would suddenly convince the doubters? Please. I doubt it would. The stuff about some people demanding to see protected legal documents is laughable. Feel free to try and locate marriage and birth certificates. Knock yourselves out. Unless you get them subpeonaed, you're never going to see them as they're not available to the general public. And really, demanding to see legal documents at all? The people making those demands are the same people who call the blog excessive. Look in the mirror.
DeleteHere's what is fact: V/M are married with a child and lying to the public about that. Belief plays no role in that whatsoever. It's not something that changes based on somebody's belief that it may or may not be true because it just doesn't make sense to them in their head. That's not how facts work. Look at it this way: I do not 'believe' that D/W deserved to win the Olympic gold medal in Sochi. I do not believe it because I watched V/M outskate them in both segments of the ice dance competition. I know, based on my knowledge of the sport and the technical requirements and what I observed with my own eyes, that V/M were the superior team and the entire situation that led to D/W winning was absurd. But what I believe doesn't change the reality that D/W are the Olympic champions.
Here's what this blog has always done, based on my observations of it: it lays out the absurdity of what V/M are doing in regards to their public actions and purported marketing plan. But what it actually does more of, and what I've always taken to be its overarching theme, is break down/analyze/question the professional organizations, groups, sycophants, etc., who are participating in or facilitating V/M's lying. It's asking the question of "why?" Professional/business ethics are a real thing, even in today's PR world. Outright lying and hoaxing is not considered acceptable by many in the entertainment/media industry, despite what some outsiders may think. The blog also provides skating commentary/breakdowns, which are eye-opening not so much because of what they show on the ice in detail, but because of what they reveal about how corrupt the sport of ice dance has been and continues to be. OC's analysis of V/M has always been done through those frameworks. It's not personal. I don't see it as being much different than being critical of how Lance Armstrong marketed himself and his lies during his competitive career, or the ways in which any of your favorite sports teams might operate in the public/PR arena. There's nothing wrong with analyzing those things because they are all targeted at the public - the consumers.
"In the past four years, this child has not surfaced ANYWHERE that we're STILL having this discussion of 'do you believe it or not?'"
DeleteI've been trying to give you the benefit of the doubt and help lead you to finding the truth for yourself, but this statement is very ignorant.
Just because pictures have not been posted on this board, or labeled as their daughter on the internet, does not mean that there are absolutely no pictures of her online, nor that she hasn't been seen by many different people in the last 3 1/2 years, nor that she doesn't indeed exist. I have seen multiple pictures that are very likely to be her during this time, but they're not going to be tagged as "Scott Moir and Tessa Virtue (Moir)'s daughter". Or even "Scott and Tessa's kid". It has been reported on the internet, that people have seen them walking around together as a family. Just because no one has snapped a photo of that moment, and put up online, does not mean it didn't/doesn't happen, or that she doesn't exist.
But as OC has said, people talk. This is how many of us know that they are together/a family. If you want to know stories, mine is similar to the other one posted. I was told that they were, and then I, myself, observed the lies and behaviors that supported this fact. Once you know the truth, it's impossible to see them as anything else. I can't tell you why they choose to lie and hide it from the fans. But they do.
You say it's not about your belief, but it is. It's a FACT that they are married and have a child. What's making the difference for you is whether or not you *believe* that to be true. As other's have said, if the only way you will decide to believe it's the truth is to see concrete-without a doubt-scientific proof, then go find it for yourself. If you don't have the means, or connections, or time, or will, then you may not be able to get what you claim to need to know for sure. So, you have the choice to go and do those things, or go on the good faith of what others of us have said is the truth, whilst observing with your own eyes. To me, even if I didn't know what I know (and one of the reasons why I began to look elsewhere in the search of the truth in the first place), there's a glaringly obvious difference between their interactions with each other and other supposed significant others. That alone was enough to send off the warning bells. Is it a strange public life they lead? Certainly. Is it not normal? Definitely. Although, not as isolated as people would believe. They are not the only couple to ever do something like this.
You said yourself, how do you know which stories of people with "sources" are correct? Which "side" to pick? Well, that's up to you. You have to decide based on the information and facts you are given, which one you believe to be the truth. Whichever you to decide to pick, however, still will not change what is actually true and what is not.
I understand the frustration of weeding though their lies and fake significant others, clouded by different opinions weighing in on the entire situation. I know the truth, and it's still hard sometimes sorting it out. If it's something that you want badly enough, and you can't just go on other people's word, you're going to have to put some personal time and effort into figuring it out. If you can't, or won't, then that just means there are other things in life you value more important to spend your time and energy on... and that may in fact be a very good thing. If you do deem it important enough to know the truth by acquiring "proof", I sincerely hope you find what you're looking for.
1.13 think what you want but why you stay here? If you don't belive what we said you are in the wrong blog. One baby is alive and 4 years now. Probably for you only child
ReplyDeleteWrite a blog about how you're cheating on your significant other with your bestfriend while hiding a child from the public. Maybe then you can understand why 1.13 said that.
DeleteThis blog is basically an attack on Tessa and Scott, one which is not backed up by any tangible proof. So you're the one at fault because you choose to believe in egregious rumors.
When Tessa and Scott get married to other people and have families of their own this blog will be exposed for the SHAM that it is.
@1:39 I'm here because I want to understand why you believe that the kid is alive and is 4 years old. As I said before, I appreciate OC's skating analysis and some of her analysis of their relationship. But at the same time, I don't agree with everything.
DeleteYou know how D/W fans are quick to insult V/M fans when we bring up skating technique and tell them to go away or aren't able to defend D/W win? Whenever I come onto this blog, I see the people who raise questions are treated in the same way - go away if you can't handle what's being said - or they aren't able to come up with a justifiable reason to defend the 'sham.'
Let's put it this way - when someone comes up with a scientific theory - they're always eager to defend their theory using facts and evidence. If someone is calling another out on a scandal, these things always take hold and run away to the general public. Yet this 'sham' theory has not been eagerly defended, rather it attacks those who question. And unlike the scandal in judging which broke through despite various attempts to temper is down, this scandal stays located solely on the blog.
So take the time to explain to me, and if I cannot refute what you bring up, I am more than happy to say that you are right and that they have a child. But until then, I will keep questioning.
I'm a little late to this particular discussion, as so many have weighed in here, and I'm not sure exactly how helpful my comment will be... but, here it is.
DeleteI don't know first hand that VM are married with a child, I haven't been told, in person, by someone who knows. I do know someone I could ask (a coach and choreographer who has worked with the national team), but we aren't good friends and I'm too embarrassed to do so because I don't want to seem like an uber fan. So, I guess I'll have to settle with believing based on what others say if I'm not willing to take the next step doing "on the ground research".
I struggled with whether or not it could be true for a while. I read some of OC's posts and thought, like you do, this is a bit out there - how is it possible anyone could do this? But I started to read more, and I have to tell you, as much work as it might be and as long as it might take, the real discussion (as I'm sure you now know after posting your comments) happens here in the comment section. If you want to start putting the pieces together it's very helpful to read all the comments after each post. It's a slog, but I did it and it solidified my decision to believe that VM are married with a child.
It really started to click for me when OC predicted KL to be the next sham girlfriend. Then it started to click even more when I realized how VM and their camp react to things the blog and the comments say. Why fight back so hard, why consider what the comments say, why adjust your actions based on what happens here if it's bullshit. Wouldn't you just ignore it?
That leads me to another point - I kept reading this blog and telling myself I was reading it because I couldn't believe how "crazy" it was - totally unbelievable! I had to stop lying to myself when I realized that if there wasn't any truth here I would have just blown it off a long time ago, walked away and never returned. Something feels off about the public image VM portray and I felt that - I think you feel that too - so I kept reading and digging.
I started thinking about what I would do if I saw them walking down a quiet street holding hands with their little girl. What would I do? Whip my phone out and start snapping photos? Chances are I wouldn't be able to get the kind of photo you are looking for to be posted here. What if I approached them while they were with their little girl (and I doubt I'd even do that), would I say "can I just get a photo of you three together?". I'm sure they'd ask me to please respect their privacy, offer a photo of themselves with me - minus the little one - and I would be more than happy to oblige because I am a fan. At this point they would have invited me into something "special" - why would I turn around and ruin that by insisting on taking a proof photo to then post on this blog or somewhere else? I wouldn't do that to them. Here's what I would do: come to this blog and say "I know for a fact that they are together and have a child. I can't show you any proof, but I know for a fact because I've seen them together" I'd probably leave out the details because there's chance someone in their camp (or VM themselves) might read my comment and then they'd know I didn't respect their privacy. You would have to decide whether or not to believe me with or without my proof.
None of the people whose careers (media, coaches, skate canada personnel, skaters) are connected to VM are going to post anything to out them. The risk that an individual would get named as the ass who outed their secret is too great. Certainly none of their family or friends are going to do this.
Watch All that Skate 2010 - I Wanna Hold Your Hand. Off season show. Then watch All that Skate 2011 - I Wanna Hold Your Hand. Off season show. The difference is stunning. She was definitely pregnant in 2010.
9:27, you are very patient not to ask your acquaintance about VM! If you ever were inclined to do it, here's what I do: just talk to them as if you already know. You're right that if the person thinks you're asking as a fan, they might not be honest with you. I would speak to them about it directly, confidently saying something like "so do you think Tessa and Scott are retiring? I'm assuming they are because I'm sure she's ready to settle down and have a second child, and they can't travel so much now that their daughter is almost school age. How do you think Kaitlyn and Andrew will handle being Canadian #1? I sure hope they win Worlds." Just slip it in there, and see how they react.
DeleteThis is going to sound harsh but OC, your blog is feeding into the sham more than any posed Instagram photos and tweets (real or not). I know you think this blog is a place for you to discuss the "truth" and for you to reveal the "sham," but by giving Tessa/Scott so much attention you are feeding into their exact mindset, which is that their relationship is so special and so wonderful that it deserves mounds and mounds of attention, from tumblrs that are devoted to every glance they exchange in a CSOI show to, well, this blog.
ReplyDeleteYou want Tessa/Scott to stop shamming? STOP CARING. STOP DEVOTING SO MUCH OF YOUR LIFE AND TIME TO THEIR RELATIONSHIP. Stop being so worshipful of their skating that you want to believe their off-ice relationship is this blissful little marriage complete with 4 year old girl. Their marriage could be the crappiest emptiest marriage in the world. No one except Tessa and Scott would know the details. The kid could be farmed out to relatives to raise. They could send their daughter off to boarding school and see her twice a year. Just because they are married with a child doesn't mean that behind closed doors there's not plenty of misery.
YOU are elevating Tessa/Scott to celebrity status by keeping this blog. YOU are helping to maintain their celebrity status by tracking their tweets and their whereabouts. There are plenty of celebrities who sham their personal lives for the tabloids. You know when they stop doing it? WHEN THE PUBLIC STOPS CARING. For instance, notice that there hasn't been any new arm candy on Tom Cruise? That he hasn't jumped couches or declared his love for yet another auditioned starlet? Why has he stopped doing all this? Because the public doesn't give a crap about him anymore. Because even if he showed up at the Oscars with another beautiful starlet, everyone would shrug and just hustle along to see what Angelina Jolie or Scarlett Johanssen are wearing.
Tessa and Scott are semi-retired ice dancers. New quad, new dancers, people forget and move on. Very few figure skaters are able to parlay their fame past their competitive skating careers. Most just fade back into obscurity. And when Tessa and Scott are just nobodies in Canton, maybe they'll stop shamming. But they'll never be nobodies if people like you keep on tracking them on twitter and caring so much about the birthday non-tweet. By doing this you're elevating them to a special status, and that's what they want, and that's why they'll keep on shamming.
There are actually some pretty good points here.
DeleteI agree that they could be miserable and we really don't know. I know they're married, and I like to think the cute moments like in Sochi are the real them slipping through, but I don't know that for a fact. What they're doing is fucked up, so there could be some fucked up dynamics we don't know about.
I also agree that giving them attention drives them to continue the sham. But the attention doesn't just come from here, it also comes from shippy tweets and tumblrs (the ones that believe their lies, but just want them to get together), and they seem to get off on the rollercoaster of doing something cute, setting it up, and then disappointing everyone, and then being cute again... so I think they would do that with or without this blog, and it's not fair to put all of the blame for this sort of attention on the blog. The blog is just the side of it that believes/knows they're married. I do agree though that it would be better if we all just stopped paying attention to this. I don't really get the logic of following Lawes' twitter or Semple's instagram if you're just going to get upset every time you see what they post. Simply ignore their existence.
About giving them attention -- if they tell themselves they continue shamming because of this blog, that's just the most pathetic excuse ever. Why should fans have to stop discussing things, in the hope that it would produce a different outcome from VM? They're responsible to behave like responsible adults, with high ethical standards. It's not my responsibility to avoid this blog in order to get them to behave responsibly.
DeleteThey've been in the public eye for enough years that by now they should have a thick enough skin to brush off all the fan chatter. VM are responsible for VM (how they handle themselves, their narratives, their reactions to everything/anything). Not fans. Not ever.
This blog has also been a great place for those of us who want to discuss VM -- skating and sham -- without any of the shipping or fan fiction that is pervasive on tumbler and other sites. As a VM fan, I don't want to be associated in any way with those places. At the moment, this blog is about the only public site that lets Tessa and Scott know there are indeed many fans who are not shippers, who don't write fan fiction, and who also know the truth/know they're lying. Not that any of that should make any difference -- I've already stated my belief that VM are responsible for themselves regardless of any fan discussions. But since VM seem to target their sham-PR at the shipper fans, I'm all for this place that is contrary to VM's lies of "needing" a sham due to fans' fantasies.
You don't think Tessa/Scott sham not just for the positive attention but the negative attention? I know plenty of celebrities whose lives are a complete sham. Everything they do, every pose they make, all fake. And there are websites out there (just like this blog) who attempt to call these celebrities out on their shams. You know what happens? They inevitably step up the shamming, because obviously attention (any kind of attention) is what drives them. That's why they're in the public eye. There's plenty of A-list entertainers who lead very private lives and don't invite the paparazzi to follow them every time they fart.
DeleteTessa and Scott will only stop shamming when they realize that no one cares. The day no one cares how swollen/not swollen her boobs look at TIFF, the day no one cares if she tweets happy birthday to Scott, the day no one tries to track them through KLawes or Ryan Semples' twitter is the day they'll stop shamming. And I agree the amount of people who "ship" them contributes to the shamming, but I also think that the amount of scrutiny their relationship receives on this blog contributes to it a lot too. They're semi-retired skaters. They probably skated their last competitive program in Sochi. They might drop hints for a comeback but I doubt they will. There are plenty of new ice dance teams to follow in the new quad. The figure skating world has moved on from D/W and V/M.
So right now, all this blog has been talking about is where they are, how flat/swollen her belly/boobs are, is Kaitlin was with Scott or she wasn't with Scott, etc. AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANT, BECAUSE THAT MEANS THEY CAN EXTEND THEIR FAME INDEFINITELY. That means they can delay getting a new job and settling in with their lives, and instead they can just be pseudo-celebrities on social media/in the very small circle of intense figure skating fans.
When they find out that no one gives a crap whether they talked or not during Tessa's shin surgery is when they'll stop shamming. This blog is exactly what drives them to sham.
"This blog is exactly what drives them to sham."
DeleteDon't be ridiculous. As if this blog or any other fan site(s) have that kind of power over Tessa and Scott. Besides, VM have been shamming since they were young teenagers. How is that the blog's fault?
Neither VM nor freaked-out fans are going to dictate to me what I should or shouldn't discuss regarding VM.
It's not my problem. The blog only had one apparently negative impact on the sham one time - when it first started, and OMG, everybody started restricting their facebooks all at the same time.
DeleteAnd maybe one other time, when the blog called out Scott for setting fans up with his "any suggestions for a profile picture" trick. He seemed to feel badly about that. He came back a few days later with a candid photo (of him and Tessa) on his facebook wall and a big full color profile shot of himself and Tessa from Finlandia. I think if that were to happen today he'd NEVER feel bad about being called out. He's dickisness has calcified into a carapace.
3:53PM I don't think I've made myself clear. Scott and Tessa can sham til the day they fucking die. That is NOT my problem. My goal here is not to stop them from shamming. My goal here is not to stop them from treating fans like crap. My goal here is to chronicle what they do, point it out, make connections, and see if other people can make those same connections. My goal is not to influence their behavior. The entire point is the internet is a two-way street. If they want to appropriate the blog for their own ends, let them. There was one time I spent about ten minutes debating whether I should post a photo because it was so obvious the photo had been (briefly) made public so the blog would post it (the statcounter, as well as the timeline, indicated that). I'm not going to second guess them. I'm not going to reverse psychology them. They can do whatever the fuck they want.
They are already setting it up so that fans are responsible for everything they do. THEY are responsible for everything they do. Fans aren't, the blog isn't. If their kids are in college while Scott is still being social media'd with Sham GF #17, THEM, not me.
Maybe this is coming from fan frustration. If this blog would only go away, Scott and Tessa would be able to save face, and after a period of time, come clean.
Again, NOT my responsibility. It's not on me to help them save face. Scott and Tessa did everything they could to get fan attention, to troll fans, to bait and switch, and to mock fans, long before this blog existed. Scott and Tessa themselves chose to keep shamming after everyone expected them to reveal (during her first pregnancy). That was also before the blog, and that was their choice, recommitment, decision.
NOBODY recognizes the blog but the people who visit blog. If VM came clean and "lost face" they would "lose face" arguably on www.dubemoir.blogspot.com and nowhere else in this world. Everyone else would tell their story exactly as if this blog never existed.
They are doing exactly what they want to do. But the reality is, why they're doing it isn't my problem. They're adults. I'm an adult. They can act like it.
As a practical matter, Scott and Tessa have - stupidly - built their marketing around their relationship. The supposed mystique of the relationship. This marketing can't get traction, because it's all about pulling the rug out. "See Scott caddy for me!" "Oops, haven't seen him for two weeks - two busy zen-ing it out on the airplane and with Ryan, and he's in mini-marts with Kaitlyn!"
DeleteIt's the dumb fuckest branding idea ever. They haven't come up with another one, and they're getting older and older. They also can't really nail it down, because it's all about being coy and chasing its own tail.
Are they going to be 30 and doing this? See the problem? It's on them. They created it, they fix it, or not. I'm just watching it.To extent anyone wants to pay attention, anyone who feels terrible, hurt, confused, whatever, can come to the blog and see it's not them, it's VM. They want you to feel terrible. They're fucking with you. Latest Exhibit. @TessaVirtue on Scott's b'day. "Who, me?"
VM are ridiculous. We all know it. The media doesn't admit it, but VM are. I think pointing out that they're ridiculous AND are being incredibly nasty, vicious and mean to people they consider beneath consideration are decent reasons for the blog to be here. VM themselves? Do what they want and always have.
The blog is also attempting to treat the people who come here like adults, to the extent anyone wants to be treated that way. No, the blog is not going to say how it knows for a fact that VM are married and have a daughter. However, it does point stuff out, including the reality that they lied their faces off about the rift and continue to lie, and despite the fact that proof they're lying exists all over the public domain, whenever they interview about it, the journalist in question pretends not to know it. If that doesn't hint at how things work, I don't know what to say.
I dislike that skating fans are treated the way they're treated. They're treated like scum. As frustrating as it gets looking at tumblrs, fan fic, rationalizations, all of that, I think it's revolting that Scott and Tessa EXPLOIT that. Some of the biggest attackers and critics of this blog are the sorts of people Scott and Tessa exploit, manipulate, and gear their bullshit towards the most. These are people who think they know it all and they don't know, and Scott and Tessa play into that, and IMO, that's mean. These people go out on a limb, and start sawing, and VM encourage them, all the while playing them for fools.
"Are you telling me that the volunteers at all the events they attend, who see behind the scenes moments - ranging from skating to other sports and in this case entertainment - who have absolutely nothing to do with Tessa and Scott or 'Moireville' have failed to leak the sham? That no one has EVER spotted the two of them and their kid and said something about it?"
Delete11:55 - many of these people have blabbed their asses off.
That's not what you're asking. You're asking - Are you telling me none of these people have gone into the public areas of the internet and provided chapter and verse proof on the web?
No, they haven't. Many have done it in emails, pms and in person.
It's not real to you until it's on the freaking public web. I've said this a million times, there must not be a celebrity on this planet who has a secret because I can't think of any major secret that's been exposed outside a tabloid.
You are confusing what YOU want, and what would be convenient for you, with how it is. Moirville talks. Moirville chews on VM so much it's a wonder their asses don't bleed 24/7. The skating world talks. The media talks. The community talks.
Seriously. Have you ever been part of a private community or email group or group of in-person friends, all sharing a common interest, gossip, or whatever? And after awhile, it's not enough, and you want to go to the internet, on reddit maybe, and proclaim to the entire fucking web what you know?
No? It's kind of fun to chew it over and gossip and feel insider and all?
Amazing.
It just stuns me how lazy and self-referential (egocentric) some fans are. For THEIR convenience, they think all this shit would be a click away, or it's not real. They care so much, but break a sweat? Not them. In their world, email doesn't exist. Private communities don't exist. Nor do pms. Nor do in-person conversations. Maybe many fans don't have access to those. What these fans expect is for a pair of celebrity figure skaters' off-record secrets to be recorded for anyone with wi fi to read about, with convenient links. You know, the way it works for all of the celebrity world. Right?
DeleteThere are no secrets in the celebrity world. As a matter of course, the venue personnel, the agency staff, the household staff, the film set crew, the family members, the neighbors, the law firms, the media outlets and journalists, the clerical staff, the event production staff, the drivers, the business managers, the hotel staff, the folks at the spa, the in-laws, the cousins, the airline personnel, and on and on, are all wired to go straight to the repository on the www and tell all. Nobody has friends they gossip with and dish with over drinks. Nobody has email. If it's a little wider spread, there's no industry gossip. No private web gossip. If it's happening, it goes straight to the public platforms of the internet.
If it's not there for you to click on from your couch, NOBODY IS TALKING. Me, I've never learned anything about anybody in the public realm that I didn't get off the public areas of the internet. That's where everybody loves to go, first thing. It's the only place to talk about stuff - among a million strangers. Nobody has friends/acquaintances/people in the same line of work they'd rather chew the fat with instead.
See, this is my issue. Everyone who knows, through personal gossip, or emails or private messages - this big, elitist club of fans, who're not fans - are always so QUICK to deride others who raise questions because they're not able to go online and do a search, or not able to find someone to talk to them about it.
DeleteYet the same people will never take the initial step to explain how they came to that conclusion, providing an actual story with specific examples of which staff at the spa they spoke to, or which air hostess they had a conversation with who provided the scoop that they're married and have a child.
Maybe you and everyone else who has fantastic research and journalistic skills are able to get to the bottom of the story by yourself, but I am not. I don't have friends offline who are fans of V/M that I can gossip with them. And I'm not going to drive off to Ilderton, or London or Toronto or wherever the latest V/M sighting is to strike up a conversation with the bellhop at the hotel or the waitress at a restaurant who I've never met before, to ask them if Tessa and Scott were seen with a 4 year old girl. When I first delved into V/M I stumbled upon fanforum and from there to your blog. And at each point when this question was raised, everyone who knows tells me to do a quick search and I'll find the truth I'm looking for.
Pray do tell, how? It's been four years, and any of my quick searches have been fruitless. Yet none of you, who have been successful have ever messaged me or offered to explain things. You're able to call us 'lazy and egocentric' but won't offer to share information you have through an email or a pm?
I've been a pretty casual visitor to this blog which often ignites any V/M activity (checking twitter to see what message is being referred to, or looking for a picture that was mentioned), and have never bothered to post, because I don't have the time to join in prolonged discussions. But having some time on my hands today, coupled with OC and other posters mocking people on twitter for posting things about Tessa led me to post my questions.
OC has never had any qualms about defacing Tessa and Scott, the people at ISU, Moireville, journalists, hell, pretty much everyone who's ever interacted with Tessa and Scott. You mock and ridicule fans who get excited about a Tessa sighting at TIFF. Yet, you're suddenly attacked by a bout of conscience when it comes to posting a picture that would blow the top off this whole debacle and cement you at being right? You say it's because you don't want to give into them - but as someone above said - aren't you doing JUST that by posting on this blog?
There's a lot of weirdness in the fandom surrounding the issue. There seems to be a hierarchy of who gets to know. There are some people on forums that have skating connections in Canada to the degree that I'm 99.9% sure that they know, yet they are the first to decry this blog as dangerous and the fans as overly invested in VM's personal lives for daring to question the narrative. So it's not like even the people that know all connect to each other or share info with each other.
Delete"Seriously. Have you ever been part of a private community or email group or group of in-person friends, all sharing a common interest, gossip, or whatever? And after awhile, it's not enough, and you want to go to the internet, on reddit maybe, and proclaim to the entire fucking web what you know?"
DeleteNo, you're right, I have not. Because apparently I don't run with the right circles to know gossip about anyone remotely famous that people would care about. Sorry for not creating a website to document my friends' daily activities.
And apparently gossiping with insiders wasn't enough for you so you decided to "go to the internet ... and proclaim to the entire fucking web what you know?" Except the only difference in what you're doing is keeping the proof that is so easily available and yet, SO elusive that anyone who raises questions is dumb, stupid and MUST be a delusional fan.
I really do not understand how difficult it is for all of you fans who believe this sham to say, 'this is where I went to find the truth. This is who I spoke to, this is what I did. This website, this location.' Instead I get the generic, 'do some research yourself you lazy fan' from a group of people who are all so eager to taunt everyone else from their secret club of Tessa and Scott and child.
"I really do not understand how difficult it is for all of you fans who believe this sham to say, 'this is where I went to find the truth. This is who I spoke to, this is what I did. This website, this location.' Instead I get the generic, 'do some research yourself you lazy fan' from a group of people who are all so eager to taunt everyone else from their secret club of Tessa and Scott and child. "
DeleteYou really don't understand? If you really don't understand, than *I* really don't understand YOU, and we're at a stalemate.
You must be trying very hard not to understand. If you knew something, you'd go to the internet and put that relationship (i.e., reveal the person who told you, and betray that they'd revealed stuff) on the line so strangers could know what you know? You'd conceivably get that person in trouble so strangers could know what you know? You'd jeopardize their employment, or your own? You'd jeopardize their relationships? You think that if someone explains how they know, it can't be reduced to a place where the source can be identified or pretty close? Or you think that's no problem? Come on!
Do research! I don't mean research VM. Research PR, marketing, celebrity, social media. This is ALL commerce.
Stop being a martyr, and familiarize yourself with this world. Stop dramatizing. Figure out how it works. THAT is something that IS on the web. No, not every person in the world can easily find out. However, if you really really wanted to know, and didn't want someone to just hand it to you, and you used your brains, I'd bet in under a year, you'd find out for yourself. No, I'm not giving a blueprint, because plenty of people figured it out without one. It's an accessible sport. There's not THAT many layers/barriers. But it does take actual energy, actual time, if you're starting from zero.
Above, I've referred to just a basic overview of some obvious reasons people wouldn't share. I'd have said it's a self-evident overview, but apparently it's not self-evident. There are plenty more. Many more. Lack of incentive being one (seriously, you think YOUR desire to know constitutes incentive for someone who does know to tell you about it?). Why wouldn't people be happy talking among other people who know? All these people who say "You're telling me NO ONE TALKED?" are actually saying "You're telling me no one told ME?" Nope, no one told you. They're actually happy gossiping with people they actually know, pming, emailing, etc., and for the excellent reason of protecting how they know. If you don't understand that, try and find out. Don't sit there and ask it to be handed to you.
DeleteYou seem to believe people are incredibly motivated, naturally motivated, default motivated, to tell strangers on the web what they know, rather than talk amongst themselves.
Nobody is "taunting" because they don't tell you how they know something. There are people who contribute to this comments section who know for themselves and they've never pm'd or emailed me how they found out. I've never told them how I know. Why do you think that is?
"No, you're right, I have not. Because apparently I don't run with the right circles to know gossip about anyone remotely famous that people would care about. Sorry for not creating a website to document my friends' daily activities."
You're talking about two different things. Okay, so you don't have connections, sources, six degrees of separation you can work to one or none. Other people do. They don't tend to draw a map. I haven't created a web page to chronicle my friends' daily activities. I knew about VM way before the blog. It was when they started acting like assholes that I started the blog. The only reason was because they acted as if they owned the web, had bought the web, and everybody else on the web was had signed a nondisclosure agreement, and everyone on the web was their puppet, and people on the web who knew the score were obligated to keep their mouth shut. Really? I don't recall signing anything.
The main thing that a bunch of people overlook here is that they think because THEY don't know, it motivates people who DO know to tell them. It doesn't. There are a million obvious reasons why people would never publicize how they know.
"To extent anyone wants to pay attention, anyone who feels terrible, hurt, confused, whatever, can come to the blog and see it's not them, it's VM."
DeleteThis is the EXACT problem and why this blog feeds into the sham just as much as the tumblr fan-fic. Why would ANYONE feel "terrible, hurt, confused" over two figure skaters they don't know from a hole in the wall? Why would people need to come to a blog to air out those feelings?
Tessa and Scott are strangers to their fans. Tessa not responding to tweets to wish Scott a happy birthday shouldn't bother the fans. It shouldn't bother ANYONE except (maybe) Scott.
Scott and Tessa will stop shamming when people stop giving a shit about their shamming. It feeds their ego that fans are "terrible, hurt, confused," and it feeds their ego just as much when this blog attempts to uncover some kind of paper trail with regards to where they are located and when they are shamming with Kaitlyn or Ryan or whoever. Obviously you put a lot of time and effort into this blog and I can respect that, but to Tessa/Scott I can guarantee they don't differentiate this blog from the tumblr fanfics and the gushy tweets. It's all the same to them: attention, attention that they most likely wouldn't have if they were treated as semi-retired ice skaters.
It's like People Magazine vs. PerezHilton/TMZ. Both are sources of publicity for celebrities who like to put out publicity about their personal lives. People Mag gives the airbrushed, personalized version, whereas PerezHilton/TMZ gives the "dirtier" version. But the "sources" are the same: the celebrities and their publicists, who simply want publicity "out there," whether it's good or bad.
"This is the EXACT problem and why this blog feeds into the sham just as much as the tumblr fan-fic. Why would ANYONE feel "terrible, hurt, confused" over two figure skaters they don't know from a hole in the wall? Why would people need to come to a blog to air out those feelings?"
DeleteYour issue is with the concept of fandom. Fandom has always been around. If you do research, you can find people who were actually upset when Bruce Springsteen's first wife wasn't a Jersey girl.
If fandom didn't exist, the blog wouldn't be here, because there wouldn't be any people for Scott and Tessa to exploit, mock, and ridicule. But there are.
Everybody in entertainment knows about it, everybody who is a celebrity WANTS fans, the marketing and p.r. is geared towards it. It's a key part of the business, if you're in show business (sports is entertainment). There have been PhD thesis on every sort of fandom on the planet.
My impression is that most people aren't in any sort of fandom, and don't get it when they're told it exists. However, it's a very very strong part of the culture, just not a predominant part.
MY interest, when it comes to Virtue and Moir, is how they, the ones with the power, the ones putting out the story and the images, deal with fandom. They've let the 'fans are people' part of it completely disappear from their calculations, and the blog is looking at that.
If you don't like that it's a subject of discussion, that's your business.
"MY interest, when it comes to Virtue and Moir, is how they, the ones with the power, the ones putting out the story and the images, deal with fandom. They've let the 'fans are people' part of it completely disappear from their calculations, and the blog is looking at that."
Delete^^This. There is a malice and mean-spiritedness to their PR. It's bizarre that they appear so charming and genuine in most contexts but when it comes to dishing out sham, it's like they lose themselves. What the hell happened to bring this about? And the older they get the more disconnected they seem to reality in all their sham-PR.
The blog is different than the tumblr and fan fic world because it is pointing out that Scott and Tessa are manipulating, lying, and how they are doing so. There's great resistance from parts of the fandom, because a lot of fandom is about getting a "fix" and a big way these fans get their fix is to look at what Scott and Tessa put out in the public and then analyze/discuss/speculate. It's like cutting off the supply to point out that Scott and Tessa are lying, and what these fans see isn't real, and their fan fic and speculation/observations are built off VM tricking them and exploiting their need for a fix, as it were.
DeleteIf there's one thing I've learned about fandoms, it's that inside the fandom there become rival narratives and there's always a great need to shut down any discussion/narrative that makes the majority uncomfortable, or competes with what they want to be true. And yes, even shippers don't want the blog's story to be true, because as much as they ship, they don't want to believe Scott and Tessa are lying. Their worldview is Scott and Tessa live their live, appear in public as you will, and the fandom and the internet is sort of mild background noise. That's based on absolutely nothing but what suits their convenience to believe, and they stick to it.
Of course attention is attention, and it appears that Virtue and Moir use the blog as attention, or at least compete with it. That's their choice, and not my problem. I would point out that long before the blog existed Virtue and Moir showed a huge appetite for attention from fans, a huge desire to turn attention from their skating to their relationship. They put Jessica in the front seat of a buggy down the Main Street of Ilderton before the blog. They spammed facebook with photos of Scott and Jessica cozying up at Xmas directly before the biggest Canadians in which VM would compete. They trolled fans with "Monaco" and then did a "gotcha!" when Alma's public facebook showed up. When there were lulls in natural shamming opportunities they'd drag Jessica to Ilderton just in case our thoughts had wandered somewhere else.
They went through the entire first pregnancy without the blog. I know that many people believed Scott and Tessa were going to come clean after 2012-2013. They knew they were going to get pregnant. It was their own choice to say, hey, we can keep this going.
Finally, I keep repeating this, and I "police" it, inconsistently, but I have said over and over that people should not come to the comments section ignoring what has been said in the blog. Many fans think "their" world - the online world - is the only world that has validity. If Scott and Tessa were married, all the people who know, who've seen their child, blah blah, would run to the public places on the internet and upload the proof and tell the story. That's the most self-serving scenario I've ever heard, but it keeps repeating, because it's all about them (the fans who see it). The FANS want the proof, and you're telling me not a single person who knows about Scott and Tessa has put it on the web with photo illustrations and easy to locate links?
DeleteNo. Unbelievable, huh? How could all these people not want to put this stuff in public on the web? Who do they talk to then? There's no such thing as real life, there's no such thing as email or pm, there's no such thing as a private community or group. If someone in a venue, or someone in a hotel, or anyone around Moirville hasn't put it on the public web, it means it doesn't exist.
Nobody "slips" on the web. That's the other thing. "Whoops - I accidentally mentioned I had brunch with Tessa and Scott and their daughter last week!" "Uh oh - I didn't mean to put the photo of Tessa and her daughter on instagram!"
Maybe some of these fans will be made happy someday and some hacker will hack into somebody's cloud or closed flickr or email and out will come closed pictures. I think it's unlikely that a sophisticated hacker would be an ice dance fan who'd know who the hell Virtue Moir are, or care about pictures of them, but for those who want that to happen, they can live in hope. Meantime, stop asking questions that have been answered (this is not directed towards anyone in particular). You don't have to be satisfied with the answer, but they've been answered. Two things in particular keep coming back:
WHERE IS HER BUMP!!!
This has been discussed over and over. If someone wants to ignore that this discussion has taken place here, they can't keep pretending it hasn't. Not here.
and
You mean to tell me nobody has blabbed or taken a picture and then put it on the internet where I can easily find it!!?
Apparently not. If that's your reality check, then that's your decision. Stop repeating it.
I actually have met quite a few celebrities I admired. Some encounters made me happy, others were very disappointing. I shrugged and moved on. I'm still a "fan" of them in the sense that I I enjoy their work and contributions.
DeleteJust to list an example, I am a great admirer of a certain A-list actor. I watch almost all of his movies and think he's just great. I also know that the A-list actor's public life is a complete sham. The A-list actor is gay and the parade of women he's 'dated' have all been handsomely paid to show up at awards shows/restaurants/"random sightings."
Do I feel "terrible, hurt, confused" because this actor is not the person he claims to be to his "fans"? No, not at all. It's his life, and I admire his craft on the screen, but I don't feel the need to go beyond that. I don't know him. I've never met him. Whatever he does has no effect on my day-to-day life.
The reason Tessa/Scott bait their "fans" the way they do is because they get so much attention! The kind of fan-dom you're referring to on the tumblr's and yes, this blog, is a "wraparound" fan-dom. Meaning fans who feel the need for acknowledgment, "respect," honesty, from Tessa/Scott, and feel "hurt" when they don't get it. But that's really ... well, it's really stupid. First of all, they're not going to behave that way because it's just not in their DNA. Second of all, if they put out a PSA: "Fuck all the fans. Y'all are suckers." What would happen? Would the fans not be able to get up in the morning? The sun won't shine anymore? If so, that's more than a little ridiculous.
I just wrote a comment with a paragraph about why fans don't post proof on the internet higher up in the comments section probably while you were writing this comment, OC.
DeleteHotels, hospitals, restaurants, retail stores - any worth their salt would never EVER comment on guests, patients, patrons. It doesn't matter how many employees of these establishments have seen the VM family out and about they will not comment - their livelihood depends on their discretion.
From 9:10:
"The blog is different than the tumblr and fan fic world because it is pointing out that Scott and Tessa are manipulating, lying, and how they are doing so. There's great resistance from parts of the fandom, because a lot of fandom is about getting a "fix" and a big way these fans get their fix is to look at what Scott and Tessa put out in the public and then analyze/discuss/speculate. It's like cutting off the supply to point out that Scott and Tessa are lying, and what these fans see isn't real, and their fan fic and speculation/observations are built off VM tricking them and exploiting their need for a fix, as it were.
If there's one thing I've learned about fandoms, it's that inside the fandom there become rival narratives and there's always a great need to shut down any discussion/narrative that makes the majority uncomfortable, or competes with what they want to be true. And yes, even shippers don't want the blog's story to be true, because as much as they ship, they don't want to believe Scott and Tessa are lying."
As a fan (and, honestly as a shipper) I want to see the good stuff - the cute stuff. It is the equivalent of a fix - it's more fuel for the shipper fire, definitely. And I do want it to be "real". I had to really grapple with the fact that if they were lying about their marriage and child it might mean that all the cute moments I get to see (the ones they choose to let me see), all the flirting and loving glances might all be lies also - just an act for the benefit of their "brand". That was hard to deal with. I think that's one of the hardest things for a lot of the shippers/fans to overcome in this whole scenario. But, I got over it.
"Hotels, hospitals, restaurants, retail stores - any worth their salt would never EVER comment on guests, patients, patrons. It doesn't matter how many employees of these establishments have seen the VM family out and about they will not comment - their livelihood depends on their discretion."
DeleteThey would, but not online. In cases where employment is at risk, often only in person, not even in email. By "in person", I'm not saying only trusted close friends. It could be at a party, in social conversation/gossip. But definitely not digital or virtual. There's lots of stories that "everybody knows" inside a particular industry or community, but isn't put online.
9:28, because this blog observes fandoms, it's going to be part of the pattern, but the pattern is driven by Scott and Tessa. You're a fan, but you're clearly not the sort of fan the sham is aimed towards. You're a fan of these people's work. The whole "shipper" piece of it is a different part of fandom, and is everywhere, but not the majority. Many people feel as you do. I understand how you feel, but I am interested in looking at another part of it.
DeleteThe blog is about how Virtue and Moir treat the people who don't feel as you do.
To Virtue and Moir, it's just more attention? That's their responsibility. When I started the blog, I was not going to get into the pattern of second guessing - oh, if I do THIS, they'll do THAT. Or, they'd LIKE when the blog does THIS (such as put a picture out there that was public for maybe an hour or so). You and I disagree about whether or not this is a legitimate subject for public conversation/examination. I think it's more important to look at it and examine it than worry about being "part of it". It's as valid a topic for examination as anything else that looks at how celebrity/marketing, pr intersects with the consumer.
Anything that's out in public is going to be part of what VM do - that's not my problem. They're obsessed with this stuff. They're as addicted as the fans. As the sham has gone on, I also think it's important to look at how many people whose job is communicating with the public are willing to lie for Scott and Tessa, and to ask WHY they are willing to lie for Scott and Tessa? The entertainment matrix - the network of event production, talent representation, corporate partnerships, marketing and promotion - that I understand. Tessa and Scott are a product, and like it or not, fans are the other.
Actual journalists, such as Steve Milton, willingly tricking the public on behalf of Scott and Tessa makes me wonder why. What is it that makes him think it's okay? The only answer I can come up with absent a conversation with the man is that skating fans are short bus fans and, as I've said a lot, Scott and Tessa are entitled to profit from having a bunch of skating fans, they're entitled to exploit the interest fans have in them to enhance their celebrity or the impression people have of their celebrity (look at that again - "celebrity or "impression" people have of their celebrity - that's another game that gets played a lot), they're entitled to troll fans to keep the interest going, and then they're entitled to protection from the consequences of their trolling (the protection part is complete bullshit). He's been recognized and awarded as a sports journalist. WHY is it okay to lie to this one group of people? What is he protecting Scott and Tessa from? The only people who can intrude on Scott and Tessa is the media, and the media isn't doing that and wouldn't do it.
I wonder why people who are employed by publicly funded institutions like the University of Western Ontario are comfortable hoaxing the public on social media. How does that get by? Everybody just signs off on "Oh fans - scum of the earth! Virtue and Moir's life wouldn't be manageable if online fans knew!" Seriously? And they continue to tell themselves this after the reality show?
How did Skate Canada - another institution with public funds - get by with dedicating its resources to a public hoax? If you scroll back through the blog, the blog was looking at that almost from day one.
9:28, you may not be hurt by the closeted actor, but I guarantee you there are many in the gay community that are hurt and angry that so many celebrities stay in the closet and the ones that tend to come out are those who already have stereotypically gay mannerisms and are in a glass closet of sorts. I have friends who believe that if every gay public figure came out tomorrow, and people could see the true spectrum of what gay looks like, that discrimination would end when people realized how many people are actually gay and how they don't all fit the negative stereotypes.
DeleteBut let's take your example and really compare it to VM. Let's say that this closeted actor has another actor that he's working with a lot over the years (maybe doing many sequels in a film franchise, or they work on the same long-running TV show). The actors have "chemistry" together and some people joke that they should be a couple. Then they take that and run with it. They start attending events together and showing warm physical affection, touching and flirting... they even kiss hello on the lips. When a reporter asks them if they're ever getting together, they say "not yet." The world is ready to think they're about to come out. They're barely even hiding it anymore! The fandom is thrilled they're about to break this barrier. But wait! All of a sudden, the actor has a new girlfriend! He looks visibly bored and grossed out by her, and continues to flirt with his male co-star in public. There are continual setups and letdowns on the same theme. And this cycle occurs over and over for 8 years.
And add to that that a trusted friend you know well who works in Hollywood tells you the two men actually got married in Europe years ago and are raising several children together.
I think that would be enough to make some people upset.
Oh, and btw, Skate Canada not only hoaxed the public, but Barb and Debbi actually trolled the public, just as Tessa and Scott do now.
Delete7:41PM - you said a lot but much of it is about what the blog didn't say. I don't do that.
DeleteThe blog doesn't mock fans on twitter or make fun of fans who are excited to spot Tessa at TIFF. The blog points out that the sightings, the pattern, the tagging, are likely plants. Not excited fans. Plants masquerading as excited fans. If excited fans with active twitter accounts were this common, we'd have a lot more Scott and Tessa on the web and not just what Scott and Tessa WANT on the web, which is tweets about how apart they are, and how they're with fake SOs. The blog and the comments section goes into it in a lot of detail, yet here you are translating that as making fun of fans.
10:24PM what if this gay actor and his close male friend did a reality show just like Scott and Tessa's.
DeleteAgain, I knew about the blog way before there was a blog. The blog started when Scott and Tessa continued to bait and troll the fans, and then mock the fans when they reacted to the trolling. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
What if the gay actor did this?
http://dubemoir.blogspot.com/2011/11/tessa-stop-that.html
Scroll down to the video of Scott and Tessa skyping about their extra day in Paris. There were also news articles about it, how they'd take some pictures. No mention of Jessica, or doing it with friends. Us. Our program. Our extra day. Nobody was asking or pressuring them. They set this up.
The blog called it as soon as they put it up. I knew exactly what they were doing.
This:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U65nOkbEdIY/UH3LeHq0ZzI/AAAAAAAABlY/3emLPb5kJ58/s1600/jessica+posing+for+scott.bmp
You really see a comparison between the closeted gay actor, his actual private life that he's actually protecting, and this kind of trolling?
"But let's take your example and really compare it to VM. Let's say that this closeted actor has another actor that he's working with a lot over the years (maybe doing many sequels in a film franchise, or they work on the same long-running TV show). The actors have "chemistry" together and some people joke that they should be a couple. Then they take that and run with it."
DeleteActually to tell you the truth this A-list actor DOES have a "good friend" and co-star that he has starred in very "shippy" movies with and shows up in publicly with that actor on a regular basis acting all cute and doing cutesy couply things like going to basketball games and stuff. But he has then turned around and "dated" yet another sham girlfriend, and there's been "sightings" of them at concerts and stuff.
And the A-list actor's large gay fan-dom (at least the ones I know) just shrug it off. They know he's gay, they know that he is shamming them, but he's pretty active in promoting gay rights and donates generously to AIDS research. And of course he's a wonderful actor. But I don't think they get "hurt" by his actions. They understand the showbiz game, and they either admire his acting enough to overlook the shamming or they don't care about all the sham girlfriends.
Are there "shippers" of A-list Actors X and Y who want them to get together? Yes, I'm sure there are, and that's where "fandom" loses me. If they were together, and got married in California, would it be nice? Yes it sure would. But that's not going to happen as long as both of them play heterosexual leading men.
I just think that the level of "hurt" exhibited by Tessa/Scott's sham is what leads them to sham more. They're not going to stop until they realize that no one gives a shit about whether Scott makes out with Kaitlin on a red carpet or not.
But obviously some V/M fans disagree.
https://twitter.com/natashankpr/status/507926811540729856
ReplyDeleteFwiw.
???
DeleteAbout the "both sides" thing - the anonymity of the commenters notwithstanding, it's worth considering that the sham-believing side are uniform when it comes to the basic facts. Everyone says they're married and have a little girl. There's no one out there claiming they are married, but have no children, or vice versa. No one is claiming that they have a boy, or that the kid was born when they missed the GP in 2008 rather than 2010. Everyone tells the same basic facts. And I'm sure some will say that's because they all are repeating OC, so it's up to you whether you want to believe these are all independent reports. I do. (Now someone will probably come out of the woodwork to claim that they have confirmation T&S are married with no kids lol).
ReplyDeleteThe non-sham side has lots of people who claim they have sources that know stuff, but the stories all contradict. I don't think I've ever seen two that can fit together. Some swore that Scott and Cassandra were practically engaged, while others say they were told he admitted (to whom, and when?) was just using her for sex. Some claim to know he's an alcoholic who abuses poor saintly Tessa. Other claim they know Tessa is a homewrecker who had an affair with Pelletier, and wasn't even trying to hide it! Some of the stories say that Tessa and Scott used to date, others say they have put their feelings aside for their career, sometimes knowingly but sometimes unwittingly.
So, it's a fact that at least some of those who claim they have their own sources that say Tessa and Scott definitely are not together are liars, because they cannot all be true.
All of these stories tend to flame out within a week of them being posted on tumblr or FSU. This blog has been here for years. The other people, who all claim to have sources, always seem to scramble to fit their theories into a box once something happens that contradicts them. OC never wavers. When Cassandra debuted, OC didn't go, "Oh, Tessa and Scott definitely are married, so he must be having an affair! Oh, the reality show says Tessa is single, I guess they got separated and didn't want to include their child on TV! Yes, Sochi was a last ditch attempt at reconciliation, but then they decided to amicably divorce and Tessa and K-Lawes are trying to be friends for the sake of her daughter!" The other anons who claim to have sources tend to over-rationalize and that tips off that they're making it all up.
You've made some very good points, 10:48.
DeleteI would also like to add that there are people that know the truth and talk about them being married and have a daughter, that do not like OC or come to this blog. Yet, they profess the same facts. I find it highly unlikely that different people, who disagree on most things, would make up exactly the same extraordinary story about VM. If they just wanted attention and people to believe them, there are other stories, as presented above, that could easily be made up about them.
This is not to mention all the supporting evidence that is out there, (the congratulations, her looking pregnant when she was, statements made by them/friends/family, behaviours, etc.)