Comments on: Nigel was So Out of Line

By: Ben Franklin

Ben Franklin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:46:37 +0000

I’m offended by the Twilight people ruining the show every season. Nigel’s anger was long over due. We’ve seen so many sexy women kicked off the show early in season’s past. Anya, Asuka, “Snow” to name a few.

The problem is, voting these talented women off the show ruins the show’s credibility, kills off viewership, and is embarrassingly hypocritical as these jerk voters will vote for a guy because “he’s soooooooooooooo cute”, and yet complain about a woman who is beautiful and sexy; regardless of dance.

It’s only too bad Nigel backed down from his comments, because it’s something that needs to be said, like “hey America, you’re stupid…and fat”.

By: Ronnica

Ronnica — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:57:46 +0000

So apparently I miss all the controversy when I’m out of the country! I watched the dances, but I didn’t hear about this…I’m going to have to try to find it on Youtube!

By: John

John — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:38:35 +0000

Margaret,
Interesting thoughts about Karen. I decided to make your comment into a post so more people would see it and can join the conversation about it. You can find the new thread: http://www.puresytycd.com/2009/11/16/nigels-comments-about-karen-hauers-sensuality/

I’ll leave my comments about it on that thread.

By: Margaret

Margaret — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:29:55 +0000

so i know we’ve talked and talked about what Nigel said to Nathan, but something that struck me last night as I was watching the hilarious Michael Ausiello from EW talking about SYTYCD was how sexist what he said to Karen was during the results show. He told her that younger female contestants would be “intimidated by her sensuality” and her face just fell. They seem to be wanting to portray her as the “sexpot” divorcée, and I feel like that’s exactly the opposite of who she is. If you’re going to call her out, then call Ryan out, I mean, the guy looks like a Greek adonis and I didn’t hear Nigel calling him out for being “intimidating” to the younger guys! Don’t get me wrong, I think Karen is beautiful and she is a wonderful dancer, unfortunately I think the way that they’re portraying her is not only hurting her vote-wise, but I think it’s hurting Kevin as well that they basically keep saying, “you were great, but your partner was better and she looked totally hot.”

am I alone in my crazy thinking here?

By: Sam-Mo

Sam-Mo — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:33:54 +0000

I agree with James G. on this; public humiliation is the LAST pedagogical method you would ever use on someone who you’re trying to teach. If Nigel really wanted Nathan to become a more mature dancer, he should have called him out in a way that allowed Nathan to save face. As soon as you attack someone in a (very) public forum, the response will be mostly affective (as seen by the audience) and have less to do with the actual content that wants changing.

By: Ms. D

Ms. D — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:36:58 +0000

I won’t argue that “how” he said it was a bit rough, but “what” he said was very true. However, I’m going to give Nigel the benefit of the doubt and assume that he thought it needed to be done in that manner at that time. Some people need public humiliation before they “get it.” I don’t know if that’s the case with Nathan, but obviously Nigel (who’s there with him every week) thought so. And his only apology has been towards the audience… not to Nathan. So that speaks volumes to me, especially since it’s quite a departure from the norm with Nigel.

By: James G.

James G. — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:13:18 +0000

My disagreement with Nigel’s method is that he did it on national television. It made for bad TV, and came off as an attempt to humiliate rather than tough love. Nigel should have taken Nathan aside after the performance show, and had a serious talk with him. If Nathan kept this up, then I could see taking this approach, but there isn’t much evidence that this has been a long time coming.

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:09:04 +0000

As far as Nathan goes, I gather (from the Internet? Nigel’s interviews? Rumors?) that Nigel thinks Nathan has gotten a big head and developed a complacent attitude. Is it true? I have no inside info. so I obviously have no idea, but I assume that Nigel does have some inside info. and insight on this, and I assume that it must be a factor in how he treated Nathan.

Can Nigel be too harsh, not just in this instance but in general? Yes, definitely. But — he has a right to demand and insist on a dedicated effort and work ethic from the dancers, and, as I stated above, if he thinks that he’s not getting it than I can understand why he’d be quite angry. Moreover, I do believe, as harsh as Nigel is, that it’s his way of trying to be constructive, to motivate Nathan to shape up. This is kind of his strong tea, man-to-man pep talk to Nathan. Again, it may very well be too harsh, and lots of people might feel angry and resentful about such a pep talk, not motivated to do better. But my defense of Nigel is, that it does seem to me that there are mitigating factors here that made him speak like that.

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:56:03 +0000

John, I guess I’d have to say, respectfully, that you completely lost me with your last paragraph. In trying to make your point, I think you go overboard here. I don’t believe that most of the show’s audience is indifferent to technique and just wants to be entertained, etc. I guess I think that’s an exaggeration, and if the show operated on that premise then it would rapidly lose credibility and wind up being a very different kind of show than it is now.

Nigel & the producers always say how important personality and charisma are, so they don’t just pick the 20 most technically great dancers to be on the show. But I don’t think you should confuse that issue with the fact that the Top 20 are always (with rare exceptions) seriously skilled dancers, not just entertainers. If that weren’t so, this show would be more like Dancing with the Stars, where we are “entertained” by the circus-like antics of Cloris Leachman or Steve Wozniak, or fed the predictable diet of mediocre dancing that comes from amateurs.

By: Margaret

Margaret — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:25:52 +0000

I guess I forgot part of my thought, I understood Nigel’s point and I didn’t have a problem with it, but I did have a problem with the passive agressive way that he addressed his unhappiness that Nathan and Mollee weren’t in the bottom on the results show as well as the way he talked to Nathan after their performance.

I definitely fall into the category of wanting that great entertainment, and I keep getting the feeling that they can’t make up their minds if they want to stress technique or stress performance. I want both! I think in hindsight looking back on this season, this will be a blip on the radar for Nathan, he’s a great performer and he has great technique. They keep saying that this show is all about growth, and this is the perfect thing for Nathan to grow from. I wish that Nigel had apologized in some way other than over Twitter, it’s not exactly the most personal way of communication. I’d be shocked if he didn’t address it next week.

Ah! I just can’t figure out how I feel about this. When Nathan said “I felt hot!” or whatever it was, Mary and Adam laughed! I keep going back and forth, giving him kudos for trying to diffuse and awkward situation, and wanting to tell him “appreciate this!” I wonder what would have happened if they had gone earlier in the night. These guys were 2nd to last to go, and it had been a pretty rough night overall, I wonder if Nigel would have reacted the way he did if they had gone in the first hour of taping…just a thought.