Splash: It Must Be Love

He's so over you, Dustin.

It's the end of an ear etc etc...

NB There is no evidence Splash! is to be axed.

Splash!: Sponsored Content

Don't forget to watch the final of Splash! on ITV on Saturday.
Here is a new promo shot of our Tom, in case you've forgotten what she looks like.
This could be the greatest TV thingy since Carl Sagan's Cosmos.

PS Yes, I did apply for tickets, and was even prepared to travel to Luton, but I think it's fair to presume I haven't got them now.

Splash!: Bellyflop?

No, it's not James!

Tom Daley: Just Because

Dustin, he's just not that into you.
*sadface*

Thanks to Poofnose From Essex. x

More Gifs from the Tom and Dan Splash! show!

Tom Daley: What's Not Wrong With This Picture?

Tom Daley: Oops!

Pictured in Tesco recently.

Thanks - yet again - to Christian. x

Update: Splash! viewing figures now at an all-time low - 3.7million.
All the bummers were probably watching Kylie on The Voice.
Traitors!
Tom, I'm here for you, babes. x

She's also now appearing at the Vauxhall Tavern!

Tom & Dustin: Together At Last!

Tonight friends, a little bit of gay history has been made!
Our Tom posted this - the first official photo of him and Lance - on his Instagram thing just a bit ago.
The gay Twittersphere has gone into meltdown.
Like JFK's assassination, the Moon Landing or Nelson Mandela walking free from prison, people will always remember where they were when they heard this news.
Will we ever be the same again?
Won't last grumble grumble mutter etc etc...

Update: Then they went onto G-A-Y at Heaven, a popular homosexual haunt!
Here you can see them "cuddle up in the dark".
Just like people!

I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here: So Farewell Then

In a shock result lovable simpleton Joey Essex has been voted out of I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here.
Fagburn thought the picture above would be the best - and most topical - way of illustrating this sad news.
Remember the good times, Joey!

Has Nick Grimshaw developed a crush on Joey Essex since he’s been in the jungle on I’m A Celebrity?
Speaking on his Radio 1 Breakfast show about The Only Way Is Essex fave, the lovely Grimmy, 29, gushed: “He’s a lovely colour. He’s obviously been working out and he looks a little bit better dishevelled.
"Usually he’s so pristine, he’s unfanciable. It’s like fancying a Ken doll. But now he’s gone a bit rough round the edges, he’s looking all right. Or so a friend says.”

Yeah, Nick. A friend…

Daily Mirror, November 27th. 

Little things like this remind Fagburn why he loves these modern times.

Tom Daley: Brand Management

Recollection and emotion are inextricably linked. This means that the most memorable views are often captured by someone else. Think about it. So how wise and brave of Tom Daley to tell his own story. In his own time and in his own words.

Whatever the outcome of this, he can rise above it. He got there first and delivered his message without innuendo and showed us how great is the value of honesty. For brands these days, authenticity is vital. If there is one strain of conventional wisdom pervading every single brand, it's the importance of differentiation. And these days exceptions rule.

So Olympic diver Daley has revealed he is in a relationship with a man. The London 2012 bronze medallist has decided to use YouTube as the means to out his narrative. This is an impressive example of strategic control. Daley demonstrates why celebrity brands must quickly embrace transparency in an open and candid way, before a high-profile TV vehicle catapults them to prime time. Modern PR folk are not simply paid intermediaries to broker a message. Lord knows the entertainment world has made a lot of mistakes, but it's greatest weapon has always been the power to get ahead of all the issues that can derail a promotional bandwagon.

Thanks to the internet, brands can take control of their narrative, ahead of the coruscating heat of social media, and before our mischievous blogsphere undermines them. Businesses should learn from Daley. In a world defined by issues of trust and corporate transparency, differentiation in its real sense is not a tactic. It's just a new mindset that comes from listening and absorbing, in order to emerge further forwards. Courage is required to move into a space that might prove disruptive. But we have to learn to be brave – great stories rarely emerge from a timid culture.

Daley is a celebrity brand embedded into the nation's heart and, like Clare Balding, has a unique brand truth. Clearly the much discussed narrative surrounding Daley has been a speculated on for months. So Daley has taken the step to shape the narrative in advance of a high-profile TV format, ITV entertainment show Splash!, returning to our screens. It suggests the recent Sunday tabloid editorial return to kiss-and-tells has influenced his decision to stop all the hyped hypotheses. Clever. Brands (and individuals in the public eye) require a longer-term view with the ability to react in real time. With a believable narrative, agility, flexibility, a willingness to exercise judgment and a skill for improvisation. Today's world of over-abundance, excess, data and a dizzying array of social technology requires celebrities and brands to produce compelling explanations and demonstrations of truth. It's a fast-moving – a crazy world – it's difficult to succeed. Failing to project the real you will only lead to a painful deconstruction of a spun truth. Daley teaches us some valuable lessons.

We should all be reminded of something we all too often forget. Conversation and business is at heart a human endeavour. Which means that the essential requirement is an acute sensitivity to what makes consumers and the crowd tick....

Mark Borkowski, "Top PR Guru" etc, congratulates our Tom on his "media control" for MediaGuardian.

Interesting.

And the first to speculate Tom may have feared he was about to be outed by a tabloid.

This practice is not extinct - though he wasn't in the closet this is basically what the Mail and Sun did to Paul Flowers...

PS On Guardian Unlimited Joe Stone notes how refreshingly unspun and PR-like Tom's coming out was. 

Tom Daley: Screaming

Various variations of this screengrab from last night's Splash! were pinged around the virtual world in the last 24 hours.
It's our Tom with Olympic boxer Anthony Ogogo.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
Ho ho ho.
I thought it was funny, but it's also rather sad.
And it's ultimately meaningless.

If you looked hard enough you could probably find photos of Fred Phelps that look like he's checking out some hot dude's bulge.
I know I've made jokes about Tom too many times myself, though like most people, I know nothing for sure, except he's clearly screaming.
I wonder if he even knows himself?

I do worry about Tom, now he's become a Saturday teatime TV superstar and is regularly exposing himself - meaning just by being himself - he'll just be the subject of ever more scrutiny and speculation - check Twitter for endless comments just on how he walks and talks.
Such is the power of social media this chatter will inevitably transfer into the papers.
This is the modern world; a virtual world where being in the closet is now virtually impossible.
And PR feeds and pap shots to the press about his possible "girlfriends" will ultimately only make it worse.
It's already seeping in, slow as sludge for now - nudge-nudge wink-wink ho ho ho etc.  
It's usually quite benign good ribbing, who do you think writes celeb mags and tabloid gossip pages? 
It's queens and their courts who think that being gay is almost boringly normal - and that now it's being in the closet that's a little queer. 
While meanwhile the poor boy could be dying inside, silently screaming. 
What a world.

Splash!: The Second Coming

To be fair, however, the atmosphere did seem pretty electric — thanks to a pool-side audience of hysterical Tom Daley fans. If Splash! is anything — and that’s something still very much up for debate — then it is the result of a meeting during the Olympics where someone at ITV1 went, “A lot of people fancy British bronze medallist Tom Daley, don’t they? He’s like Harry Styles, but wet. Can anyone think of a show format in less than a minute which will allow us to put him on prime-time, in clingy trunks?” 

Caitlin Moran in The Times. 
This was one of the kinder reviews.
Also note a rare non-gender-specific description of his fans and who fancies him.

PS Here's a highly selective selection of tweets showing what the great British public make of Tom and the show. "My mum thinks Tom Daley is gay, she can just fuck right of" etc etc.

PPS I heard a rumour that fans of the diving will enjoy the next issue of GT...

Tom Daley's Mum: J'Accuse

Dear Mr Sparkes,

We last spoke at Loughborough in June 2011 after you asked for Tom to do a favour for you and open a sports park at Loughborough. I don't believe that you spoke much to Tom directly in 2012, other than to briefly congratulate him on his medal. Since the media is your preferred method of communication, I thought that I should do the same.
As Tom's mum, I take a lot of pride in the way he handles himself. I am sure that he will make mistakes along the way, but to date he is doing a lot right. I find it incredible that you want to criticise him so publicly, when he does so much for your organisation and for sport in the UK - and worse, you do it by giving your opinion without any thought. You did not speak to Tom - or his agent - first. Is this a good way for a CEO to operate? 
As far as I'm aware, Tom was one of the few major success stories for British Swimming this summer... and possibly one of the athletes that helped you retain your job. Others say that your performance was the worst of any CEO in British sport. Surely you should be thanking Tom and showing your support and gratitude?
The Daily Mail.

Debbie Daley writes an open letter to David Sparkes, British Swimming's chief executive, who - again - has publicly criticiised Tom Daley's non-diving commitments.
Bit odd to place it with the Mail, though. 
Please read it all. 
What a wonderful woman.

Tom Daley: Let's Get Wet

7.15pm ITV1.

Update: The backlash begins. 
Now he's a proper TV star the whispers about our Tom could get deafening.
Fagburn wonders which newspaper will be the first to refer to him as "camp"? *

Update 2: "Splash! makes Dancing on Ice and Celebrity Big Brother feel like cerebral workouts of the highest order. Yes, it is clear it was meant to be in some way “knowing”, but Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway-meets-Banzai this 'aint. The producers missed the target on every level, and although they might still (with another month to run and 5 million plus watching episode one) think it's a Total Wipeout killer for a “post-ironic” generation... I think most will remember it more simply as Total Crap." Radio Times online.
(Edit: Most reviews on Monday, like the Mirror, described it as a "bellyflop", and despite good ratings said it was "a new low" for TV. Your correspondent is, as ever, right behind Tommy).
Poor Tom. : (

Update 3: "I've got no time for girls..." EntertainmentWise. Uh-huh.

* See Photo 10b on heatworld.com.
Could this be the start of something?

Tom Daley: Splash!

VERNON Kay is to present a new celebrity diving show called Splash!
Vern, who fronted sports entertainment series Let’s Get Gold in July, will co-host the ITV1 show with former Wales international gymnast Gabby Logan.
Olympic medal-winning diver Tom Daley will train celebs including Katie Price’s ex Leandro Penna and TOWIE’s Joey Essex...

The Sun.

Swings.
Roundabouts...

Update: And how big is this photo of Tom in a later edition?