Child genius -which bright spark decided to put it on on a Tuesday???

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Anyone watching?

You can suggest it tho maybe?

It was filmed at Trinity Laban Dance MaryBerrysEyelashes www.trinitylaban.ac.uk/about-us/great-facilities/faculty-dance/architecture

Thanks. Was stunning.

Probably also worth remembering that apparently natural scenes will have been staged or propmted by adults, but edited so they look as if they happened spontaneously.

So there could be
Scenario A. The producers think it will round things off nicely if Thomas goes and says a few kind words to Sasha after his victory, so the scene is staged.
Scenario B. Thomas's Mum and stepdad think Thomas should say a few kind words to Sasha, so he does as suggested
Scenario C. Thomas suddenly thinks, 'I should check how Sasha feels and say a few kind words.'

There can be a sort of combination of the above, where a spontaneous scene is then acted out a second time because the first time the sound wasn't right or someone got in the way. Or the editing can make it appear that one thing happened straight after another - when there was actually a gap.

"I honestly think I was watching a different programme!"

I think you were too!

Thomas seemed perfectly fine to me - he was extraordinarily ahead of all the others and was excited at points, so he was very bouncy.
Sasha- on the other hand - was so annoying - with her 'd it for the girls' - err girls have won for the past two years. Nd her hatred of boys as stupid. But they are children - so should not be judged - and the thing has been edited so what can one really know? I am very happy that a mixed comprehensive school kid won rather than some sort of North London girls private school kid.

Fascinating that feminists are always in the wrong- even when they are 12!

I really liked Thomas. I thought he was actually a really nice boy- very happy and not really big headed, unlike others on the programme. He is one of the most likeable and definitely the most naturally gifted child that has been on the programme. He deserved to win.

The asking about others scores was off, but he is a twelve year old who had been hyped up by the competition and was excited. I can forgive him for being irritating and insensitive. Sasha was hardly Miss Lovely herself.

Thomas should be very proud of himself. I hope that he manages to keep on an even keel (his mum seemed level headed so I think he should) and goes on to great things. The things he could do and the impact he could have as an adult is truly exciting...

noble I'm not going to bother, did I say he was autistic? I said he seemed like he had the traits. Anyway, it does't matter, it was an observation. Next time I won't bother writing in my opinions.

Yes "Maybe* The Laban is beautiful, I used to dance there in my prime.

Thomas indeed was excellent.

anon didn't they say Sasha was at a grammar school rather than private?

"The asking about others scores was off, but he is a twelve year old who had been hyped up by the competition and was excited. I can forgive him for being irritating and insensitive. Sasha was hardly Miss Lovely herself."

What on earth did Sasha do wrong?[ hmm]

Sasha didn't do anything wrong. Her only 'crime' was that she didn't make as 'good' TV as Thomas (or David for e.g. from earlier rounds). So less airtime meant we didn't get to see her 'off competition' side. She was extremely capable and more mature than some of the others but with editing came across a little too serious I think. Programmes like these are 'written' in the editing suite - not at all a total representation of the 'real'.

Wasn't there something about Sasha thinking boys were idiots?

We don't know Sasha wasn't shown because she didn't make good TV. Perhaps her mum didn't sign the forms for filming at home.

Sasha was filmed at home, she went to a girls grammar school and her mum wanted her to mix with intelligent boys, because she hadnt known any. she was a feminist, apparently.
her sister's looked a little fed up with her.
She did well to come second.
I thought Thomas was lovely, as was his mum, and got a little teary at the end when mum told him his dad would be looking down at him.

These kids are all so young, none of them struck me as arrogant or big headed, Thomas was happy that he knew so much and that he won , Sasha didnt come across so well, but then, she is only 12.

*her Older sister looked a little fed up with her.
hard on the siblings, all this attention on their supposed genius sibling

"Wasn't there something about Sasha thinking boys were idiots?"

She said the boys in her year 6 class were. Ask most year 6 girls what they think of the boys in their class.....................

Actually, ask a lot of boys what they think of the other boys in their year 6 class...........!

People who make good television.

Parents whose encouragement of their children takes unusual forms. Who push them in ways that verge on abusive. Who are happy to throw words like 'genius' around.

Families with an interesting backstory. This could be an immigration story or a story about child who is being encouraged to step into she shoes of a family member.

Unusual children. Children who like to talk a great deal and perform. Children who are unusually dressed. (Small children in the kind of formal wear that very few adults choose to put on.) Children who are so painfully introverted that speaking to a camera causes them difficulty, and who are frequently on the verge of tears.

People who don't make good television.

Relatively ordinary families who may have a bright child, but don't feel quantities of public exposure will necessary benefit that child - and who are likely to have withheld consent for more than minimal filming if that child has put themselves forward for an event that's being televised. People who are measured and reserved.

"People who are measured and reserved"

Yep- as exemplified by people's reaction to Sasha on this very thread. I find it extraordinary that anyone could find Thomas a more attractive personality than Sasha, and excuse his constant brattiness. But that's telly, I suppose.

It's odd that you are willing to excuse the 'boys are idiots' as the understandable reaction of a girl, but not the excited boy asking other contestants what their scores were.

I don't think we saw enough of Sasha to decide how likeable she was, but I am very surprised to see people having a go at Thomas, who throughout the show was shown to be hardworking, conscientious and generally quite self-possessed. At the start of the series we saw the other kids coming up to him and saying that he was doing amazingly well, not the other way around. He talked about how he had the potential to be intelligent but that he needed to work hard too; I've taught many much less bright and much older students than him who would do well to acknowledge that.

I thought that both kids (in fact all the finalists) came across as really nice. Remember they are 12 and 12 year olds are generally a bit obnoxious. (No longer little enough that everything they say is cute, not yet mature enough to think carefully what they say, a load of raging hormones.) Plus the camera probably took dozens of hours of each of them and then only showed the "interesting" (ie obnoxious) bits. If you filmed me all day yesterday you could probably find a couple of minutes where I look a right old cow too.

Add in that we don't know what the film producers were saying in the background (I suspect "talk about whether the girls will win or the boys will win".)

With Thomas's dad again I suspect a lot of "help" from the producers to get to that point. In this type of programme the parents are often asked "where do you think your child's abilities come from" in the hope that the parents will say "me" and do a massive boast about their own achievements. I suspect it will just go on from there. ("Do you have any photos of Thomas as a baby", "do you think his dad would be proud of him", etc etc.)

"t's odd that you are willing to excuse the 'boys are idiots' as the understandable reaction of a girl, but not the excited boy asking other contestants what their scores were."

Not excusing- just saying that it is the pretty universal view of year 6 girls about their boy classmates. Whereas I don't think Thomas's behaviour- the constant noise when others were trying to work, the constant "what did you get?" is universal. As I said, he needed an older sibling to squash him a bit- or a less worshipping mother to use my father's phrase "not of general interest" at the dinner table!