But it seems that the judging maybe they shouldn’t at least see the practices all week long. That can taint the way they go into the judging and the outlook of what’s going to happen, instead of just watching those four minutes and judging on those minutes alone.

Kerrigan is arguing for a stricter separation between preparation and evaluation in figure skating. By suggesting judges should not watch a skater’s practices “all week long,” she implies that familiarity, expectations, and narrative momentum can bias scoring before the official performance begins. Her emphasis on “those four minutes” frames competition as something that should be decided only by the sanctioned program, not by reputation, training-session impressions, or perceived trajectory. The quote reflects a broader, recurring debate in judged sports: whether transparency and access (judges seeing more) improves accuracy, or whether it introduces subtle prejudgments that undermine fairness.