It was Team Challenge week on Dancing On Ice in Week 7 with Team Beth (Beth Tweddle, Keith Chegwin, Samia Ghadie) taking on Team Matt (Matt Lapinskas, Gareth Thomas, Luke Campbell). The format was similar to the last series with each celebrity performing with their partner then then whole team performing a team routine. The winning team would get their individual judges scores doubled.
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The show was opened by Olly Murs singing his new single, Army of Two.
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Keith Chegwin and Olga Sharutenko were first up on the ice , skating to 20th Century Boy by 70’s band T. Rex. It was a flamboyant performance which earned a score of 25 from the judges, Keith’s best scores of the series.
Robin: I would love the skating to be cleaned up slightly but the performance was great
Jason: It was like watching a camp Peter Stringfellow on ice. I love that you do something different and you rise to the challenge
Karen: You give 100% every week
Ashley: A fun and bold personality. You have fun and we do and the audience does.
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Luke Campbell and Jenna Smith were second up, performing to Train’s Drive By. It was a slightly cautious approach by Luke which scored 24.5. It was clear Luke was out of his comfort zone.
Jason: It felt to me you weren’t connected with the performance. It didn’t feel like you were present in that routine
Karen: The routine was great but there was something missing this week. It’s the posture.
Ashley: What was missing was a bit of the fun and the connection with the partner
Robin: You are good enough to be given a difficult routine. Your lack of confidence makes us concentrate on your technique
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Beth Tweddle and Daniel Whiston were the last of the couples to skate, dancing to That Man by Caro Emerald. A score of 30.5 was for me slightly harsh again although Beth struggles to come across as naturally enthusiastic.
Jason: There wasn’t enough bounce and carefree nature in the Charleston. Also you dipped in energy in the middle of the routine
Ashley: This was a character piece and you gave expressions. I was proud that you paid attention to being a character
Robin: It is brilliant to see you working together. Be slightly more carefree
Karen: A well polished routine. A great performance.
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Matt Lapinskas and Brianne Delcourt performed to A Change is Gonna Come by Seal. Matt was quite restrained last week after a skate-off scare the previous week. The pressure seemed to have got to him a little so we were looking for him to be back to his confident best. He delivered and a score of 35.5 was well deserved for a strong technical and emotional performance. Top score of the series by far!
Ashley: Matt is back. The partnership you guys have is great.
Robin: A sincere performance. You allowed it to happen.
Jason: It’s wonderful to see you back on form. You committed fully to that performance. I loved it
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Gareth Thomas and Robin Johnstone skated to Turn Around by Conor Maynard & Ne-Yo. It was a high energy routine with some difficult spins and lifts, with one little stumble, which earned a 29.5. Gareth felt he was chasing the routine a little but it was a difficult routine.
Karen: A good performance
Ashley: You did good. The upper body needs a little work. I want to see your ballet hands
Robin: The first half was brilliant but the stumble showed up in difficult choreography
Jason:
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Samia Ghadie and Sylvain Longchambon skated to Aqua’s Barbie Girl. We call Samia “the air stewardess” in our house as she spends most of her time off the ground (being held in a lift by Sylvain). So it was nice to see her skating on her own a bit this week. Even though most of the time she was just standing, walking or going in a straight line. A score of 27 was probably fair but I struggle with seeing Samia still in the competition when her tecnical skating is probably worse than those eliminated in Week 3 and 4. Samia and Sylvain do look good as a couple though.
Karen: It was a great character piece. You proved you could skate as well
Jason: You kind of lost the characterisation through the piece
Robin: I was surprised your face stayed animated when you skated on your own
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It was then time for the Team Challenge with Team Matt (Matt Lapinskas, Gareth Thomas, Luke Campbell), dancing to MC Hammer’s U Can’t Touch This. It was a slightly tedious routine to be honest despite the audience applause.
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Team Beth (Beth Tweddle, Keith Chegwin, Samia Ghadie) skated second, performing their routine to Gangnam Style by PSY. Despite having, on paper, slightly weaker skaters the routine was more fun so it was interesting to see how the judges would split the teams.
Karen Barber, Ashley Roberts and Robin Cousins voted for Team Matt as they had the greater techncial skills, whilst Jason Gardiner went for Team Beth as he felt they worked better as a team. It was a difficult call which left the judges leaderboard looking like this:
- 35.5 Matt Lapinskas (71 after score doubled for winning team challenge)
- 29.5 Gareth Thomas (59 after score doubled for winning team challenge)
- 24.5 Luke Campbell (49 after score doubled for winning team challenge)
- 30.5 Beth Tweddle
- 27 Samia Ghadie
- 25 Keith Chegwin
So it looks as if Keith is pretty vulnerable and likely to end up in the skate-off again. Will it be Luke joining him? We will find out who left Dancing On Ice In Week 7 in the results show later.
For full scoring and Dancing On Ice leaderboard see Dancing On Ice results
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