It was love week on Dancing On Ice in the run up to Valentine’s day. With seven couples left the main contenders seem to be Beth Tweddle, Gareth Thomas and Matt Lapinskas.
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Gareth Thomas and Robin Johnstone opened the show to Beneath Your Beautiful by Labrinth (feat. Emeli Sandé). It was a controlled performance to a slow number which earned a score of 30, the best Gareth and Robin have scored in this series.
Robin: What a way to start. The hands were lovely and the quality of the skating and the lifts was brilliant.
Ashley: You melted my heart tonight
Jason: I would have liked to see more tenderness and vulnerability. You need to soften the arms a little more. You are working in the right direction
Karen: A brand new lift performed brilliantly. It was gentle and very very beautiful.
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Joe Pasquale and Vicky Ogden skated to Tiptoe Through the Tulips by Michael Holliday & Edna Savage. Joe has started to show some good skating skills, although he is way behind most of the others but a score of 18.5 was not embarrassing.
Karen: Some improvements in the skating this week. Your best routine so far.
Jason: There was a lot more content this week with an increase in skating technique. You were leading Vicky at times
Robin: I sat through that routine knowing you were quite comfortable moving across the ice
Ashley: I’d tiptoe through some tulips with you Joe
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Matt Lapinskas and Brianne Delcourt performed to Ho Hey by The Lumineers. After Matt’s scare in the skate-off last week he looked quite down in the rehearsal footage. It was a cautious rather than a charged performance but it was well skated. It was clear Matt had lost a bit of confidence but a score of 28.5 was a solid one.
Robin: For me this wasn’t the same Matt we’ve seen. You have lost a bit of something special tonight
Ashley: You had fun out there. I could tell there wasn’t quite the fierceness of Matt
Robin: The mind was concentrating on the feet a little. You need the control of tonight and the bravado of the usual Matt
Karen: You found the performance tonight.
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Samia Ghadie and Sylvain Longchambon performed to Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You. It is well overdue for Samia to skate on her own a little but there was no sign of it this week. It was a good looking performance but close to zero solo skating with Sylvain managing Samia’s every move. A score of 22 was again more for the look than the technical ability. Samia thinks she is competing in “Being Held On Ice” rather than Dancing On Ice.
Ashley: There were moments when it was beautiful.
Robin: You were in Sylvain’s hands for 99.9% of the time. The smoke and mirrors of the lift hid this a bit. You need to skate on your own.
Karen: Keep trying to skate on your own
Jason: You have plateaued. You are not improving. You are great with Sylvain but he controls everything you do on the ice.
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Luke Campbell and Jenna Smith skated to Buddy Holly’s Everyday. Luke looks like is trying to raise his game and was originally going for a pressage lift in this week’s routine but he sprained his wrist in rehearsals so went for something a little gentler. He is starting to look less like a boxer and more like a skater but he still needs to work on his timing. Some nice moves though which earned a score of 24 from the judges. Jason embarrassed himself by not spotting the pressage lift wasn’t in the routine – much to Karen’s amusement.
Robin: Every week you improve something. You need to be a stronger skater
Jason: You looked a little like Brains from Thunderbirds but you are improving. Please do stop licking your lips. I notice everything including the pressage lift
Karen: You may notice everthing Jason but there was no pressage lift, we took it out. Luke is improving week on week.
Ashley: Just make sure your arms are stronger.
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Keith Chegwin and Olga Sharutenko performed to All About You by McFly. They do look good as a skating partnership and Keith looks comfortable on the ice. He certainly knows how to smile and he looked happy with a score of 22, his best so far. He could be destined for the skate-off this week though. He is equal with viewers favourite Samia on the judges scoring with only another viewer favourite, Joe Pasquale, below him. So assuming Samia and Joe stay out of the skate-off again, Keith is my tip to leave.
Robin: You are in control of your routine and you clearly looked like you were enjoying yourself
Jason: You are so delightful to watch. Your enjoyment on the ice is infectious. You are good enough to improve the technical side
Karen: You are very capable on the ice
Ashley: Your smile lights up the room. Watch your arms though.
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Beth Tweddle and Daniel Whiston closed the show, skating to We Found Love by Rihanna. It looked a difficult routine in training with the headbanger and a whirly bird included. The routine was technically challenging with Beth now delivering an artistic performance as well as good skating. A score of 29.5 seemed slightly harsh given the technical difficulty of the routine but keeps her in contention, just 0.5 points behind Gareth.
Ashley: I thought the tricks were good but you need to up the emotional content
Karen: For me that was the whole package. It had difficulty as well as performance
Jason: I thought technique wise you are head and shoulders above the others. But there was a part of the routine that needed more intensity
Robin: We know you had the great tricks but we wanted the skating performance. We saw two amazing tricks. Next week we need the skating performance and the tricks
For full scoring and Dancing On Ice leaderboard see Dancing On Ice results
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