'Dancing On Ice' is ditching the skate-off this weekend.
Dancing On Ice judges Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean
Producers are shaking up the format of the competition to make things harder than ever for the celebrities, because the two lowest-ranking couples will no longer have the option of impressing judges Jayne Torvill, Christopher Dean, Ashley Banjo and Oti Mabuse to keep their place in the competition.
Instead, the judges scores will be combined with the public votes and the couple placed at the bottom will automatically be sent home.
A source told The Sun newspaper's TV Biz column: “You might think there being no dreaded skate off would be a good thing, but actually it means the celebs have no safety net - there’ll be no saving of favourites, or forgiving a misstep.
“The celeb will be judged entirely on how they skate and how the audience reacts to that skate.
“The stakes are higher than ever.”
On Sunday (29.01.23), all 10 remaining couples will perform for the first time, with the stars divided across the first two shows and the lowest-place each week competing in last weekend's skate-off.
This led to week two's John Fashanu and his professional partner Alexandra Schauman being voted off by the judges following a skate-off against Ekin-Su Culcologlu and Brendyn Hatfield after they had placed lowest in the series opener.
Speaking to co-hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby after his exit was announced, John said when asked if he had enjoyed his brief stint on the show: “Oh, it’s been great.”
He added it was like the FA Cup final all over again.
When Phillip asked: “Will you carry on skating?” John replied: “Oh yes! I shall carry on skating and who knows, I might even start teaching people.”
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