DANCING ON ICE - WEEK 3

Week three of ITV's Dancing on Ice.

Chris and Jayne were brilliant with their opening routine. The setting up of the James Bond entry of Chris superb, and the risk of not getting the clasp done up quickly as jayne skated over and had diamonds put round her neck scared me. You can't afford to get it worng. This is live! What a great opening.

Claire was again the skating star. 5.5 was well deserved. As i said on air I think she can present out even more and I agree with jason about her giving more Oomph (my expression not his) to her dancing. that is her main challenge.

Kay skated with freedom and a "This might be the last time I'm going to skate so just enjoy it" abandon, for the skate off. This gave a better flow (FLOW - by this I mean more coverage over the ice). Kay had a more relaxed approach and a much better performance in the skate off than in the competition to my eyes.

Skate Off So What (perhaps that's what we should call it? We saw this happen last year with Stephane and Kristina and John and Natalia. Stephane was amazing in the skate off , he beat John and John left the show. Which we were all upset about as we wanted him to stay! That's the pig of being a judge sometimes you just have to choose the best at that moment - that's the job. I'm sure John got me back for my marking though. He did encourage me to wear a bright lime green bow tie for the last show. I did look daft! Thanks John...

Lisa was showing more skating along with her super presentation skills and Kyran had a packed programme. He is really skating out too. No wonder he got so tired in the week he is giving it his all.

I'm impressed by the quality of Lee's skating. He has the look of a classic male ice dancer. Slim, long legs, he looks the part. A long way to go with learning more show business presentation and skating skills but he could be a very elegant ice dancer. As you might have heard me say on air.

Duncan had a bit of a stutter. This can be good. I hope he can relax more in the next week and get some more ice coverage in to his routine. He has excellent audience presentation skills and great rhythm. He's a fighter and a showman I'm sure the skating will come.

I read that the show was watched by 10.1 million people on Saturday. If you were one of those thank you for watching.

My boss on Eurosport - Simon Reed - said it was like Saturday Night at the London Palladium (a show that used to be a feature for families on Saturday nights). That's how it feels to me. A show the whole family can watch that is exciting, glamourous, fun and just a bit scary and unpredictable too. my friends, probably like you are sitting down with the family every week. And fathers throughout the land are often finding that there are not many ice rinks close by. Can I go skating daddy being the call!

There was was one slight downer for me you might have picked up on air too. Two ladies in the audience started to harang Jason with direct abuse during the show when he was speaking. For me I can undetand a boo or a hurray ( a lot of expression can be put into both!) But the personal stuff reminds me of when I got acosted on the streets of Brighton a while back or the loud, bad mouthed girl on the train from the airport berating a poor French couple last week. I can't help feeling just a little cross and sad at this behaviour. It seems to be more prevalent these days But then perhaps I am old fashioned and value repect and manners too much?

Perhaps security can deal with this if it happens again, as Jason requested next time? I hope so.

That's it for this week. if you watch Eurosport on Thursday I'll be there with Chris howarth for the OD of a Grand Prix event. maybe see you there. I think it's Channel 410.

All the best

Nicky

PS If you have questions I'll do my best to answer them. I can't give any behind the scenes details though. Otherwise I'll be thrown in jail - well probably not literally but I'll get into hot water! I can only comment on what's in the public domain.